March has been a very busy month for local food in Lancaster.
On Friday 6th March Lancashire’s Sustainable Food Charter was launched at an event at St John’s Minster in Preston.
The Charter presents six key goals for Lancashire’s food scene to work 
towards. It aims to bring different groups of people together to work on improving individual and population health and wellbeing; as well as dealing with some of Lancashire’s most pressing social, economic and environmental problems. “From obesity and diet-related ill-health to food poverty and waste, climate change and biodiversity, food is not only at the heart of some of the greatest problems, but also a vital part of the solution.” You can view the charter online by visiting the Sustainable Food Lancashire website www.sustainablefoodlancashire.org.uk.
On Friday the 13th March CVS, in partnership with LESS and Sustainable Food Lancashire, hosted a network meeting for food practitioners at the Rainbow Centre in Morecambe. The event allowed a number of different local community groups and businesses to share skills, knowledge and resources about food nutrition, cooking on a budget, sourcing local food, cooking in bulk and using food to strengthen local communities. Videos of the different speakers and sessions will be put online shortly for all to enjoy and make use of.
To follow on from this skill-sharing event, LESS will be coordinating two open
kitchen events in Morecambe in May and July. These sessions aim to explore how to cook on a budget, with an emphasis on sourcing food locally. The open kitchen events will be led by Linda Smalley; are aimed at people needing and wanting to learn how to cook on a budget, and will involve cooking and eating pre-chosen meals or recipes. If you are interested in attending, or know of anyone else who would like to come along, please get in touch (anna@lessuk.org.) Dates and schedules for the events are not yet set, so we are very open to suggestions.
In other news: Incredible Edible Lancaster’s bulbs have started popping up on the Pointer roundabout- providing bees and other pollinators with much needed early nectar and pollen. Wild garlic is starting to appear in Lancaster’s woodlands and along the canal- marking the start of the new forage season. Incredible Edible Lancaster’s first forage walk is scheduled for the 7th April in Fairfield community orchard.
On Sunday 22nd March from 12 – 2pm, incredible Edible Lancaster is hosting a community picnic at Greaves Forage Garden – just behind the electricity substation at the Bridge Rd end of Dorrington Rd. All are welcome to come along and celebrate spring with hot soup!
