Food Growing

Web: https://www.edibleestates.co.uk

Web: https://www.earth-in-common.org/

Web: https://greeningourstreet.wordfast.com

Web: https://www.lauristonfarm.scot

We support stakeholders across the food systems from farm to fork to adopt more sustainable practices to ensure more people have access to good food.

As a leader in our city’s community food and health sector Edinburgh Community Food, following the four principles of dignity, works to promote health equality by providing affordable, healthy food, offering food education and supporting community health initiatives. We offer both support for low-income communities and tackle health inequalities across Edinburgh through our Food and Health Development work and supply of free, subsidised and paid-for food to households across the city. We also work within Edinburgh’s hospitals, supporting staff, patients and visitors and deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to businesses across the city. ECF has recently won the 2021 Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) Presidential Award and the 2021 Caroline Walker Trust Charity Campaigner of the Year Award.

An informal group for residents of Willowbrae to communicate local news, events, community efforts, tips to lead a more sustainable life, crime watch, and to offer mutual aid and support. This includes a Transition Streets group and Mothers CAN group, and links to the Eco group at the local Primary School. Community efforts include activities such as hand weeding streets to prevent Council from spraying glyphosate.

Edible Edinburgh is one of a network of Sustainable Food Place Partnerships, supported UK wide by Sustain. The cross sectoral partnership plays an important role in the development of sustainable food systems, campaigning for change and informing policy. City populations have a buying power and scope to free up land to grow more food locally. Also to influence the public spending on food to ensure that people can benefit from good, sustainable food.

BVT (Balerno Village Trust) set up an Energy Group in 2010 that eventually formed CBS Harlaw Hydro (a micro hydro community benefit coop) in 2013, which went live in 2015 and gifts surplus funds back to the BVT every year. We are currently undertaking a Net Zero CARES funded project in our 1950s community centre, with a whole host of challenges due to the condition and age of the building and the lack of volunteer time available.

Leith Community Growers is a small community group that works in the Leith Walk area. We aim to create accessible communtiy- and greenspace in and around Leith. That involves building planters and bat boxes, creating new gardens, growing spaces and wildlife habitats, organising various workshops, seed swaps and harvest festivals or giving out free community meals. We have regular drop-in gardening sessions at the Meanwhile Site with lots of regular and occasional volunteers, who are passionate about local food and growing projects.

Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC), founded in 1971, is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity made up of individual members and representatives from a wide range of organisations. ELREC is a member of the Scottish Alliance of Regional Equality Councils and has a remit to work across the areas of City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Councils. ELREC runs the Communities’ Reduce, Reuse & Recycle Project which is funded by Climate Action Fund (CAF), The National Lottery Community Fund. The aim of the project is to encourage and support BAME communities in Edinburgh to reduce waste, increase reusing and repairing and to shift to a more sustainable consumption.

​Bridgend Farmhouse is a sustainable community-owned centre for learning, eating and exercise in South Edinburgh. We aim to grow together to develop a flourishing community and place.

Edible Estates is a partnership of organisations which work together to promote community greenspace projects. We work across a variety of communities, but our approach is particularly well suited to social housing estates. We use food growing as a tool for urban regeneration, promoting individual health and well-being, and community cohesion.

In summary, with our activities centred on Leith Community Croft at the NW corner of Leith Links, we connect people with each and the land/nature and promote responsible global citizenship.

Our aims are to improve biodiversity, encourage healthy eating, and tackle loneliness. We meet on Saturdays at 11am and hold regular events.

Edinburgh Climate Cafe principly acts as an information providers and offers a space for people to take time and explore the various conepts, ideas and solutions in relation to climate change. We offer this mostly through street provision but also respond to information requests to attend events galas or as a supporting role to similar provision.We deliver works

Our vision is for a large scale urban food growing project which is nature rich, and which will benefit primarily the communities that live in the local area but also the wider city into the future. We aim to address some of the issues around access to local, affordable fresh produce, environmental degradation and lack of opportunities for people in cities to gain experience in food production resulting in a greater understanding of the wider food system.

The Salisbury Centre aims to offer a holistic and dynamic program of activities such as courses, workshops, lectures, meditations and one-to-one therapeutic work. Our intention is to provide an open, welcoming and accessible space to explore spiritual, psychological, and creative dimensions of being. We are committed to working towards ecological sustainability, in the belief that personal development goes hand in hand with awareness of the needs of the planet.

The main aims of BANZAI are to: