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September 19, 2022
Harvest Fest!
Fife seems to nurture projects (and the people who run them) who instinctively know when to let go. It’s rare for any kind of venture that enjoys a large measure of success to conclude that its work is done or that it has perhaps drifted from its original purpose. Rare but not entirely unknown – the Fife Diet being one example and the Big Tent Festival on the Falkland estate another. But sometimes what appears to be the end of a project is merely a pause, and in good time something else emerges in its place. Welcome to the Harvest Fest !
Allan Crow of the Fife Free Press Group has recently written a lovely feature story reminding us that 10 years ago, we had just celebrated Falkland, Fife & Scotland’s largest & most successful Big Tent Festival of the Environment, before deciding, sadly, that it was time to end a much loved event that had outgrown this place.
Today Falkland Estate’s stewards are busy preparing for a wee Harvest Festival, at the other end of the scale, in the belief that “small is beautiful” and vital. During a year when the war in Ukraine has highlighted how dependent we are on imports of grain, oil, timber and the commodity market, Falkland is preparing the ground for a Harvest Fest celebrating the abundance of what we can grow and make from our fields and forests. Inspiring speakers – broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, Jenny Andersson of the Really Regenerative Centre, Andrew Whitley of Scotland the Bread, Prof Seaton Baxter OBE a master of natural design and Guy Watt co-chair of the Scottish Forest Industry Group – will reflect on what’s happening now and how we can learn to live more sustainably in our local places, in ways that meet people’s real costs of living and value the gifts of nature.
So on Saturday 24th September we’re going to be hosting
- Three big talks in a tent (on food, huts & place-making), lots of small talk, some singing around a fire 🔥 as traditional at harvest time;
- Demonstrations of rural skills and activities such as earth building with Becky Little of Rebearth;
- A chance to look at new huts we’re building in a Field of learning and talk with hutters & hut-builders who are part of the 1000 Huts movement;
- A space where people show & tell what they’ve made such as Newburgh Handloom Weavers, flour from Scotland the Bread & Falkland own apples, juice & cider;
- Endless opportunities to play & learn in a field & forest of possibility – as well as to hear & see what local children have been imagineeering for the future of the estate;
- A chance to enjoy a truly local lunch grown & cooked by Falkland Kitchen Farm.
To find out more and sign up to the day, simply click here
Transforming Fife’s Food System
Also in run up to Harvest Fest, we’re running a State of our Crops free online engagement session at 3pm on Tues 6th Sept to see where we are now & how we can change Fife’s food system for the better.
This online session will bring together some inspiring people – author Fi Martynoga and Pete Ritchie (Director of Nourish Scotland) as well as Jenny Andersson of the Really Regenerative Centre, India Hamilton (of SCOOP in Jersey) and Bill Bittinger (Vermont) to explore how we can change the way we grow food and feed people in Fife, as a bio-region, and what changes may be on the horizon for anyone with an interest in eating, growing, cooking or selling food in Fife.
To register to take part, please sign up here