Photos from Roots and Shoots Apple Day 2010 - Autumn is here

The changing of the seasons is easily missed in a large metropolis such as London.  In Kennington, during autumn, the leaves take the same course from the trees as they do in the countryside.  It just seems easier to miss the seasons it if you spend three quarters of your week cooped up in an office (as I do).  But Roots and Shoots Apple day always makes me feel as though autumn has arrived properly...  Except, of course, that today was so warm, that you might have missed the autumnal cheer had it not been for the apples.  This post forms the second part of a belated series started in 2009 on "Reasons I love SE11".  Apple Day really is a great opportunity to meet local people, and do something a little bit different.

Whilst we're on the topic of apples (and cider), you should all go and take a look at Sid Boggle's post on beer in Kennington.  That, of course, was a failed attempt at word association, just to promote his blog post about Kennington beers, but do take a look any way as I think he'd appreciate comments from local piss-heads (erm, beer appreciators etc).

In the meantime, I want to share with you the miles of wonderful apples I saw today.  I bought one of the "Pitmaston Pineapple" variety, but I'm afraid I lack the developed sense of taste possessed by wine appreciators (and apple describers too).  It was delicious, but just tasted  like apple :

A bathing falcon and a cat.  No, it's an owl.  Or maybe it's a cat.  Today I learned that any owl with yellow eyes is diurnal (awake during the day), although the eyes on this one are hard to see on account of the fluff:

The falcon mid-launch.  We were treated to a fantastic display of falcon flight and owl handling.  The falcon was considerably better behaved:

The apple trees pictured (top) are dwarf trees that only grow to 6 feet, and are thus possibly suitable for a balcony (my main growing arena).   The dwarf variety labelled "Cellini" is apparently local to Vauxhall:

Naturally, I could neither resist the lure of the barbecue nor the apple juice.  The fuzziness of the barbecue is due to the smoke from the sausages.  The leaves on the wall were as lovely as they appear:

The woman in charge of the corn dolly instruction was great, and the children looked to be having fun.  Example corn dollies can be seen in the photo just below.  The chap at the bottom was at Roots and Shoots representing Solar Aid, a charity that is working to enable local entrepreneurs in the developing world to build and sell solar powered products under a franchise named SunnyMoney.  Their solar products eg. lights and phone chargers should reduce CO2 emissions and benefit the people who buy and sell them (they're much safer than kerosene lamps).  

I'm guessing that the solar people were present on account of the fact that the electricity in Roots and Shoots is generated, in part, from solar panels.  I also had a chat with a guy representing SolarCentury, a company that install solar panels and photovoltaic cells on private houses and on behalf of Housing Association.  If you install photovoltaic cells on your roof, they'll take between 7 and 12 years to pay for themselves.  They will last at 100% capacity for about 25 years, but will continue on at 80% until they eventually decay and need to be replaced.

You can't beat locally sourced food.  As you'll likely be aware, I can never resist photographing cupcakes.  The food from Arfa's kitchen was absolutely delicious.  If you see Arfa around, I recommend sampling her chicken curry:

Apple day always offers an opportunity to purchase bulbs and seeds.  I didn't buy any tulips, but I'm hoping for a crop of Lambeth-produced daffodils and crocuses in spring, and the Lambeth Horticultural Society (with whom the Kennington Gardens Society is affiliated) were very helpful in giving instructions about how to plant and look after the bulbs:

That's all folks, until next year...