Let's Talk: FOOD
Flookburgh Village Hall, 26th September 2022
A gathering of 40 people to talk about all things food related ... How do we ensure our food sources are resilient and sustainable? How do we deal with rising food costs? How can we work together in our communities to help each other?
Short presentations, shared ideas and vibrant conversation about allotment and home food growing, seed saving, glut sharing, foraging, food clubs & food banks ... join in, take part, get involved.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SPEAKERS:
- Steve Richardson - the need to grow our own food around the peninsula
- Jeni McConnell - food clubs, food banks, food waste
- Jane Rankin - Glut club and community sharing
- John Eakins - self-sufficiency in a local growing space
Each speaker was asked to talk for 10 minutes. We had brown paper tablecloths to write thoughts, comments, ideas from the presentations and group conversations. Steve very kindly documented the information here as a great reminder for future discussions, below.
The event was organised as part of Great Big Green Week by Jeni McConnell and Barbara Berry, supported by PEAT (Peninsula Environmental Action Together) and The Community Hub At The Vic.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Introduction
This paper records all the ideas written down by participants during the workshop. They ideas have been sorted into categories for the sake of clarity.
Composting and Fertiliser
Increase fertiliser not sustainable
Energy was cheap to produce fertiliser
Community composting
Community leaf mould collection
Other areas council collect peeling etc and compost
Share green waste etc so neighbours can put food waste on a communal neighbour’s compost heap
Foraging
What wild foods grow well on Cartmel Peninsular?
Learn foraging ethically in nature
Foraging in hedgerows for food
Find out where to get hazelnuts and [sawpluie]
Dealing with Gluts
More info on food clubs
Winter venues for the sharing group and to see it grow
Using everything
Less waste food is a good thing in theory, but what about people who defend on it.
Gluts from locally produced food, e.g. tomatoes
Importance of preserving food, especially fruit
Seasonality
Don’t waste food
enough of us to make it happen (jane from glut club) engaging/inspiring
How can we approach holiday let owners about harvesting their fruit trees?
What can we not freeze?
Sweet potatoes freeze well
Carrots, peas, swede, turnips onion mashed potatoes celeriac and cabbage freeze well
Stigma of free foods i.e food groups maybe call it another name, like community waste club
Remember processing food like slicing and salting runner beans
Glut club maybe we can use home produce to make and share cooked dishes but how to do it safely?
Where to Grow Fruit and Vegetables
Station area we have space
Parks were used in the second world war
School market gardens
Gorilla gardening
Holker Hall?
Growing on any spare land
Need more allotments e.g. in Flookburgh, maybe go through Bruno?
Grow in spare land in villages
Community Horticulture
Gardening and flowers
One allotment is too small for crop rotation
Community garden for fruit and veg
1.5% to 3% land for fruit and veg
Growing and using spices and herbs
Allotments need greenhouses
Like the one at l'Enclume
Voluntary community market gardens
Four to ten people sharing allotments
Cartmel peninsular needs to famous for a fruit or vegetable
Asparagus
Runner beans
Community allotment/farmers?
Big greenhouse which could be shared or used
Bees need fruit and vegetables need bees
Witherslack orchard, pickers, pruners, and eaters needed, how can we help?
Engaging Children and Young People
Teach children to grow cook forage
Soup and bread getting youngsters on Saturday morning to bake bread and soup
Growing cress in eggshells
At school nurture stuff to take home
Gardening lessons at schools
Gardening with children/school
How to grow on a pocket handkerchief
Gardening cup for schools, volunteers to help John to judge
Forest school grow and cook
Bean sprouts in a jam-jar with water?
Cooking and Meals
Share recipes
Eating all your food without leftovers
Eat more vegetables than grains and meat
Importance of good nutrition
Cook from fresh every meal
Cooked in season
Role models
People you know or knew
Soil
Finding the Mother Tree connection
Industrial farming driven down unit cost and damage the soil
We want to know more about soil
Fertility of soil not sustainable
Future learning soil course
Lancaster uni offers a soils course on future learn free
Early Inspirations
Apples for scrumping, making apple pies
Picking blackberries
Gardening with parents
Picking hips to get 3d a bag in 1948
Raiding orchards
Potato picking in October half term
Hens when we were young in the war.
Had a small plot of my own in a garden
Learned from parents and grandparents
Scrumping and to make wine, e.g. rose hips
Rhubarb and custard
Helping the baker deliver his produce to homes
Assisting the milkman on his daily rounds
Scrumping as a kid
Visited Germany as youngster and learned to love pumpernickel and quark
Working on a market and seeing different foods
The Olden Days
Grandparents grew vegetables, dahlias, chrysanthemums
Bread and dripping
In the war my parents ate potato peel pie
Wartime- swill saved for pigs, Monday is leftover day
Decorating a cardboard cake for a wedding
Tealeaves used twice
Save the fat
Stock pot used the bones and peelings
Butter or jam on bread
Sharing
Can we visit John Eakin's garden?
Share tools, knowledge
Share tools knowledge labour greenhouses
Tool share
Share books, magazines, knowledge
Seed swaps
Knowledge/Skills swap
Home brewing
Seeds, chilli peppers will they grow and prduce plants?
Look at incredible edible in Todmorden
Is olio used locally?
Bigger Picture
Means of production as close to consumer
GVA hides many costs sustainability and environment
Processes does contribute to GDP of host country and exporting country
Needs to be a policy change at government level
Supermarkets?