In this warming November edition you will find...

We are delighted to announce that PLANT is joining forces with Greener Kirkaldy in a new Climate Action Fife initiative. Earlier this year, Greener Kirkcaldy was successful in attracting funding from the Big Lottery Climate Action Fund to deliver this exciting project in Fife, boosting community action on climate change across the Kingdom. They chose PLANT as one of their local community partners.

Over the next twelve months, we will run a series of fun and informative events for everyone to learn more about climate change and ways people can take action in and around Tayport. We will also lead on the theme of Greener Gardens across the area, building on our successful gardening workshops delivery to a wider audience, and join in an engagement steering group to feed into the regional climate engagement strategy. The evaluation of this regional pilot will feed into development a longer-term Fife-based project helping people take action on climate change together.

Do you care passionately about climate change and feel a bit powerless and unsure of what action you can take?  This is an opportunity to get involved in something that really will make a difference!

We are looking for volunteers to help us organise and run events and workshops, help with IT support, promotion, blogging and general admin. Don’t be put off by feeling that you don’t know much or don’t have much to offer – we will provide training and support and NEVER ask you to do something you don’t feel comfortable with.

If you would like to know more, please get in touch with Jessie at admin@tayportgarden.org.

 

Thank you to everyone who entered the Halloween pumpkin innards cooking competition.  All the recipes will go into our Tayport waste reducing cookery book to help everyone with ideas to help save on pumpkin waste in the future.

The winner is Rowan Simmons with his yummy pumpkin and cheddar cheese muffins. Well done Rowan and enjoy the apple juice!

 

PLANT Online Workshops and Events
 

Our busy Winter schedule continues this month and into the New Year. For full descriptions and bookings follow the links given below each item.

We will continue adding to the list so keep an eye out for updates on the on our Facebook page and website.

Thu, 10 Dec, 6-8pm
Talking to your friends and family about climate emergency around the Christmas table
With Kaska Hempel and Helena Simmons
Book here

Sun, 17 Jan, 2-3pm
Planning for Fruit Growing - gardening workshop
With Bob Bilson and Helena Simmons
Book here

Sun, 21 Feb, 2-3pm
Fruit Tree and Shrub Pruning - Gardening Workshop
With Peter Christopher
Book here

This time of year we usually run our Christmas wreath making workshop. To support social distancing, we are going to upload a wreath making video to our blog and Facebook page instead - don’t worry we’ll still provide the willow wreaths and foliage! We also have kids wreath making kits and Christmas decoration ideas and activities for all the family to help reduce household waste and give it a new lease of life!

Email Ali to book a slot to collect your wreath materials and kids kits. All collection slots are on Sunday 6th December between 12-3pm. Please ensure you book to avoid disappointment. We’ll have warm spiced apple juice!

As usual, we will be selling pre-made wreaths at the garden and the Larick centre throughout December. For more information please contact Ali on: 07533 689397 or email: volunteer@tayportgarden.org

Start your new year with a conversation about a better future
 

 

Last year saw a Line in The Sand event on West Sands beach in St Andrews on the 20th of September. It was a part of a day of massive strikes across the world calling for urgent action on climate emergency. The event was repeated this year in a much more scaled down, altogether quieter, covid-safe version. One of PLANT members, Kathleen, took part in both - representing our community and contributing some PLANT-themed sand art this year. In this episode we hear Kathleen in conversation with Lea Weimann, a St Andrews university student and eco-activist who is one of the event’s organisers. They talk about the roots of Lea’s activist journey, her poetry, and building back better.

Kathleen and Kaska appeared on Lea's Eco-Activist Journeys show on St Andrews University STAR radio last week to talk about PLANT and their own stories - you will be able listen to it on her podcast feed soon here.

You can find this and other PLANT Voices episodes on Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other major podcast distributor.

 

People often ask us “what do you do in the winter, there can’t be much gardening to do?” Nothing could be farther from the case! As we covered in the last webinar although there’s less of the obvious jobs to do such as mowing and hoeing, there’s still things that can be done both inside and outside... read more in Peter’s blog post and watch a recording of our latest online gardening workshop here. 

 

It’s been a truly amazing year of storytelling, keeping everyone’s spirit up and getting us connected during these strange times, especially during hard lockdown over the Spring and Summer.

We would like to thank all of our enthusiastic storytelling volunteers for their amazing contributions: Kathleen, Fraser, Janice, Richard, Jessie, Barbara, Rosie, Laura, Angela, Mark, Bob and Elizabeth. Thanks to Dave, Donald and (the other) Richard for sharing your great photos. Also a big thanks to John Wills, who’s been a big help and inspiration in our podcasting.

You can enjoy lots of uplifting and challenging tales of growing and nature, climate action plus lots of yummy recipes over the Christmas period on our blog. 

Kathleen shared 'A Seriously Good Story' about some of the things our amazing local businesses and networks have done towards feeding us local, waste-free food despite the challenges 2020 threw. Check out the full post to find out more.

Fraser continued his 'Ode to the Beetroot' with a delicious curry and some rather spectacular brownies, and gave us a fabulous recipe for 'Scandi Cardamom Buns'.

If you fancy having a go at podcasting writing blogs or taking photos with us, get in touch with Kaska on blog@tayportgarden.org.

With the nights drawing in and December nearly here we still have a healthy number of volunteers helping out at the garden which is fantastic.  We all look like we’ve put on a few pounds but this is due to the extra layers of clothing needed with the chilly wind we have been having recently!!

As always a huge thank you to all our volunteers that have continued to work at the garden within the current restrictions and also to all those who continue to support our project by buying veg, joining in workshops and generally saying 'hello' as they pass by the garden.  We wouldn't be where we are without you!  Thanks a million everyone 😊

Despite the winter looming ahead we still get interest from new people wanting to volunteer with us and will always welcome more, especially come springtime!  Anyone interested please email Ali.

Help in keeping your home cosy this winter
 

Are you spending more time at home and have rising energy bills? Home Energy Scotland is here to help you take control with our series of free bite sized webinars to keep you warm for less this winter.

Sign up now to book your free places

December series: 8th, 9th & 10th @ 6.00-6.40pm

Fife council is looking for our views on how grasslands in our community should be managed in the future. It’s a great opportunity let them know where we want grass left uncut to create more natural landscapes, which will encourage wildlife recovery and help with tackling climate emergency through carbon capture.

You can find out more and make your contribution through the Rewilding Fife website.

Access All Areas Tayport
 

There has been an exciting development that  one of our volunteers Lewis Forgan and our placement student Laura have been working on together - this is developing a poster to advertise an ‘Access all areas’ group for Tayport.  The group is aimed to improve access around Tayport for the community and specifically so for those in wheelchairs or scooters, families with young children in pushchairs, individuals with visual impairment and anyone who struggles with the limited dropped curbs, uneven pavements and roads and so on.  

Lewis told me:
“I want people to get involved and improve the access around Tayport,  if it goes well I want to look at ways to get funding to improve the area.”  He goes on to say “if people want to talk to me about it, email me for more information and how to get involved”.

Lewis' email: admin@tayportgarden.com