Amelia’s Magazine | Help Fund The Fruit Factory for Brighton Permaculture Trust

Drawing of The Fruit Factory
The Brighton Permaculture Trust recently contacted me to tell me about their crowdfunding campaign on Buzzbnk to fund a permanent site for their ambitious Fruit Factory, a fabulous plan that involves turning waste fruit into yummy juices, at the same time offering educational courses to learn more about sustainable living. How could I resist giving them a plug? I’d love to visit if I am ever in the area.

The Fruit Factory Brighton apples_in_orchard
Where did the idea for The Fruit Factory come from?
We were aware that lots of fruit went unharvested around the city, simply rotting on the ground. We started to pick this fruit and process it into juices, chutneys, etc at pop up locations and found that people wanted the products and wanted to see them made. Now we want to up scale so we can process up to 40 tons of fruit a year; Stanmer was the obvious choice as it is next to a small orchard we manage and lots of people pass by.

The Fruit Factory Brighton a_van_full_of_appples_that_would_have_gone_to_waste
Who collects the fruit and where does it come from?
It is collected by Brighton Permaculture team volunteers and workers. It comes from various places – private gardens, public spaces, and fruit farms (fruit that the retailers don’t want).


What would happen to the fruit if it did not come to the Fruit Factory?
It would often be left to rot; going to waste and causing a nuisance.

The Fruit Factory Brighton pop_up_scrumped_products_stall
How do you physically process 40 tons of fruit every year?
The majority will be used for juice. In a day we can press half a ton of fruit to make 250 litres of juice. We like to sell the juice fresh when we can as it tastes better and is more nutritious, but fresh juice only lasts a couple of days before it goes off and so we pasteurise what’s left to give it a year or two’s shelf life.

The Fruit Factory Brighton straw_bale_wall_building
Who built the straw bale building that houses the factory?
The straw bale construction was built by participants on two of our straw bale courses last year.

The_fruit_factory_to_be
What will the money raised by Buzzbnk go towards?
It will finish the structure itself so we will be able to put on a roof and doors and windows, and render the walls.

The Fruit Factory Brighton juicing_with_school_kids
The Fruit Factory has plans for learning, what will you offer?
We help schools and communities to plant orchards (90 to date with our partners). People involved in these orchards and interested individuals want to learn how to care for fruit trees and process the juice. We have been involved with this work for 10 years but the Fruit Factory will allow us to up scale what we are offering. We are also planning a programme of school visits so that children can learn about where fruit comes from, about orchards and wildlife, and also how to prepare fruit.

The-Fruit-Factory-Brighton-juicing_with_kids
For someone who might not know what permaculture means, how can it be explained in just a few sentences?
Nature created the abundant world we have inherited. Permaculture is a design system that draws on lessons from nature to design for our human needs. Obviously this includes growing food in natural ways as well as building energy efficient buildings from natural materials.

What other projects is the Brighton Permaculture Trust involved with?
We run a number of courses in sustainable living, from teaching people how to prune fruit trees to an accredited Permaculture Design course. We also run annual events Green Architecture Day and Apple Day. A large amount of our work is focussed on school/community orchard planting and teaching people how to care for the orchards when planted.

How does the Brighton trust network with other permaculture organisations across the UK and beyond?
We are a member of the Permaculture Association and have connections with a number of other Permaculture projects in the UK. A number of the tutors on our courses are from other organisations that are working in similar fields, and we have a number of local organisations in Sussex that we work very closely with and often in partnership with on different projects.

Support The Fruit Factory here, and don’t forget there are also still a few days left to back the urban mushroom farm in Exeter from GroCycle. Find out more here.

Categories ,Apple Day, ,Brighton Permaculture Trust, ,Buzzbnk, ,Education, ,Food, ,Fruit Juice, ,Green Architecture Day, ,GroCycle, ,Orchard, ,permaculture, ,Permaculture Association, ,Permaculture Design, ,Scrumping, ,Stanmer, ,Strawbale, ,Sussex, ,sustainable, ,The Fruit Factory, ,Waste Food

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Amelia’s Magazine | Kickstarter: Support the GroCycle Urban Mushroom Farm

Growing Colums - grocycle
Adam Sayner and Eric Jong are the guys behind GroCycle, a social enterprise that takes used coffee grounds and turns them into delicious gourmet oyster mushrooms! Just as their Exeter based business is taking off they have been forced to move premises, and to cover the costs they are running a Kickstarter campaign, with great rewards such as grow-your-own mushroom kits. Adam Sayner began his fascination with mushrooms whilst studying ecology at the University of Sussex and was growing mushrooms in the Devon area for a living when he met Eric Jong (who had recently left the corporate world) at Schumacher College.

GroCycle-Adam and Eric
When did you first come across the idea of growing mushrooms on used coffee grounds?
It was 2011 and I was growing gourmet mushrooms in the traditional way on straw and sawdust as a small business at the time. I came across the idea of growing on coffee grounds online and it was a lightbulb moment as I realised it was a simpler method of growing Oyster mushrooms and made use of all that waste. Overnight I switched focus and have been doing it like this ever since!

roasted coffee beans
What are the practicalities of collecting coffee grounds to create the mushroom farm?
The coffee gets pasteurised in the brewing process which is great for growing mushrooms. But it also means we need to use it whilst it’s still fresh, so we pick up the grounds daily from Exeter’s largest cafes on a cargo bike.

grocyclefarm
What incentive is there for coffee shops to take part?
Apart from a great story and the personal satisfaction of the staff in each cafe knowing the grounds are going to good use, it also reduces the cost to the cafe of having this part of their waste collected.

Urban Mushroom Farm Close Up
Why oyster mushrooms?
Oyster mushrooms are incredible in their ability to grow on many different food sources (paper/card/spent brewery waste – even jeans), and they are the only type that happily grow on pure coffee grounds. They also happen to be some of the easiest mushrooms to grow and taste delicous!

Tray of Oysters
Do you have any other ideas for sustainable urban agriculture?
We’re inspired by a lot of what is going on right now in Urban Agriculture – especially aquaponics systems and growing in abandoned spaces or even underground. It’s the perfect use for space which no one else wants, and it gives the chance to re-connect people with fresh healthy food grown within metres of where they live.

Oyster mushroom gills
Where are your new premises and what does a mushroom farm look like?
The new premises are also in the centre of Exeter, on the 3rd floor of an office building which has been empty for a while. A mushroom farm basically consists of 2 main grow rooms – one warm and dark like summer, and the other like autumn; cool and damp with lots of fresh air. We build these grow rooms within the existing room and it provides quite a spectacle for people who visit straight off the high street full of shops.

GroCycle Kits
How do people take part on the online course, and what is the best part about growing mushrooms at home?
The online course is made up of 5 main modules and a forum where members from around the world share their experiences and ask questions to help in their learning. Members work through the modules at their own pace and then put the growing into practice wherever they live. There’s currently members in 15 countries around the world! The best thing about growing mushrooms at home is actually just watching them grow – it happens so fast and it’s a wonder of nature. Check out the time lapse video below that a customer of ours made to see what I mean.


Support the Kickstarter campaign here.

Categories ,Adam Sayner, ,Aquaponics, ,Coffee, ,Coffee Grounds, ,Devon, ,Eric Jong, ,Exeter, ,Gourmet mushrooms, ,GroCycle, ,Kickstarter, ,Mushroom Farm, ,mushrooms, ,Oyster Mushrooms, ,University of Sussex, ,Urban Agriculture, ,Urban Mushroom Farm

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