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And now for something juicy!

Calling all Ilkley gardeners, allotment holders and would-be growers.  We’re pleased to announce the launch of our first project: it’s a home-grown produce share.

Many people enjoy growing their own fruit and veg. Not only does it taste good, it is very satisfying and much cheaper than the supermarket. Local produce can also reduce food miles and if you grow it yourself, you know more about what went into it. And gardening is good for the gut - it gets you out in the fresh air and digging over the veg patch is a good workout.

If you’re a gardener, you know this already.  You also know that come mid-summer you’re  often left with a wasted glut of falling fruit.  Transition Ilkley member, Ian Wilson, said, “Last year we had more plums than we could eat ourselves and had cooking apples left rotting on the tree.”  

The produce swap site, Lourish.com, could help us all to make the most of what we grow. It provides a platform that helps gardeners exchange their surplus produce with other people. The lourish.com website is free to join and there is no cost involved for anyone to swap their produce. It’s open to anyone over the age of 16 and members can swap anything home-produced, growable and edible.  This includes fruit and veg, plants and seeds. Once registered on the site, you can forward an invitation to others, with a personalised message. Full details are on the lourish.com site.

Lourish is a social enterprise which aims to combine communities' back gardens, allotments and smallholdings into a sustainable local food network on everyone's doorstep.

Set up an account and then send it on to your fellow Ilkley growers. The more people we tell, the more we can grow and share together.  And get growing - so that you have something to share.

Friday Flicks: Rob Hopkins - Transition to a world without oil

Rob Hopkins' TED talk from 2009 provides an overview of the problem of peak oil and what the Transition response is to this.




Rob Hopkins: Transition to a world without oil Video on TED.com

Biodiesel: getting about on chip fat

Worried about the fossil fuels that you pump into your car?  Ever thought about running your car on chip fat? The Wharfedale Biodiesel Group can help you. Michael Baldwin, member of Transition Ilkley and Wharfedale Biodiesel Group, provides the lowdown on what biodiesel can mean for you.

Wharfedale Biodiesel Group has been running for more than 3 years. We buy biodiesel in bulk from a commercial company in Bradford that makes biodiesel from waste vegetable oil. Generally we get quite a discount on the forecourt price of “dino-diesel”. And biodiesel can ease our transition through peak oil, as well as reduce our carbon emissions.

At the start of the motoring age, many cars ran on alternative fuels. Mr Diesel’s first engine ran on peanut oil. In recent years with rising oil prices, biofuels made a comeback - but quickly got a bad press: clearing of forests in the tropics for palm oil, land grabs, food vs fuel. But…there is at least one kind of biofuel that is environmentally sound on every count: biodiesel made from waste vegetable oil.

The recycling of waste oils has become a huge industry. Most users of veg oil, be they local chippies, schools or Walkers crisps, sell their waste oil to biodiesel companies. There is not enough waste oil to power every diesel car and lorry in the country but the important thing is to make use of every drop of waste oil rather than throwing it away. Biodiesel made from waste veg oil (not virgin oils) saves around 70% of carbon emissions when used to replace normal diesel, when all the processing and distribution are considered.

Biodiesel can also work in most diesel cars whereas straight veg oil can’t. Biodiesel is veg oil that has been chemically processed to break up the fat molecules so they are more like normal diesel. All diesel engines can run on a 5% blend of biodiesel. Biodiesel is now added to normal forecourt diesel in a blend of up to 5%.

Some diesel engines can take a higher blend of biodiesel. Some cars built before 2004 can run on 100% biodiesel. The rule of thumb is to stick with a 50% blend especially in cold weather because biodiesel can wax more easily than normal diesel. All recent Peugeot/Citroen cars are officially authorised to run on a 30% blend.

Another use of biodiesel is as an alternative to heating oil.

Feel free to contact Wharfedale Biodiesel Group if you would like to know more. Our Yahoo group is

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wharfedalebiodieselgroup

Friday Flicks - Happy Birthday

When naughty is actually doing quite a bit of nice. 

It was their birthday this week so take a look at what Transition Heathrow has done.




Video from Transition Heathrow via YouTube

Friday Flicks: What is Sustainable Food?

This week's film is a delightful shorty produced by Manchester's Kindling Trust. 

Take 10 minutes to find out (or remind yourself) of the issues involved in creating a sustainable food system.   8 key issues are highlighted:

1. Local and seasonal
2. Organic
3. Waste and packaging
4. Eat less meat and poultry
5. Eat less at risk fish
6. Fair trade
7. Health and wellbeing
8. Democratic food system.


What is Sustainable Food? from Kindling on Vimeo.

Slow Food Movement meets Booths - 2nd March

Slow Food West Yorkshire is hosting a meeting at Booths, Ilkey on 2nd March for those who're interested in finding out more about the relationship between Booths and their suppliers.  We'll be there.  Anyone else who is interested, please register on Eventbrite. 

The event is free and arrival is for 6.45pm. http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1347142339/estw

This event is part of the new partnerhsip between Booths, UK and the Slow Food Movement, UK: http://www.booths.co.uk/news-article/Booths-and-Slow-Food-announce-partnership-deal