Visit to MOO Food
Visit to MOO Food – 23rd November
Our ethos at the Hub is focused on learning from projects that already exist and being familiar with what our neighbours are up to. We believe the best way to learn is by talking to people with experience in delivering projects focused on community climate action. Our Development Officer Bethany took a trip through to Muir of Ord to see the work MOO Food have done.
I met the team at MOO Food, Lyn, Ellie, and Shelia at the village hall where the MOO Food offices are based. This is also where some of their fabulous community growing boxes are filled with freshly grown herbs and food, that the community can help themselves too. The team even managed to fit in a wee tour of their shed on site, complete with a wheelbarrow of course! One item in the shed particularly piqued my interest, a fire pit. They mentioned having the fire pit for community events and that it was a nice atmosphere in the evenings to bring it out. It sounds like it creates a nice cozy community atmosphere, and I’m also a little jealous they have one!
Shortly after meeting at the MOO Food offices and chatting about the grow boxes, we made our way down to the community orchard in the middle of Muir of Ord. The team explained the park where the orchard and grow boxes are now, used to be a park that members of the community passed through to get from one place to another. MOO Food have transformed this green space into an area with several community growing boxes that have been painted by local children, and fruit trees to create a community orchard.
The MOO Food orchard, Muir of Ord
Whilst chatting about the space, Shelia told me that since benches had been put in for the community to use, you could quite often find kids and their parents coming home from school either kicking a ball or seeing what was in the community food growing boxes. I managed to grab some pictures of the space to how it’s been utilised for community food growing. The team also mentioned that they’ve held a few community events in this space, and how well these have worked. I was fortunate enough to see some sunshine whilst visiting and it was lovely!
As we made our way around Muir of Ord again, we walked past the polytunnel they have in the primary school. We talked about how important it is for young people to discover new foods, and to understand the process of how we grow food and where it comes from.
We made our final stop off at the community fridge at Muir Hub. I was fortunate enough to see a volunteer who had just picked up surplus food from the CO-OP restocking the cupboard and fridge! The fridge and cupboard are a fantastic resource to help minimise food waste within the community, by collecting surplus food from the CO-OP and being able to stock it with the produce that they grow.
In all, it was a really great experience to be able to meet the team at MOO Food face-to-face and be able to see a project in action. Learning from groups who have successfully run projects is an invaluable resource. What may work in one community, might not work in another, but it’s great to learn tips and tricks from those with the experience. I can’t wait to get out and visit more projects in the future!
MOO Food grow boxes