Green and Easy Living in Alness

Residents of Alness turned out in force on Saturday 19th Sept for the Alness Green and Easy Food Fair at the Averon Centre. Over 175 people came along to join in with the celebration of local food and environmentally-friendly growing and eating.

A wide range of food and growing-related stalls and fun activities for both adults and children showed the easy steps that can be taken to grow or buy locally and to cook at home. The event was jointly organised by Ross-shire Waste Action Network (RoWAN) and Alness Transition Town Group. 

A highlight was the cooking demonstration and Ready Steady Cook competition where Councillor Mike Finlayson and Highland Council Ward Manager Helen Ross made pizzas against the clock. With many people enjoying apple gluts this autumn, a delicious apple crumble recipe was also demonstrated, click here for the recipes.

Many people are now making their own pizzas rather than buying ready-made. Our very willing contestants showed just how easy it is to make them at home and save on all that packaging and energy, not to mention money. At the sampling session the audience also confirmed how much tastier home cooked food can be.

Many people found out more about handling seasonal gluts by drying and preserving, with expert advice on hand. If you'd like to give it a go, click here for more information.

Plenty of information was available to help people to reduce their carbon “food”print, for example by composting at home, growing vegetables and reducing the amount of

 food that we waste. The average household in Scotland currently throws away food worth £430 a year, £550 for a family with children. Alness Transition Town Group also took the opportunity to gather opinions at the event on plans for transforming Alness into a low-carbon community, where energy use is reduced to a minimum.

Peter Elbourne, Community Powerdown Officer with Alness Transition Town Group said “This was the first event for our group and we were delighted by the turnout. We are looking forward to working with the local community to develop the many ideas that people had for food, energy, waste and travel projects.”

The organisers would like to thank Easter Ross Organics and the Alness and District Allotments Society for both bringing along their fantastic vegetables, and those local producers that contributed raffle prizes. Anyone that missed the event who would like more information can find out more from either RoWAN or Alness Transition Town Group (www.transitiontownalness.org.uk,  or call 01349 884896).