Author Archives: Anais_b

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: New ways with autumn and 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”

What can you make with lemon rinds, cauliflower leaves and apple cores? Even for the most resourceful of cooks looking to avoid food waste, finding ways to use up every edible part of a food can take some creativity! In this post we share some ideas for using fruits and vegetables in their entirety, fromContinue reading “From root to fruit: how to make more of fruits and vegetables”

Why grow green manures? Green manures (also known as cover crops) are plants that provide multiple benefits to the food garden by enhancing soil structure and fertility. In doing so, they can improve yields by up to 47%. As they cover bare soil, green manures also have the added benefit of suppressing weeds. How areContinue reading “Boosting crop yields with green manure”

Tired of finding limp vegetables lurking in the back of your fridge or cupboard? Research from the University of Otago reveals the best ways to store common vegetables in order to prolong their shelf life by up to 10 times. See below for what they found… Avocado halves Of the 17 methods the researchers tried,Continue reading “How to make vegetables last over twice as long”