St James The Great

​Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

​Geoff's Eco Tips

​Geoff’s Eco-Challenge for April: The Food Challenge

Ensuring everyone in the world has access to a nutritious diet in a sustainable way is one of the greatest challenges we face.

Food accounts for over a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Our food production system lies at the heart of trying to tackle climate change, reducing water stress, pollution, restoring lands back to forests or grasslands, and protecting the world’s wildlife.

Did you know….

50% of the world's habitable land is used for agriculture.

25% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food.

70% of global freshwater is used for agriculture and the growing of food.

78% of global ocean and freshwater pollution from nutrient-rich pollutants is caused by agriculture.

Here are your challenges:

Step 1. Don’t throw it, regrow it! You can regrow a lot of tasty vegetables (such as onions, leeks, potatoes, celery, fennel, lettuce and cabbage) from scraps.

Have a go at spring onions, instructions as follows:

(a) Slice off the ends of the bulbs, leaving roots attached.

(b) Stand the bulbs root-end down in a small jar or egg cup. Add enough water to cover the roots but leave the top edges above water.

(c) Set on a windowsill and keep the roots moist. After a few days, green shoots will emerge from the tops of the bulbs. After that, they’ll grow very quickly.

(d) Keep the roots submerged and change water at least once a week.

(e) Plant out in soil if you want to continue growing.

Step 2. Collect and sow fruit and vegetable seeds.

Here is a list of fruit and veg (bought from the supermarket or greengrocer) which you can collect the seeds from and sow straight into compost in a container with holes at the bottom. Just make sure the seeds are buried about 1cm deep under the compost and water after planting.

 Tomatoes

 Chilli Peppers

 Sweet Peppers

 Lemons and limes

 Pumpkins and squash

 Dried peas

 Dried beans

You can also regrow avocados by either burying the big stone in compost so it is just poking about 1cm above the top or partially submerging the stone in water, then replanting it when the roots form.

Some plants won’t fruit unless they are pollinated, so once the plants are big enough you might need to put them outside so pollinators like bees can reach them.

With love,

Geoff