Last Year Edible Abingdon was in a strip of land behind the Ice Cream kiosk at the Outdoor pool. This year Edible Abingdon has a site near Old Station House where a number of old-style recycling bins (the ones we used before wheelie bins took over) have been used to grow a variety of herbs, beans, marrows and other edibles.
The objective of the project is to encourage more people in the community to grow some of their own food, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels and imported food.
Thanks to Spike for the first picture that shows clearance of the Abingdon Hyrdo site is already well underway. The Hydro will generate Hydro-electricity from the Thames alongside Abingdon Weir
Since Wednesday Volunteers from Abingdon Hydro have been clearing the site. Three trees have been felled and a lot of undergrowth cleared.
The large hollow dead tree nearest the weir had no evidence of bats, and came down fairly easily, but volunteers are putting up bat boxes on alternative trees, to provide a bat habitat, just in case.
Transporting the firewood from the site is not easy as the nearest place for vehicles is the Abingdon Health and Well being Centre on Audlett Drive – over the foot bridge and 50 metres along a footpath.
The largest of the Radley Gravel Pits was pumped dry at the start of 2004. A fence was erected, and the pit was pumped full of fuel ash slurry from Didcot Power Station.
By the start of 2006 when featured on this blog there stretched a black morass, partly covered by reeds and grass.
A fence still surrounds the area – marked by lifebuoys; but now ten years since the gravel pit was filled, trees have grown to cover about half of the area, and are colonising the other half.
Nearby Thrupp Lake was saved from a similar fate by the Save Radley Lakes campaigners. It had already matured into a lake.
Last time I saw the Green Gym working near us they were wood chipping some of the paths near the River Ock, litter picking, and planting trees. That was back in January. They were there again yesterday renewing a path I use most days.
The wood chip is provided by the town council staff. Everything chopped back in that area will either get left to decay naturally or recycled for paths.
The trees planted back in January looked very small to start with. Some are still bunched up inside the protective sheath but others have made it to the next stage.
The Green Gym program can be seen here.