and you shall find blackberries wherever you go!
stories and pictures of Energy Cafe at Strawberry Fayre, Spitalfields City Farm and Shoreditch Festival…coming soon!
For tasty recipes and tips on where to find edible delights along the Regents Canal right through to the Lee Navigation…
download the hand drawn foraging map here!
Wild Fruits by the Wayside with a bit of Spice!
This Weekend it’s Shoreditch Festival. Energy Cafe has been invited to take part!
On Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th we will be located on the lawn of Regents Court Estate. Open from 1pm – 6pm. For this occasion we will be mapping and foraging as many wild fruits, berries and other edible delights that we find along the canal wayside….menu to be announced on the day!
On Sunday Energy Cafe Guest chef Mahesh will be adding a bit of indian spice to the Energy Cafe foraged menu …
we look forward to seeing you there! click on map for further info.
It’s the season for an abundance of Elderflowers. A sign that the summer has arrived! We have been making litres of Elderflower cordial and Elderflower champagne . It will be ready to drink in a few weeks.
The flowers were picked from trees in Nunhead near the cemetery, at the top of Broadway Market in East London where there is a hidden edible forest garden and in the nature reserve near the adventure playground in Weavers Fields, Bethnal Green. (For cordial and champagne recipes see: categories: seasonal recipes)
A few more days to go before all the flowers fall.
It is said that Elderflower is very strong as an emotional healer – as it stimulates energy, vigor, resilience, joy, and our powers of recovery and renewal of energy.
On Powerstock Common we were lucky to have a constant supply of wood to burn in Henry Ranger. Ash Logs had been left in the car park for anyone to pick up. We discovered the true qualities of this beautiful wood – as we cooked in all kinds of ways; baked, stewed, steamed, roasted, fried and made pastry pies, baked bread, cakes and crumbles. Ash is a big favourite!
Sunday 27 March
On the road again
Vince’s landy tows the trailer past Haggerston Gasworks…
back to Hawkwood Nursery, Chingford just in time to open up to serve nettle and mint tea with a taster of cake to the open day crew and visitors. Today they have been learning all about sprouting.
Micro-generation Experimentation is now on wheels and off the grid…
Over the last few days in the Regents Studios car park we have been working on the unique sun powered system.
The design is a collaboration between the energy cafe team and Lucy Sheldon and has been supported by Barden Batteries.
This micro generation experimentation has been developed to provide and explore off-grid energy at the “cafe”. The equipment is loaded onto a trolley and connects to a solar panel. Very soon we’ll be able to connect to wind and bikes too.
The system:
* 130w solar panel (solara)
* 128 Ah AMG Battery
* 250W of 240V AC power including a safety system
Intro
The Field Station Energy Café is a project by Pilot Publishing (Amy Plant and Ella Gibbs) which will reinvigorate Gunpowder Park with a feeling of the original ‘commons’ where land was used as a resource for all.
The construction of Energy Café will turn normal planning procedures on its head. The process will be developed organically, out of necessity, through people’s involvement. Pilot Publishing will work with ecologists, permaculture specialists and the local community to harvest wild food from Gunpowder Park and source farm or home-grown produce within a five mile radius. They will experiment with sustainable ways of cooking and make an off grid kitchen outside the field station and through these activities, develop a greater understanding of the landscape by those who use it. Over the course of a year Pilot Publishing will host harvesting walks and events, permaculture workshops and research into renewable energy to create a sustainable social facility that can continue to provide Park visitors with a common space to meet, share ideas and exchange local knowledge.
Watch this space!
