April 2023
Last week was a very productive week at Limborough Community Food Hub and our calendar was packed! So what did we do?
Monday 25th April
Our usual lovely family from the QSA Cook Up sessions came in on Monday to make some delicious food. We were treated to an array of Syrian dishes, including the classic Kunafa and basbousa desserts – yum!
Tuesday 26th April
On Tuesday, we had an epic gardening session with Katalin from LEAP Micro AD, who cut back the big Rosemary bush that was overtaking the garden pathway; she also cleared a bed of nettles and made a nettle tea to be used as a fertiliser. Katalin also cleared the main beds which can now be used for communal gardening as well as helping prepare space for the new beds.
Rebecca spent the morning digging out the weeds and grass overgrowing the area where the old beds were and leveling the ground so the new beds, Han had built, could start to be moved to their new positions. We had previously taken the soil out of the old beds that had been sitting directly on the ground, and stored it. Rebecca has sent a soil sample off to a laboratory which will determine whether or not we can grow directly onto the ground and reuse the old soil from the beds for growing food.
Shaheda tackled the greenhouse and transplanted some plants into individual pots with one of the local residents Farzana who came out to help and got stuck in. We built growing structures for the cucumber plants this year as we learned from last year that the cucumbers grew well in the greenhouse but needed more support.
Another prolific local resident gardener donated many of his plants in the greenhouse to the communal growing at Limborough Garden – thank you Helal!
The week before we did another intense gardening workshop; we were told to remove old pallets from in front of Limborough Hub and instead of throwing them away, used them to raise our boxes off the ground to improve air flow. To bring some colour and life to the garden area by the kitchen, we planted some summer bulbs and some bedding plants and weeded the boxes; we have leeks that didn’t do so well last year but are fighting through so we hope to get some nice leeks this year!
Wednesday 26th April
On Wednesday, we celebrated Eid with a massive feast of delicious homemade treats. Everyone brought a dish to share, enjoy and eat together at Limborough Hub to celebrate the end of Ramadan.
It was a big turnout and everyone dressed up in their beautiful Eid clothes. Friends, partners (including Burdett Football Club and Poplar HARCA) and volunteers of Limborough Hub also joined in the festivities.
In other news
We’ve now closed applications for our Outreach and Communication Officer role and will be interviewing soon to add an extra member to the Limborough team. We’d like to thank everyone who has supported Limborough so far!
MEET THE LIMBOROUGH HUB TEAM
REBECCA EVANS-MERRITT, LIMBOROUGH HUB MANAGER
Rebecca has a Fine Arts background and has worked in Production and Education. She loves living in Tower Hamlets and enjoying all the pockets of green amongst the city.
SHAHEDA AZIZ, LIMBOROUGH HUB FOOD COORDINATOR
Shaheda trained as an Early Years Teacher, then later as a community gardener at a local city urban farm. Happiest when working with nature, growing food, centered around well-being and positive living.
Limborough Community Food Hub is located on a housing estate in Poplar, East London and is owned by Poplar HARCA housing association. It includes an ornamental Chelsea Flower Show garden, designed by Chris Beardsley, a small fruit tree orchard and raised beds for communal growing. It also comprises a community training kitchen, a food pantry and a workshop space. This unique site provides a year round programme of cooking and growing workshops.
