August ‘26

GROW

August was a quieter month for project delivery due to staff holidays but there was still plenty happening behind the scenes and at the Parklea Allotment.

With the support of volunteers, we held four sessions at the allotment, maintaining growing beds and harvesting a wide range of produce including potatoes, runner beans, peas, kale, lettuce, spring onions, courgettes, pumpkins and onions. Much of the produce was shared with the Parklea Café and with visitors passing through the allotment.

The allotment continues to be a great place to connect with local people,and we had many positive conversations about growing food, healthy eating and ways to get involved in community food growing.

We also spent time sourcing materials and designing our new Microgreen Growing Kits, which will be distributed to local residents in the coming months to encourage more people to grow nutritious food at home.

SHARE

A large part of our work continues to focus on reducing food waste and redistributing surplus food to where it is needed most.

Every day we coordinated our fantastic team of food waste volunteers, ensuring surplus food was collected and delivered to local nurseries, community centres, The Pantry and Mind Mosaic. Feedback from recipients continues to be overwhelmingly positive, with families benefiting from access to good quality food at a time when many are facing significant cost of living challenges.

By diverting food from landfill and getting it onto people's plates, the project is helping both local communities and the environment.

EAT

Planning is underway for our popular Soup Bag Activity Sessions, with nurseries currently being booked in for delivery during September. These sessions help children learn about vegetables, healthy eating and simple cooking while taking home ingredients to make nutritious soup with their families.

Throughout the month we also continued sharing Grow, Share, Eat information through our social media channels, including seasonal growing tips, healthy recipes and updates about local food-sharing opportunities.

Alongside project delivery, work continued on funding applications and partnership meetings, including discussions with Green Tangerine, helping us develop future opportunities to support food growing, food sharing and healthy eating across Inverclyde.