April greetings to our lovely Supporters!

It's seasonal greens time and a mildish winter and early spring have meant good early crops with organic Pak Choi, chard, salad bags and herbs coming from East Lothian. We've got beautiful British asparagus too. Cyrenians Salad bags, a shop favourite, will be back soon!

We have exciting new grocery items to try out in the Wholefoods Pantry... Highlights to try are the quinoa snacks, a selection of Sarah Gray's handmade jams, and some scrumptious (and healthy) spreads. We are especially proud to now be carrying Mungoswells flour -  grown, dried and milled in East Lothian.

We look forward to celebrating our 3rd Birthday on the 1st of May and hope you'll come in for some cake! We're so proud of how far we've come. Next Saturday Session is Saturday 20th May - we'd love to see you there too!

Read on for a wrap up of our AGM and March Soup Saturday, an introduction to our new updated website, a profile of one of our fabulous high school volunteers, and a beautiful seasonal chard recipe.

Successful and sunny Soup Saturday!
 

Spring seemed to arrive just as we set out the table for the year's first Soup Saturday! Many thanks to all our existing customers and volunteers for popping by to say hello, and to our community engagement volunteers who prepared the soup and bread for sample and spent the morning chatting to passers-by.
We had three soup options available this month, along with Nim's freshly baked bread:

• Frankie's Creamy Mushroom and Fennel
• Julie's Beetroot, Carrot and Ginger
• Chelsea's Red Lentil and Lemon

All three recipes were available for people to take home and are now up in our new Recipe Book section on the website - check them out!
 
Thank you to Vegware's Community Fund for donating the completely compostable cups and spoons we use to share samples in our community engagement events.

As always, if you'd like to get involved in our community engagement events, we'd love to hear from you! Just email us at welovecommunity@diginbruntsfield.co.uk to find out more.
 

Euan has volunteered with us for 6 months now - not a bad effort whilst finishing up at high school we reckon! We caught up with him for a quick chat...

Why did you decide to Volunteer?
I had always been really interested in the shop and what it did. So I just went in one day and asked if I could Volunteer. I Started volunteering at the end of October 2016.
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What do you like about Dig-In?
I like all the good stuff that Dig-In stocks and I think it’s a really welcoming place. I have learned a lot since I started and I hope to learn a lot more.

What does a typical shift at Dig-In involve?  

I think a typical shift involves making sure all the shelf and fruit and vegetables are in stock. Serving the customers, changing prices if the prices on the stock has changed and learning lots of different new things!

Favourite product from the shop...or recipe from shop's produce...?
My favourite product from Dig-In is the tomato and basil crisps. I think they have a natural taste and do not taste too salty.

What do you do when you're not Digging in?

When I am not at Dig-In I am at St Thomas of Aquin's High School. I am just about to finish my last year. Afterwords I am going to be going on to college to study a preparation for employment

We're always looking for new volunteers! We have a great team but always room for more. We have new volunteers working on finance and handy shop person tasks but would love volunteers who can help with IT and shop displays.
 

Many thanks to all the Dig-In members and supporters from the wider community who joined us for our third Annual Supporters Event in March. More than 40 community members came along to the event, sending a clear message that our greengrocer holds a strong place in the heart of our community.  We were lucky to have two fantastic guest speakers - Pete Ritchie, Executive Director of Nourish, Scotland and Isla McCulloch - Vice Chair of Dig-In.

We learned a lot from Pete about how the Common Agricultural Policy affects the context of farming and agriculture in Scotland -  Did you know, for example, that we export most of the food we produce here in Scotland?  And that we import most of the food we eat?

Scottish farmers produce 1,500% of the lamb we eat here, while the majority of our sheep farmers lose money each year, even after their subsidy. We export 90% of our fish to other countries, while we import 90% of the fish we actually eat here. In Scotland today, around 20% of gross farm income - and about two-thirds of net farm income - is EU subsidy.
 
As we hover on the brink of Brexit, consultations on a Good Food Nation Bill and a possible second independence referendum, Pete predicts change in Scottish farming and agriculture and that food and farming will be near the top of the political agenda.

Our second speaker was Isla McCulloch, Secretary of the Management Committee, who gave an equally stimulating talk about Dig-In’s current place on the high street in Bruntsfield, our unique position and some of the challenges we face. Isla’s passion for our community enterprise shone through as she talked about the challenges and opportunities for Dig-In as it moves into its fourth year of trading in Bruntsfield.
 
Both speakers prompted some interesting questions and discussion during the break, which was also an opportunity to sample some tasty snacks and drinks provided by Dig-In and some of our suppliers.
 
Moving on to the business part of the evening, our Chairperson Catherine Francis reported on our sales, financial position and staff changes over the last year. Whilst sales last financial year don't show us as a sustainable profitable business, she was pleased to be able to report improved sales in recent months thanks to the careful focus by shop staff on sales, margins and stock management.

A highlight of the evening was the award of Volunteer of the Year to Peter Dékány.
 
The evening ended with some lively workshop discussions to generate ideas for taking Dig-In forward and we thank all who took part.

This month Frankie shares her chard and chickpea dish - an inspired meal with lovely seasonal greens. If you've got a favourite recipe that you're happy to share, we'd love to see and hear about it - get in touch on Facebook, Instagram or welovecommunity@diginbruntsfield.co.uk.