Tag: Sustainable Food

Nominate People involved in Leeds Food Growing

By Zoe Parker

Published 22nd December 2025

Do you know local heroes or projects in your community that deserve recognition?

We want to celebrate the people and projects who are putting local food growing at the heart of what they do in Leeds. Maybe you know a cool local growing project, an enthusiastic young person doing great things in a community garden, or a local enterprise really making a difference? You can nominate them for the Feed Leeds Food Growing Awards 2026 you can nominate in 5 categories and as many people or projects as you like. Know someone who fits the bill?

We invite you to nominate inspiring people and projects in the following five categories!

1. Most Enthusiastic Young or School Gardener (up to the age of 25) – Tell us about the young people in Leeds making a difference. Do you know a young gardener who inspires you?

2. Outstanding Community Champion  –  Who is your local community champion? Tag them and let us know why they deserve recognition!

3. Best Community Food Growing Enterprise or Initiative – Feed Leeds wants to showcase food growing projects that are helping communities become more sustainable and resilient. It could be a project that teaches people to grow their own food, a community orchard, one that supplies fresh produce to local food banks and community kitchens, or one that teaches people to make their own compost at home. Nominate a project that has helped others. What impact has this initiative had on your / their community?

4. Best Local Business Supporting Local Food Growing Enterprises – Local retailers and restaurants play an integral role in supporting local food growing enterprises, helping them to be financially viable. We want to discover the retail businesses, caterers, cafes, and restaurants supporting local food growing enterprises so we can celebrate their vision and commitment to supporting the Leeds local food network. Who do you think should be nominated for their exceptional support?

5. Best Community Composting Group – Composting food scraps is a great way to reduce carbon emissions and return nutrients back to the soil. Community composting is on the rise and Feed Leeds is keen to celebrate who is leading the way. Composting groups can be within a school, in a community gardening project, or amongst friends and neighbors. Do you know a group that is doing amazing work in composting?

Winners will be announced at the Feed Leeds AGM Celebration on Monday 9 February 2026 5:30-8:30pm* at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm.

*Doors open 5:30pm, awards at 6pm, shared meal from 7:15pm followed by networking. 

If you know inspirational people or groups involved in food growing in Leeds, we’d love you to nominate them!
know inspiring local people and projects involved in leeds food growing
Nominations are open until Sunday 1 February 2026.

Ready to nominate local people and projects?

Click Now

Mapping Leeds’ Community Food Growing

By Zoe Parker

Published 4th December 2025

Complete the Community Food Growing Survey

We have teamed up with  Fruit Works Co-op to develop the Leeds Food Growing Network (LFGN). This is a citywide initiative to connect the many people and places involved in community growing food across Leeds and to amplfy their voices. While growers often focus on their own patch, there’s huge value in sharing knowledge, spotting gaps, and celebrating what’s working well.

To kick things off, we’re running a Community Food Growing Survey.

This survey will help us build a better understanding of the community food growing scene across Leeds. The project is funded by Y-PIP’s Communities Innovating Yorkshire Fund (CIYF), which backs place-based projects around inclusive economy, creativity, and climate action. More about the LFGN and this initiative here.

This survey is designed to be completed by anyone growing food with others in a community space within the Leeds City Council boundary. It is not intended for private home gardens and allotments.

As a thank you, everyone will be entered in a prize draw for a chance to win a £50 voucher from Beardsworths who are a large, local wholesale nursery growing hardy trees, shrubs, perennials and hedging, conveniently located by Junction 26 of the M62.

We’ve tested this survey and it takes less than 10 minutes.
The deadline for submission is Sunday 18 January 2026 (midnight).

Please share the link with others who may not be on social media.

If you’re involved in community food growing in Leeds, we’d love to hear from you — your insights will shape what comes next.

Can you spare 10 minutes to tell us about your community food growing

Complete the Survey

And be in with a chance of winning £50 voucher!

Find out More

Space to Grow

By Zoe Parker

Published 30th November 2025

Realising the potential of the community gardening movement in the UK.

In early 2025, the RHS set out to understand the scale, impact and needs of the UK’s diverse community gardening groups by launching the National Community Gardening Survey – the largest of its kind. The results have now been published and the numbers speak volumes. Over 2.5 million adults have taken part in community gardening in the past three years, and 14.7 million more say they’d love to get involved. Read their full article

Who are RHS?

RHS (the Royal Horticultural Society) are UK’s gardening charity, helping people and plants to grow.

Their mission is to be there on people’s lifelong journey with gardening – to bring happiness, health, stronger communities and a thriving natural world.

With 220 years of experience, they support gardeners of all ages with expert advice, community and schools projects, scientific research, professional qualifications, our five RHS Gardens, and events including the iconic RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Community gardens do more than grow plants – they grow pride, purpose and connection.

Community gardening groups empower people with new skills, and serve as a space for cultural exchange, intergenerational learning and friendship.25 They offer a welcoming environment for people to begin their gardening journey, or simply to belong.

Call to Action from RHS two people digging in a flower bed

Useful Links & Resources

Space to grow cover of pdf two people of different ethnicities gardening
statistics of aduts community gardening
Download the Report

Bang in Some UK Beans

By Zoe Parker

Published 26th November 2025

As part of the Food Foundations’s campaign to get the UK doubling their bean consumption, we are spilling the beans on UK grown and produced beans and pulses.

The Food Foundation want to see a UK where everyone – regardless of income – is empowered to cook and eat beans.They want to see more beans available and in more delicious ways: on supermarket shelves, in schools, and on menus when eating out and about. All of which makes them much easier to access and more appealing for you! With food prices rising again, beans and pulses offer an affordable, healthy and sustainable solution. More than that you can buy locally grown and produced bean and other pulses right here in the UK.

Why are we banging on about beans?

Because beans are a win-win-win for climate, health and your wallet.

collections of packets of beans lentils and peas

If you are wondering where to buy your UK pulses, Hodmedod’s is the place to start. They specialise in a wide range of British Grown Pulses many of which are less common. From Fava (broad) beans to Carlin Peas, from Flamingo Peas to Olive Green Lentils, you can buy these British grown pulses canned, dried or roasted. Some of their varieties are “forgotten” or less widely grown — like fava beans (broad beans), and a variety of carlin peas (the original northern mushy peas). Places you can buy these beans and pulses include Hodmedod’s own website,  Ethical Superstore, Suma, Leeds Veg Box, Greens Grocers, Natural Food Store Headingley, Holland and Barrett, the Bold Bean Co use their beans for many  of their products. Bold Beans Co are stocked in Leeds by Waitrose, Tesco, Morrison and Sainsbury’s.

beans in a pan
“Beyond health, beans and pulses’ nitrogen-fixing properties boost soil health, reduce reliance on fertilisers, and help meet biodiversity and climate goals—all with a low carbon footprint.”

Inside Leeds Recycling Hub

By Zoe Parker

Published 30th October 2025

What happens to your  recycling after it leaves your green bin?

Sonja Woodcock, our Sustainable Food Partnership Coordinator recently visited the Leeds Materials Recycling Facility (MRF)— which is the place where all our green bins get sorted. The visit was organised by community composting champion Annie Whitehead, and it offered a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how our city manages its recycling. It was also pause to reflect on how much waste we produce and why reducing and reusing are more important than ever. Hear about the visit form Sonja’s perspective.

recycling in leeds

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Recycling

When our mixed recycling arrives at the MRF, it first passes through a giant trommel, a huge rotating drum that separates out larger pieces of plastic and glass. From there, the materials travel across a series of conveyor belts, where teams of skilled workers sort through them by hand. Across three shifts, around 30 pickers per shift carefully separate aluminium from tin, plastic films from bottles, and cardboard from other packaging. Once sorted, these materials are baled and sent to specialist facilities for recycling — most of them right here in the UK.

The Bigger Picture: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

While the MRF’s work is incredibly impressive, one message stood out clearly: we can’t recycle our way out of overconsumption. The facility is doing an amazing job managing our waste, but the volume itself is unsustainable. Much of what’s recycled is packaging from processed food and drink — items we could often reduce or avoid entirely. If we focus more on the first two steps of the waste hierarchy — Reduce and Reuse — we’ll not only ease pressure on recycling facilities but also benefit our own health and wellbeing.

“Watching this process in action was fascinating. However, the sheer volume of recyclable material is staggering — a sobering reminder of just how much waste our city produces.”

Leeds’ Long History of Recycling

We were also treated to a short talk from Henry Irving, who shared the history of recycling in Leeds dating back to World War II. It turns out Leeds has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to recycling and resource recovery — something I hadn’t really thought about before. You can read more about this in this article: The Secret Library

person in white hard hat recycling rubbish

Top Tips from the MRF Team

If you’re wondering how to recycle more effectively at home, here are a few simple but important tips from the experts at the MRF:

  • Rinse your plastics to avoid contamination — this really matters.
  • Flatten plastic bottles and put the lid back on — it saves space and helps the sorting machines.
  • No batteries in the green bin — they’re a major fire hazard.
  • Only put recyclable materials in your green bin — when in doubt, check before you chuck it.
“It’s incredible to see the hard work that goes into sorting and recycling what we so casually toss into our bins — and it’s a powerful reminder that the best way to manage waste is to create less of it in the first place.”
recycling funnel
Leeds RMF

National Bean Challenge

By Zoe Parker

Published 18th September 2025

Fresh Campaign to double bean consumption for health and planet.

The Food Foundation and Veg Power, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, today announced the November launch of a new UK-wide campaign with a simple mission: to get people eating more beans and pulses.

Strategic and creative agency ARK—founded by Mat Goff, former Adam & Eve CEO, and Mike Wilton, former Anomaly MD—has been appointed to deliver the ambitious digital campaign.

This new initiative builds on the proven success of Eat Them To Defeat Them and Peas Please, which have reached 36 million people since 2019 and driven over 1.1 billion extra portions of veg sales across the UK.

With food prices rising again, beans and pulses offer an affordable, healthy and sustainable solution. They are high in fibre, rich in protein, and provide key nutrients including potassium, magnesium, iron and zinc—all while counting towards 5-a-day. Yet only 4% of Brits get enough fibre and just 17% hit their daily fruit and veg target.

key facts in colourful boxes

Beyond health, beans and pulses also support the planet. Their nitrogen-fixing properties boost soil health, reduce reliance on fertilisers, and help meet biodiversity and climate goals—all with a low carbon footprint.

The Food Foundation and Veg Power are  calling on chefs, retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, food service companies, youth organisations, community groups and caterers to join the “bean revolution” by serving, selling, and promoting beans like never before.

 
Will you join the campaign?

Beans aren’t just good for you—they’re good for nature, good for the planet, and good for your wallet.

 

Up for the Challenge?

Can you eat double the amount of beans and pulses?

From lentils, to broad beans to  peas, there are so many varieties to choose from. Help your own health and the health of the planet with just one more portion of beans every day this autumn.

Find Out More

Join an Apple Day Near You

By Zoe Parker

Published 5th September 2025

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but they are also good for the planet. So let’s get juicing!

Apple Day is an annual celebration of apples and orchards. From the start, Apple Day was intended to be both a celebration and a demonstration of the variety we are in danger of losing, not simply in apples, but in the richness and diversity of landscape, ecology and culture too.

It traditionally falls on 21 October, the date of the first such event in 1990 set up by Common Ground, but events happen throughout September and October

Thanks to Leeds Urban Harvest and Fruit Works Co-operative we have apple pressing and juicing equipment available to hire or borrow in Leeds and Bradford. As a result many local community hubs, allotments and other outdoor spaces can hold public and private Apple Days.

There are 100+ fruit orchards  in Leeds and this great system we have where people can rent or borrow juicing equipment means lots of home-grown apples  that would otherwise go to waste, get picked,  juiced, eaten and stored, saving much food waste.

Your Autumn 2025 line up of Apple Days in Leeds and beyond.

 

14 September The Chemic Apple Pressing  2pm – a family friendly public event. Bring along your apples for pressing Arrive from 11am to help sort apples.

17 September Keighley Apple day at Yorgreen CIC with Fruitworks

21 September Horsforth Climate Action Green Festival

23 September St Vincents from 1.30pm

26 September Community Apple Pressing at Rainbow Junktion – All Hallows Church – volunteers needed 11-5pm

27 September Seacroft Forest Garden Apple day

27 September Apple Day with  Incredible Edible Belle Isle 10.30am & 1.30pm

4 October Apple Day Heart in Headingley 11-4 pm

4 October Skipton Apple Day 2025 at Middletown allotments

5 October Hollybush Apple Day

5 October Harehills Community Orchard 1-3pm

11 October  Headingley Farmers’ Market 

12 October Bradford Apple day

16 October Meanwood Valley Urban Farm  4-11 pm

18 October Oakwood Farmers’ Market

18 October  Apple Day Hyde Park Source 12-4pm

25 October Apple Day at REAP

26 October Apple Day Heaton Allotments, Bradford

 

Check out a fuller list on Leeds Urban Harvest schedule or get in touch with Fruit Works  for their Apple day events. See links below.

Read More about Fruit Works Co-operative
Read More about Leeds Urban Harvest
Let’s share the abundance

Browse our website for more Healthy, Sustainable and Fair Food Solutions including:

Apple Power  Read more about the great work being done in  Leeds and Bradford with apples.

Incredible Edible sites map Pick up some free veg at one of their 20 groups, 70 sites and 150 raised beds across the city in public spaces.

Veg Box Schemes – two local ones are Meanwood Urban Valley Farm. Leeds Veg Box. Discover more about Indie Local Food Busnesses in the Indie Directory

Leeds Food Aid Map  Find 140+ pantries, cafes and food aid busnesses if you need emergency food.

Leeds Good Food Map Discover Little Veg Libraries, Farmers Markets, Community gardens and lots more.

Download the Family Food and Wellbeing Leaflet
apple day 2025 incredible edible skipton
red apples
boxes of apples mixed colours
apple juicing

Apple Power

By Zoe Parker

Published 30th August 2025

Bradford is juicing up fresh solutions to the Cost-of-Living and Climate Crises

Tonnes of  apples go to waste all over Bradford District. Fruit Works Co-operative have established a coordinated juicing equipment library and service that diverts these surplus apples to four communities hubs.

This year, in autumn 2025, the project is supported by Fruit Works, but going forward it will be a self-funding enterprise for the four community hubs in Keighley, Shipley and Bradford. There are 4 ways the equipment can be used, depending on your needs.

Juice it yourself
Juice it for Fun
Juice it for you
Juice it with you.

Juice It Yourself
You borrow the kit for yourself, your family, friends, street or community group to make your own juice.

Juice It For Fun
The kit is used as part of a Community Apple Day, where people come together to celebrate the harvest.

Juice It For You
You bring your apples to one of the community hubs and they press them and bottle the juice for you.

Juice It With You
You bring your apples to one of the community hubs to make your own juice there, with their equipment.

Read More about Fruit Works Bradford

In Leeds with Leeds Urban Harvest  we are lucky enough to juice it up across the city.

Like Bradford, each year, thousands of fruit trees across Leeds go unpicked or unused because their owners can’t harvest them or there is too much fruit to use at one time.

Leeds Urban Harvest is a volunteer run community project that lends picking and processing equipment to groups to make juice from their excess apples.

Because there are more apples than people to juice them they also press and make use of surplus fruit donated by people, which would otherwise go to waste.

Four ways you can get involved in Leeds and fight the Cost-of-Living and Climate Crises

Pick It and Bring It.

Got surplus Apples ? Tell us about them here

hand in box of apples

Juice It for Fun

Come to an Apple Day! More about events here

children juicing diverse heritage

Borrow It 

Rent our equipment. Tell us about them here

Learn It with Us.

Learn how to press, juice and more by volunteering here

person sat up an aple tree smiling
Let’s share the abundance

Browse our website for more Cost-of-Living and Climate Crisis solutions including:

Leeds Food Aid Map  Find 140+ pantries, cafes and food aid businesses if you need emergency food.

Healthy Holidays  More about Healthy Holidays ( HAF) recently funded for the next three years! Read more.

Healthy Start  Go to this page for information on Healthy Start and for  links to other Family Food and Wellbeing services such as free school meals and uniform, money and welfare advice and more.

Incredible Edible sites map (who have 20 groups, 70 sites and 150 raised beds across the city offering free vegetable, fruit and herbs to the public and other

Download the Family Food and Wellbeing Leaflet
boxes of apples of various kinds and colours in crates
four crates of apples plus a woman stood holding another crate of apples i a field by a van
apples on a tree and fallen on grass
Apples red in a box in an orchard

World Pulses Day

By Zoe Parker

Published 5th February 2025

World Pulses Day is celebrated on February 10th each year. It’s an international day that recognises the importance of pulses, which are the edible seeds of legumes.

What are pulses?

Pulses, also known as legumes, are the edible seeds of leguminous plants cultivated for food. Dried beans, lentils and peas are the most commonly known and consumed types of pulses.
Staples dishes and cuisines from across the world feature pulses, from hummus in the Mediterranean (chick peas), to a traditional full English breakfast (baked navy beans) to Indian dal (peas or lentils).
For centuries, pulses have been vital to sustainable agriculture and nutrition. These small but impactful crops not only provide essential nutrients but also support healthier diets and resilient farming systems, making them a key source of nourishment even for the most vulnerable communities, contributing on leaving no one behind.Many grow in the UK. They are high in protein, low in fat, and rich in soluble fiber. Pulses can be served as standalone dishes, or incorporated into sauces, spreads, desserts, and as toppings. They count as one of your five-a-day and can be added as #JustOneMore veg to help you eat a healthy diet.

 

 

Why celebrate pulses?

To increase public awareness of the nutritional and environmental benefits of pulses
To recognise the potential of pulses to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
To acknowledge the role of pulses in increasing global food security, building soil health, and diversifying agricultural systems. More information at FAO [Click link for Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations]: https://www.fao.org/world-pulses-day/en

Did you know?

Pulses increase farm biodiversity and create a richer landscape for animals and insects to thrive.
The nitrogen-fixing properties of pulses can improve soil fertility, which improves and extends the productivity of farmland.
Pulses are highly water efficient: for producing 1 kg of lentils needs 1250 liters, while 1 kg of beef requires 13,000 liters.


How can you celebrate World Pulses Day?

Learn more about the nutritional and environmental benefits of pulses
Try eating more pulses in your meals
Support the production and consumption of pulses

Community Composting Success

By Zoe Parker

Published 13th November 2024

Compost Collective Leeds is at it again, spinning straw into gold— or rather, food scraps into fertile soil!

Compost Collective Leeds, set up with communities, is a city-wide community composting project that  transformed the way communities work together to put food waste to good use. With the support of FoodWise Leeds, 9 sites were set up creating thriving local community composting schemes across the city. Here’s more about individual schemes.

Compost Collective Hunslet & Riverside is a community composting scheme have filled their first compost bin, and are thrilled to be starting their second. You can join the scheme if you live locally by contacting Friends of Hunslet Moor on their facebook group. Meanwhile, Compost Collective Gipton, based at the Old Fire Station in Gipton, are enjoying their very first batch of soil. This is really exciting as their is a community garden and lots of use for free good quality soil.

The two newest sites are at Feel Good Factor in Chapeltown and and Drury Fields in Horsforth and both are remarkable.

You can read more about the successes of community composting in Horsforth by clicking this link or check out this little film about Horsforth Compost Collective building a compost bin by clicking this link. Or watch this film about Feel Good Factor’s Compost Collective Chapeltown in this link.

 If you would like support to set up a community composting scheme, or are interested in joining one of the already thriving schemes, contact Annie Whitehead for more information.

🌱 Thanks for reading! We’ll leave you with a picture of a community composting scheme member and their rather fabulous canine friends.

 

 

 

 

 

4 men smiling
4 boys community compost scheme
one person digging

Feed Leeds’ Get Growing Leeds

By Zoe Parker

Published 24th September 2024

Call out for your Growing Stories and Photos 🌱🌱🌱

In more #GoodFoodStories, there is a Feed Leeds’ Get Growing Leeds project has been an enormous success with over 300 seedlings handed out and over 24 events across Leeds. We are celebrating what people have grown. We’d love you to send us any photos of the veg you grew.

We’d love to hear you if you came to an event, took home some seedlings or ran an event.

🌾 What did you grow and how did that go?

🌾 What are you planning on growing next year?

🌾 Any recipe recommendations you used things you grew in?

🌾 Send us recommendations, top tips or other growing stories.

📷👉Could you send us photos of what you have grown from the free seeds / seedlings. 

We would love you to share your stories and photos with us. Huge thanks to those of you who already have. Send via email to Zoe: zoe.parker@zestleeds.org.uk

Not heard of Get Growing Leeds? Read more here. Want to know more about Feed Leeds other projects like Little Veg Libraries Sow a Row Xtra or Good Food Awards?

 

 

Get Growing Leeds

By Zoe Parker

Published 22nd April 2024

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.