Our ancestors realised the necessity to preserve food for the leaner months, winter and Spring. A tradition we continue to this day, by storing the surplus of our harvest we are able to stretch the life of our vegetables and fruit. Where as our foremothers would have used caves and holes in the ground to store their produce, we use freezing, pickling, salting, and fermenting to ensure that the food tastes as good as it did when it freshly harvested.
During the course a group of Allotment owners learnt the art of jam and conserve making, pickled, relished and chutnied fruit and vegetables, discovered the interesting world of fermentation, to create healthy bacteria for their stomachs, and very pleasant tasting drinks. Based in the Dome on the Allotments site, the course ran for 8, 2-hour sessions a week, and covered the above food preservation topics.
The members of the allotments are also involved in harvesting seeds from their plants to grow again next year, and composting their weeds and fruit tree and bush cutting, creating their own soil enrichment. With the ambition of becoming sustainable. This course was made possible by funding from Waterford, Wexford Educational Training Board, through their Community Education Programme.