The Forgotten Fields project has begun to explore the food heritage of Cringle Fields and the Highfield Park area of Levenshulme, which was well known locally for smallholdings known as the Piggeries.
Forgotten Fields is a project focused on the heritage of food production and availability in Manchester from 1750’s to present day. It concentrates on six communities from across Greater Manchester that have expressed a need to explore a particular food heritage.
Building on the lessons learnt from the Land Army pilots in the Summer, we have now secured funds to establish it as a permanent entity. The Unicorn Grocery has kindly donated £1,200 to pay for a field kitchen and shelter and The Big Lottery Fund has (provisionally) granted us £9,400 from its Awards for All fund to cover our costs in the coming year.
From late September, Kindling's Helen will be spending seven weeks visiting Aragon, Southern Spain, Catalonia and the Basque Country as part of a research tour looking at alternative food systems and co-operative ways of increasing access to sustainable food.
The region has a proud and progressive history of co-operative working. For example, Mondragon - a federation of worker cooperatives is the seventh largest Spanish company in terms of turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country.
The University of Manchester's FoodOnCampus have joined the local co-operative: Manchester Veg People (MVP) and during Welcome Week, we officially launch a new service supplying the University.
A tractor, growers and volunteers (dressed as vegetables!), will be travelling down Oxford Road to University Place where we will be displaying and selling our local organic fayre, and promoting the new sustainable food option available at the University’s restaurants and cafés from the start of this Autumn term.
A dozen events, visits, training sessions and talks are taking place during Manchester's Food & Drink Festival, all focused on different aspects of sustainability and our city's food.
Kindling's Chris had the pleasure of attending MERCi's workshop on How to Grow Flax and came away with a fuller understanding of the potential such urban agriculture holds for our derelict land.
Just down the road from MERCi's Bridge 5 Mill a very unusual crop has been growing this summer - flax. The Sow Sew Project was the winner of a competition to find a temporary use for open space in New Islington and when the flax is harvested in a few weeks it will be turned into fabric and given to artists to work with.
We had the pleasure of accompanying fourteen young adults to Glebelands City Growers on Monday (15th August 2011).
As part of a European exchange programme organised by Youth Discovery Ventures, particpants came from London, Sheffield and Holland to be part of a youth volunteering project for a week here in Manchester.
Most had little experience of food growing, in fact a few had never been on a farm before, but all where enthusiastic to learn, asking questions and helping out with the tasks.
Something big is happening in Manchester's sustainable food movement . Over the last week Manchester Veg People (MVP) has seen huge progress in its work to bring together organic farmers and progressive buyers.
MVP is now an official co-op – a unique co-operative to adopt a business model bringing local growers and buyers together in a relationship of trust to plan how we feed Manchester sustainably.
MVP has submitted an RPDE bid for financial support of £60,000 to build the business and bring on-board more local farmers.
Kindling's Helen is joining the UK delegation to attend The Nyeleni European Forum for Food Sovereignty from the 16th to 21st of August 2011.
Next month six hundred people will gather in Krems, Austria from over 40 countries to: articulate a regional plan for food sovereignty based on the very rights of people, the potential and the constraints of European territories, the need to cool the planet and to restore ecological services.
Forty-seven people made it to the seventh FeedingManchester gathering on the evening of Thursday 21st July, where we mixed business and pleasure.
With people from Stockport, Oldham and Liverpool and a mix of social enterprises, charities, private businesses and individuals the formal and informal discussions were fascinating.
The first half of the event (from 5 til 7.30pm) focused on sharing stories of our work; exploring opportunities around the Food & Drink Festival and reviewing Manchester's Sustainable Food Steering Group progress over the last year.