Food Group 2012 Report
The Food Group has continued to be very active, but we have lost
the input of some of our members in the past year, due to
involvement in other voluntary activities, ill health, lack of
time, etc. And one person has returned to Spain!
At present we have 12 active members, but 2 of these are
organising the Food Festival, so cannot put so much energy into
other activities.
Our main activity [apart from the Food Festival] has been
running five Community Markets in the Town Square during the
summer. These have nearly all had special features, such as a
transport roadshow and smoothies made by bike power, in addition to
the stalls. Thanks must go to Dee Ross for organising these. We
have been disappointed that there are not more stalls with surplus
garden or smallholding produce, but we feel that the popularity of
the markets has increased. We depend very much on decent weather
though.
We have had two big catering events - the Clothes Swap and the
salad and cake bar at the Big Sunday Lunch as part of the Food
Festival. For the Clothes Swap we enjoyed a joint soup making
session. However, our Seasonal Suppers have been discontinued
because the two people organising those were finding it too much of
a burden. We held two bring and share lunches instead.
There was no Seed Share during 2012 since we decided to postpone
it until after Christmas, but our February event this year was very
successful with nearly all the seeds and other gardening items
disappearing rapidly, lots of stalls and lovely lunches. We were
surprised at the number of packets of seeds in spite of the very
poor gardening season.
In April we had a special 'Devon Recipes' event, led by Paul
Cleave, which featured tastings and was well attended and much
appreciated.
Our Local Produce website has continued to function, but we
could do with promoting this again. We continue to send seasonal
recipes to parish magazines and the Courier; these are also posted
on the website.
During the summer we held four sessions for new fruit and veg
gardeners, which involved people other than our regular Food Group
attendees. These featured visits to each other's gardens to discuss
growing points and problems. They were very enjoyable, but we lack
a co-ordinator for this year.
As a follow up to the well attended Seminar back in January
2012, contact was made with the local NFU secretary and he has
featured some reports in their newsletter. Two of us [plus Gerald]
attended a conference on the future of farming in Devon and a
report was sent on this, but the invitation to talk to local
farmers has not been taken up. The conference also prompted us to
get in touch with the local Food Bank. Some seasonal, low cost
recipes have been sent there and we hope to provide some more help
and goods during the growing season.
Finally, we were invited to have a stall at the apple day at
Quick's Farm which featured Tim's apple pancakes and lots of
donations to Sus Cred.
I would like to mention everyone who has helped by name, but
it's rather a long list!