Delighted to announce, Compost Collective Leeds (CCL) won the best community composting award at the Feed Leeds Food Growing Awards. Congratulations to Annie Whitehead, for all of her hard work and achieving so much.
Compost Collective Armley is coming soon to Charlie Cake Park (officially called Whingate Park). This will be the tenth Compost Collective scheme across Leeds. This means we have achieved one of our big milestones, as Food Transition Partner for Climate Action Leeds. Now that’s something to shout about! Want to get involved? Get in touch with Armley Common Rights Trust or Climate Action Armley.
Inspiration Nursery have almost filled their second compost bin and are really excited about how much food waste they have diverted from landfill and the future free soil they are producing for their raised beds in the school gardens. And there’s more! Horsforth Community Compost Collective got the go ahead from Leeds City Council to build more composting bins on public land.
And the numbers are in for 2024: Didn’t we do well!
1,963 kgs of material was diverted from landfill.
We set up 7 new schemes, worked with 11 new organisations and built 19 compost bins.
We trained 110 volunteers (and 96 are still active!)
If you find Black Friday and it’s no-holds barred, fight to the finish for the cheapest deal a drag – then Giving Tuesday might be the refreshing antidote you are looking for.
This year, over 4,400 UK charities, including Zest, the charity that host FoodWise Leeds, are participating in this meaningful event. We want to say thank you and express our gratitude to all supporters who help us create a fair community for everyone in Leeds. Zest empowers those facing disadvantages through people-led projects focused on hope and happiness.
You can support Zest projects by donating to our Just Giving.
Giving Tuesday is a global movement that promotes generosity and encourages acts of kindness. It highlights various ways to give, from volunteering time and donating money to raising awareness and opting out of spending. Here are some ideas for how people can enhance giving and promote equity in our communities in Leeds. You can find out more about the Giving Tuesday UK Campaign in this link.
In this picture:Images 1 & 2 slogans courtesy of free images from GivingTuesdayUK. Image 3 courtesy of Zest Leeds website of Leeds Cookery School and Men’s Pie Club at Leeds Markets.
1. Support Local Community Initiatives ✨
There are loads of initiatives encouraging positive support of a range of communities. One excellent example, Mahogony Market. Founded in September 2020, Mahogany Market orchestrates events that showcase and create platforms for African and Caribbean culture. They connect the community with local independent businesses and there is a wide array of products and services. You can support local black-owned businesses by buying gifts at their next festive Mahogony Market on Dec 1at Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Also consider supporting Give-a-Gift a local grassroots organisation supporting the most vulnerable across Leeds. With support from volunteers and donations, they have supported over 2000 people with toys and emergency supplies. Other food aid across the city can be located on this brilliant new map.
2. Start a Community Garden and Cultivate Generosity 🕒
Compost Collective Leeds is a city–wide community composting scheme revolutionising the reduction of food waste. Did you know 200 kilos of food waste is produced by the average Leeds household each year? And the good news is that 40% of this can be transformed into valuable free soil by being composted. Yet many homes aren’t suitable for home composting compost. Well. Compost Collective Leeds have the perfect solution.
What can you do to help build the compost revolution? Join, start or donate towards a new community composting scheme. Compost Collective is a city–wide community composting scheme that began as a pilot in 2022. Read more about our journey here.
Fancy watching something about Compost Collective? Click here
In this picture:close up images of the new compost bin build at Horsforth Community Composting Scheme (1) logo on side of bin (2)volunteers before it is built (3) tools and the bin lid being created (4) a person having a moment of rest with tools inn hand (5) wood parts being assembled.
4. Invest in your local community.🌍
Community Share offers are one example of ways you can support your local community by investing in them. Community Ownership allows local people to have control over spaces that are important to them and to use them in ways that meet the community’s needs. One current local example is Bramley Baths Share Offer Raise the Roof, where people in Bramley, Leeds and beyond can invest in a piece of local heritage, and the only remaining operational Edwardian pool in Leeds. More information here. Another national example is the Black Farmers Uk, who are a grassroots black-led food justice inititative in Croydon. You can donate in this link or sign their petition here. Another fun and festive themed scheme you can support is Rainbow Junktion‘s reverse Advent Calendar. For each day of december they have suggested items you can donate to build a donation package of 24 items to give to local people who need it, and for those looking for a cause to support more reguarly you can become a friend of Rainbow Junktion here.
In this picture: Reverse advent Calendar 2024 from Rainbow Junktion with 24 items you can donate.
5. Buy an Experience ✨
Another alternative to Black Friday deals and a way to take part in #GivingTuesday is buying an experience to share with loved ones – local foodie and cultural experiences include – Leeds Cookery SchoolVouchers or why not go see a theatre production such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse and Leeds Food Tours run delicious tasting foodie tours which often includes a taste of the amazing chillis at the Chilli Shop right here in the heart of Leeds.
In this picture:Courtesy of Leeds Playhouse – a poster of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
6. Buy Nothing 🌿
What might be a refreshing change or flip of the coin, is to buy absolutely nothing. The Buy Nothing Project is a global network of community groups that encourage people to give, lend, and share items instead of buying new ones. The Buy Nothing Project was founded in 2013 by Rebecca Rockefeller and Liesl Clark in Bainbridge Island, Washington. It started as a Facebook campaign, but now also has a website and standalone app. The project has over 128,000 communities around the world. Features of the scheme include:
Giving: Members freely give or request items without obligations.
Sustainability: Rehoming items is eco-friendly compared to disposal.
Community: The project fosters trust and empathy among members.
Awareness: Highlights the negative effects of overconsumption and benefits of buying nothing to your mental health, bank balance and more.
To find out more or join up for FREE click this link.
7. Support Local 💚
When you buy local, you’re not just purchasing a product; you’re investing in a story. Each item at a local market has a history and a heart. The artisan who crafted that beautiful ceramic mug, the farmer who grew that squash in the field down the road. It helps build stronger communities, is more sustainable, and is often unique and high-quality products. Here is a listof some of the local artisan, Christmas and Farmers’ Markets coming up. You can also check out our mapfor some of the #goodfood initiatives happening across Leeds. From Little Veg Librariesto community gardensand farmers markets, find out what is happening locally.
It’s truly heartwarming to see the variety of ways we can connect with our local community and support one another. From organic veggie boxes, which include more affordable solidarity options to ensure everyone has access to fresh produce, to incredible dining experiences that celebrate locally sourced ingredients, there’s a genuine sense of care and community spirit in Leeds. And let’s not forget about the joy of fresh locally sourced organic meat, or the delight of picking out a locally grown Christmas tree. Each of these options not only brings quality into our lives but also supports our local farmers and artisans. It’s definitely worth exploring and supporting these wonderful local initiatives. Take a look at a few we have listed ( titles are click throughs): Eat Your Greens including their new greengrocers in the CITU: Climate Innovation District, Leeds Veg BoxPassion 4 PlantsMeanwood Valley FarmKirkstall Valley FarmSwillington Farm and last, but not least The Swine That Dines. This is just a hint of the flavour of the #GoodFoodMovement in Leeds. You can find out more on our website here and we will be sharing more about the amazing work happening in Leeds soon!
In this picture: Courtesy of Eat Your Greens website.
As part of our #GoodNewsStories, we wanted to share that Feed Leeds is launching #GetGrowingLeeds for 2024. Feed Leeds, is a sustainable food growing network dedicated to promoting sustainable food practices and has been hosting the #SowARowXtra campaign annually since 2021.
The campaign aims to inspire individuals with food growing skills to cultivate extra seedlings to share with others. These seedlings can be distributed among friends, neighbours, or through a network of Little Veg Libraries ( LVL), dropped off at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm or at Oakwood Market Garden.
Previously, in collaboration with Season Well, Feed Leeds organised workshops to assist those new to gardening or lacking access to growing spaces and resources. These workshops were well-received, with participants expressing enthusiasm and eagerness to begin their own growing projects. The initiative has not only fostered a sense of community and has helped individuals develop valuable skills in sustainable food production.
This year we wanted to grow the campaign by providing edible seedlings to more groups. We are doing this by linking up with existing community food growing events to provide seedlings, raise awareness of the importance of food growing and to celebrate the amazing community food growing projects across the city.
Growing your own food has so many benefits. Firstly, it benefits your health. Growing your own vegetables not only provides you with fresh, organic produce, it also gives you more control over the growing process, ensuring that no harmful chemicals or pesticides are used. This results in healthier and more nutritious vegetables that are free from harmful residues. Additionally, gardening can be a great form of physical activity, helping you stay active and reduce stress levels. The act of tending to your garden can also improve mental well-being and provide a sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, consuming freshly picked vegetables can lead to a higher intake of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which are essential for overall health. Overall, growing your own vegetables can contribute to a healthier lifestyle and improve your overall well-being.
It helps create a sense of connection with the natural world around us. It offers opportunities for people to share skills and knowledge and to meet new people whilst becoming part of new growing communities. It helps us connect with the origins of food and increases access to affordable, healthy produce. Additionally, engaging in practical climate action through growing food can help us appreciate the value of food and reduce waste. By creating compost from food scraps, we can also contribute to good soil health.
Join the movement, reap the benefits, share your skills and expertise and ‘Lets #GetGrowingLeeds!’
You can share this image and this article with your friends and communities who may be interested in getting involved. Get out for latest updates for this and other projects by subscribing to our newsletter or this website.
Shared as part of our #GoodFoodStories series. Annual Feed Leeds Celebration took place on Monday 26 Feb at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm. And at the event, we heard from amazing food growing projects from all across Leeds and we shared a delicious and nutritious meal! We also announced the winners of the Feeds Leeds Food Growing Awards. People from across Leeds were invited to nominate their favourite local food growing champions and winners were announced at the celebratory event. We would like to thank all those who voted, everyone who has contributed to growing and the Feed Leeds Network and of course, we’d like to congratulate the winners. It is always so nice to recognise the people who make a difference in our community.
And the awards went to, (drumroll)…
Best Local Business Supporting Local Sustainability and Resilience – Awarded to Meanwood Farm CSA
Most Enthusiastic Young Gardeners – Awarded to Khadija Begum who volunteers with Kirkstall Farm CSA (KVUF) and Ellie Hopkins who volunteers with Incredible Edible Garforth
There is so much going on at FoodWise and within the Feed Leeds Community. You can check out more of what we do by browsing our website. Also find out more or join in through the Feed Leeds website and socials – Feedleeds on facebook and @Feed_Leeds on twitter ( X) and also their growers group Potting Shed (Feed Leeds)And a big thank you to Climate Action Leeds for generous support to the eventto make the delicious food so affordable.
As part of #goodfoodstories Meet the Network we caught up with Rifhat Malik fromGive a Giftbefore Christmas to learn more about Cultural Food Hubs. Read on to hear what Rifhat has to say here!
Please tell us a little bit about what you do.
Give a Gift is a small charity and we’ve been running for 10 years supporting communities. We work with partner organisations through a referral process, but when COVID hit we had to digress from what we were doing and support people with food provision.
The council had set up a food distribution centre but due to logistics, they weren’t able to cater for the diverse communities and their cultural and dietary requirements, which led to the inception of two cultural food hubs – Give a Gift and Hamara. The cultural food hubs were then able to provide culturally appropriate food packs to people.
What impact are cultural food hubs having in Leeds?
Very, very positive. We started to deliver the cultural food packs to the various communities, such as Eastern European, South Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Caribbean and it has been very well received. We get a lot of positive feedback. It is important for people’s dignity that they can access culturally appropriate food.
What challenges are the cultural food hubs facing?
The biggest challenge is that we’re getting a lot more people coming to us. Since the policy changes that have meant that asylum seekers and refugees are being dispersed from the hotels, we’ve been inundated with more and more people wanting to register for the cultural food hub. We’re also getting calls from schools wanting to register families – the demand is increasing.
During COVID, there were 33 Community Care hubs providing food aid. Since then, organisations have gone back to their core work, leaving 19 providers across the city, many providing a much reduced service. This has meant an increase in demand for not only cultural food hubs but all food aid providers due to the Cost of Living crisis.
In addition, the funding landscape is unsure. We’ve been well supported by the Council and VAL through the Household Support Fund, and we have good relationships wholesalers, but it is a challenge to meet the increasing demand.
I understand you received an award recently.
Yes. We were nominated last year for the Queen’s Award but when the Queen passed away it changed to the King’s Award. I said to my husband wouldn’t it be nice if we were the first recipients of the King’s award. And yeah lo and behold it was announced last Tuesday!
So yes, we’re really excited about that. And to be honest with you, we’ve not really had time to digest it because we’re so front house and we’re operational, you don’t get a chance to chance to sit down and sort of take it all in. I’m hoping that it’ll actually open some doors for us. I think it will help with funding, as it will act like a stamp for accreditation.
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.
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