This page shows brief notes from previous Food Group meetings. (Although admittedly, one or two have been missed out!)
For more information about the food group visit the food page
2nd March 2010
Apologies
Ian Campbell, Katy Hooper, Vaughan Williams
Beekeeping
Evening lecture coming up Fri 12th March 7.30pm, 'Bees and Bee Keeping' by Ted Brabin.
Heswall Hall. Admission £2 www.wirralwildlife.co.uk
Local Food Fayre
Model - local producers selling food, local food traders invited to attend also, demo of cooking with seasonal produce, allotment society stall, ?other groups etc. Agreed that priority would be given to producers etc from Wirral or as close as possible.
Issues - working group, license, venue (?Hoylake Community Centre), environmental health, NF Farmers Market, advertising, local traders, Hoylake Village Life, cooking demos.
Margaret will invite council, HVL, NFFM, Vaughan to meeting 2-3 weeks.
Skillshare
Fiona has started informal group sharing skills - latest was marmalade making. Anyone wanting to join in (either offering or wanting to share skills), contact ttwk.food@gmail.com.
Look into bread making course, minimal charge, including demo of milling flour. Zel will investigate funding opportunities & venue, Margaret will look into tutors.
Box Scheme
Not a priority at moment, will consider at a future date. Agreed to try ask local retailers to stock more local produce. Margaret will investigate a working relationship with Dale Farm.
Fruit tree pruning workshop
Arrange this for next year.
Fruit picking (Abundance project)
There have been many offers of help to pick produce from peoples gardens that would otherwise go to waste. Agreed to offer this locally to assess demand and then decide how it might best be managed.
GYO course
Possibility of future GYO course at new allotment site in WK when this is functional. For now arrange simple container gardening demos at TT stall at Ashton Park Fair in May.
Buying group
Currently two local buying groups order monthly wholesale produce from Lembas for sharing. Difficult for this model to expand due to work involved, although potential for Cooperative model in the future if enough people are enthusiastic. For now, Fabienne, Fiona, Mike & Zel will investigate setting up another small buying group.
Next meeting
Date TBA with focus on Producers Fayre.
30th June 2009
There are a few questions posed in these notes - please have a look and respond if you can.
St. Andrew's garden - TTWK has been invited to submit a proposal for growing veg in the garden. We discussed involving church user groups - Zel has found out that the hall is used by brownies, guides and mums & tots. We've contacted Brown Owl who is very interested and will meet us, with Guide leader this Wed (8th) at 7.30pm at hall - anyone who would like to look at the garden and think about possibilities welcome. Zel - ? see the vicar and/or wife to ask if they could come to discuss plan?
Also talk to them on Wed. about possibility of funding.
Garden Orchard - Advertise it more now. Dave has been in touch with press, and will find out about The Messenger. Mgt will add tel no. to flyer & turn it into a poster. Is anyone able to put up posters?
Newton allotment land - Council still being slow about it, but we expect the idea might come up for preliminary approval by councillors at a meeting in September.
The land is poorly drained and not sure how this might be dealt with. Mgt will speak to council dvelopment officer, plot holders at Newton, Gen (tree warden), Hilary Ash (botanist). Does anyone know someone who might understand the issue of land drainage?
Also need to contact groups at Newton Village Hall who might be users of a community plot there and ask if they would support the idea - Mgt.
Patrick Holden event - re-booked for 6th October.
Dave will draft preliminary letter to local farmers etc explaining why they should come, also mentioning local market & inviting interest.
Westbourne Hall not available. Mgt has made preliminary approach to teacher at WK Grammar School, who feels very positive about it.
Advantages - large hall with adquate seating & help to put out chairs. Might get young people interested, teacher said it would fit in with something in the current curriculum. Additional advertisement to parents.
Disadvantages - might be seen as school event rather than TT event.
What do peole think? Should we ask school?
Local market - mention this in PH letter.
Group decided that Westbourne Hall would be better at that time of year as outside is risky when sellers don't have proper market stalls. decided to look at booking for 17th/24th october.
Since then, Sandria spoke to Nikki at WB Hall who was involved in setting up New Ferry farmer's market. She thought
• Concourse is better placed because no passing trade at WBHall
• parking is a problem at WBHall
• timing may be too tight
So, options:-
1) Concourse in Autumn (timing tight, weather risky)
2) WBHall in Autumn (timing tight, parking problem, no passing trade)3) Concourse around Easter next year
Please let me know what you think asap.
Library display - for the next week or two TTWK display in WK library. Tell your friends. Any suggestions to add to posters etc welcome at any stage.
We're also looking to get some of the following off the ground
- talk on veg growing
- foraging / scrumping / berry picking trips
- reskilling - preserving, bottling etc
- 'pass it on'-type cooking
Next meeting Wed.12th August, 8pm - Margaret's house (unless anyone else has a better idea?)
3rd June 2009
• Patrick Holden has had to postpone his visit to Wirral because of an unexpected pressing commitment. Margaret will contact his pa to rearrange a date for the autumn - go for mid October. Patrick was enthusiastic about using his visit as an opportunity to bring together producers, retailers and public to talk about how food production locally might become more sustainable. Need to reschedule, think about format of event and how to contact relevant people.
• Garden orchard - there have been a number of people interested, and at this stage it's just a matter of continuing to advertise it. Take flyers to events, eg Ness Gardens this weekend.
• Local market. We will investigate the possibility of having a one-off local market, for food but other locally produced goods also - hopefully with a view to a regular market in the area. Work towards the autumn/harvest time. Contact local producers etc at Wirral farmer's market, talk to Nikki at Westbourne, who was involved in setting that up, and Ally who is involved with Continental Market in WK.
• Shop local bag - Possibility of a WK reusable shopping bag with a love local message. Le Bizz are considering this at the moment, and we will liase with them to find out more.
• Allotments - Approach from the council to ask if we are still interested in the land at Newton for allotments, and now awaiting further reply from them about how to move things on. WPH have been in touch about their land, asking us to put forward a plan of what we propose, and specifically how it would benefit the people living in WPH. Agreed that the first thing would be the land at Newton as it is a simpler project to gain experience.
10th March 2009
• Event on 21st March
A celebration of Transition - food, music and dancing.
People invited to bring food to share.
Food group will put together some 'super pithy' text describing possible food projects (eg Virtual orchard - a fruit tree in every garden.), and invite people to choose one or propose a different one that they would like to see. This would give us an idea of what project is likely to take off at the moment.
If anyone has a suggestion for food group project feel free to put it forward.
• Event 26th April
Transition Takeaway - event at Wirral Country Park
Takeaway veg garden with potatoes, onions, broad beans and instructions to tempt people to have a go at growing veg.
Margaret to approach other groups to see what they can offer.
Ideas for possible children's activities welcome.
• Conferences etc
Making Local Food Work conference was fully booked. We will notify group as soon as next one publicised.
Transition Conference 2009 now taking bookings, details on http://transitionculture.org/2009/03/10/booking-for-the-2009-transition-conference-is-now-open/
• Fruit tree pruning
Session was a great success and we already have a few people waiting for the next one. http://transitiontownwestkirby.blogspot.com/2009/03/fruit-prunimg-workshop-march-7.html
• Virtual Orchard
Dave contacting local suppliers of fruit trees to find out what they can offer etc.
• Fruit tree mapping
Jon exploring mapping options for local food.
• TT allotment project
Initial discussion with Wirral Partnership Homes was promising. They have land in WK which they would like to be used for community growing project/allotments. The WPH Community Development Officer is looking at some of the issues and will get back to the group on this.
• WK planters
Group will plant up 6 large planters for centre of WK with vegetable/ edible flowers. Sandria to enquire to see if local schools may become involved in this.
Margaret to enquire from Council/approach MWDA to see if they will supply compost.
• Local Food Guide
Make an informal start on this and post on website those retailers selling local food, or producers etc
Email ttwk.food@googlemail.com to put them on website.
• Next meeting
TBA once there has been feedback from WPH Community Development Officer to visit and discuss land for growing project.
11th Feb 2009
Issues discussed were
Arranging seasonal Food Group events
• planting in Spring
• harvesting and preserving in Summer
• fruit trees and foraging in Autumn
Spring event on 21st March, food group would "sow the seeds of Transition".
Selecting possible food projects, presenting them (on paper) and inviting interest, comment and discussion.
Projects decided so far:
Dave - planting a virtual orchard, and sharing tree-related skills .
Margaret - establishing a 'chicken club', for bulk buying and sharing experience etc
Jon - establish a map of unpicked fruit.
Kate - growing in small spaces, hay bales etc. Marg to send photos
Sandria & Louise will investigate others.
Any of food group not at meeting who would like to do an A4 page on a different possible food group project for this meeting. But, we need to keep each other informed about what we're doing so we don't duplicate projects.
Feedback from this event and the next will inform the development of initial projects.
30th March - Making Local Food Work event in Birmingham
Several people expressed an interest, they will ask for free place as individual members of TTWK - ASAP
Margaret to email before booking train to see if anyone wants to be in on the booking.
For TTWK event at Thurstaston Country Park on 26th April
Planting different veg, beans, onions, etc.
Launching ?longest black bean challenge.
Rhubarb crowns with cake to try etc.
Ashton Park event 4th May - Activities based aroung planting, with allotment plants.
Contact Rangers to ask about foraging session.
Margaret to approach LA21 Network to ask about activities in schools.
Discussions with Wirral Partership homes about possibility of land for growing.
Agreement to set up circulation list of interesting magazines. "Circular project"
Next meeting Tuesday 10th March at Margaret's
Email a reminder the day before the meeting.
19th Jan 2009
The food group discussed: (in no particular order)
1) A virtual orchard - bulk buying of fruit trees and selling at cost price to individuals for their garden.
2) Collaboration with Tree Wardens to demonstrate fruit tree pruning and care.
3) Contact with local food producers, event based on local produce, ?Farmers' Market.
4) The possibility of a community allotment in collaboration with other community groups - scouts, giudes schools, etc.
5) Evolving Local Food Guide
6) Reskilling - preserving, foraging
7) Planting session, ?at Royden Park, ?salad bowl for people to plant up & take away.
8) selling onion sets and seed potaroes cheap via Hoylake allotment site, maybe having a session in someone's garden to demonstrate planting?
9) Growing mushrooms.
10) promoting compost bins - acquiring them free or low cost.