Food Over Food: Reflections on Our First Food Gathering

At the end of last year, we hosted our first Food Gathering—a warm and collaborative event focused on community food growing and shared over a festive Christmas meal provided by Mayfield and Easthouses Development Trust. Bringing together local development trusts, food pantries, community gardens, and other groups from across Midlothian, the event created a space for connection, conversation, and shared purpose. The gathering centered on exploring how, together, we can tackle food insecurity and associated climate challenges in Midlothian, and work towards community food growing projects that could strengthen our community.

Why focus on local food growing?

Community food growing isn’t just about what’s on our plate—it’s about building resilience.

Many of Midlothian’s pantries are doing incredible work to combat food poverty, but they often face financial pressures, operating at a deficit to purchase much of the food they provide. By increasing local, community-grown produce, we could help reduce these costs, ensuring pantries can continue their vital work while offering fresher, more sustainable options. Growing food locally also allows us to address some of the challenges posed by climate change. By reducing the environmental impact of long supply chains, tackling food waste, and empowering communities to adapt to changing conditions, food growing offers a practical and impactful way to create greener, healthier spaces for everyone.

Beyond the practical benefits, food growing is a powerful way to bring people together under a shared goal, creating greener, healthier spaces that strengthen our community as a whole. It’s a meaningful response to some of the challenges posed by climate change, offering solutions that are both impactful and deeply rooted in local needs.

 What we learned and discussed

We had a very productive and insightful discussion, identifying several key steps and opportunities for collaboration to move forward:

Engaging with Community Gardens: We discussed the importance of reaching out to existing community gardens to learn from their experiences and better understand how we can support their existing activities—what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what challenges they face.

Community Growers: We agreed projects are more sustainable when there is a dedicated, skilled member of staff. While volunteers are essential, having a paid coordinator could make a big difference in ensuring sustainability of the project. This, of course, depends on funding availability but it is an option that will be explored. We would also want to look for voluntary options for community growers, or how volunteering would fit in to community growing.

Exploring growing spaces: Several potential sites were identified for food growing, including areas in Woodburn and Dalkeith. Our next step will be engaging with the council to assess these spaces and determine their feasibility.

Food Circle: To maintain momentum, there was strong support for forming a Food Circle. This group will bring together those passionate about improving local food systems to drive the next steps, ensuring it stays rooted in the needs of the community. By providing a space for ongoing collaboration and dialogue, the Food Circle will help turn the ideas shared at the gathering into actionable plans.

 Looking ahead

This gathering was just the first step in what we hope will be an exciting journey towards creating more sustainable and resilient local food system in Midlothian. Over the coming weeks and months, MCAN will engage with community gardens, growers, and council representatives to explore the potential of food growing and identify opportunities for collaboration. We’ll also work to establish the Food Circle to support these efforts and ensure everyone’s voice is heard.

If you’re interested in food growing or would like to get involved, we’d love to hear from you! By working together, we can create a future where local, sustainable food is accessible to all in Midlothian.

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