Fruit Flavoured Vinegars Make Great Sauces – Easy to Follow Recipe

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fruit flavoured vinegars, fruit vinegar, fruit vinegars, malt vinegar, meat sauces, porcelain bowl, recipes for fruit, recyleworks. recycle works

Fruit vinegars are usually made from soft fruits such as blackberries or raspberries, bilberries and currants.

To make a wonderful fruit vinegar simply follow this ultra easy recipe. To each kilo of ripe fruit add one litre of best distilled malt vinegar. Place in a porcelain bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to stand for 3-5 days, stirring occasionally. Strain and add 1k of sugar to 1lt fruit vinegar and boil for 10 minutes.

Store in sterilised, glass bottles.

Plums make more robust vinegar good for flavouring meat sauces!

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Free Trees for UK’s Community and Youth Groups From The Woodland Trust

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free trees, recycle works, woodlands truct

Free Trees for UK’s Community and Youth Groups: Allotment groups, resident associations, parish councils, youth groups and other not-for-profit groups can apply now for free trees to plant in November.

Twice a year, the Woodland Trust gives away free trees to community groups, youth groups and schools in an effort to create more woodlands throughout the UK. According to the Trust, the UK has just 11.8% of tree cover, one of the lowest in Europe, and the Trust wants to change that by creating a UK rich in native woods and trees. This can be done relatively quickly because saplings planted today will take 12 years to flourish into young woods.

This autumn the Trust will be giving away 4,000 free tree packs. Groups can apply for packs of 30 trees worth £30, 105 trees worth £105, or 420 trees worth £420. The packs come in a choice of themes – small copse, small hedge, wildlife, year-round colour, wild harvest, wetland and wood fuel – and are designed to help groups choose the right species mix for their local area.

Any not-for-profit group may apply as long as the trees will be planted on one publicly accessible site with permission from the legal landowner, with support from the community where the trees are to be planted and community involvement in the project.

The deadline for applications is 13 September 2013, though this is subject to change. Groups are encouraged to apply as early as possible and to check the Trust’s website for a possible early closing date.

Full details can be found on the Woodland Trust website or by clicking here.

Seed Collecting In The Forest of Bowland

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forest of bowland, peter foley, recycle works, sarah robinson, seed collecting, SSI, Sylvia Hopwood

Saturday dawned perfectly and continued on the lines of an ideal English summer, all day. Sarah took me and about 18 others into The Forest of Bowland enthusing us with her love and dedication to hay meadows. It is somewhat different to wildflower meadows but the story is similar. Sarah took us to see one of a few hay meadows in the area dedicated an area of Special Scientific Interest, SSI. Here you see the native species growing wild on farm land tended by a farmer who is also dedicated to his inherited treasures. Sarah got us all to collect ripe seeds from the natural flowers growing at the edge of the field. This way we did not trample the meadow but were able to gather many thousands of ripe seeds. Later we all took home seeds in paper bags, lots of recycled pots and trays provided by Peter Foley, with Vital Earth Seed and Potting Compost – yes, really highly recommended by Peter and Sarah as it is peat-free, has been pasteurised and has very few nutrients.

This kit will enable us to propagate and replace these species into more local pastures the coming years. When the time comes in spring 2013 we will sow our indigenous seeds in pots and later in 2013 transplant to the edges of another field locally and spread the goodness. Interestingly we transplant to the edges of the field where in their first year they will not get as easily trampled and damaged by sheep.  These are really hardy plants and will take lots of weather and constant animal passage, but it will give them a better chance to establish and seed naturally as they grow in populations.

What we have to do

1. Collect the seeds in a paper bag, labelling the bags with the names of the meadow flowers. Some need more care if they shoot out all over the place as soon as you touch them.
2. Not all seeds will ripen at the same time so more than one visit will be needed to get the range.
3. Clean the seeds by hand, separating them from the husks
4. Keep them in a cold, dry and dark place until February/March. This can be in a container in the fridge so that they go through the natural cold winter conditions. It can be in a sealed tin in the shed, but dry, cold and dark is important. If they get wet or warm they may start germinating and if it is too early for spring they will not survive.
5. In early spring sow seeds on the top of a tray or pot of seed Compost just how they would fall naturally to earth. Because of the nature of their natural environment Wildflower seedlings are robust.
6. Preferably use Vital Earth Seed and Potting Compost because it is suitably low in nutrients and it is without peat.
7. Do not plant seeds below the surface! When seeds fall naturally they arrange the depth they want to go by themselves.
8. Water with a fine rose or you will just wash the seeds away!
9. Protect from predators with a light covering of fine grit, Perlite or woodland bark.
10. Transplant when the roots are strong into cleaned pots, washed with mild soapy water preferably something non bio. When transplanting, be sure to plant firmly. Firm them down well at the edges of the pot and again after placing the seedling. It is a mistake to put them in delicately with loads of air pockets where the roots cannot grow and then walk away. It avoids air pockets where the roots will not go. Water with a fine rose. If planting shrubs you should use the heel of your boot to firm in.
11. Again it is good to cover the surface with a light dressing of fine grit, Perlite or a bit of woodland bark.
12. Today we were collecting seed that would be planted out spring 2014

We’ll keep you updated on our process and look forward to sharing the pictures of our beautiful new plants.

Love your environment!

 

Be Nice To Bees – A Plea From Friends of the Earth

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Friends of the Earth, recycle works, save bees, the recycleworks

British bees do a huge amount for wildlife, our food supply and the economy.

And last week thousands of you did a huge amount for bees. 10,000 packets of bee-friendly seeds were snapped up in just 24 hours, creating many new habitats for bees across Britain.

Even if you missed out on the free seeds you can still take action to help bees by calling for a National Bee Action Plan to reverse their decline.

Changes to town planning, farming and our use of pesticides could prevent even more bee species from becoming extinct. The Prime Minister needs a plan to make these changes now.

Together we can save British bees,

Amy & The Bee Cause team

Click Here to sign the Bee Cause Petition 

PS. We already caught the attention of the Deputy PM, Nick Clegg with our stunt in London.

He said “anyone who’s been on the South Bank this morning will have seen Friends of the Earth have turned it into a wildflower meadow to publicise the importance of bees to UK GDP”.

Fruit Flavoured Vinegars For Delicious Sauces

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fruit flavoured vinegars, fruit vinegar, fruit vinegars, malt vinegar, meat sauces, porcelain bowl, recipes for fruit, recyleworks. recycle works

The 'Berry Picker' - Perfect for Smaller Fruits & Berries

Fruit vinegars are usually made from soft fruits such as blackberries or raspberries, bilberries and currants.

To each kilo of ripe fruit add one litre of best distilled malt vinegar. Place in a porcelain bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to stand for 3-5 days, stirring occasionally. Strain and add 1k of sugar to 1lt fruit vinegar and boil for 10 minutes.

Store in glass bottles.

Plums make more robust vinegar good for flavouring meat sauces!

Love Your Environment! Love Your Vinegars!

Everyone Should Have A Water Butt!

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collect rainwater, recycleworks, water butt, water conservation, water saving

Get a water butt to collect rainwater. Using rain water is more planet-friendly than tap water, which has to go through energy-intensive purification. Plants prefer it too – so save it for watering house plants all year round, and in the garden when the weather warms up.

It’s fine for jobs like washing the car too.

Friends of the Earth