The government’s ‘carrier bag levy’ was started in April 2013; it meant
you had to pay a 5p charge when you chose to take a shop’s plastic bag with
your groceries. This has raised over £3m since then, much of which has been
channelled into the NI Environment Agency’s NGO Challenge Fund, available to
community and voluntary organisations for environmental projects.
Transition Town Whitehead has been one of the beneficiaries; we’ve got a
grant of almost £8,500 from the fund for our ‘Edible Landscape’ project. With
the ready co-operation of Carrickfergus Council, we intend to plant a
sustainable and edible community orchard in the Diamond Jubilee Wood.
The grant will enable us to buy almost 200 fruit and nut trees – apples,
pears, cherries, damsons, walnut, hazelnut - and a mixture of berry bushes.
Within a few years, these trees will be bearing fruit, for the benefit of
everyone who visits the wood and, indeed, for the bird population as well.
The planting of this community
orchard will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 23rd February,
starting at 1pm. We’re
planning a full-on family event so, apart from the tree-planting, there’ll be
guided walks, artistic endeavours and other attractions. We’ll have experts on
hand to tell you the stories of the trees, show you how to forage food for
free, teach you how to keep a hedge under control. We’ll help you to build your
own bird-box, hang some feeders and make a leaf-print.
Our main task, however, is to plant these trees. We’ll make it easy for
you by digging all the holes before you get there so that all you’ll have to do
is put the tree in the hole, fill it up with compost and flatten down the soil.
Then you can write your name on a label and make it ‘your’ tree.
Jim Kitchen, from Transition Town Whitehead, said, “Planting these trees
this year is our investment in the future. In a few years’ time, we’ll
literally be able to use the fruits of our labour by making puddings, jams and
chutneys from the produce of this orchard. We hope this is the first step in
what will become an edible landscape – over the next few years, we can add
beehives, fruiting hedgerows and, maybe one day, a full scale community
allotment scheme.
So, why don’t you come along and help us take the first steps. It’s all
happening on Sunday 23rd
February from 1pm to about 4pm. If it’s still raining, put on your boots
and waterproofs, bring a spade if you have one, and join us for this planting
party. You don’t need to know anything about planting trees; you just need a
wee bit of enthusiasm.
If you need any more information, contact us at transitionwhitehead@me.com
