We had our first CHG public meeting last Thursday evening in the Sailing Club. It was well attended by some very positive people who obviously cared an awful lot about their food, how safe it was, was it organic, where it came from and how secure it was. We had a great chance to talk to our local grower. He explained his own career in growing and the path he took to become a small-scale organic grower. He was a real inspiration! The whole room was assured that this man was as passionate about growing local, organic food as they were about eating it. He demonstrated a huge wealth of knowledge and experience in growing good organic food.

Everyone got the chance to ask loads of questions about the logistics of collecting the Veg box, what was going to be in the Veg box, were there any eggs in the box and what was the growing season and what type of veg was available. We also got to see a sample Weekly Veg box which included spuds, carrots, eggs, parsnips, winter greens, two types of swede, onions and cabbage, sprouts and more. There were various chutneys and preserves which the grower also produces himself from his own produce, these proved very popular. These chutneys will be available to buy when picking up your veg box.

One of the things which also became very obvious was that this was a room full of people who shared a desire for good food, which was organic and grown locally. We all seemed to be on the same wavelength. The 90 minutes of the meeting was a lot about getting to know each other, and what we wanted from our CHG project.

This had the feeling of a very positive meeting, hopefully the start of a great local food project which forms part of the local food network which Sustainable Skerries is establishing. The other parts of this network are the local GIY group and the Allotments group. Sustainable Skerries will continue working towards a resilient Skerries with a strong and vibrant local food network and supporting our local farmers market.