The Food Group

"The Food group is involved with all aspects of local food – whether locally grown, processed locally or sold through local shops and markets.  Our concerns are for a world where finite resources (particularly oil) will restrict our ability to import food from elsewhere in the world often grown at the expense of local food production in developing countries.

In acting now and building resilience for a more sustainable future, we celebrate the ‘local’ because ‘plot to plate’ means food is fresher, transport distances are reduced, refrigeration minimised in maintaining artificial longevity. Potatoes in the supermarket have often been in a fridge for over a year.  People know where there food comes from and can be confident in production methods."

- Virginia Williamson, Food Group Convenor 
 

What does the Food Group do?

Talks
These have included talks on Food Security, Community Supported Agriculture, Composting, Bees, and Mushroom Cultivation, and training courses on Permaculture.

Visits
This year has seen visits to the Agroforestry Research Trust, Dartington, Devon, to the Community Supported Agriculture project in Stroud and to a local food producer, Bath Soft Cheese at Kelston.

Skills
Permaculture courses, techniques for preserving home-grown produce, outdoor cooking, fruit tree pruning and apple pressing. We have apple juice bottling and food dehydrating equipment for hire. 
 
Growing
We have developed ‘guerrilla gardening' sites in unused spaces around the city filled with vegetables, fruit bushes, trees and herbs that are planted, watered and harvested by local residents.

Nuttery
Working in partnership with the National Trust we have planted 37 nut trees on an access site available to the local community - in Smallcombe Vale near Widcombe. Have a look at the Nuttery Scrapbook here.

Fruit Orchard
We offer advice on planting, pruning and general care of fruit trees and worked with a group in Bailbrook at the beginning of their community orchard. 

Community Supported Agriculture
We initiated and continued to support Dry Arch Growers a Community Supported Agriculture co-operative in Bathampton, which has now developed a vegetable box scheme.

Engaging with the wider community

FareShare
FareShare is a national organisation engaged in re-distributing excess produce from food wholesalers to organisations working with those in need.  We have been working with the Bristol branch of FareShare and have now established a Bath hub. See the SW website for more info. 

Food policy
Bath was largely self-sufficient in food until the 1950s. Our vision is that those rural-urban food links are re-established so that Bath can become, once again, a ‘sustainable food city’.
  

Get in touch: Email Virginia on food@transitionbath.org
The Food Group meets once a month and welcomes new members. There are also opportunities to attend events and to support existing projects and help develop new ones.

Let us know: about potential sites for growing food, local food producers, skills you can share, skills you’d like to acquire, topics you’d like to discuss or learn more about and any innovative examples of local food production.