Fife Pantry Grows
“Our garden is small plot, tucked behind the Baldridgeburn Community Centre, it’s no longer an unloved area of unused mud, we have a greenhouse, some veg beds and plans for a nature and food productive future!”
Jo Cairns Fife Council Community Learning Development Worker
The pantry and garden, run by a team of trained community volunteers with support from Fife Council’s CLD team, redistribute surplus food to reduce food waste and support people through the cost-of-living crisis. Jo Cairns recalls how the garden group grew alongside the pantry and café, creating new ways to engage people with food.
“It’s been a case of trial and error and learning really, however the garden and pantry service are now thriving. In the early days people had to queue for the food pantry, then we decided to start offering homemade cooked food in the cafe area and the atmosphere has completely changed; we all have a bowl of soup together, enjoying something from the garden or pantry. If often involves a new recipe that folk haven’t tried before. If you turn up on a Tuesday you can access the pantry, cafe, garden and advertised workshops and welfare services. You can tag on so many things to this project it been unbelievable. There is something for everyone and that’s reflected in our regular 30-40 people turn out, and new friendships being formed”.
Recent workshops have included sessions on reducing food waste, reusing and repairing household items, and cutting energy use at home using slow cookers, pressure cookers, and air fryers. “We’ve essentially become a thriving community hub,” Jo says. “Offering a range of opportunities like this has helped remove the stigma some people felt about attending a food pantry.”
Jo recounts how initially recruiting volunteers into the then undeveloped garden was quite a challenge – so the team funded a series of nature-based programmes focusing on nature connection and biodiversity. Sessions ranged from bird watching to making herbal vinegars and were well attended, from there the group have recruited some regular garden volunteers helping to get the word out across the Dunfermline area.
The garden group always needs new volunteers to help keep things growing. One of the next steps is creating a sign for the front of the building to help raise awareness and welcome even more people in.
If you’d like to know more about the work of the centre, you can follow the group here- https://www.facebook.com/groups/383087357596279