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| Community Food Composting |
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This project involves collecting household food and kitchen waste for composting at Offshoots. But with a hi-tech
difference: we don't just put the kitchen waste onto a compost heap and let nature take its course, we have three
in-vessel composting machines - Rockets - which have been engineered by a company called Accelerated Compost Limited.
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They do exactly what it says on the tin: instead of taking months to make compost in the standard way, these machines
take just a couple of weeks. They provide the exact conditions necessary for composting to occur: electric heating
blankets supply warmth and rotating arms aerate the compost, both essential to producing the optimum working environment
for the natural bacteria in the waste to break it down.
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Initially, the compost officers collect the kitchen waste from our participating households (which have all been issued
with kitchen caddies and compostable liners) using large bins transported on our biodiesel-powered vehicle. Once any
solids in the waste (e.g. whole potatoes or apples) have been mashed, it is all emptied into the Rockets along with
wood chip to provide the correct balance of carbon material (wood chip) to nitrogen (kitchen waste).
This balance of carbon to nitrogen is essential to producing nutrient-rich compost in the end product. The kitchen
waste includes vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells, mouldy bread, tea bags, coffee grindings, cut flowers and
hamster and guinea pig bedding, but no meat products.
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The mixture then spends two weeks within the Rockets slowly decomposing at temperatures above 60°C. Upon leaving
the Rockets, it is spun off (sieved) and then stored ready to be sold to the Borough Council's Parks Department for use
within the grounds of Towneley Hall.
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| Tree Nursery |
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Offshoots has had many important partnership projects with different local agencies over the last nine years, its most
enduring being the tree nursery. It began in 2001 as a collaboration between Offshoots, Burnley Borough Council, the
Forest of Burnley and the Millennium Commission Arboretum project. The aim was to grow trees from seeds that were either
difficult or impossible to purchase from tree nurseries across Europe, either because the genus/species was not
commercially available or not available at the right size for planting in difficult urban locations.
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The trees were originally destined to join the existing 2700 Burnley Urban Arboretum specimens. However, the continued
success and expansion of the nursery means they are now available to other planting schemes across East Lancashire
through the Groundwork Pennine Lancashire Trust.
The diversity and individual number of trees has been steadily growing to today's estimate of 2500, covering 30
genera and 70 species, with representatives from Abies (the firs) through to Zelkova (the elm family)
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In 2004, the tree nursery was expanded to incorporate an offsite 'standing out' area. This was made possible by the very
generous donation of land (on a rolling licence) by Sir Simon Towneley. Sir Simon is himself a very knowledgable and
enthusiastic tree man, being a member of the International Dendrology Society and long time supporter of both the
nursery and the wider Forest of Burnley project.
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| Bee Keeping |
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The bee keeping happened by accident when the sensory garden was being developed. The hives were discovered in an
overgrown corner of the garden; and it was presumed that because of their poor state, there would not be any bees in
them. It was not until Alan was cleaning up in that corner that we found them - well, actually the bees found Alan, as
they all landed on him!!!
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Since then there have been ups and downs. We lost one hive of bees over the first winter and had to kill a couple of
queen bees who were not laying very well, but generally the hives have got stronger as Alan's and Lisa's skills in bee
keeping have improved.
Produce from the hives includes honey, honeycomb and wax. They are sold on site from time to time depending on the
productivity of the bees and time of year. Do come along to see traditional bee-keeping in practice and whether
there is any produce for sale.
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| Backyard project |
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This is a purpose-built project designd to show how to make a garden even when you don't have one! Having built the
backyard on site, we lime washed the walls and put in mirrors to reflect light into the yard. Then we planted vegetables,
fruit and herbs into pots to demonstrate how to make even the smallest and most plant-unfriendly places beautiful and
productive.
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