Winners Announced! Harvest Festival Roundup
The results are in for our virtual Harvest Festival competition and we can now reveal the winners. In true country fayre style, the judges weren’t always in agreement, and we just had to include a few ‘special mentions’ for entries who very nearly made it to first place. 
Best Celebrity Look-alike
Winner – Pinocchio Potato
Potatoes that look like people, especially famous people, are always good fun, and in the end it was a battle of the tubers, with exotic oca Pom Bear look-alike going head to head with a cartoon rival.
Our winner, Pinocchio Potato, looked particularly like the character it was meant to represent, and got extra points for being part of a whole family discussion on the issue, and for including a cute photo of Pinocchio himself alongside it.
Well done to pumkinmunch, and her son Noah.
Most Exotic Crop
Winner - Oca (Oxalis Tuberosa)
Special mention: U-cumber
Special mention: a Yam called Malik
We were very impressed by the truly exotic crops that you are managing to grow here in the plain old UK. Mexican tree spinach looked both healthy and beautiful, and we agreed that being purple was enough to make a carrot exotic.
We had to give a special mention to Treeman for inventing a whole new vegetable (you can’t get more exotic than that) – the UCumber, and to junglejen for giving her exotic yam a nice exotic name, Malik. But in the end we were bowled over by Puruvian / Bolivian marvels the oca (Oxalis tuberosa). Well done to littlemy, who must surely have one of the most exotic allotments in London.
Happiest Chicken
Winner – Maid Marion in the Spinach Forest
Special mention – Fork lift chuck
Special mention – Digging to Australia
We never guessed there were so many happy chickens within the Landshare community! It was a joy to see them running wild and free-range, and to analyse them all for signs of elation. All the chickens entered looked pretty content to us, but we did think that Forklift Chicken and the chaps in Digging to Australia seemed to having a particularly good time. Thanks to ionaredtricycle and twinklekat for these.
The queen of the happy chucks though had to be Maid Marion, a handsome chicken who gets to parade her clean white feathers in a forest of healthy spinach and bright, pretty flowers. Congratulations to rc4194 who clearly loves her prize chuck, and not only because it wins her a River Cottage diary 2011.
Most Innovative Growing Space
Winner - Mobile Allotment
Special mention – Hazel-framed polytunnel
Special mention – Fruit, veg and herbs in the middle of town
From a bathroom windowledge stacked high with edibles on racks and dishes, to an edible archway of runnerbeans, Landsharers grow their grub in some strange and wonderful places! We loved the home-made polytunnel crafted from hazel, and the thriving bed of fruit, veg and herbs growing in the middle of Tunbridge Wells. Congrats to skirret and growers20869 for their brilliant growing spaces.
The prize goes to the brilliant mobile allotment created by avantgardening. It’s bright, it’s on wheels, it’s half-greenhouse, and it incorporates several innovative growing spaces including edible wellies and a half-football acting as a hanging basket. Brilliant.
Most Productive Square Metre
Winner - Square Foot Garden at Gardening Scotland
Jeni's lovely, lively doorway was certainly productive, with even the walls put to good use as a growing space.
But susanjpurple's truly economical square foot garden scooped the prize. She selected dwarf and compact plant varieties (growing them all from seed) to make sure her pallet garden was packed as tightly as possible.
We weren't the only ones to appreciate the productive pallet - it won silver in Gardening Scotland's 'Pallet Garden' competition.
Tastiest Recipe
Winner – Comforting Harvest Casserole
Special mention – Chilli-Brazilli Butternut Calzone
We were inspired by the great recipes posted by eatsensibly (check out their very sensible blackberry and pear upsidedown pudding), and took plenty of notes from greentoddler’s recipe for jam.
Chilli-Brazilli Butternut Calzone gets a special mention for its fabulous name! It also sounds like the perfect snack for Halloween parties in the allotment. But when it comes to autumn on the allotment, Skylady’s Comforting Harvest Casserole ticked all the buttons – healthy, hearty, and pulled straight from the ground.
Congratulations to everyone who entered our online Harvest Festival, especially the winners! Each of the category winners receives a River Cottage Diary 2011, which features Landshare matches, as well as River Cottage recipes and events.
Keep an eye on the news section for more great offers and chances of Landshare glory.
