Transition Town Lewes Future Food Projects [auth P S March 2008]
{Auth JW} • Follow up Heinberg lunch. Contact people who attended and see what ideas they have and how they can help. Also follow up evening meeting contacts and links.
• Link with waste group on food waste display to public.
• Set up local delivery service for local food, rather like the old milkman style of delivery or the veg box scheme. Possibly work with one of existing operators and encourage expansion.
AND…22/01/08
Would anyone be interested in trying to promote the replacement of flowers in gardens with vegetables in gardens in Lewes? Rather like our interest in the waste group of people composting at home rather than taking stuff to a central point, this reduces food miles and uses land efficiently. Also makes people more aware of their food. Also could be a market for the compost that we hope to produce from our rocket composter. I was thinking primarily of places like Landport and Malling rather than posh people like me in our big houses who have loads of space for growing veg. Could provide support, advice and free seeds and/or plants (perhaps a plant/cuttings swap database) and ideas how to cook what you produce. Julia
Possible food projects from Julia -05.02.08
• Adrienne/Kristina’s idea to map fruit trees round Lewes and set up some kind of collection/sharing for unwanted fruit in season.
• Plant spare ground with fruit trees (eg Gallops open space – Ruth O’Keefe has info on spare bits of land around Lewes)
• Community orchard (Ringmer already done)
• Educating people about sell-by dates, cooking leftovers (perhaps invite people to street parties to cook food and discuss)
• Spread the word on veg boxes from local growers (house to house leaflets or combine with idea above?)
• Labelling food with food miles stickers (a bit tricky but like local food stickers)
• Permanent farmers market/local produce exchange (Brooks Road site?). Could we not do something with existing Sunday market in Lewes eg sponsor some stalls to encourage local people to bring produce. Would take time to build up and would need publicity.
• Community bee farm (speak to local producer who lives in Ferrers Road for links)
• Bokashi production
Some exciting projects about feeding Lewes 2007
[Auth GS? Gathered from Open Space?]
Awareness - raising
1. A project with schools
- will involve school age children growing, processing, cooking and eating food
- visits to community food related sites e.g. allotment
- will be inclusive, intergenerational & address inequalities – include children, staff and parents
- will help schools deliver what government programmes are asking of them – e.g. healthy schools or Year of food and farming – so schools will want to take part
- we’ll work with the TTL educational/school group on this Community growing initiatives – new growing space, new growers, new skills
2. Market garden
- to produce food for the farmers’ market
3. Friendly gardens
- helping people to share their gardens – a matchmaking service to pair up people with and without gardens, with and without gardening skills and a club for women gardeners to work together on their gardens
4. Reskilling and demonstration projects
Courses in: - permaculture - preserving and storing food - bee keeping - how to set up and run a community food project
Demonstration projects: - experimental growing of new kinds of foods e.g. millet - community apple press or bottling shop - community orchard - forest garden - nut tree planting in public spaces
5.Making better use of the food we have already
Lewes harvesters
- Map the fruit trees in Lewes and set up a harvesting team – 1/3 fruit goes to the owner, 1/3 to the team and 1/3 to the community. Long-term projects
6. Crop for the shop
- Once there are more growers – developing a co-ordinated plan so that people grow what the local shop can sell & what consumers need for better meal planning
7. Supporting local growers
- Research into what farmers need/want to produce for local markets
8. Feeding Lewes
- Research into how much land is needed to feed Lewes, how much is available and how to increase yields
finis
Get involved: contact one of the Group contacts on the Groups page
