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On Sunday 5 September the Local Food Group enjoyed a wild food foray in the woods at tenstmuir with Fife Ranger Tony Wilson.

Tickets are available from John Vaughan 01337 810359

What is it? A 1 day permaculture introduction course with James Chapman
Who is it for? Anyone wanting to find out a bit more about permaculture.
Where is it? At the Sutherland building, Beecraigs Country Park,
Linlithgow.
When is it? SATURDAY Oct 9th, from 10am til 4.30pm
What do I need to bring? Outdoor clothing, pen and paper, packed lunch.
How much? Please pay what you can afford, from £5 to £20. Free places are
provided if required.
How do I book? Please contact james chapman to book a place and for
payment details. james@tree-wise-men.com 07790 265883

About 350 people attended the conference organized by Transition Network. Unlike the urban setting of Battersea this year we were in a most relaxing rural Devon. On offer again a plethora of workshops, films, music, dance, Open Space sessions, Heart & Soul and visioning events – even the England USA football match was timetabled in.

One of the conference’s peak moments was Nicole Foss’s talk: Making Sense of the Financial Crisis in the Era of Peak Oil. (Available: http://transitionradio.posterous.com/tag/nicolefoss)

In summary Nicole explained how our energy inheritance (energy rich fossil fuels) has made it possible to create an enormous financial ‘bubble’ – in effect a huge Ponzi or Pyramid scheme – which has now imploded. Bubbles like this are nothing new but the most recent one is unprecedented due to the extreme interconnectedness and highly speculative nature of our global markets. continue reading…

The Wild Food Foray is a little over a week away on Sunday 5 September up at Kinshaldy where Tony Wilson will be meeting us at 2pm. If should be a great afternoon and looks like we will have quite a crowd there. If you want to go and are interested in going on the minibus then get in touch with Louise. If you are taking your car remember the £1 for the car park.

While promoting our Toolkit of energy saving measures for the CaRB Project there have been a number of people express interest in wood burning stoves.  Installing a wood burning stove can help cut winter fuel bills and reduce carbon emissions.  There is a lot of choice though, and they won’t suit every home, so we were wondering how we could best assist the households that are interested.

You may have already installed one, or decided it is not the right thing. On the other hand you may be wondering what kind would be best, who could install it, how much it all would cost and where to get fuel from.

We thought that if enough people would appreciate some help on these sorts of questions, we could organise a short event one Saturday in one of the village halls. We would get a few good local suppliers to bring along information and some stoves, have information about fuel and flues.

We would only want to do this if there was enough interest, otherwise, we could simply recommend reputable local firms who could supply and install stoves and wood fuel.

While you may not have expressed interest we would like to find out how many people out there would be interested in such an event.  If you would then please get in touch with Louise.

The Local Food Group have some great events planned over the next few months:

September-Wild Food Forray with Tony Wilson, Sunday 5 Sept starting at 2pm, Tentsmuir.

There will be a minibus running to this event so let Louise know by Friday 27 August if you are interested in using the bus.

October- Fife Diet Talk, Wednesday 20 Oct at 7.30pm in Collessie Hall

November- Tree Pruning Workshop, Saturday 6 November from 10am til 3pm at Monimail Tower Orchard.  More information will follow soon but if you would like to book a place get in touch with Louise.

The Food Group have arranged a wild food forray with Tony Wilson, Fife Ranger Service followed by a family BBQ on Sunday 5 September at Tentsmuir Forrest & Kinshaldy Beach.

The wild food forray will commence at 2pm. It was suggested that NHTT organise a bus to take folks, if you are interested in attending please contact Louise Barron louise@nhtt.org.uk or call 07879996845 to book your place. Bus times will be out in due course so keep an eye on future bulletins.

Tony Wilson on the mushroom walk at last year's Food Festival

On Saturnday 10th July about ten people, mostly from Fife Transition Groups, met in the Tower at Monimail with Findhorn facilitator Gill Emslie to explore the inner journey of transitioning, using the long-established Joanna Macy Deep Ecology approach. This approach is called ‘The Work that Reconnects’ and aims to support people in opening initially to the pain of the world and that of facing the slow and gradual collapse of our culture, and then to connect with a sense of grounded empowerment from which we can then act and connect with others.
In the morning we learned about this approach and did a couple of experiential exercises designed to help us connect more deeply with our senses and our bodies. This was followed in the afternoon by what is called the Truth Mandala – a supported, structured community ritual allowing individuals to connect deeply and express their emotions around the pain of our culture, and our place in that.
The experience of the day, for some, was both challenging and moving, and we appreciated Gill’s steady facilitation.
Three of the members of our local Heart and Soul group were present at the workshop, and will feed back in more detail at our next meeting.

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Our Family Food Skills Day was enjoyed by all who attended. The food workshops included seafood and bird preparation, food smoking and bread and pasta making. Fife Diet and local small holders were on hand to provide advice while Andy kept everyone fed with his puddledub and vegetarian BBQ. A heavy downpour in the middle of proceeding left a few of the burgers damp but failed to dampen our spirits.

The children enjoyed decorating cupcakes and Marianna’s fantastic natural dying workshops making beautiful bird pictures. See  images.

The Books at the NHTT Tombola proved to very popular but thankfully we managed to avoid fights breaking out over who was going to win Andrew Whitley’s ‘Bread Matters’ and Pier’s Warren’s ‘How to Store Your Garden Produce: The Key to Self-sufficiency’. Pier’s book is available for loan in the Green Library for those not as lucky as Lesley. Ask Louise for more details.

A big thanks to all stall holders and volunteers who made the day possible.