On 4th July 4pm, with the sun beating down on no 7 Queensgate, Beverley allotment – the party began.  Allotment holders gathered together armed with bowls and plates of delicious home grown food to share with gusto and pride  on our first celebration of all the hard work gone into preparing, growing and nuturing our fruits and vegetables this year so far.

45 people attended, enjoying a taste of the great old fashioned traditional community spirit of home made dishes.   Examples were courgette scones, curried vegetable pilaf, beetroot and ginger salad, red onion tart, salads galore, gooseberry fool, berry and strawberry deserts to die for! and of course refreshing fruit non alcholic punch.

What a wonderful way to meet new freinds with the same passion as ourselves.

I think its called community spirit, share and share alike thats what I say what a difference the world could be!

Shame my daughter lost the photos of origonal state so you could have seen what it really DID look like! Together with mountains of old wood from broken down shed old boots, radio, bottles of whisky, rotting rope, wire, concrete - the list goes on and of course, weeds, frogs, vole, rat/s blakie the blackbird robie the robin etc have just about clearded some space for planting!! My back just about in tact but now suffer with a reoccurring tennis elbow through over use but great excitement and relief now to be planting some seeds..

Having planted up an assortment of alliums “the onion family”  plus carrots beetroot, radishes and parsnips on the most beneficial moon time days, I hope to reap some quality produce.  Now using the moon and zodiac may seem completely wacky and kind of witchcrafty I will explain my reasons for giving this method a go..

I use a biodynamic planting calendar which gives the most favourable days and specific times of planting, working the land, and harvesting the different plants.  The phylosophy behind planting via the moon considers the movement of the planets throughout the year and their effects on the earth during transit with the sun and moon and the planets.

I see the soil as having the same qualities as our human and animal blood, the giver of life, nourishing feeding, protecting. the soil therefore is the life force of our plants but also it responds to it’s environment again much the same a our blood, of which the chemical  environment consists of four elements

AIR (carbon Hydrodgen and oxygen)

WATER,

EARTH (minerals ie copper magnesium zinc selenium etc) and

FIRE.- ( corresponds to temperature). these four elements are where all forms of life originate and are maintained, otherwise we/plant become diseased or die.

The moon has a 27 day orbit round the earth so passes the twelve  regions of the zodiac where vast energy penetrates our earth. These  each have an effect on the above four elements.  Each sign of the zodiac has an element, so when the moon passes through it also brings about enlivening processes on the plants and their particular organs, root, leaf, flower, fruit and seed.