From the community, for the community,’ is Local Initiatives in New Galloway’s (LING) focus on helping reduce food waste and make healthy food more accessible.
At the community larder launch, visitors were introduced to the community freezer, filled with freshly cooked takeaways of soups, mains, breads, puddings and cakes. People were also shown the larder shelves stocked with dried food donations and homemade jams, chutneys, etc. As intended, most people did not leave empty-handed.
The community larder is open for anyone to pop in, browse and help themselves on Mondays from 9-11.30am, Tuesdays from 11am-3pm, and Thursdays from 9am-6pm. Everything is free, but of course donations are always welcome.
The idea of the larder grew out of the initial concept of offering a warm space with some tea, cake and a chance to socialise. Since last September, our hub hosts have been creating sit-in lunches and tea-time takeaways, making use of food donations and some low-budget staples. Recipes demonstrating how meals can be made from surplus or foraged food are available in the larder.
People drop in on Thursdays to ‘Hubbub’, as it has come to be known, sometimes bringing a donation, and often stay around for a chat over coffee or to share some lunch.
The larder was the next step, bringing it all together. We are using food, not only from individual donations of unwanted cupboard staples, etc, but also donations from New Galloway Community Shop, local businesses like Galloway Pasta, the Ethical Dairy, the Galloway Food Hub and even the Castle Douglas Food Bank.
Our own Garroch Estate Walled Garden project also offers a source of donations of fruit and vegetables at times of plenty and growers there are keen to support the community larder.
Things have already begun evolving beyond the larder to the creation of essentially a sharing hub that goes beyond food. A popular feature at Hubbub is the sharing table, where you bring any unwanted items for others to take away, and in turn take what you like from what others have brought. We’ve had all kinds of things, from children’s toys to a microwave oven. Visitors can also take, borrow, share or swap a book from the bookshelves in the lesser hall, which are stocked up with a large variety of books – always fun to browse and already being used regularly.
The Town Hall is also a Period Dignity Building, with a range of free period products available. We are always looking for donations or ideas for sharing in whatever form possible – be it your time to help out, unwanted food or other items or even a monetary donation. Every little helps to make this project a lasting one – for everyone. Support from D&G Council has enabled our Hub Hosts to gradually put in place all that has been needed to open up the doors of the community larder.
Thanks to a very successful book sale and coffee morning in January, with a generously supported raffle, we were able to buy our community freezer. This fundraiser was made possible entirely through volunteer input; volunteers have been a very important part of what has helped this project to grow and to thrive.
A small grant from the council’s Climate Hub fund, administered by the Biosphere, will be enabling us to begin an outdoor venture. We plan to make a small-scale contribution to New Galloway’s outdoor spaces, adding to the work that has already been done by others. At the crossroads, there are already flowers and a plant table. There are raised herb beds. There is a walled-off patch of grass, owned and mown regularly by the council, at the foot of Wylie’s Brae.
Our plan is to develop these as attractive community spaces, improving biodiversity.
We are again very lucky for so many donations – of seeds, cuttings, plants, and of course of skills too. In particular, we will be working to engage children and young people in this, enriching their understanding of the importance of holding onto traditional methods of growing, harvesting, and feeding ourselves.
So why not join the revolution? Help us, help your community, and help the climate by reducing food waste. Through using food that would otherwise end up in land-fill to sustain our communities, both in body and soul, seems like a perfect solution for these trying times when the cost of living is rising ever higher. Let’s share – our time, our resources, our skills; the more people who make use of the larder, and whatever else is on offer, the more successful the project will be. And the more our community will thrive.
