May is all about growing and still plenty of time to get planting seeds. Inspiring to hear about the Growing Strong Project and Lauriston Farm, also places to go for advice.
The Good Food Nation Bill is going through its second reading in the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Food Coalition continue to lobby for a new independent food commission to be included in this new legislation.
Dandelion Scotland project gets moving this month in a multi cultural programme which aims to bring people together to grow, create, share ideas. This includes schools growing, harvest celebrations and unexpected gardens across Scotland. In Edinburgh, Dandelion are working with Edinburgh Agroecology Co-op at Lauriston Farm and North Edinburgh Arts. Bringing gardens to unexpected places (The List, 1st March) Seeds of Hope
Edinburgh Sustainable Food Directory
This new resource for Edinburgh aims to showcase the best places to find local, sustainable food across the city.
Managed by Edible Edinburgh, the directory will make it easier for people to discover:
Places in Edinburgh to eat and buy local and sustainably sourced food and drink
Growing spaces and food producers
Local markets, stalls and food pop-ups
Community food initiatives
What you benefit from by joining the directory:
recognition as being one of the most sustainable places to eat or shop and part of a growing “good food movement” in the city
feature on the Edible Edinburgh website and social media channels as a spotlight project, highlighting your business action and ambition
have the chance to “tell your own story” about your business model or approach. This includes space to promote how you are meeting net zero targets or other measures which reduce your impact on the environment
We are growing the membership and encourage local businesses and organisations to find out more, submit an entry via our online form.
Grow your own
Growing help is out there and some ideas to get inspired and support with growing plans:
Lauriston Farm are looking for volunteers to help with their "unexpected garden" and for other jobs in the new project. Sign up for their newsletter or check social media.
Garden volunteering opportunities are advertised via Volunteer Edinburgh. This can be a good way to get some experience and enjoy locally grown food.
Growing Strong
Edinburgh Community Food has teamed up with Veg Power UK to deliver a pilot project across Edinburgh to get children interested and learning all about growing food. Around 5000 children will get the chance to grow their very own cherry tomatoes.
According to The National Diet and Nutrition Survey, 80% of children are not eating enough vegetables – we want to work towards changing this. Learning all about how we grow food is not just good for children in terms of healthy eating, it’s important to develop their understanding of the food chain, sustainability and our environment. Children learn by getting stuck in and getting their hands dirty!
38 Edinburgh primary schools have received Grow Packs which include everything they need to raise the cherry tomatoes, including propagators, seeds and compost kindly donated by Unwins Seeds.
The learning will continue throughout the summer with a number of exciting events for children taking place in community gardens, which will help them on their Grow Strong journey and ensure the cherry tomatoes make a tasty pasta sauce.
Thanks to Liz at Jock Tamsons Gairden for inspiring the P6 pupils from Parsons Green Primary School. There was a lot of fun during the planting session and some great growing tips.
The Value of an Allotment goes way beyond what can be grown there,a report from Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation (BHAF) estimates their value in other terms.
I'm often asked how much I save by growing my own vegetables. I have to point out just how cheap supermarket vegetables are compared with me buying packets of seeds, composts, fertilisers, the allotment rent and then there's all that time and effort. Itherefore like to express the real value as growing the tasty varieties I want to eat, all that the fresh air and exercise not forgetting the social side that became so important during the past couple of years.
So how interested I was in the BHAF report. It points out and estimates a value in the reduction in the food-growing carbon footprint, the benefits to the physical and mental health of plot holders, biodiversity, carbon storage, and even flood prevention. I especially liked the savings associated with not having to process all that packaging and how food waste can just go on the compost heap.
The report concluded that allotments save Brighton and Hove at least £385,000 a year. Across 2,311 plots, this is equivalent to £167 a plot. Applied to Edinburgh with 1,609 plots managed by Edinburgh Council, the savings are just over a quarter of a million pounds. Worth stressing that these figures don’t include the rents paid by plotholders or the value of locally grown food.
Edinburgh's allotment waiting list stands at around 4,200. The figure sky-rocketed during the Covid lock-downs as citizens realised the value of well grown food and the associated health benefits. The situation across Scotland’s cities will be similar. Is now the time to encourage the aims of the Community Empowerment Act, specifically to allocate an allotment within five years of someone requesting one, by providing funding and realising these savings?
Stuart McKenzie
President, The Federation of Edinburgh and District Allotments and Gardens Associations (FEDAGA)
Good Food Nation
The draft bill is now coming to the end of its Stage 1 review and it is likely that the bill will amendments. The Scottish Food Coalition (SFC), which is a diverse alliance of civil society organisations working for food justice, has suggested that this needs to include the setting up of a statutory and independent Food Commission. This would provide; advice to Government and other public bodies in drawing up their plans; assessments of those plans and their implementation; and reports to Parliament to assist in its scrutiny of the National Good Food Nation (GFN) Plan and overall progress towards Scotland becoming a Good Food Nation.
Find out more about the Scottish Food Coalition ambition's for the bill and how we need to be ambitious about the changes we want to see in our food system .
Take one action
Just a few thoughts on taking steps towards reducing the impacts of your food choices and making small changes that could benefit our local food economy, community well being and environment:
Try out Meat Free Monday (any day can work) but its good to have a plan. If you do follow this already or just making a start, tag @EdibleEdin on Instagram and share your favourites tips, recipes and photos with us.
Reduce the use of single use plastics and packaging, shopping locally for fruit and vegetables. There are small and larger retailers across Edinburgh offering "refill" options. Some are listed in our Eat and Buy Sustainable Food page on the EE website.
Shop with a list which could help you reduce food waste. If you don't have a household food waste collection bin, find out where your nearest communal bin is located. More details on our website here.
If you would like to share your news, events, projects or stories in our newsletter, please get in touch. hello@edible-edinburgh.org
