Author Archives: Anais_b

Saving seeds from your crops will not only save you money, but can also produce crops that are better suited to local conditions. Seed saving is fairly simple, but there are a few important things to know before you start. Firstly, you should avoid saving seeds from ‘F1 hybrid’ varieties (this includes most fruit and veg from supermarkets),Continue reading “Getting started with seed saving”

We’re coming to the end of another busy year of the Replenish project and while we are working on lots of plans and ideas for 2022, we wanted to have look back and to share and celebrate our highlights of the year. A bit about our mission… Feed bellies, not bins Globally, we’re going throughContinue reading “The Replenish Project: our activities this year”

Last week we attended an excellent scything workshop hosted by local community group Oxford Urban Wildlife Group and led by master scyther Ida Fabrizio.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the scythe, it’s a hand tool that’s been used since at least 500 BC to cut grass for haymaking, to manage weeds andContinue reading “Bringing back the art of scything”

Several years ago I started volunteering at a local community garden in Oxford called OxGrow. The first autumn I volunteered there, I remember heading home from each session with a bagful of veg. It was such a satisfying experience to cook with produce that we had lifted from the soil hours earlier. But it wasContinue reading “Eating by the seasons: How to cook – and enjoy – winter veg”

Composting doesn’t generally attracts rats in the first place, but if rats are already present in your garden, they may visit the compost heap. Some rats can carry the bacteria that cause leptospirosis (aka Weil’s disease), which is spread via their urine. While the chances of infection are low, it’s a good idea to takeContinue reading “How to keep rats out of your compost”

Did you know? One-third of all edible food produced across the world never gets eaten.1 Globally, food waste is responsible for 22 million tonnes of greenhouse gases – that’s four times more than all aeroplane flights put together.2 70% of UK food waste happens at home3, so each of us can do our bit toContinue reading “Which 3 foods do we waste the most at home?”

We are sharing this recipe in celebration of Oxfordshire Pumpkin Festival, an annual event encouraging people to eat – rather than throw away – their Halloween carving pumpkins. An estimated 12.8 million pumpkins are due to go uneaten this Halloween, with 18,000 tonnes going to waste.  This recipe is a real crowd pleaser and canContinue reading “Recipe: roasted stuffed pumpkin or squash”

Why shouldn’t food go in the general waste bin? What happens to food that gets recycled? We share the answers to common questions about food recycling… How well is Oxfordshire doing in terms of recycling? Oxfordshire has the highest recycling and composting rate in the country, with almost 60% of household waste getting recycled orContinue reading “How many banana peels does it take to charge a mobile?”

Apart from the fact that they are tangy and delicious, making fermented vegetables is an easy way to preserve vegetables for many weeks or even months and in doing so, avoid waste. Fermentation works well even if foods aren’t at their freshest (provided they haven’t gone mouldy or slimy) so it’s a perfect way to give wrinklyContinue reading “How to ferment vegetables at home”

As we roll into September, fruit and vegetable patches are (hopefully!) producing an abundance of fresh produce faster than you can eat. This week we were delighted to harvest 3 kilos of beans in a single day at our allotment! If you want to prevent waste by saving produce for later in the year, thereContinue reading “Top tips for freezing garden produce”