Bring your dog to Eden on Sat 18 and Sun 19 May

Are you a dog owner? You can bring your pet to Eden for the first time over the weekend of 18 and 19 May 2013! Up until then only registered assistance dogs have been allowed in but due to popular demand we’ve decided to relax the rules for that weekend only.

You can bring your dog, at no extra charge, to enjoy the miles of paths within the former china clay quarry but they won’t be allowed in the Biomes or other undercover areas. Dog litter bins and drinking water will be provided, and there will be activities including a display by a police dog-handler.

We’ve always aimed to be dog friendly by providing shaded parking shelters in four car parks. The shelters in Orange car park have a water tap, and stewards supply water to the other three car parks, Melon, Cherry and Lemon.

Eden’s Operations Director Ian Williams said: “Lots of visitors have asked us if we would consider letting dogs in. We will see how Dog Weekend at Eden goes and how it is well received by dog owners and general visitors and will then make a call on whether we have more dog days in the future.”

Hound rules

Eden is confident dogs will behave but is applying a few ground rules for owners.

Dogs should be:

• Kept on a lead at all times.
• With their handlers at all times.
• Only be walked on paths.
• Kept away from play areas.
• Not taken into buildings other than through the Visitor Centre.

Comments:

43 comments

Category:

• Uncategorized

Tags:

animals, dogs, pets

Edible wild food: Alexanders

Eden’s foraging expert Emma Gunn shares some easy foraged Alexanders recipes. Every part of this wayside plant – also known as horse parsley – can be eaten.

April and May is the perfect time to forage for Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum), a wild food which grows on cliff tops and in seaside hedgerows.

The beautiful, lime green plant was introduced to the UK by the Romans, who called it the ‘pot herb of Alexandria’, because every part of it is edible. People say it tastes similar to angelica and parsley, but there are many different ways of bringing out its flavour.

Recipes for Alexanders

Here are just a few ways to prepare this wild food.

Fresh stems, flowers and leaves
To enjoy these as a fresh vegetable – similar to asparagus – try peeling the stems and boiling them for five to ten minutes, or until tender. Do the same with unripe flower heads, or eat them raw.

Larger leaves can be blanched briefly, while younger ones can be eaten raw.

Candied stems
You can also candy stems like angelica, to use for decorating cakes or to eat as a sweet snack. First, boil the peeled stems in a pan of water and sugar (one cup of each) for 10 minutes. Then drain and lay them on a non-stick parchment that has been covered with caster sugar, and sprinkle some more on top. When they’re dry, shake off the excess sugar and store in a sealed, dry container.

Tempura flower heads
Both the ripe and unripe flower heads can be dipped in tempura batter and deep fried until golden, Japanese style.

Spicy seeds
The hard black seeds appear later in the year and can be used as a spice, much like black pepper.

Roasted roots
Scrub, peel and slice the roots – much like you would with parsnips – toss them in sunflower oil, season, then roast at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes or so, until tender. Remember, you mustn’t dig up plants without the landowner’s permission.

How to forage for Alexanders

Alexanders, also known as Alisanders or horse parsley, grows on cliff tops and in seaside hedgerows. In the spring it produces yellow-green flowers and, in the autumn, black seeds. It grows to a height of 50 to 120cms with a hollow and grooved stem. Always take a good field guide with you – and read Emma’s golden rules of foraging – before you go.

Emma’s golden rules of foraging

1. Choose easily recognisable plants
   If you’re new to foraging, don’t choose plants that are easily confused with others. Some plants can be poisonous, especially mushrooms, so don’t risk it. As foraging guru Richard Mabey wrote in his brilliant Food for free book, ‘Indigestion brought on by uncertainty about whether you have done yourself in can be just as uncomfortable as real food poisoning!’
2. Invest in a good field guide
   Take along a guide that includes illustrations or photos, as well as Latin names. These botanical names can give great clues about the plant, such as its habitat. For example, the suffix montana means it grows in the mountains, maritimus denotes that it is found on the coast, halimus in the dunes, while officinalis shows that it is a medicinal plant.
3. Keep hygiene in mind
   Avoid picking plants which may be dirty or polluted. For example, pick from areas away from the road. Also, don’t gather from low down along a path, where dogs or livestock may have brushed past. Don’t forage straight after a heavy rainfall, when plants in the ground – and shellfish – may be contaminated with run-off from the fields, which can contain chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Always give your leaves, flowers, fruit, nuts and roots a good wash before use.
4. Don’t be greedy
   Remember, you’re sharing nature’s harvest with wildlife too, so don’t take all of it. Also, be careful not to damage plants. If you only need the leaves, don’t pull them up by the roots; use a pair of secateurs. That way there’ll be lots more to harvest next year too.
5. Remember where you found it 
   Make a note of the lane, field or beach where you found the plant, so that you can come back to that hotspot next year as well.

Comments:

No comments

Categories:

Plants, Recipe

Tags:

Foraging, Wild food

What is pollination? – a diagram for kids

At our Freaky Nature with Bugs event this half-term (28 May – 2 June 2013), get the low down on the good, the bad and the ugly of the bug world; discover which bugs are plant-friendly and which definitely aren’t!

Pollination is a very important part of the life cycle of plants. Insects, birds, bats and the wind take pollen between flowering plants, which means the plants can make seeds and reproduce (have babies!). The diagram below shows how:

What is pollination?

Illustrations for ‘What is pollination?’ diagram by Chris Bisson, Eden Project Plant Records Manager. Follow him on Twitter (@edenscience) and see more of his illustrations on his personal blog.

Learning about the life cycle of plants

We hope that adults will find our diagram useful for teaching children how pollination is crucial to life on Earth. Teachers of Key Stage 2 pupils (aged 8-11 years) should find it useful when teaching the basic elements of the life cycle of plants.

Comments:

No comments

Categories:

Freaky Nature, Plants

Tags:

bugs, insects, plants, pollination

Pedal down to our big bike bash on Bank Holiday Monday (6 May)

We’re inviting cyclists on bikes of all shapes and sizes to pedal through our iconic site for the first time, this Bank Holiday Monday (6 May 2013). You can arrive at any time in the morning, but to be part of the guided Tour d’Eden, please get to the  the Visitor Centre (Eden’s main entrance building) at 11.45am.

The Tour d’Eden will take a route up the hill to Orange Car Park. Cyclists will then circle the Eden outer estate before hitting the downhill route to the Core, riding through the Eden site and then up the steep, winding land train route back to the Visitor Centre. Organisers emphasise that it is not a race, more of a cycling parade. This route is being opened to bikes especially for this day.

Locals’ Annual Pass back for one day only

We already give a discount for cyclists but for one day only, people from Cornwall and Devon – whether they cycle to Eden or not – will be able to take advantage of the return of the Locals’ Annual Pass which allows unlimited entry to Eden for a year, costing just £7.50. Proof of residence and a photo ID is required.

Cyclists who ride to Eden for the event but don’t live in Cornwall or Devon can still take advantage of a specially discounted rate of £15 for adults. Young cyclists aged 16 or under will be admitted free. Everyone who rides their bike to Eden on the day will get a special cyclists’ snack breakfast as part of the entry price.

Programme for the day

From 9 am – arrive at the Visitor Centre and park your bike in the designated area. To enter the Eden Project, if you’re from Cornwall or Devon you can get your Locals’ Annual Pass for £7.50 for year-long admission (proof of address and photo ID required). Cyclists from elsewhere get a special rate of £15.

Cyclists can fuel up for the big ride with complementary snack, available from the Eden Bakery (in the building between the Biomes) with the token you’ll be given when you pay at the Ticketing Desk and identify yourself as a cyclist.

11.45 am – cyclists return to their bikes at the Visitor Centre to prepare for the start of the Tour d’Eden.

12 noon – The parade of cyclists will be led by the Ramon of the Eden Project who will be riding a red bike. Please ride with care and consideration and follow Ramon at all times. Please obey the rules of the road and ride on the left. Eden will have traffic marshals posted along the route. The two-mile route goes around the Eden estate before descending into the pit and finishing back at the Visitor Centre after a steep and snaking ride up the side of the pit.

Other activities for cyclists on the day

10am-2pm – Gary Moger of Revolve Bicycle Works will be offering advice and tips on a variety of bike maintenance issues in the Visitor Centre.

11am-midday – Burn the Curtain theatre company will be running workshops in the Visitor Centre for people to decorate their bikes to look like animals in preparation for the big ride.

Use the Clay Trails!

Riders are being encouraged to come from all corners of the South West and they have the option to use the picturesque clay trails for their route through Eden’s surroundings. Eden, along with Wheal Martyn, Sustrans and a variety of local businesses, agencies and community members have come together to form the Clay Trails Partnership to make sure that the trails are available to cyclists, walkers and horse-riders alike. See the Clay Trails website for maps.

Start initiative’s Be the Start campaign

The Tour d’Eden is part of the Start initiative’s Be the Start campaign. Taking place throughout May, the campaign will help people find out about all the different, simple ways people can live a more sustainable lifestyle and be the start of the better, more sustainable future we all want. Start was inspired by HRH the Prince of Wales and its objective is to present an inspiring picture of a sustainable future.

Comments:

1 comment

Categories:

Fun, Sport, Sustainability

Tags:

bikes, Clay Trails, Cycling

Training day gets teachers out of the classroom

Our Education Team has just had a great day running a teacher training session at Bosvigo Primary school in Truro, Cornwall, where 22 members of staff turned up a day early for the beginning of term for a very unusual mission….

….to explore a new planet (the playground) on a perilous space mission led by the intrepid Brigadier Barbie and Captain Ken Eden. It was tough journey into outer space, but the teachers survived the journey through the atmosphere – and once through the magic portal things started to take shape nicely.

Together, the space team worked out how to tell the time by making a simple sundial, studied new life forms on the planet and even got down to classifying the strange natural world around them.

This might all sound like a bit of a day off, but it was actually part of a special teacher training session to give Bosvigo’s teachers inspiration on teaching science outdoors. We designed each activity to introduce teachers to new ways of turning complicated subjects into a story that challenges pupils to use a range of skills, but which reaches the same curriculum outcomes as conventional learning methods.

We certainly had fun and the teachers told us the ‘enjoyable and inspirational day’ helped them realise that ‘the possibilities are endless’.

The team at Bosvigo showed that they could let their hair down and get stuck in to a day of muddy adventures – as well as engage in some serious discussion about learning outcomes and the National Curriculum.

Try this at school: Sound maps

Here’s one of the science-related activities that we introduced to the team at Bosvigo. It’s very adaptable and can inspire all sorts of interesting work in the classroom.

Many hunters spend a lot of time sitting still waiting for things to come to them. But this is a way you can hunt down sounds – and it works surprisingly well with the noisiest, most fidgety groups.

Resources you’ll need:

• Small pieces of paper or blank postcards
• Pens
• Ears

Instructions

1. Give everyone a blank postcard or small piece of paper and a pen and ask them to draw a cross in the middle of it to represent themself.
2. Space the group out and ask them to sit quietly and record the sounds that they hear. If the sound is on the left then mark it on the left, or behind, in front etc.
3. You can ask them to draw the thing that makes the sound – or, if you want to stretch them, insist that they draw what the sound looks like.
4. You could expand the discussion to talk about a sound landscape, which other animals need sound, how visually impaired people use sound, and even how people who live in quieter places have much better hearing than us!

We love running teacher training days, so if you feel that your school should do more teaching outside take a look at our website or give us a call on 01726 811913 to find out about the different ways we can help – wherever you are in the UK. 

Comments:

No comments

Categories:

Education, Play

Tag:

Outdoor learning

Help needed from users of marked and mapped leisure trails

Are you a keen leisure walker, wheelchair user, cyclist or horse rider who likes to explore marked/mapped trails? We’d really like to hear from you if you can spare some time to help us with our plans for a website (or maybe other digital resources) for trails in the ‘Clay Country’ which surrounds us here at Eden.

To help us work out how to build the most useful digital resources for potential users of the trails, we’d like to spend around 20 – 30 minutes talking to you about your experience of finding, planning and completing walks/rides on such trails. Where it’s practical, we can arrange the interviews face to face at Eden or in the St Austell area otherwise we can do them over Skype or the phone. In return for your time, we can offer free entry to Eden for yourself and one other person on a day of your choosing.

If you think you may be able to help, please email helpus@edenproject.com to let us know you’re interested and we’ll email you back with a few questions to find out more about you. We’ll be aiming to complete the interviews in the week beginning 22nd April. At the time of writing that’s next week so ideally we’d like to hear from you this week so that we can get the interviews planned in.

Comments:

No comments

Category:

• Uncategorized

Get on yer bike at Eden’s electric bike show

Come and have a free ride on an electric bike at the Eden Project later this month.

We’re giving visitors the opportunity to test-drive one of these new breeds of vehicle around the Eden Project site at our electric bike show, which runs from Saturday 20 April until Wednesday 24 April 2013.

Based in hilly Cornwall, we’re a big fan of electrically assisted bikes, which can give people that extra boost they need to get up a steep incline – as well as the confidence to take the first steps towards getting fit.

We’ve even got several A2B electric bikes here in the office for staff to get around on.

Janine Kelk, our Sustainable Transport Coordinator, said: ‘I meet lots of people who’d like to cycle more, either to cut costs, cut emissions or get more exercise, but aren’t sure where to start.

‘The new breed of bikes on display at the show demonstrates that an extra boost up hills can give everyone the confidence to get cycling, whatever level of ability they have. With no tax or insurance to pay for, electric bikes are efficient and affordable too.’

Entrance to the show is included in the admission price to Eden – and if you turn up on a bike, on foot or using public transport you get reduced entry to the site!

 What’s on at the show

• Test-drive an electric bike: take a spin around our outdoor arena or up one of Eden’s paths, from 10am until 4.30pm each day. Visitors must be aged 14 years or over to drive an electric bike. Helmets provided.
• Check out the latest models: the top manufacturers are bringing their electric assisted bike ranges along, including a recumbent bike; those really kooky ones where the rider cycles in a reclined position.
• Talk to the experts: 12 companies will be there to answer all your questions, including Ocean Cycle from Torpoint and Falmouth-based ICE Trikes.
• Guided bike rides around the Clay Trails: Sustrans is leading a 10-mile bike ride – from Eden to Wheal Martyn Museum and back – on Saturday 20 April at 11am and 2.30pm. Electric and conventional bikes welcome! Book your free place by calling Brian on 07538 639901, and meet the group 10 minutes before the departure time at the bike racks in Eden’s Banana Coach Park.

The low-down on electric bikes

Definition: Electric bikes are basically conventional bicycles which have been adapted to include an electric motor. Cyclists still pedal on electric bikes, but the motor helps them go further than they would under their own power.

Speed: The motor on an electric bike takes you up to 15.5mph, which is a more than ample speed for a general commute. You can of course pedal faster than that or pick up more speed going downhill.

Range: Most electric bike manufacturers claim an average of 20-30 miles before they need charging. This all depends on the weight of the cyclist, the steepness of hills, the wind, how well the tyres are pumped up, and how much you pedal!

Charging: On average, it takes four to six hours to charge an electric bike battery using a standard 13 amp socket.

The law: Cyclists must be over 14 years of age to ride an electric bike. Electric bikes get the both of best worlds, being allowed to use off-road cycle paths and designated crossings as well as roads (apart from motorways).

Cost: Electric bikes start from around £500, going up to well over £3,000.

Why buy an electric bike?

1. Get fit
   Electric bikes can help people use alternative transport to cars, getting fresh air and being active. Sometimes having an electrically assisted bike is the first step someone needs to start cycling.
2. Save money
   While electric bikes do tend to cost more to buy than a conventional bike, running an electric bike is much cheaper than running a car. Electric Bike Magazine reckons it costs between 5 and 8 pence a mile, including fuel (ie plugging it in to the mains), parts, servicing and tolls, compared with anywhere between 26 pence and £ 2.38 a mile for cars. They are exempt from tax and insurance.
3. Save time
   Electric bikes go faster than conventional bikes. They are also much easier to park in town centres than cars.
4. Reduce emissions
   Electric bikes can take you up to speeds of 15.5mph using much less fuel than a car.

Visit the electric bike show at the Eden Project  between 20 and 24 April 2013. 

Comments:

2 comments

Categories:

Health, Sustainability

Tags:

Cycling, Electric bike

International Male Voice Choir Festival at Eden: 5 and 6 May

Join us on Sunday 5 and Monday 6 May to hear some wonderful choral music in our Mediterranean Biome courtesy of a range of male voice choirs, listed below. Entry to the performances is included in the normal admission price to Eden on those days.

For more info  about the Festival see www.cimvcf.org.uk

Sunday 5 May: programme

• 10.30am, Westerton
• 11am, Harmonie LHH
• 11.30pm, Sydney Male Choir
• 12pm, Czech Boys Choir
• 12.30pm, New Mill Noon
• 1pm, SWGMC
• 1.30pm, Colne Valley
• 2pm, St Petersburg Boys Choir
• 2.30pm, Deurnes Mannenkoor
• 3pm, Basingstoke

Monday 6 May: programme

• 10.30am, Bristol MVC
• 11am, Leigh Orpheus
• 11.30am, Carlton MVC
• 12pm, Tideswell
• 12.30pm, Epsom
• 1pm, Synergy
• 1.30pm, Taunton Deane
• 2pm, Chorale des Mineurs Polonais de Douai
• 2.30pm, Builth
• 3pm, Dagilelis

Comments:

2 comments

Category:

• Music

Tags:

Choir, Music

The strange story of Darwin’s orchid

At our Freaky Nature event this Easter holidays (29 March – 14 April 2013), we’re exploring the freaky side of food, where it comes from and, of course,  where plants come in.

This beautiful and unusual flower tells a fascinating story of how plants and animals can evolve together (co-evolve) to help each other survive. Come and see the Darwin’s orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale) as part of our Freaky Nature event this Easter holiday!

The flower, also known as the Madagascar orchid after its Indian Ocean island home, was discovered in 1798 by Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars, a keen botanist and aristocrat exiled during the French Revolution.

But it was Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who developed the famous theory of evolution, who made an intriguing prediction about the orchid in 1862. He saw that the flower had an unusually long spur measuring about 30cm. The nectar, which attracts insects to pollinate the plant, gathers at the bottom of this spur. This led Darwin to predict that the spur had co-evolved with a pollinator moth with an equally long feeding tube (proboscis).

In 1903, several years after Darwin died, such a moth was found: the Malagasy subspecies of the African hawkmoth! Referring to Darwin’s prediction, the moth given the scientific name Xanthopan morganii praedicta.

What great proof not only of evolutionary theory but also of Darwin’s genius!

If the moth was human-size, its proboscis would be over 5 metres long!

Imagine how strange it would be to have a tongue three times the length of your body. We’ve done some ‘mothematics’ and come up with this diagram to show how massively long the feeding tube of this moth is.

With apologies to the great Mr Darwin, we’ve used him as a model for this demonstration. He was about 6 foot (1.8m) tall, so if he had a tongue in the same proportion as the moth, it would have been an enormous 5.4m long!

Find out more on our Darwin’s orchid plant profile page.

Illustrations by Chris Bisson, Eden Project Plant Records Manager. Follow him on Twitter: @edenscience
Photo manipulation by Matthew Saunders

Comments:

No comments

Categories:

Freaky Nature, Plants

Tags:

Charles Darwin, Freaky Nature, orchid, plants

Visit the new American Indian tule hut in our Biome

We’ve just unveiled a brand spanking new exhibit in our California garden in the Med Biome. Amidst the chaparral and wildflowers you’ll find a sweet little round hut, thatched with bulrushes.

It’s our interpretation of the traditional American Indian tule huts made by native American Indians across California.

Just like theirs, our hut is made of a spherical wooden frame – a bit like a bender – and covered in bulrushes (‘tule’ in Spanish). But while the native tribes used willow and sycamore to erect a framed hemisphere, we’ve sourced wood from trees a bit closer to home, substituting the sycamore with poplar and hazel.

Our rushes (the English freshwater bulrush, Schoeneplectus lacustris) were harvested by hand from the River Great Ouse in Bedfordshire – from punts! We sourced them from Rush Matters, where Felicity Irons and her team dry them in the wind and sun, in a British tradition which goes back centuries.

American Indian tule huts
Tule was central to the life of American Indian tribes, particularly the Chumash tribe, who once numbered 15,000 – 30,000 people.

In Chumash villages across California whole families would live in tule huts measuring between four and twelve metres across. Because they were easy to repair – using readily available materials – the structures would last a lifetime.

Rushes were used to make a whole range of things, such as mats and clothing, nappies and menstrual padding, and even large, round, flat shoes for walking on mud. Of course the Chumash ate tule as well, grinding seeds into flour, cooking roots, and eating raw shoots in the spring.

By regularly cutting and burning the rushes – which cleared out old, dying stems and stimulated new growth – the Chumash helped keep the marshes productive, offering a great habitat for wildlife too.

Medicine wheels and vernal pools
You’ll spot a circle of stones outside our tule hut. We’ve echoed the Native American Indian medicine wheel here, featuring Mother Earth, Father Sky, Spirit Tree and the points of the compass. Tribes would use sacred spaces like these to communicate with the spiritual and natural world – knowing that, as hunter-gatherers, they were very dependent on nature.

Next year we’re also creating a vernal pool, one of the natural rainwater basins that were once typical of the Californian landscape. Around it you’ll see a whole variety of Californian plants growing up around the hut. The seeds are on their way over from Santa Barbara Botanic Garden as we write…

Come and visit the hut when you’re next at Eden!

With thanks to Rush Matters for their great photos.

Comments:

No comments

Categories:

Materials, Plants

Tags:

American Indian, Tule