Replenish Newsletter 05.10.20

This is a monthly newsletter from Replenish containing tips on growing and cooking nutritious food with zero waste.

Recipes for leftover ingredients, from A-Z!

A is for apples, aubergines and almonds...

Apple recipes: simple crumble, easy applesauce or make a fruit salad by chopping them up and mixing with other fruit, sugar, a splash of lemon/orange juice and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Aubergine recipes: aubergine curry or tomato and aubergine pasta sauce.

Almond recipes: Cook into a pasanda. Blitz into a pesto with greens, garlic, lemon, oil and salt. Chop up, toast in a frying pan for a few minutes (no oil needed) and add to salad.

Cooking with pumpkin and squash leaves
Did you know you can eat the leaves of pumpkin and squash plants? Here's a recipe demonstration with Grace Asimwe from Edenwise Nutrition.
This video is part of Oxfordshire Pumpkin Festival 2020 run by Good Food Oxford.

Growing your own

What to sow this month

Sowing directly outdoors:

- Broad beans (variety: Aquadulce Claudia)

- Hardy winter peas (like Douce Provence or Meteor) can be grown in a sheltered spot. Make sure to protect them from hungry mice.

- Wildflower seeds to attract beneficial insects next year

- Winter lettuce (variety: Arctic King)

- Corn salad/ lamb’s lettuce
- Garlic

Sowing indoors or undercover (greenhouse or cold frame):

- Lettuce (varieties: Valdor, Plus and Winter Gem)

- ‘Meteor’ peas are small and are ideal for growing in pots over winter.

Making a DIY wormery

Vermicomposters (also known as wormeries) are a quick and easy way to compost food waste using special species of earthworms. Wormeries take up very little space and the the process is clean and odourless. Two high quality products are produced: a rich compost and a liquid plant feed. Shop-bought wormeries can cost around £90, but it's fairly straightforward to make one at home. Find out how to make your own wormery and look after and feed your worms.

Why grow green manures?

Green manures (also known as cover crops) are plants that are grown for the benefits they bring to the soil. They are typically sown after food crops are harvested in the autumn, and help to increase soil fertility, improve soil structure and attract beneficial insects and predators. They also help to suppress weed growth and prevent nutrients from being washed away by heavy rain during winter.
Many green manures need to be sown by September, but it's not too late to sow field beans (by the end of November) and forage rye/ Hungarian grazing rye (by the end of October).
Find out more about the benefits of green manures and see here for a list of popular green manures.

This newsletter was sent by Replenish. Find out more about our work by visiting our website or following us on Facebook or Twitter. Get in touch: anais @cagoxfordshire.org.uk or 07383 393 737.
We're managed by the Community Action Groups (CAG) Project Oxfordshire and funded by Oxfordshire County Council. CAG Oxfordshire supports a network of over 70 groups across Oxfordshire at the forefront of community led climate change action. Find out more by s igning up to The Key, CAG Oxfordshire’s fortnightly sustainability newsletter, and visiting their website.

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