Food Futures Newsletter
Hello FoodFutures network.
As we enter the last month of winter and the days start to lengthen and lighten, energy and plant shoots starts to rise. These first signs of spring offer something to look forward to - the abundance of events and harvests that lie ahead in 2025.
Scroll down to explore upcoming networking and job opportunities at FoodFutures, the return of Gather and the Growing Food & Community training sessions, re-home seed potatoes, allotment skill shares, Closing Loops cooking workshops, and much more!
Food Futures Digest
Food Futures Marketing and Communications Coordinator
LESS is advertising for a Marketing and Communications Coordinator role at FoodFutures.
Purpose of the job: coordinate and support the implementation and development of the FoodFutures communications and engagement strategy; the digital marketing model and the North Lancs is Golden campaign.
Hours of work: 22.5 hrs a week.
For more information and to apply please visit the job role via the FoodFutures Work With Us page and download the job pack.
Email applications to anna@lessuk.org by 16th February 2025.
Following Lancaster's Potato Day, 74kg of seed potatoes are still seeking a home to be planted in this season.
Claver Hill is offering community groups and food projects these seed potatoes for free in 5kg or 10kg bags.
Varieties still available include:
FIRST EARLIES (Casablanca and Colleen).
SECOND EARLIES (Bambino).
EARLY MAINCROPS (Orla, Gatsby).
MAINCROP (Cara, Record, Hermes).
MAINCROP RED (Sarpo Mira, Setanta)
SPECIALS (Arran Victory).
Contact sami.starling@gmail.com if you would like a bag of seed potatoes.
Maris Bard and Maris Peer seed potatoes are also available to buy from Single Step
Cooking workshops coming up this spring
The Closing Loops project is hosting two series of cooking workshops with local chefs and community cooks this spring:
February to May 2025
A series of six workshops with Vaso Makri, inspired by the 'A Taste of Home' project run by Global Link in 2023-24. The workshops re-imagine traditional Kurdish, Lebanese, Hungarian, Persian and Greek recipes by using seasonal, locally sourced ingredients,
A programme of three classes hosted at Brew Bakery, focusing on seasonal produce and avoiding food waste.
* Sunday 23 February: Cooking with leftover roasted (or boiled) potato
* Sunday 9 March: Cabbage: the bright side of the moon
* Sunday 23 March: Cooking with leftover mashed potato
Develop your Permaculture Design skills!
LESS and FoodFutures are organising a 2 week Permaculture Design course with Aranya, local guests/trainers and local site visits. All food and board is included and the two weeks will be based around the beautiful Halton Mill: co-working, studios & event space.
This course will run from Saturday 15 March 2025 3pm - Saturday 29 March 2025 7pm. Book by 21 Feb.
Good business bootcamp workshop
! Few places remaining !
What can your organisation do to build a 'good' business' and have a positive impact on your local communities and the environment? The Closing Loops project is working with Future Fixers to offer free accredited training to local businesses, social enterprises, charities and other organisations who want to develop their enterprise while caring for people and planet.
When? Tuesdays 4 & 11 March 2025, 10am to 1pm in Lancaster.
Free to eligible organisations who can commit to attending both sessions.
Let local food be your token of love this Valentine's Day
Gather, the online food hub for North Lancs, reopens after a mid-winter break this Friday with its first deliveries on Valentine's Day (Friday 14 February).
Spread your love for local food and for those who work hard all year to put healthy and seasonal food on our tables in the face of the ever-growing challenges of unpredictable weather and increasing costs.
Food has always been the ultimate token of love, so be sure to get your order in between Friday 7 February, 2pm and Tuesday 11 February, 10am.
2025 THRIVE Themes
Each issue of THRIVE Magazine includes a 'food for thought' section which explores a topic from a range of perspectives, and themes are agreed on via the FoodFutures working groups. The themes for 2025 include: Spring: Eating in a time of climate chaos. Midsummer: Food & health. Autumn: What food means to me. Midwinter: Healthy food habits.
The THRIVE team welcomes suggestions for articles and pieces that cover the topics above. You can send your suggestions to thrive@lessuk.org
For inspiration, read THRIVE online or pick up your copy from a community hub near you.
Want to eat locally and seasonally in 2025?
Join the Plot’s crop-share to get a weekly box of locally grown, seasonal, and organic fruit, veg, and herbs.
The Plot uses a model called ‘Community Supported Agriculture’ or CSA, where customers sign up to a crop share.
This approach benefits the grower because, as a customer, you commit to purchasing a share of the crop for the entire growing season. In return, you receive a weekly share that varies with the seasons. This arrangement not only shares the risks of farming with the grower but also helps them plan their crops more effectively, ultimately reducing waste.
Produce is grown outside at Old Holly Farm near Garstang and in two polytunnels at White Lund in Morecambe, all within eight miles of Lancaster Town Hall.
FoodFutures strategy day
This Valentine’s strategy day will address outcomes from the FoodFutures winter reflection, exploring common themes and developing strategic plans.
The Gold Sustainable Food Places campaign, embedding a food ladders approach across the partnership, and pathways to broadening the reach of North Lancashire’s food network are all due to be explored.
This day is suitable for active working group members and those interested in getting more involved in FoodFutures themed working groups: Lancaster District Food Justice Partnership, Healthy Food and Environment, Community Food Skills, Economy & Procurement, Comms & Engagement.
Lunch, drinks and a lot of love for North Lancashire and its many communities and landscapes will be provided. Booking is essential!
Growing Food & Community sessions return in 2025
Join a series of workshops during 2025, covering all aspects of local food growing, from site design to how to set up your project, from seed saving to propagation, from bee-keeping to chutney making!
The sessions provide a useful starting point for anyone considering setting up a local community growing space, or thinking of growing your own.
You can now book the spring sessions via the project page or the FoodFutures' 'what's on' page.
Look out for booking links for future workshops too!
Allotment skill shares
Following the Lancaster District Allotment Review, a number of skill shares will take forward some of the review's recommendations around building allotments' resilience.
A recording from Mark Simmonds's training on 'legal structures and good governance for allotments & other community food projects' is now available to watch on YouTube.
A skill share on 'committee structures and members roles' is being organised on Saturday 8 March 2025 10:00am - 2pm, at Friends Meeting House, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1TX. A light lunch will be provided.
A book club for our turbulent times
The un-named book club meets on the last Tuesday of each month at the Gregson to explore social and environmental issues that concern us all.
Book club attendees explore global authors and each other’s insights through books, podcasts, or visual content, seeking inspiration and tools to enhance the planet's health and well-being.
The podcast for February is Border Work with Bayo Akomolafe & Tyson Yunkaporta. On 25 March the group will meet again to discuss The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer with the option to also read Braiding Sweetgrass by the same author.
Read this blog post to find out what else the book club has been reading and listening to, and how you can join in.
Will you support organic local food projects to thrive?
Lancater's Potato Day on Saturday 25 January was a success – thank you to everyone who attended!
The FoodFriends scheme earned four new sign-ups, which will financially support the work of The Plot and the FarmStart training programme.
FoodFriends is encouraging new and existing members to share a story about why they're part of the scheme and care to support this work.
Read FoodFutures' latest column here, written by FoodFriend Liz McWatt.
What's on in February
Every Wednesday 12:30-14:00, The Cornerstone, Lancaster.
Friday 14 February, 10:00 - 14:00, Lancaster Town Hall.
Tuesday 25 February, 19:30 - 21:30, The Gregson, Lancaster.
This month's topic: The podcast Border Work - a conversation with Bayo Akomolafe and Tyson Yunkaporta.
Saturday 8 March, 10:00 - 14:00, Quaker Meeting House, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1TX.
Friday 14 March, 10:00 - 17:00, Market Square, Lancaster.
Interested in joining the Food Champion Network?
FoodFutures will be hosting monthly induction sessions to FoodFutures and the North Lancashire Food Champion network from April to November 2025.
These sessions will offer an overview of FoodFutures, explain how the partnership and network works and seek to support attendees in finding their place within it, envisioning how they wish to be involved in developing a healthy local food system.
To register your interest, please fill out this form.
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