Transition Town Alness

Food is important to all of us. Around one-fifth of our carbon footprint comes from food, but it's not as simple as how far the ingredients have travelled to your plate. Local food production is key to a community becoming more self-sustaining. We have set up a survey for you to give us feedback on all of our plans (Click Here to take survey) and we want to tell you a bit more about our possible food projects here:

• Expansion of the allotments. The Alness & District Allotment Society established their allotments by Milnafua in 2008. There are twenty-six plots and a composting toilet and it has been a tremendous success. ATTG have been helping the Allotment Society set up a polytunnel to extend the season and grow a wider range of fruit and vegetables and we would like to help them expand to other sites in the community.
  
• Help to grow-your-own fruit and vegetables. With rising prices and concern over where food has come from, more and more people are getting interested in growing fruit and veg. However, most people are unwilling to take on an allotment plot and so we want to offer help to anyone wanting advice on how to get started - from growing a herbs in a windowbox to salad leaves in a container.
• Community orchard. By setting up an orchard that is owned by the community, we can establish a lasting legacy that will be enjoyed by future generations. The apples could be pressed for juice or distributed throughout the community.
• Sharing fruit and nut trees. There are already a lot of apple, plum, pear and cherry trees around Alness. Maybe you or a neighbour has a tree that produces too much for them to use? By establishing a map, we could reduce the amount of fruit and nuts wasted and also provide help to those unable to pick their fruit.
• Community-supported agriculture (CSA). This is essentially a social enterprise model that works through a closer relationship between grower and consumer. The farmer's members own ‘shares’ in the harvest. CSA enterprises range from members providing labour in advance to allotments on farm land.
• Seed-swap event. This would be a gathering in the autumn where we would all bring seeds from our own gardens and allotments. This is often a way of securing "heritage" varieties and seeds for plants that thrive in local conditions.
• Farmer's market. There are local farmer's markets in Culbokie, Dingwall and Dornoch, but would you be interested in Alness Transition Town Group helping to establish a market in Alness?
• Wild foraging workshop. There is a lot of free food available in the countryside around Alness. It can be difficult - and sometimes dangerous - to go out and forage without any help, so we would put on a workshop with experts to help you identify what is edible.
• Sharing land for growing food. There are lots of different ways to grow food. Maybe you have a lot of land but are not able to commit to growing veg. You could provide the land for someone else do the hard work, whilst you receive a proportion of the produce.

Remember - follow this link (Click Here to take survey) and vote if there are any of these plans are of particular interest. You can also tell us of any ideas for food-related projects that aren't listed here.