Sustainable Frome June Newsletter

Thursday 4th June, 8 – 9.30pm, Monthly meeting via ZOOM

Elise Wach from Frome Field2fork will host a talk / discussion on Climate and food security and what it means for Frome.
To join the meeting click on the word please contact info@sustainablefrome.org.uk

Frome Field 2 Fork is creating a sustainable and replicable solution to empower our community in Frome and surrounding areas to connect, learn, grow and cook.
Their work will be focused on a welcoming & inclusive space with meaningful volunteering, education, growing, art & cooking workshops, work experience & job opportunities, in walking distance from Frome town centre. This will include a community & care farm, a plant nursery, and a community kitchen.

If production practices and supply chains do not change, then climate change is likely to threaten food security in England. However, there is enormous scope for producers of all scales to adjust what they produce and how they manage water, soil and biodiversity.

Similarly, action by concerned citizens can help to support producers with these transitions and also strengthen the sustainability, fairness and resilience of their food systems. (more below)

GRANTS
Sustainable Frome has some money in its coffers and is making another GRANT OFFER.
This will be officially launched at the June meeting and will be open for 3 months. The plan is to give grants of between £50 and £500 to viable projects that fit with the Sustainable Frome objects which you can read HERE.
If you want to apply you can find a form on our website, HERE, fill this out and email it to us.  Applications will be assessed by a panel.

Town Council climate emergency

At our May meeting Anna Francis talked at length about all the many projects she and the Town Council are involved in as part of the efforts to make Frome more sustainable, resilient and low carbon. Find out more HERE.
We were all amazed at how much is going on behind the scenes and we felt that more people should know about it all. To fit in with this months food theme here are notes on the food related section of Anna’s talk.

Food security and resilience: Field to Fork are working with Frome Town Council to link with local producers and find out what their needs are, how much they are producing, explore opportunities to link more with the local community and businesses and opportunities for increasing sustainability of food production. This will also include a food map and a calculation around how much local food is currently being consumed locally and how much land would be needed to feed Frome.
Growing and training centre: Field to Fork will also be setting up a growing training centre in the next few months which will be an excellent resource for Frome.
School meals: Anna is working with Always Cooking who are setting up a new business to provide local sustainable meals to local schools, hopefully starting in September.
Food waste: polls show that people are thinking more about where their food comes from and are wasting less. We could also promote ways to reduce waste e.g. https://www.regenwaste.com/10-easy-ways-to-reduce-food-waste-during-lockdown
Promoting and enabling local growing: Frome Town Council is currently setting up seed sharing stations, these should be available soon. There are some great local food examples such as the Mount Community Garden – it would be great to promote these more and explore using green space around the town more for food growing.
Research – FTC are limited in what they have influence over but can work proactively with Mendip, Somerset and others. Elise Wach, one of the Field to Fork members has drafted new guidance on growing in the South West in the face of climate change. This will be explored at the 4^th June meeting.

Sustainable Frome AGM

The AGM took place via Zoom on 27^th April. Present were Mike Grenville, Alison Bloor, Anna Francis, Sian Modine, Alex Hart, Henry Parr, and Madeleine Mauwer.
The Sustainable Frome Objects (aims) were agreed as  currently stated on the website.
SF has three directors. Anna Francis and Alex Hart – Sheila Gore is stepping down as a director and Madeleine Mauwer is newly appointed.
SF members have a week to make vocal any disputes or comments on the above decisions.

Newsletter, submissions, comments, questions etc., send to info@sustainablefrome.org.uk