Edible Hats

Monday, 19 September 2011

Greening heads at Harvest at Jimmy's Festival!

No wasted growing space- even in Suffolk!

We were excited to be invited by the official Guerrilla Gardener to lead a workshop showing people how to create their own edible hats at Harvest at Jimmy's; this little food & family-friendly Suffolk festival. As a warm-up to Monty Don, who was on next, we thought this couldn't be beaten, with Monty managing to do a fine job of modelling our Garlic Chives Fez.

For this festival the micro-salad maestro Charles, of Teign Valley micro herbs, had provided us with a feast of delicious young plants all handily grown on matting. Perfect for rustling up a quick edible fascinator to accompany a light lunch with the aid of little more than a stapler,a base, elastic and some braid! People were soon sporting some fantastic creations safe in the knowledge that they would soon be dining on salad that usually graces top restaurant tables, and now their heads! Russian kale, pak choi, mustard, red cabbage (stunning with it's red stalks) and fennel were just some of the choice specialities, all grown 'hydroponically' in nutrient enriched water.

An incredible herby hat concoction- inspired!

This was all perfect for the day and light snacking, but it had to be pointed out that as a longterm planting option for headwear, nasturtiums simply cannot be beaten either in visual impact, spicey taste (leaves, flowers, seeds- the lot!) and lightness (their roots are TINY).

Planting up a cycle helmet with micro herbs.

The next mission is to get cyclists planting up their safety helmets- the holes are perfect and what better incentive to put one on?

A big thank you to the Richard and Lyla of www.guerrillagardening.org, our fantastic helpers, Monty and of course all the great people we met, donned salad and joined in so enthusiastically- keep the green alive and send us your photos!

Poppy Morley sporting a very funky 80's styling of Russian Kale.

Monday, 12 September 2011

Thames Festival does it again

A fantastic time was had by all on Saturday at Southwark's Feast on the Bridge- it just seems to get busier and better every year! The sun was shining, and the atmosphere was fantastic- it was all very relaxed and family friendly, even with the addition of the FISHY FLASHER.

This year there was a sustainable fishing theme to the Feast on the Bridge so we did our bit to add a fishy twist to our headgear. The edible salad hats were joined by papier mache Fish Heads, flowerpot sushi fascinators, carved carrot fish hanging in Fairground bags, a roaming Fishy Flasher with inbuilt fish quiz, and a head-born Fishing for Compliments.

We were lucky enough to be next to Crayfish Bob who was dolling out free Thames crayfish (apparently an invasive species) to the masses and Tim Mitchell with his brilliant cardboard underwater studio. Opposite us people were busy milling flour with the aid of a hairdryer, there was never a dull moment!

Even the hurricane managed to behave itself, only making Fishing for Compliments a little bit more challenging...

with thanks to Tim Mitchel

We had an incredible crew of artists and supporters to help spread the word so what more can we say but a huge thanks to everyone who got involved. And last but not least, congratulations to the public who were the real stars of the show- watch this space...more photos coming shortly!
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Members of the public were invited to put on our version of the Cornish Stargazy fish pies which fishermen would eat to celebrate returning home. Armed with a fishing rod, others then had a challenge to fish a compliment out by hooking one and reading what it said...

Generally along the lines of "Cod, you're gorgeous."