FROME’S Pumpkin Day, Harvest Swap and Food Festival– which had its inaugural outing last autumn – is back for another year, but with even more of a focus on good, delicious, and sustainable food.
The event is being held at the Cheese and Grain from 10am to 3pm on Sunday 29th October. Entry is free for kids, OAPs, those on universal credit, and students, with an optional £3 donation.
In order to build on the event’s foundations, organiser Caroline Wajsblum from Frome Field 2 Fork has enlisted Frome Food Network and Future Shed (Green & Healthy Frome) to help put together a hyperlocal pop-up food market and a pay-what-you-can lunch including pumpkin soup and Somerset apple cake.
“We’re drawing on some brilliant talent in the area, to make Pumpkin Day as fun, interesting, and accessible for people, whatever their interest in food,” says Hugh Thomas, Frome Food Network’s co-ordinator.
“That includes visuals and decorations by local artist Cherry Truluck, and in collaboration with the Cheese and Grain cafe, a ten-mile menu devised by chef Catherine Maxwell, who’s worked in Michelin star kitchens.”
Growers and cooks will be pleased to know that the community harvest swap, which is at the heart of Pumpkin Day, will feature as prominently as before, with workshops throughout the day. Jo Tamplin from Mood Foods will be sharing her philosophy of using food to support healing and a healthier and happier life, Get Pickled will be teaching some simple home preserving techniques and Frome Field 2 Fork will introduce people to Forest Gardening.
Kids will have plenty to keep themselves busy too, creating natural, recycled, harvest-inspired crafts with Frome Families for the Future, or helping Frome Seed Library harvest the thousands of seeds donated by local growers while learning how to harvest their own plants. Under the guidance of Jo Harrington (founder of Frome Chocolate Festival), they’ll also have the chance to decorate their own chocolate-covered apples with healthy sprinkles.
Those coming will be invited to explore climate and health connections with food – what foods locally to Frome are better for the planet? Why does better food lead to better mental health? How can our eating choices help reverse climate change?
All will be revealed at Frome’s Pumpkin Day: Harvest Swap and Food Festival. This event is part of the FFN’s residency with Future Shed this year and is supported by The National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund.
If you can spare a couple of hours to help out on the day, or supply a bag of eating apples for activities please contact fromefield2 fork@gmail.com or 07857 437608.
