Transition Town Tooting

Author: Transition Town Tooting

  • Work & Play Scrapstore in Tooting

    I made a visit to the recently re-opened Work and Play Scrapstore in Blackshaw Rd this week. Running for over 20 years, the Scrapstore promotes the re-use of resources for environmental and community benefit and has a great collection of card, trimmings, fabric, plastics, carpet pieces and costumes.  The Scrapstore is a registered charity and provides resources to  schools, community groups and local artists – TTT’s art making group SMArT visits regularly.  

    Many thanks to Scrapstore volunteers Alison, Elizabeth, Lucy & Susan (all pictured) for showing me around.  The ethos of the Scrapstore seems a good fit with Transition ideas, and would be a great resource for future events.  

    Meanwhile can anyone out there assist the Scrapstore with donations?  I was given a wishlist of desirable items so please do take any of the following down there on a Tuesday if you are able. dt

    Wishlist:
    finer fabrics, felt, metal bottle tops, coloured card and paper, ribbon, laces, haberdashery, buttons, sewing tape, zips, elastic, knitting wool, plastic offcuts, plastic foam in sheets (2mm thick and up), wine corks, paper cups and plates.

    Find out more at http://workandplayscrapstore.org.uk

  • ‘After the Foodival’ open meeting 15th October

    TTT Open Meeting Tuesday 15th October – looking forward at TTT and local activities to build on the energy of the Foodival

    Please come along: we have a regular TTT meeting in the upstairs room at The Selkirk in Selkirk Road, SW17 0ES on Tuesday at 7pm. All are welcome. We’ll aim to tap in to the energy raised by, and have a bit of a debrief from, the Foodival – and hear about ongoing opportunities to get involved with existing projects.

    Maybe you have a project idea you’d like to develop with others?  
    If so why not come along and share with the group?

    This meeting will have a structured section as well as time to chat. 
    Please contact us if you are interested in presenting at this meeting: email us here
    Our latest TTT mail out to subscribers was sent on the 11th October: click here to read a copy.
    No TTT post is complete without a photo: so here are 2 from yesterdays’ plant printing session for families at Gatton School’s Big Draw and Cultural Day – thanks for asking us!

    Meanwhile TTT was also at yesterday’s St George’s Hospital Community Open Day, where we dished out a lot of Community Garden seeds and had some good conversations. 
    And how about the medical students dance society?  They should have been on the stage at Foodival – maybe next year, they were great!

  • Garden tea in the sun, and a visit in the rain

    In the beautiful weather of Sunday 6th October we made tea at the Community Garden using our volcano kettle, trying out some of the wild plants Mark Watson suggested during the Tooting Foodival.

    

    We sorted sunflower seeds for
    drying and sowing next year

    As well as enjoying cakes made with Garden brambles and local apples (thanks to the bakers Charlotte, Liz, and Gillian and Phoebe), we did some gardening too. We tidied the herb bed; planted elephant garlic; turned over weeds to dry in the sun. Thinking of future possibilities, we looked at samples of home-made paper incorporating garden plants – an idea for the garden-grown wheat straw that we have saved.

    The visit in the rain was today, from Lina and Emil who are starting up a new project in Malmö, Sweden – a city farm to

    be run as a local food production, green employment and sustainability hub – maybe the first in Sweden. We’ll share more when it all gets going.

    

  • Foodival Video & Press

    Some snippets of video from the Foodival plus last week’s Wandsworth Guardian article.  Thanks again to everyone who made this such a fantastic event for the 6th year in a row. Can’t wait for the next one!  Please tell us what you thought about Foodival 2013 HERE.  Thanks!

  • Foodival

    What a fantastic weekend at Foodival with a great range of Tooting food cooked up by local restaurants and local cooks. Music and comedy added to the mix.  Thanks to everyone who helped out, set up, cleared up performed or ate.  More of a report soon but here are a few photos for starters.

  • We grew all this!

    Thanks to all the fabulous donors at Foodival earlier today! Can you recognise anyone below? Come and try local food cooked up by a wide variety of Tootingites on Sunday at Tooting Market as Foodival continues.

    Here’s an eyewitness report of today’s action:
    Saturday night and it’s ‘half time’ in the weekend Tooting Foodival.
    In the first half:
    • We’ve had a brilliant day of walk-in fruit and vegetable donations today: thanks so much to everyone. These ranged from the traditional to the unexpected – all fabulous. From cabbages, kale, carrots and mighty marrows…to Tooting-grown south Asian curry leaves, outdoor dessert grapes from Balham and Pink Fir Apple potatoes grown by Gatton School.
    • And much more….some grown in allotments; some in backyards; some in pots on a fifth floor balcony above Clapham South.
    • We enjoyed cooking and food preparation demonstrations: squash soup, and later penne pasta with beetroot from Volker; freshly-cooked dosas by Mango Palace; mackerel filleted before our eyes by Rick from Rick’s Restaurant and prepared raw or lightly cooked. All tasting fresh and delicious, and the recipes will be online soon.      
    • Visitors talked about healthy eating and diet with Morgan and her colleagues, did some drawing with Jeni, played our Community Garden Seed Game, signed up for the TTT email list – and chatted with each other about all their impressions of the day.  
    • Thanks to all today’s volunteers who helped create such a good atmosphere – and as ever to Mushkil Aasaan for supporting us by providing the premises.
    Tonight and tomorrow morning it’s time for team talks and strategy.
    • The local restaurant chefs and home cooks involved are preparing their dishes – many of them using ingredients collected today.
    • The distinguished judges in the ‘Top Tooting Cook’ informal competition are studying the criteria for tomorrow’s analysis and taste-off.
    All welcome tomorrow for the action-packed second half.
    • We move to the Sunday venue Tooting Market, starting from 12:00. Top Tooting Cook judging is between 1:00 and 1:30 (with the results announced at 3:00). Visitors can sample local produce prepared by all the participating restaurants: all the details in the blog post below.
    • There’ll be plenty of varied dishes, plus music and comedy, until the referee’s whistle closes the 6th Tooting Foodival at 4:00.

  • 6th Tooting Foodival, this weekend 28th and 29th September. All welcome!

    Transition Town Tooting present this year’s two-day Tooting Foodival which promises to be even bigger and better than the previous 5.
    Foodival is a celebration of local growing and cooking
    – with a sustainable slant. 
    This year we’ve made a comprehensive booklet which describes all the whys and whats of the Foodival – plus giving more background on the many partners. It’s a proud record of community activity in Tooting.
    Click here to read or download a copy of the Foodival booklet

    In summary, the Tooting Foodival is a free event for all the family which
    runs over two days:
    – on Saturday 28th Sept from 11:00-4:00 at Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW 17 7EW
    – on Sunday 29th Sept from 12:00-4:00 in Tooting Market, 21-23 Tooting High Street SW17 0SN

    (click here for a copy of the poster)
    Cooking demonstrations on the Saturday at Mushkil Aasaan by: Mango Palace, Rick’s Restaurant, Volker Nissen, and guidance on healthy eating from Morgan Serres

    Local restaurants who are cooking for the Sunday feast in Tooting Market, using the local produce collected on Saturday, include: Al Mirage, Lahore Karahi, Mis Bar Mleczny, Naked Loaf, Pooja, Rick’s Restaurant, Spice Village

    Also on Sunday in the market there’ll be music and comedy from: Jonathan Buckley, Vincent Burke, The Bara Bara Band, Sam Quinn. Plus local stands and more activities…many thanks to all!

    Top Tooting Cook
    There is still time to enter this fun and informal  competition.  
    See the video clip on the right of this blog and please call Mal on 07980 611704 if you are interested to take part or find out more and see the current contenders here.
    Would you like to see the ‘competition rules’? Please click here. Entrants to the cooks’ competition will take away fruit and veg on Saturday to cook overnight for Sunday’s event at Tooting Market from noon to 4pm, vying to be crowned Top Tooting Cook. 

    We grew the wheat in the Tooting Community Garden
    – then we ground it into flour, in Tooting
    – then Naked Loaf used the flour in sourdough bread
    – and it’s soon to be eaten in the Tooting Foodival!
    Why do we run the Foodival? This will whet your appetite: 
    Foodival has always relied on donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers, and on support from local enterprises and home cooks who help create the Sunday feast.
    Even in the busy city environs of Tooting, many people are growing fruit and vegetables in their back gardens or allotments, in pots or on windowsills. Foodival aims to show that locally grown food is good for you and can be as tasty as food imported from elsewhere, while of course having a much smaller carbon footprint. 
    We will showcase dishes with close to zero food miles.
    And there will be more to get involved with on both days from local enterprises, community groups and artists.
    We’d like to say a big thank you to Wandsworth Borough Council for event support through the WBC Eco Fund.

    Come along and enjoy the fun,
    and we look forward to seeing you there!

  • Plenty in the Edible Garden

    Plenty in the Edible Garden at the weekend including this rather sorry looking but unperturbed fox cub!  That garlic should be good for those striving to be crowned “Top Tooting Cook” at Foodival.  Still plenty of time to enter, though judges have already ruled that “Renard du jardin communautaire au gratin” will not be a permitted dish …

  • TTT’s latest email update Sept 19th: local food and growing with Edible Gardens and the Foodival

    The latest update is all about food and growing local – because we have the Edible Gardens Open Day on Sat 21st, and then the Foodival on Sept 28th & 29th. All welcome to both!

    In case you don’t receive our updates by email – you can read a copy by clicking here. Do mail us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com if you would like to be on the distribution list.

  • Foodival 2013

    Transition Town Tooting present our 6th Foodival on the 28th and 29th September 2013, and this year’s two day event promises to be even bigger and better than the previous 5! 

    Foodival is a celebration of local growing and cooking with a sustainable slant.  Even in the busy city environs of Tooting, many people are growing vegetables and fruits in their back gardens, allotments, in pots or on windowsills.  Foodival aims to show that locally grown food can be just as tasty and good for you as food imported from elsewhere, while of course having a much smaller carbon footprint.  We will showcase dishes with close to zero food miles. 

    Competing Cooks


    Foodival has always relied on donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers and this year is no different.  On Saturday 28th Sept., at Mushkil Aasaan in Upper Tooting Road, volunteers will be accepting donations of any tasty Tooting fruit and veg from local people.  Local chefs and home cooks will then use all this lovely produce to create fabulous Tooting dishes while there will also be several professional cooking demonstrations using the donated food. 

    Entrants to the cook’s competition (want to join the cook’s here?) will take away fruit and veg to cook overnight for Sunday’s event at Tooting Market, vying to be crowned Top Tooting Cook. Local restaurants have also accepted the challenge to do likewise meaning that Sunday’s event will have a wide variety of Tooting food cooked up by Tooting people. All that’s needed is some Tooting Eaters to sample and enjoy the bounty! Sunday in the market will have live music, comedy, local stalls, games with prizes, the cook’s competition and a wide variety of food to sample.  

    Foodival is a free event for all the family.  Come along and enjoy the fun, 

    Meanwhile final plans will be discussed at a meeting at the Wheatsheaf tomorrow night (Tues 17th at 7pm).  To get involved in any way, please come along or contact Dave Mauger on foodivalttt@gmail.com.