Food
Sustaining Dunbar seeks to reduce food miles by encouraging the cultivation and consumption of locally produced food and the Food sub-Group is convened by Sarah Wall. New members are very welcome; pop into the Crunchy Carrot to talk to Sarah.
Aims
This is what the Food Sub-Group will do:
- Begin the process of identifying the carbon footprint of foods available to the people of Dunbar
- Encourage and assist in the use of allotments/ growing foods in gardens. Liase with EL council in the allocation of allotments
- Identify the supplies/suppliers of locally produced foods
- Include children in the sustainability of Dunbar
- Link people with gardens and want help to those who have not got and want to help
Allotments
The Food Group has been liasing with EL Council’s Countryside Officer, Stuart Pryde, on community allotments for Dunbar. A proposal is being put to council members on 12th Dec re the revamping of allotment provision in East Lothian. This includes new lease formats, identifying who has allotments at present and whether they still want to keep them, identifying areas for new allotment sites, and better management of allotments. There are about 20 people on the allotment waiting list at present for Dunbar, and Mr Pryde believes that this number will increase over 2008. Mr Pryde is very keen for the allotment scheme to get under way and is happy to come and speak with us in new year when he has further info. Anyone can put their name on the Allotments waiting list by contacting Stuart Pryde on 01620 827430 or spryde@eastlothian.gov.uk, or there is more information on EL Council’s allotment policy on their website
In the mean time Isobel and Eileen will, come the spring, get stuck in about a local garden which is crying out to be cultivated. Produce (beans and peas seem like a good place to start) will go to the Crunchy Carrot.
Carbon footprint
We pledged to investigate just how far our food produce has to travel before we can access it. We will ask Peter the Butcher how far meat travels between farm, slaughterhouse and his shop. Eventually we can make the case for more local slaughtering – e.g. each county has its own facility. We will look at whether or not there is a relationship between fish landed at Dunbar Harbour and the High St fish shop, and what we might do to improve this. Sarah is already dealing with local producers as much as possible for veg, fruit and eggs. The Crunchy Carrot of course has always happily taken garden surplus.
The food group are putting together a calender to identify when local produce became available. This may take the shape of a target with the center being local and then outer rings identifying produce from Scotland then England, Europe etc. Linked to this was running a project similar to the one running in Fife, the Fife Diet. Around 50 families are eating according to what is available in Fife. They are not being rigid about this, for example they are still using blackpepper and olive oil. However they are attempting to make an effort to buy as much of their diet from local producers via local suppliers. Are there any folk out there that would be interested in following an ‘EL PLAN’? or indeed already do.
This article from the BBC website investigates the Fife Diet.
Other Ideas
A brainstorming session faciliated by Susan Guy produced lots of ideas for investigation. These are listed below (in no particular order)
- The use of one of the poly tunnels at Belhaven Fruit Farm
- Identification of allotment sites around Dunbar
- Finding out those who have gardens but want help planting out for veg etc and linking them up with people who don’t have gardens
- Community Bee keeping
- Business or Community allotment
- Celebrate and make known the good things already happening
- Fish farms off shore
- Local currency
- Allotment/ gardening club: teaching people to grow their own veg
- Seed exchange
- Shops and restaurants using local produce
- Identify sources of unused fruit trees in gardens
- Encourage children to learn about where food comes from and its impact on the environment
- Local fish available locally. In schools?
- Community and school visits to local food producers e.g. fish farm, fruit
farm, Knowes Farm, Phantassie Farm - Produce a pack about Dunbar for new residents to the area
- Food festival and directory
Useful Links
Forth Valley Food Links has a good local produce page, info on allotments, info on what forth valley council is doing to support local produce and their producers
Anyone who is interested in how we might feed ourselves in future as well as in future employment and settlement patterns would do well to read Simon Fairlie’s recently published article Can Britain Feed Itself?
A possible model for local food production: Stroud Community Agriculture
Lancaster District Sustainability Partnership have produced a useful document called Eat Local which outlines their plans for encouraging Lancashire residents to eat local food.
We also like the sound of the Food Up Front scheme which encourages Londoners to use their front gardens and balconies to grow and share healthy, natural food.
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Comments»
Tara the John Muir Country Park Ranger has just popped into John Muir’s Birthplace (JMB) and would like to offer the group a ‘Tree and Wine’ evening in summer 2008 (possibly to coincide with the East Lothian Food Festival). Messages for Tara can be left at JMB on 01368 865899 or via Jo Moulin.
SEAWEED
I have been collecting seaweed off Belhaven Bay beach to add to my bin or to mulch my borders. I have been a regular whenever a storm throws it up on the beach in an accessible location. There is an old right of way (the ware road) across the golf course that horse and carts used to access the beach to collect the weed for the fields.
I can recommend it. Check time of high tide and tidal range as beach inaccessible. East Beach is also good - easier for closer to town centre.
Even a few bags will benefit the garden/ allotment. In the future perhaps we can organise a horse and cart although possibly not across the golf course.
The food group might be interested in these comments from Rob Hopkins latest blog at: http://transitionculture.org/
I often argue that the kind of purposefully useless landscapes that now dominate our urban landscapes (lawn, low maintenance ground cover shrubs, ornamental trees) are a strange luxury of a world with more oil than sense, and that rethinking our urban areas as productive spaces will be one of the key tasks of the coming years. In Totnes we have been approaching this question in various ways.
Firstly we have been involved in the campaigning for the local Council to provide more allotment space for gardeners. Secondly, the ‘Totnes, the Nut Tree Capital of Britain’ project has involved members of the community ‘mapping’ the town in terms of public spaces where fruit and nut trees could be planted and then seeking community financial input into buying and planting the trees. The most recent tree planting day attracted people from the community to spend the day planting trees, and was supported by the TTT Tree Guardian Training, which trains local people to look after the trees they have planted.
Alongside the development of commons as fruit and nut growing spaces, we are also looking to identify sites for urban market gardens, whether they are run as commercial interests or as community-owned CSA projects. We feel that, as in Cuba, intensive urban market gardens have an important role to play in the Transition process. We have also initiated the TTT Garden Share project, which is about connecting older people with gardens they are no longer able to manage and younger people who want to garden but who have no land. People often bemoan (usually justifiably) the lack of access to land, but there is a lot of land around us that is underutilised, and the Garden Share scheme is about addressing that.
We have also made the catalysing of a CSA project in the town one of our main objectives for 2008, and are starting the process by organising a trip to see one of the UK’s finest, the Stroud CSA, early next year.
A little networking via the crunchy has potentially linked two people in their need to garden and have a garden kept in good order. This informal way of introducing people who want a garden/allotment space seems to me a good way forward. Also idea re consultancy for those who want to grow things but feel they need a bit of guidance. This again could be done in an informal way. There are so many good gardeners in and around Dunbar with a wealth of knowledge, lets get sharing.
Hello there!
Sandor Ellix Katz, the writer of one of my favourite recipe books is coming over from the US. He’s offering a workshop at the Salisbury Centre (0131 667 5438) from 2-4 pm on Sunday the 20th of April, on how to make fermented foods. This skill of fermenting food is ancient and different forms of it have been practiced all over the world. Fermentation is one of the main ways to preserve food without refrigeration. The process also significantly increases the nutritional value of the food. It is one of the many skills we have lost, and for me has been a revelation to learn about. Sandor is extremely knowledgeable on this subject, and I am sure the workshop will be as entertaining as it will be informative.
For more information visit http://www.wildfermentation.com.
Come experience how simple it is to make your own kimchi, kefir, and other fermented delicacies. Learn about the healing qualities of live-culture ferments and their illustrious history. Be part of the fermentation revival!
We are going to be having a food group meeting on thursday 17th april at 2.30pm at the Shoestring cafe. Need to get together to discuss civic week ie promoting ourselves as well as explaining what it is we are doing to the wider public. Look forward to seeing whoever can make it. sarah
The food group is meeting on tue 13th at 7.30pm in the shoestring cafe by the station. All those interested please come along. This is a chance for new members to get to know faces and get a flavour of what we have been doing up til now. We also need to look at a presentation format for the civic week. Look forward to seeing folk then.
Hi All
I’ve not been to any food group meetings yet, but will try to attend in future.
Some of us help out as volunteers at the primary school garden, planting flowers and veg. This is a great way to get young children interested in gardening and growing food. We are in desperate need of other helpers, so anyone interested should contact me or turn up on friday mornings (about 11am). We try to get there every friday, but don’t always make it due to other commitments.
I also use someone elses garden as my ‘allotment’, although this was established privately three years ago…it works really well and I would recommend it.
I now work professionally as a gardener (just set up ) and would be keen to help out with teaching people to grow veg if I have spare time, or with community gardening in general.