The fruits of our labours... a harvest to savour from the heart of the city

But the flower isn't just pretty and pollen-rich. Lovers of natural produce adore the elderflower, some using it to make cordial, wine or "champagne". In Heeley, an inner-city neighbourhood of Sheffield, we're out early with the recyclable bag, finding free sources of elderflower for thirsty fans of locally-grown and sustainable food.

We find it in abundance in Mount Pleasant Park, five minutes walk from Tom James's terraced home. Along the way, a fair number of tiny front gardens have tomatoes or strawberries growing in big pots. There's even a woman around the corner who grows an array of Chinese vegetables, including Pak Choi, in her small patch.

Tom and his friend Daniele Rinaudo hop up on to a wall to reach the higher heads of flowers, choosing the ones whose pollen is still light yellow. Within minutes, the bag is almost full, and before bed tonight Tom will probably have started the overnight process of making his next batch of cordial, a refreshing and lightly melon-y quencher.

There are plenty of elder trees to choose from. It's great to think we're only a stone's throw from the city centre and harvesting food in a public place. Mind you, it's probably not so far back in time that this very spot might well have been a farm. Nowadays most people around here will buy from the supermarket, heedless of what might be growing around them and could be enjoyed for free.

Elderflowers won't feed the family, but harvesting unwanted and unpicked fruit in the autumn can make some inroads into providing local food, saving money and helping the planet by cutting out miles covered between farm and plate.

Abundance, a Sheffield-based non-profit project for harvesting fruit across the city, is spreading fast across the country, and has just won a national award for grass roots projects that take real action on green living and climate change.

Tom, Daniele and others identify trees where fruit is not picked, get permission from the owner (if on private land) and then organise a harvest. The more intrepid volunteers climb the tree and shake its branches. Others hold the tarpaulin below to catch the produce.

Apples (or pears) are then sorted and the majority distributed among good causes in the city. Volunteers get some, as does the owner of the tree, if they want them, and the more bruised fruit is used to make jams, chutneys and juice that are given to community cafs and shops.

"My main interest in all of this is the climate change angle," says Tom, who works as a freelance writer and in a caf. "In the UK, we import 70 per cent of our food from elsewhere, including 95 per cent of our fruit. It's madness." Sheffield has an incredibly busy food network, mapping food sources, running community allotments, sharing knowledge about growing food, and Abundance runs under the umbrella group Grow Sheffield.

"The ideas are spreading because people are becoming more concerned and aware about consumerism and ethical lifestyle choices," says Daniele. Abundance grew out of a couple of local community activists noticing how many fruit trees were dropping fruit which was then left to rot.

The first year's harvest, three years ago involved a handful of volunteers; now there are 200-odd prepared to spend their Sunday morning picking fruit. In the thick of the autumn, outings may be as frequent as four times a week. They work in different areas of the city, many turning up on foot or bicycle.

"The strange thing is that people with these lovely trees in their gardens are often letting the flavoursome but knobbly fruit go to waste and travelling to Tesco to buy uniformly-sized, cold and woolly tasting Golden Delicious."

Last autumn's harvest included apples, pears, plums, damsons, quince, apricots, figs,cherries peaches, hazelnuts and walnuts. Some of the food was found in public places including parks and by roadsides, where no permission is needed to pick.

"It's not just about the environment and good nutrition," says Tom. "It's a community doing something for itself and also having fun. We've met so many great people."

In Leeds, where there is a similar project and a lively network of people who are only too keen to help others to grow their own food, the NHS, Leeds City Council and Leeds Metropolitan University have joined forces in a project called Back to Front, which aims to encourage crop production in inner-city front gardens.

Three demonstration gardens are being created in Harehills. With a budget of 300 per garden, and using recycled or donated materials as far as possible, these little oases will, it's hoped, be a model to neighbours and passers-by of what can be done in a small urban space.

Landscape design students from Leeds Met have worked with three householders to bring their ideas to life. The students are also doing the hard graft with shovels and saws. Funding has come from the Improvement and Development Agency for local government.

Marie-Pierre, who lives in a housing co-operative property, is about to see the 50 sq metre front garden space she shares with four other

tenants transformed. They have worked with Leeds Met garden design researcher Alma Clavin and lecturer Emma Oldroyd, and have come up with a scheme to provide raised beds, a small greenhouse, a screen to camouflage the bins, and an apple tree. Fruit, vegetables and flowers will be grown alongside each other.

Marie-Pierre, who grew up in a vineyard in northern France, is very excited. "I have an allotment in Seacroft, so I'm used to growing some of my own food, but I have never successfully grown cucumbers. They need a sheltered sunny place and lots of attention. I want to be able to have things in the same beds that will take over from each other, so there is always something going on. But we'll also have to learn about which foods don't like to grow together.

"My neighbour wants the garden to have lovely scents, too, and we're going to provide for everyone's ideas." Work should be starting any day now, and completed in a couple of weeks.

Alma says the project is as much about community as it is about health. "People who see the demonstration gardens will hopefully stop and ask about them, and take some ideas home."

Marie-Pierre is hopeful that the garden can be run with minimal outlay, although she recognises that growing your own isn't necessarily cheaper than buying at the supermarket.

The Back to Front project grew out of research originally done by Roxana Summers, an NHS health improvement specialist working with vulnerable groups in Leeds. She found that one of the barriers to using front gardens to cultivate food crops was the public perception that is was "not acceptable" or "only very poor people do it."

"We want the project to help show people that it is acceptable and desirable thing to do. It has the potential to help people to make friends, reduce food miles, save money and give people the opportunity to consider changing their diet, improving their health. I think it will also give people a certain pride in where they live.

"I'd love to see the idea catch on, so that in a few years' time streets will be renamed 'Carrot Crescent', 'Beetroot Street' and ' Salsify Place.' I think it will bring people together and make them more self-sufficient. That has to be a good thing."

n [email protected]. Volunteers need to have some free time between August and the end of October. Groups wishing to receive fresh fruit should contact Abundance.

n The Back to Front team need donations of materials from local tradesmen to help in the building of the demonstration gardens. Anyone who can help should contact e.oldroyd @leedsmet.ac.uk

HOME-MADE ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

(makes 500ml)

500ml water

2 lemons, peeled and diced

7/8 heads of elderflower

250g white sugar

A clean, sterilised bottle with a screw top

Put the water, diced lemons and elderflowers in a bowl. Pull the flowers off the stalks and add. Cover with a heavy plate, and leave overnight.

In the morning, pour the mixture through a sieve (squeeze the juice out of the lemons with your hands).

Strain this mixture through a tea-towel into a separate bowl.

Put the strained mixture in a saucepan, add the sugar, then heat to boiling point.

Place the mixture in a sterilised glass bottle, screw on the lid, and leave to cool.

Serve diluted to taste, or with lemonade.