Manure and Chippings Delivery on Scarcroft

There has been a delivery of (cattle) manure and chippings to the Scarcroft site.  The manure is £1.50 per barrow, the chippings are 50p a barrow. Please pay in the allotment shop.  If you want to pay when the shop is not open please put the money in an envelope with your name (and plot number if you have one) on it and put it in the allotment shop letter box. 

The manure is the same stuff that they use at Brunswick Organic Nurseries.

Tom's Retirement Party

Thanks to all who came to Tom's retirement tea party in the shop yesterday and thank you to Laura Potts for organising it.

Blog plea

Dear all
I'm looking for someone to write a monthly allotment blog for a new York publication (provisionally called Lumina). If you think monthly would be too much, you could do bi-monthly with someone else.

If you're interested, please send a sample September submission of around 400-500 words.
to: curlew_curlew@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks

Caroline Boreham (scarcroft)

ps if anyone wants to dig up some happy parsley plants, which will come up again next year, let me know - they are swamping my asparagus. 

To get in touch with Caroline please email the association and we will put you in touch with her. scarcroftallotments@live.co.uk

Recipes from the summer party - Elderberry Syrup

This is another delicious recipe which  came from the Scarcroft & District Allotment Association summer feast.

Elderberry Syrup - makes about 1 pint
1lb elderberries
1lb sugar to every pint of juice
1 lemon
Strip fruit from the stems, cover with water in a stainless steel pan.
Add zest of the lemon. simmer for 30 minutes or until soft.
Strain through muslin or a jelly bag. Add the sugar and lemon juice.
Boil for 10 minutes, cool and store in a sterilised bottle.

Thanks to Jill Shepherd for this one.

Have you seen the padlock to Scarcroft main gates?

Have you, by any chance, walked off with the padlock from the main gate at Scarcroft last Saturday?  If you have absent mindedly put it in your pocket by accident please contact the association by emailing scarcroftallotments@live.co.uk or by putting in the post box on the front of the shop. 

If we do not get it back we will be issuing new keys in the shop soon, although we'd much prefer to get it back as it will be very expensive to replace all the keys.

Thanks

The shop team

Tom's Retirement Tea Party in the Allotment Shop

Tom Walters has volunteered in the allotment shop and been Shop Manager for many years. He has now decided to retire from the committee and as Shop Manager so that he is free to spend more time in his caravan with his wife Janice and with his grand and great grandchildren. The Association would like to thank him for his many years of service. To this end we will be holding a tea party in the shop in his honour this saturday the 25th of September at 3.30pm. The committee will be laying on tea and cakes. Please join us if you would like a chance to thank Tom for all his years of hard work and for standing in the cold in the Association hut.



Sara, Patrick and Tom in the hut




Mike, Tom and Caroline on a stock buying trip



Recipes from the Summer Party - Greek Courgette Pie

I have been nagging Katy Brierley since the party to share this with us.  It is the recipe for the dill and mint filo pastry dish she brought.  It went down a storm.  For the details see below

Greek courgette pie (can be made with spinach)

Ingredients  - for 10-12 people

• 1 kg courgettes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 spring onions, chopped
• 150ml olive oil
• 1 pack of filo pastry
• 300g feta cheese
• 3 eggs
• 120ml double cream
• bunch of dill
• bunch of parsley
• mint leaves stripped from 2-3 stems
• milk for glazing
• sesame seeds for scattering

Grate courgettes and salt them-allow them to drain for 30 mins.
Fry both types of onions in olive oil 'till soft-add courgettes. Fry for 15 mins untill excess liquid evaporates.
Preheat oven to 200.
Place 3 sheets of oiled filo in base of 30x40 oven tray.
Pour in courgette mixture. Crumble over feta.
Beat eggs and cream and drizzle over the top, add herbs and salt and pepper.

 Fold in the filo sheets enclosing the mixture or add more sheets on to, sealing them into the sides of the tin. Brush with oil and scatter sesame seeds on top.

Cook for about 1 hour. Cool for 15 mins before eating.

Thanks Katy

Sweet Chilli Jam

Another good recipe to do with your produce at this time of year.

Thanks Eric Leadley for this one.

York Food and Drink Festival

Our Allotments officer, Judith Ward, will be running a stall at this event.  She'll be providing a stall on York allotments - photos, text, leaflets and a match-the-seed-to-the-crop quiz.  If you are around, pop along to support her and say hello and, of course, to enjoy the event.

Eat the Landscape

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT) is hoping to get their hands on our glut (see below)....

YWT has been invited to co-host an evening entitled “Eat the Landscape” at the York Festival of Food and Drink, an event which takes place in September each year, providing a 10 day city-wide event to promote local and regional food and drink and generating up to 150,000 visitors over the 10days.


When – Saturday September 18th 5-9pm

 

Where - the Fountain Café on Parliament St. This will be a drop in event with Yorkshire food on offer and Yorkshire Real Ales (plus wine, soft drinks etc.) from the Beer Tent which together with the Fountain Café and Grazing Café forms one large licensed area at night.

 

YWT are planning to host 5 stalls each one showcasing different aspects of the Trust’s work and how this impacts on the food we eat. They need to be stands that tell stories and show diversity in food.

 

The stalls are:

• Bee-keeping
• Peatlands and grazing
• Stewardship
• Eating local
• Membership

The local food stall will include information on the benefits of eating locally including a display about our vegetable garden in Hull and hopefully some produce. YWT are hoping local allotment owners will bring us some of their glut to give away in return for donations to the Trust. Glut can be dropped off between 4.30 and 7.30 on the night to Parliament Sq

What a feast!

Thank you everyone who came to our Scarcroft and District Allotment Feast last Sunday.  You all brought such lovely food, fabulous displays of your produce, unusual veg, delicious jams and mountains of glut.  It was great to see so many people from Scarcroft, Hob Moor and Hospital Field and in particular so many children enjoying themselves. 

Plot on a Plate Entries

Making Potato Beasts

Thanks to Rory for the music.

Thank you for your kind messages so many of you have sent to our email address or via facebook, you have made us all feel like it was really worthwhile.

Last week's moth and bat night

On Friday 3rd of September we held another bat and moth night on Scarcroft Allotments.  Around 20 people attended the bat walk on which many bats were detected and some were even seen.  There were plenty of bat detectors to go round and once again Joanne Hodgson, from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, provided interesting and entertaining facts about these tiny Scarcroft residents.

The open moth trap

While Joanne was busy bat detecting, David  Baker, from Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire and his colleague also called David, set up their moth traps.  One trap was on all night and was emptied in the morning, the other was more open (see below) and was only on for an hour.  The Davids captured and identified the moths in the temporary trap, so that by the time the bat folk returned they had loads of moths to look at.  One thing I didn't know is that if you kneel on the floor by a moth trap at night moths will fly up your trouser legs unless you tuck your trousers in your socks.

The following morning David and David were back.  They set up a display in the shade of the trees by the shop and between 9 and 10.30am a steady stream of interested parties came to look at the moths on display in plastic tubes.  It was interesting how different the range of species was to those caught earlier in the year.  There were 52 different species caught, all of which were common.  We are certainly very popular with Noctua pronuba Large Yellow Underwing, as he trapped 181 of them. The full list is below.

Thanks again to Joanne, David and David for an excellent, entertaining and educational evening.

Scarcroft Allotments Moth Traps 1 September 3rd 2010

Code Taxon Vernacular Individuals Status

0998 Epiphyas postvittana Light Brown Apple Moth 4 Common

1076 Celypha lacunana 5 Common

1707 Idaea seriata Small Dusty Wave 1 Common

1728 Xanthorhoe fluctuata fluctuata Garden Carpet 1 Common

1835 Eupithecia tripunctaria White-spotted Pug (melanic) 1 Common

1862 Gymnoscelis rufifasciata Double-striped Pug 1 Common

1937 Peribatodes rhomboidaria Willow Beauty 3 Common

2087 Agrotis segetum Turnip Moth 1 Common

2102 Ochropleura plecta Flame Shoulder 2 Common

A large yellow underwing

2107 Noctua pronuba Large Yellow Underwing 181 Common

2109 Noctua comes Lesser Yellow Undewing 18 Common

2110 Noctua fimbriata Bd-bord/d Y. Underwing 3 Common

2123 Diarsia rubi Small Square-spot 1 Common

2126 Xestia c-nigrum Setaceous Hebrew Character 14 Common

2134 Xestia xanthographa Square-spot Rustic 11 Common

2199 Mythimna pallens Common Wainscot 2 Common

2297 Amphiptra pyramidea Copper Underwing 2 Common

2299 Amphipyra tragopognis Mouse Moth 2 Common

2361 Hydraecia micacea Rosy Rustic 6 Common

2384 Hoplodrina ambigua Vine's Rustic 1 Common

2474 Rivula sericealis Straw Dot 2 Common

2477 Hypena proboscidalis Snout 1 Common

0424 Yponomeuta evonymella Bird-cherry Ermine 3 Common

0647 Hofmannophila pseudospretella Brown House Moth 1 Common

0937 Agapeta hamana 2 Common

0972 Pandemis heparana Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix 2 Common

0993 Clepsis spectrana Cyclamen Tortrix 3 Common

0998 Epiphyas postvittana Light Brown Apple Moth 2 Common

1020 Cnephasia stephensiana Grey Tortrix 1 Common

1036 Acleris forsskaleana 1 Common

1063 Celypha striana 1 Common

1076 Celypha lacunana 6 Common

1175 Epiblema uddmanniana Bramble Shoot Moth 1 Common

1183 Epiblema foenella 1 Common

1288 Alucita hexadactyla Twenty-plume Moth 1 Common

1293 Chrysoteuchia culmella Garden Grass-veneer 3 Common

1305 Agriphila tristella 7 Common

1376 Eurrhypara hortulata Small Magpie 8 Common

Joanne Hodgson, from Yorkshire Wildllife Trust

1378 Phlyctaenia coronata 21 Common

1388 Udea lutealis 1 Common

1392 Udea olivalis 1 Common

1405 Pleuroptya ruralis Mother of Pearl 5 Common

1439 Trachycera advenella 1 Common

1653 Habrosyne pyritoides Buff Arches 2 Common

1669 Hemithea aestivaria Common Emerald 1 Common

1708 Idaea dimidiata Single-dotted Wave 3 Common

1713 Idaea aversata Riband Wave 4 Common

1713 Idaea aversata ab. remutata Riband Wave [non-banded form 3 Common

1728 Xanthorhoe fluctuata  Garden Carpet 1 Common

1738 Epirrhoe alternata Common Carpet 2 Common

1754 Eulithis prunata Phoenix 7 Common

1817 Eupithecia pulchellata Foxglove Pug 4 Common

Please click on this link to see the full set of photos.  http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ScarcroftAllotments/BatAndMothNight2?feat=directlink  If you can help identify any of  the moths in the photos please write it in  the caption.

Hedgehog course

What more could you want?  This course is brought to you by Toni Bunnell one of our Scarcroft plotholders.  Who doesn't love hedgehogs, eh?

Free Compost and Grow Your Own Course

It's free, it's useful and it's from our good friends at St Nicholas's Fields.

York South Bank Calendar 2011

The Corner Gallery on Scarcroft Road, will be the launching their York "South Bank" 2011 calendar on Saturday 11th September from 10am.

There will be an exhibition of the original Pencil drawings, and also posters and greeting cards will be available to purchase.

We have all been invited by the owner, Andres Jaroslavsky, to attend.

York Green Drinks

Glut Share Boxes

Have you noticed that glut share boxes have been put on Scarcroft (by the shop and near the Albemarle Road entrance) and Hospital Fields Sites (by the Albemarle Road entrance)?  Please use them.  Put in anything you don't think your friends or family will get through and feel free to take away anything you find in there.

If, by any chance, you haven't been able to get down to your plot recently and you think you courgettes might be going mad or your plums will be ripe, let us know on the usual allotment association address scarcroftallotments@live.co.uk and we will send someone to pick your produce and put it in the glut share box so that it doesn't go to waste.

End of Summer Feast

It’s time to FEAST!

Join us to celebrate the end of the summer season at our allotment association feast. This party will be held on the grass triangle in the middle of the Scarcroft Site on Sunday 12th September from 12—2.30pm. Bring food and drink to share and there will be produce to swap and fun activities for adults and children.

Please bring some food to share (it can be home grown but doesn’t have to be), something to drink, a plate, cutlery and something to sit on for yourself.

Bring food to share

We will provide shelter in case it rains. In addition to eating and chatting with your allotment neighbours, there will be a produce swap; you can swap any jams, chutneys, pickles or excess produce you have.

Plot on a plate competition 2009

We will also have the ‘Plot on a Plate Competition’, to enter just bring a dinner plate displaying items from your plot in a decorative or imaginative fashion.

Bring unusally shaped veg

We will also have an area to display comically shaped, exotic or out of the ordinary vegetables you have grown this year.   Bring anything you think others will be interested to see.

There will also be a chance to make your own potato based allotment beast and create an huge allotment picture using things from the plots.

This event is open to all members of the association and their friends (both adults and children), we would love to have lots of ‘home’ gardeners and plot holders from Hospital Fields, Hob Moor, Scarcroft and other allotment sites too.

See you there!