Hello everyone, and welcome to the Food Group takeover of the Suscred newsletter! We have a cluster of events coming up, plus some exciting plans for the next few months, so we wanted an opportunity to share these ideas with you, grab your attention, and hopefully encourage you to join us.

 Who are the Food Group?

Well, it's rather a grand name for three active members, who meet every few weeks in the pub for some friendly chat, and to suggest, discuss and plan events and action that very loosely relate to food, both close to home and on a larger scale: growing, sourcing, eating, and campaigning. We are:

Dee - current chair of Suscred and all-round trooper. She's the organised one with the minutes from last time, a finger in all sorts of pies, and a penchant for macaroons.

Claire - Fordton resident, stalwart of our sister group, the Crediton Pig Club, and master Scotch egg producer.

Nicola - haphazard website editor for Food and Pigs, one-time food academic, but now content to do various things with mulberries and lend out my children as assistants at Suscred events.

We warmly welcome anyone to attend our meetings, and add your thoughts into the mix.

What's coming up?

Get your diaries out, sharpen your pencils, and note these down:

Tuesday 12 February, 7.30pm, Sustainable Countryside Management Crediton Library: we are pleased to be hosting this talk by Adam Collett. Adam will be examining the question of how we can manage our land sustainably in a world of diverse demands. His presentation will look at the importance of maintaining soil quality, and at strategies such as agro-forestry and permaculture as ways of maintaining ecological balance and achieving sustainability. Entry is £2 on the door, and we will be serving an enviable range of retro cakes! All welcome.

Monday 4 March, 7.30pm, Bumblebees and their Conservation, also at the library. The food group has a long-held interest in bees and pollinators, and we are thrilled to be able to introduce Dr Cathy Horsley from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to help us learn more about these beneficial insects and how we can all help them to survive and thrive. Find out about their ecology, how to recognise them, threats that they face, and how to get involved in supporting bumblebees and other pollinators.

Saturday 16 March, 11am-2pm, Boniface Centre, Church Lane, Crediton: Share, Grow, Eat: Crediton Seed Share. The annual chance to bring and swap some seeds, meet others interested in growing your own, browse a wide range of stalls relating to sustainable living, and of course, enjoy homemade soup and cakes, much from waste food. This year, organisations who have expressed an interest in having a stall include: Crediton Community Bookshop, Devon Wildlife Trust, Crediton Pig Club, Vital Seeds, Crediton Garden Club, Living Library of Food Memories, and many more! Music and children's craft activities, free entry, and a warm welcome to all.

Crediton Pig Club We are affiliated to the Food Group and use Sustainable Crediton's bank account. We are currently in the process of recruiting members for this year's pork offer. Our two smallholders will be rearing rare-breed pigs ready in two batches in summer and late autumn. Those signing up for either a half or a quarter share of pork (currently estimated at £200 and £100 respectively) pay in advance, ideally by lump sum, although we can organise payment in instalments. There are plenty of opportunities to meet the pigs, and contribute to their care, though there is no requirement for that. We still have some availability for this year, but you'll need to be quick! Please email Hertha via the link at the top right of this page to express an interest, or come and talk to us at the Seed Share.

 What future plans?

The food group is currently exploring the possibility of taking responsibility for a small piece of underused land in the town, and using it to plant pollinator-friendly plants and/or edible plants for community use. We are in the process of identifying possible sites, and figuring out how we get permission to use them. There are a range of possible approaches: we've thought about approaching the developers of the various new estates around town to make good use of odd corners once the builders have left, and to welcome new residents with packs of seeds to make their new-build gardens more pollinator-friendly. We'd like to organise a collective community gardening event, possibly to coincide with Credfest this June. The idea is to link in with the national Beelines Project, which aims to create a network of pollinator-friendly habitats across the country..

We are considering the possibility of reviving the local produce website, listing local shops and producers and their special offers, activities, etc.

But these kinds of activities will require more capacity than we currently have. If you'd like to get involved with this project, or have ideas about possible plots of land we could use, please do get in touch!

There is a number of potential funding streams available for these projects, but without more people being involved, we will struggle to realise our plans.

Join in!

Does this all sound too exciting not to be involved? Then come along to our next meeting, Tuesday 26 February, 7.30 at the Redvers Buller pub, High Street, Crediton.