We had a day out on a farm to celebrate the final stages of our project connecting young people and food producers.
As part of our Food for Thought project, funded by UKRI’s Community Knowledge Fund, we were able to award five small grants to community groups. These grants were used to take the learnings from the Food for Thought project, which was based in Northern Devon, and apply them in other parts of the county.
The activities funded included cooking and food workshops for young people with additional needs, and workshops connecting young people to growing, harvesting and sharing food.
Grantholders gathered at West Town Farm, just outside Exeter. The farm is home to organicARTS, one of the grantholders, and the morning started with a farm tour to learn about their work and the project they undertook with their grant. This was followed by presentations from other grantholders about the amazing work they have been doing since September, and then a shared lunch.
Among the presentations was the following feedback from a young person who took part in organicARTS’ activities: “I learned a lot of new things and challenged myself more than I ever thought I would thanks to your help. Thank you for being really kind and understanding when I couldn’t do certain things and not getting upset with me. I really appreciate all the help and support you gave me.”
Dr Nicola Frost, our Head of Impact, Insight and Learning, has been closely involved with Food for Thought. She said: “We have been overwhelmed by the energy, curiosity and creativity of grant–holders in taking what we learned from our work through the core Food for Thought project in Northern Devon, and applying it to their own contexts. It’s been especially rewarding to see the active engagement of so many young people in this part of the project.”
