Provanmill community meal share is back but will follow social distancing

Blackhill’s Growing, a cooking group set up by St Paul’s Youth Forum in Provanmill to raise money for local activities, was forced to close during the Coronavirus pandemic.They had been running a weekly three-course community meal before lockdown. With lockdown restrictions easing, the group has now established a collection service.

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Councillor Many Morgan, who works with the project, said: “The Blackhill Growing community is an amazing project encouraging locally grown food. Inspiring people to understand where their food comes from and helping them to grow their own food in their gardens. The project also has bees and produce honey as well as chickens for eggs.

“It's also really good to see that now the project is also growing original Pinkerton Rhubarb that grew on the hill overlooking Hogganfield Loch. Pinkerton Rhubarb was once very famous in the city with people travelling for miles to the field.

“Having locally grown food helps to cut down on pollution as the food doesn't have to travel far. Blackhills Growing has recently added a bakery to their list of locally sourced foods and have some really exciting plans to extend their growing project and the volume of food that can be locally sourced.”

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Pre-covid the project put on a community meal twice a week encouraging the local youths to get involved with cooking. The new collection service will ensure people can get access to good quality food.

Councillor Ruari Kelly said: “As people become more aware of food miles and their carbon footprint the ability to buy locally produced food will be a huge benefit. Blackhill Bakery and the planned Urban Farm will mean food security can be addressed by the community for the community.”

For more information on what services are available visit https://stpaulsyouthforum.co.uk/blackhills-growing/