Sharing fresh ideas about food and growing

Our community food volunteers want to learn from other local organisations who work with food. To help with this, our Senior Development Works Jackie Arreaza organised an exchange visit to EATS Rosyth.

EATS run a similar community-orientated food and garden project to Greener Kirkcaldy’s. We were particularly keen to find out about their community fridge. We have been running our own community fridge since 2019 and we want to incorporate some fresh ideas by learning from others.

Our day began with a meet-and-greet, followed by a tour of the community garden and orchard. Mimi the head gardener was on hand to show us around.

The garden has an integrated role in the community café operations and meal preparations. EATS Rosyth’s chef pops in every Sunday to see what produce is available in the garden. This directly influences the weekly menu. This is a great way to link the kitchen and garden projects. Other initiatives are in progress to strengthen the connection. These include social barbeques at the garden that bring food and garden volunteers together.

Despite the rain, we explored the garden. We saw a variety of produce and learned all about organic pest control and fertilisation techniques. Some of us were introduced to the taste of radish seed pods, an intriguing new experience. Mimi, the head gardener is writing an article on this lesser-known produce. It will be published on the Climate Action Fife website.

The well-kept orchard features nitrogen-fixing moss under the trees. We learned this helps to maintain microbial biodiversity and reduces the amount of fertiliser used. We were treated to some of the delicious apples. Bustling bee hives were another notable feature in the orchard.

Beyond food production, EATS Rosyth is working on creating a sensory garden and an upcycling repair -workshop shed. Here they will build various essentials for the garden. There are handmade hedgehog boxes throughout the garden. Our volunteers Alison and Samantha are both hedgehog ambassadors with Burntisland Hedgehog Haven. They thought the garden was an ideal spot to release a rescued hedgehog.

An intergenerational project runs from an attractive cabin in the garden. Here, they encourage children to come along to the garden to cook garden produce, promoting an appreciation for fresh food. During our visit, children were busy making a delicious seasonal cheesecake from ripe blackberries in the garden.

EATS incorporate climate friendly ideas. They have a composting toilet. They also use all their organic plant waste to make compost.

Our garden visit concluded with cake and coffee back at the café. This was followed by a comprehensive discussion about the project by Morven, the project manager . She told us that the community fridge receives daily food donations. They ensure fair distribution of the food by having a volunteer on hand to direct customers. They also have grab bags on hand for people who need them.

We learned a little about the social enterprise kitchen, where the volunteers and chef were busy preparing the community food. They run Smart Cooking classes like ours and their kitchen and event space are for hire, just like at Greener Kirkcaldy.

EATS Rosyth have tried to move away from the word ‘community’ as they believe it is associated with lower income groups. They want to attract all demographics and as well as a community meal they offer bingo nights with a meal. They are also revamping their café sign to make it attractive to everyone in Rosyth. EATS used a grant from Fife Council aimed at reducing food waste to work with local school pupils. Participants from the Bridges Project have been learning about cooking fresh produce.

The visit was an enriching experience and the garden was full of ideas to take away. Notably linking the garden and kitchen by cooking in the garden and planning the menus around seasonal produce. We also picked up some tips on running the community fridge.

EAT Rosyth’s volunteer coordinator manages a similar number of volunteers to ours. He shared some of his successes with employability and corporate volunteers. They have had success with both and are willing to discuss this further.

Caroline Morrison, Volunteer Coordinator