Food For Thought
Have you ever thought about growing some of your own food but didn’t know where to start? Our new Food For Thought Project is the very thing to get you going (and growing)!
There are so many reasons to grow even a small amount of food; it’s so good for mental and physical health, you get out in the fresh air and best of all you will be astonished at the flavour of the results!
Along with our 2 project partners The Conservation Volunteers and Belfast Food Network we have distributed 550 Food for Thought resource packs. These packs supported groups and individuals with everything need for growing such as compost, pots, gloves, seeds and an apple tree for those who had lots of room. We had applications from community groups, families and individuals of all ages from across Northern Ireland.
The project is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and a series of expert webinars, toolkits and how to videos have been planned, to show you some really simple ways to use the produce you grow - because when food is that fresh and tasty you don’t need to complicate things!
As a positive response to Covid-19, we want to create a whole community of growers and eaters who support each other in a truly sustainable way. We want to see your pics and hear about your adventures along the way so keep us updated by using the hashtag #FoodForThought or email Jilly on jilly.dougan@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org
Applications closed on the 20th July, please feel free to look at the links to the resources and videos and share your growing adventures with us whether you were a recipient of a pack or not.
Have a read through our Food For Thought booklet for some hints and tips!
Foraging Recipes
We were delighted to have Claire McQuillan, expert forager and chef, and Erin Bunting from the Edible Flower take part in three of our webinars.
Clare and Erin are both experienced foragers, creating many amazing dishes and preserves with wild and free food. Links to each of the recipes are shown below.
Wild Greens, Feta and Mint Filo Triangles
Foraging, Gardening and Growing Videos
The foraging videos which accompanied the webinars can be viewed here, along with fabulous gardening videos created by our project partners, The Conservation Volunteers NI.
