Author: Emma Andrews

Good Food Stories: Right to Grow

By Emma Andrews

Published 20th October 2023

Welcome to #GoodFoodStories Meet the Network! We’re doing a series of informal interviews with local food activists to showcase some of the great food work happening across Leeds with the aim of inspiring and building a good food movement.

First up is Dan Robinson from Incredible Edible Leeds, whose going to tell us about the Right to Grow campaign.

Hi Dan, tell us a bit about what you do.

Hi, I’m Dan Robinson. I head up Incredible Edible Leeds and I’m also on the board of the wider Incredible Edible Movement. Incredible Edible was set up to create kind, confident, and connected communities using the power of food. We work across communities, education and local business to show people where their food comes from and to enable people to lead happier, healthier lives by growing and eating local, healthy and sustainable food.


What is the right to grow. And why are you taking this approach?

It’s essentially what it says on the tin. It’s about giving ordinary citizens the right to grow food in the public realm. Lots of people want to grow their own food but don’t have the opportunity to do so for various reasons, including navigating the legal requirements and the red tape for accessing public land, which can be complicated. However, there’s a sense that both people within local authorities and ordinary citizens want to be part of the solution. And that’s where change comes from.


What’s been done so far?

A whole host of organisations have signed up to support Right to Grow including Sustain, the Food Ethics Council, and the Urban Agriculture Consortium, along with many sustainable food partnerships including FoodWise.

On the Incredible Edible website there’s a briefing for local authorities that lays out the benefits and the reasons for Right to Grow, including a draught motion that councils can put forward, and if they want to they can adopt it to have a Right Grow within their authority. Hull has recently done this and is the first local authority in the UK to do so.

What’s happening in parliament to support the Right to Grow?


In Parliament there’s been quite a lot of movement with an amendment tabled to the Levelling Up Bill, which is currently going through the House of Lords that’s got cross-party support. However, legislation takes a long time as there’s a ping pong approach going backwards and forwards between the House of Commons and the House of Lords. So we’re also looking at introducing a 10 minute rule bill in the House of Commons, where an MP gets 10 minutes to pitch the idea. While this doesn’t create legislation, it gets people talking about it and it can move up the agenda.


What would be the impact of a successful Right to Grow bill?


It’s got so much potential! It would pave the way for more community food growing projects and all the benefits that comes with that, and more wildlife friendly spaces in urban areas. And more local, nutrient dense foods freely available for those who need it most.


What has Incredible Edible Leeds’ involvement been?


Changing the law is of course fundamental but there’s lots that can and must happen while we work towards that. I’d love to have that proof of concept taking place in West Yorkshire, starting with Leeds leading the way ahead of national policy.


We need to tell the stories that show the benefits, develop tools and resources to make implementing a Right to Grow practical and possible. We also need to ensure that it’s reaching and impacting the communities that would benefit most from increased access to fresh, freely available fruit and vegetables – that’s why we’ve been developing the Incredible Edible network across Leeds.


How can community members take action and join the movement towards the Right to Grow?


Anyone interested in accessing land for food growing or wanting to find out more can take a look at the Right to Grow page on our website. On there you can write to your local councillors and your MP to tell them about the campaign and ask them to support either a local Right to Grow motion in Leeds or legislation in Parliament.


Many areas of Leeds have Incredible Edible projects, so take a look at edibleleads.org.uk to see if there’s a project in your area that you can get involved with. And if there isn’t, let us know if you’d like to create one and we can help.  

Eyes On Silver!

By Emma Andrews

Published 7th July 2023

We are very excited to announce that FoodWise Leeds will be submitting for a Sustainable Food Places Silver Award in later this year!

Yes! We have our #eyesonsilver and we want to hear from you!!

  • Are you an individual who is growing food with your neighbours or wider community? or shopping local and seasonally?

  • Are do you own or work for a business committed encouraging a healthy workplace? or giving space for food growing?

  • Are do you work at a local food business who are catering for people and planet? Perhaps you have worked towards a certification or award?

We will be collecting great examples from across the city, from local community members to large organisations working in Leeds.

For more examples of what we’re looking for, take a look at our Take Action pages for individuals, organisations and food businesses.

Please get in touch with us at info@foodwiseleed.org as we’d love to speak to you!

Successful summer LVL & Food Growing Workshop!

By Emma Andrews

Published 23rd June 2023

FoodWise Leeds, Feed Leeds and Season Well are celebrating a sunny and successful Little Veg Libraries & Sustainable Food Growing workshop!

Funded by Climate Action Leeds & hosted at Left Bank Leeds, the workshop had 20+ community members attending, including members of Climate Action Leeds Community Hubs and others interested in community food growing.

Feed Leeds faciliated discussions about Little Veg Libraries (LVL), how to set up & maintain a library, their benefits and how to overcome common challenges. Multiple existing LVL coordinators shared their experiences and while other were able to ask questions on setting up a LVL for their own community.

Attendees took part in a ‘Take Action’ group discussion that resulted in 20+ new pledges, including:

“A pop-up veg library outside our allotment. Plan to share seeds, pots, seedlings, excess veg, printed recipes”

“To buy/cook seasonally + support local food waste organisations/teams”

“Look out for local groups involved in growing veg to join up and contribute”

A variety of practical activities followed, facilitated by Season Well, followed to empower more people to grow their own food at home. These activities ranged from planting salad seeds in a punnet, making paper planters for bean seeds, pricking out tomatoes and making LVL signs.

Making LVL signs
Paper pots made for bean seeds
Soil blocks!

This workshop is part of FoodWise Leeds’ #eyesonsilver campaign, as they work towards their Sustainable Food Places silver award later in 2023. The evening combined the promotion of LVLs with sustainable food growing to help improve access to fresh, local and sustainable food, empower communities to take climate action through increasing skills to grow food and overall continue to build the good food movement in Leeds.

Take action today by making your pledge on the FoodWise Leeds website and join our #goodfoodmovement.

More about Little Veg Libraries

There are already a number of Little Veg Libraries existing in Leeds (in Guiseley, Garforth, Headingly, Hyde Park, Seacroft, Woodhouse, Chapel Allerton, Leeds University and Morley) with some linked to Climate Action Hubs. These are accessible structures in public places where people who are already growing their own food can share excess seeds, seedlings, surplus produce, books, tools etc. with people who are new to food growing. They are usually looked after by volunteers from a community organisation.

A big thank you to everyone who attended, to FoodWise partners Feed Leeds and Season Well. Thank you our funders Climate Action Leeds.

More about workshop partners:

FoodWise Leeds

FoodWise Leeds is the food partnership for the city, working towards creating a healthy, sustainable and fair food system for everyone in Leeds.

Feed Leeds

Feed Leeds is a sustainable food growing network – encouraging and connecting individuals, communities and organisations in Leeds.

Season Well

Season Well is a Leeds-based community interest company who inspire and enable people to grow, cook and eat local, seasonal fruit, herbs and vegetables.

Compost Collective Leeds: Pilot Success!

By Emma Andrews

Published 30th March 2023

FoodWise Leeds is celebrating the success of delivering a 1-year community composting pilot, in partnership with local grass-roots organisations and community groups. Compost Collective Leeds is now expanding across the city, with funding to establish six additional sites.

Jump to:

THE PILOT

Since February 2022, FoodWise Leeds has partnered with grass-roots organisations and community groups to establish two community composting sites in Garforth and Seacroft. The ambitions for these sites were to enable community members to:

  • Reduce food waste by recycling food scraps
  • Create a free source of compost to grow local food, flowers and other plants
  • Collectively #compostforclimate and reduce their carbon footprint
  • Support their local green and growing spaces

In just 3 months, over 180 5litre caddies were emptied into community composting bins, transforming over 250 kilos of diverted food waste into a future free source of compost. This means approximately 950 kilos of CO2 emissions (GhGs)1 have been saved; the equivalent weight of around 4 local alpacas at Leeds’ Meanwood Valley Urban Farm!

Once the compost is ready, local members will be collecting their share and any remaining will be given to local green/growing spaces (e.g. Incredible Edible Garforth community food growing beds and Seacroft Forest Garden).

Photo credit: Meanwood Valley Urban Farm

Local Councillor Katie Dye enthuses about her local site Compost Collective Seacroft:

“The scheme has been really successful. From experienced composters to complete beginners, the pilot has engaged lots of different people who are now turning food waste into compost to grow more food!

FoodWise Leeds were able to provide the guidance needed to set up and establish the site for long-term sustainability, with expertise and resources from bin design to delivering members training. Climate Action Seacroft has been a great support, co-facilitating training, looking after the compost bin and encouraging people along the way. Links have been made with community organisations such as the LS14 Trust who are offering a free tea or coffee with each caddy emptied and Chapel FM who are composting food waste from their cafe.

It would be fantastic to see community composting extended so that more people can benefit, and we can cut waste across the city.”

Compost Collective Garforth partners: Incredible Edible Garforth and Eco-Friendly Garforth. Funded by Outer East Community Committee and Food for the Planet (Sustainable Food Places).

Compost Collective Seacroft partners: We Are Seacroft, Climate Action Seacroft and LS14 Trust. Funded by Inner East Community Committee and Food for the Planet (Sustainable Food Places).

Read more about the pilot sites here.

Our Approach

FoodWise Leeds has shared an overview of their approach to setting up the pilot sites (below). Key to the continuing success of these sites is the co-production with local community. This has been achieved this through strong partnership working, community consultation and local skill sharing/development. One key outcome of this approach has been the positive impact on helping to reduce social isolation (i.e. community composting as a social activity), one member told us “I’m already a keen composter, I came to meet people”.

To achieve the ambitions for each site, FoodWise and partners worked through the following stages, developing supporting resources and tools. For example, Compost Collective Leeds Members Handbook (viewable here).

GROWING THE MOVEMENT

With strong links to the Leeds Food Strategy, the vision for Compost Collective Leeds is to work in partnership with local communities to grow a network of community compost sites across Leeds. Taking action towards this and based on the success of the pilot, FoodWise has secured funding to develop an additional six sites in partnership with other Leeds-based communities.

Compost Collective Leeds sites provide communities with a tangible way to take action in caring for themselves, their communities and the planet.

INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A SITE?

If you are a local organisation, community group or community member interested in setting up a local Compost Collective Leeds site, please get in touch with FoodWise Leeds (info@foodwiseleeds.org) to discuss how we might support you and your community.

Footnote: 1 Calculation based on insights within the UK Food System GHG Emissions report (WRAP) (i.e. approximately every kilo of food waste in the UK is associated with 3.8 kilos of GhGs (CO2e)).

LIVE! Latest Healthy Eating Toolkit for Easter 2023

By Emma Andrews

Published 16th February 2023

Our latest Healthy Eating Toolkit has been released to help Healthy Holidays Leeds providers plan for Easter 2023 provision!

This toolkit shares ideas for healthy eating messages and activities, as well as sharing related information with families.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD TO ACCESS:

  • Spring food activities
  • Spring Healthy Eating Competition details. 50 vouchers for Leeds HH children and young people to win!
  • Training resources for your teams
  • 15 real examples from Leeds-based providers
  • Ideas including:
    • Preparing & cooking food
    • Creativity & healthy eating
    • Get moving with food
    • And more!

1:1 SUPPORT

FOLLOW ON SOCIALS FOR TIPS

  • Follow us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for tips as you plan your Easter provision over the coming six weeks.

THANK YOU FOR FEEDBACK

  • Thank you to everyone who has given their feedback on this toolkit. We have added and continue to develop new elements that reflect your feedback.
  • Please send any future feedback to Emma via info@foodwiseleeds.org.uk.

About Healthy Holidays Plus

In collaboration with key partners, the Healthy Holidays Plus programme supports Leeds providers to embed healthy eating messages and activities across all future Healthy Holidays provision. This toolkit release follows the previous successful iterations across key 2022 holiday periods. All releases have been coproduced with a range of collaborators including local third sector organisations, schools, community hubs, key food providers, Leeds City Council and Leeds Community Foundation. Healthy Holidays Leeds has been running since 2018, providing nutritious food and engaging activities to primary and secondary school aged children and young people in receipt of free school meals and children and young people who have Special Education Needs or Disabilities.

For more details about the Healthy Holidays Leeds programme, click here.

#GoodFoodStories Launches!

By Emma Andrews

Published 16th December 2022

FoodWise Leeds has launched the #GoodFoodStories campaign to celebrate the vibrant food scene across Leeds and to inspire others to join our local #goodfoodmovement!

The first series of #GoodFoodStories is a collection of short interviews with pioneers of the Leeds #goodfoodmovement. Eight videos give a taste of Leeds’ ever-growing community of sustainable, healthy and accessible food projects and organisations.

The #GoodFoodStories map can also be used to journey around the diverse neighbourhoods of Leeds. The map has been created to help people see what these places have to offer and get involved in their local community. Whether they want to eat more sustainably, grow their own food, reduce their waste or access community food, this map captures some of the brilliant examples of the Leeds #goodfoodmovement.

#GoodFoodStories will be promoted on the FoodWise Leeds social media platforms over the coming months, spotlighting each interview (Twitter, Instagram or Facebook).

We are looking to expand this campaign later in 2023! If you know of any #GoodFoodStories across Leeds ready to be captured, please get in touch via info@foodwiseleeds.org.

  1. Watch these digital stories to be inspired and learn about what actions you can take to make a difference.
  2. Use our map below to see what’s near you.
  3. Make your pledge and join the movement!

LIVE! Latest Healthy Eating Toolkit for Christmas 2022

By Emma Andrews

Published 4th November 2022

The latest Healthy Eating Toolkit has been released, supporting Leeds Healthy Holidays providers to plan their Christmas provision!

The toolkit shares ideas for planning provision daily healthy eating messages and activities, as well as sharing of nutritional information with families.

Updates include:

  • Winter food activities
  • Eating #JustOneMore veg activities
  • Physical activities with healthy eating messages
  • Winter Competition! 50 vouchers for Leeds Healthy Holidays children and young people to win
  • More Leeds-based examples of provision healthy eating messages and activities

Download the toolkit here

Providers can follow us on social media for tips as you plan your provision’s healthy eating messages and activities over the next 6 weeks (Twitter, Instagram or Facebook).

FoodWise Leeds has been running the Healthy Holidays Plus programme since October 2021.

  • In collaboration with key partners, the programme supports Leeds providers to embed healthy eating messages and activities across all future Healthy Holidays provision.
  • This toolkit release follows the previous successful iterations for Easter & summer provisions this year.
  • All releases have been coproduced with a range of collaborators including local third sector organisations, schools, community hubs, key food providers, Leeds City Council and Leeds Community Foundation.

Healthy Holidays Leeds has been running since 2018, providing nutritious food and engaging activities to primary and secondary aged children who are eligible for free school meals. 

Leeds Recipe Hub Launches!

By Emma Andrews

Published 20th September 2022

FoodWise Leeds have announced the launch of a new recipe hub, in collaboration with Leeds City Council, the University of Leeds and Climate Action Leeds.

Leeds Recipe Hub has been a long time ambition to support Leeds communities to share their wealth of knowledge and experience of cooking.

This hub is for everyone – individuals, families, community groups, organisations and food businesses – to share recipes with others, recipes by Leeds and for Leeds.

Jump to carbon footprint calculations

It builds on previous work and resources to support individuals and community groups to access and try simple, nutritious and affordable recipes. Within this online peer-to-peer learning space, photographs, quotes and other information are all included to help share real stories about real food

Watermelon Salad from Hyde Park Source
Curried Sweet Potato Hash from Barca Leeds
Veggie Pizza Wraps from Feel Good Factor
Chinese Fakeaway from Get Families Cooking
Sweetcorn Fritters from Grimes Dyke Primary School
Modified Caribbean Fish Curry from Leeds Beckett University, University of Leeds & Feel Good Factor

CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATIONS

We believe this is the first recipe hub to include a carbon calculation for each recipe added. The calculations have been made using the Carbon Footprint Calculator from the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) at University of Leeds.

We have provided the information to help build understanding and to support further conversations around the sustainability and carbon impact of the food we eat.

By making small changes to what we eat, while maintaining a nutritious and balanced diet, we can make big differences to our individual carbon footprint. For example, by choosing seasonal and/or locally grown veg and fruit where possible.

Check out BDA’s simple tips for a sustainable and balanced diet here.

To find out more about the Carbon Footprint Calculator, contact info@cdrc.ac.uk.

From here, we plan to continue growing the diversity of recipes and promoting it within local communities and programmes across Leeds. To #SearchTryShare recipes, check out the Leeds Recipe Hub here.

“This is a fantastic resource for community groups and individuals to be able to search, try and share nutritious, affordable and tasty recipes, with a focus on seasonal eating. Each recipes carbon footprint will help people make informed decisions about what they eat and help protect the planet.”

Sonja Woodcock, Sustainable Food Places Coordinator at FoodWise Leeds.

Leeds Recipe Hub Partners:

Leeds Recipe Hub has been funded by Leeds City Council.

Composting at Seacroft Family Fun Day (with an eco-twist!)

By Emma Andrews

Published 2nd August 2022

Compost Collective Leeds (CCL) will be We Are Seacroft’s Family Fun Day (with an eco twist!), outside the LS14 Trust Café on Friday 12th August, 12-2pm.

CCL and Climate Action Seacroft members will be there talking about the importance of reducing food waste, how composting can help and a proposed community composting project for local residents.

If you’re interested to learn more or get involved with community composting in Seacroft, please do drop by the community composting stall 12-2pm on Saturday 12th August.

The wider event will also have a variety of different stalls from forest school crafts to bike repairs & maintenance, with many different activities for the whole family.

Compost Collective Leeds supports communities to reduce food waste by recycling food scraps, make #soilfromscraps for growing local food + flowers and collectively #compostforclimate. CCL are working in partnership with We Are Seacroft to deliver the proposed Compost Collective Seacroft project.

Follow @FoodWiseLeeds on Twitter for more on Compost Collective Leeds.

Follow @ClimateActionSeacroft for more about their current activities.

Follow @LS14 Trust for more about their current activities.

Compost Collective Seacroft project is funded by Inner East Community Committee and Food for the Planet (Sustainable Food Places)

NEW HEALTHY EATING TOOLKIT FOR HEALTHY HOLIDAYS

By Emma Andrews

Published 18th July 2022

FoodWise Leeds has released a new Healthy Eating Toolkit for the summer Healthy Holidays programme to support providers across Leeds – and beyond!

This follows a successful ‘Healthy Holidays Spring Toolkit’ for Easter provision earlier this year. Different approaches were piloted for supporting providers to embed healthy eating messages and activities into their provision.

Check out competition details in the toolkit!

This latest version of the toolkit includes:

  • Quick food conversation starters with children and young people.
  • How to integrate healthy eating messages and activities into daily provision.
  • Ways to provide healthy eating information/activities to family members and carers.
  • Summer Competition! 50 vouchers to be won by Leeds Healthy Holidays children and young people.
  • Examples from 8 different Leeds providers, across third sector organisations, local schools and council community hubs, celebrating their own healthy eating activities.

The toolkit has been circulated digitally to providers across Leeds and is accessible to others via the FoodWise website.

Download the toolkit here.

Follow us on Twitter to see quick tips from the toolkit and provider spotlights!

“It was so helpful to have the toolkit to hand over Easter, there are so many ideas in there. We were able to take inspiration and make the activities suit our own provision and families. It also helped us to upskill our staff members with the advice on relevant healthy eating training.”

A local Healthy Holidays Provider

FoodWise Leeds has been running the Healthy Holidays Plus programme since October 2021. In collaboration with key partners, the programme supports Leeds providers to embed healthy eating messages and activities across all future Healthy Holidays provision. Healthy Holidays Leeds has been running since 2018, providing nutritious food and engaging activities to primary and secondary aged children who are eligible for free school meals.

Leeds wins veg cities runner up!

By Emma Andrews

Published 12th July 2022

We are delighted that Leeds was runner up for the Veg Cities prize at the recent The Food Foundation‘s Peas Please conference!

Peas Please is a national campaign to increase vegetable consumption, with a particular focus on low income groups and children. Leeds was recognized for FoodWise’s Veg Cities campaign, which aims to embed increasing vegetable consumption into a variety of projects, including Healthy Holidays, reaching out to diverse audiences and for our success in securing 43 pledges from 28 participants to serve more vegetables!

We’d like to highlight the success of our #JustOneMore campaign to encourage an extra portion of vegetables across a variety of settings. And the Feed Leeds campaign #sowarowXtra to encourage those with the skills to grow food to share seedlings and expertise with others. Together we can create a more veggie-friendly city!

Thank you to all the organizations that have pledged so far and we hope that next year we’ll win the top prize!