December ‘25

The end of another year! Where did it go?!

December was a busy month, starting with some seed saving and preparing for and manning the stall at the Parklea Christmas Fair. A great way to get us all in the Christmas spirit with lots of wonderful stalls and The Salvation Army band keeping everyone entertained with carols! The stall gave us the opportunity to talk to lots of folk about our project and we were overwhelmed with the generosity of donations and support for our work, especially in the nursery schools and the soup bag distribution. We gave away pots of green tomato chutney (made with the service users at Parklea and chef Stephen Paul and our Alice!), flower bulbs (from Lidl’s ‘waste’), spider plants propagated from Parklea mother plants and donated ceramic pots, bunches of herbs and chillies and of course soup bags. We also had a pot of soup on the go for people to taste. Thanks to Charlotte and Anne, Parklea and ICFN volunteers, for all your help! It was a cold couple of days, but we all left with a very warm and festive feeling!

We gave out more soup bags to the community and also healthy hampers to Women’s Aid which were well received!

Partner gardens had their own celebrations with the Drying Green decorating a tree with eco and bird feeder decorations and a carol concert by one of their volunteers Shelagh Mackay Jones.

Finally we started planning for 2026, knowing how quickly the growing season comes upon us! Looking forward to working with all the nursery schools and community gardens and groups again and building on this year’s learning. Hoping for another great year of growing, cooking and sharing food!