Case Studies

Sustainable Kirriemuir visit to Lauriston Farm

Food growing, biodiversity, community – how does this work in practice at Lauriston farm?

A small group of people standing on a grassy hill with their backs to the camera and a view of the sea in the distance.

Spent time learning how both organisations are increasing access to fresh affordable food through the Market Garden and other enterprises on the farm(s) and how they aim to support these projects financially moving forward.

Learning Outcomes

  • Look at different governance models such as cooperatives, CIC etc
  • Food Growing, Biodiversity, Community – how does this work in practice at Lauriston?  Land-based enterprises and Community, how does this work in practice? Mixing income generation with volunteering.Gather Market Garden (Lauriston) – A Community Supported Agriculture Scheme –  a quick intro into the structure, inputs, outputs and equitable access scheme
  • Funding & long-term sustainability
  • Mushroom Farming – an introduction!
  • Infrastructure, inputs, outputs, costs, benefits.

Community Organisation:
Sustainable Kirriemuir

Exchange Host Partners:
Lauriston farm & Rhyze Mushroom Co-op

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
Scottish Community Climate Action Network

“We wanted to get inspiration, meet other people, visit their sites and hear what works and what doesn't. We wanted to learn from others in order to explore different working models for setting up our community farm and we did!”

Case Studies

SEAChange visit to Culduthel Community Woods

How to navigate current challenges collectively for the benefit of local woodlands.

four people with hi vis jackets on sitting on a wall in front a sign Culduthel Community Woods

The purpose of the exchange was to give insight on how to navigate funding, planning and council demands whilst balancing the optimum benefits for the community.

Learning Outcomes

  • Ideas on how to develop and manage our forest
  • Support biodiversity and regeneration
  • Gain informative and helpful ideas to balance community access, pathways and forest health

Community Organisation:
SEAChange

Exchange Host Partners:
Culduthel Community Woods

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
Community Woodland Association

“This exchange was wonderfully prepared and left all in attendance inspired and energised as to the joy, community engagement and, critically, the engagement with nature that a community forest can off”

Case Studies

Friends of Glenan Wood

A collective Community Woodland Association exchange visit.

A carved wooden bench

Dunain Community Woodland take pride in their custodianship of the hillside with both their practical work but also with making the historical legacy visible and engaging to their guests.

 

Learning Outcomes

  • How cultural/archaeological elements have been celebrated and preserved
  • Volunteering group constitution and successes
  • Dialogue with landowner and navigation of liabilities.

Community Organisation:
Friends of Glenan Wood

Exchange Host Partners:
Dunian Community Woodland

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
Community Woodland Association

“Whilst there was some (limited) interpretation signage, what was most striking was the animate nature and depth of oral history that was at play here by the organisation."

Case Studies

Aberdeen social enterprise cafés

Lar are embarking on a new venture in three of its developments, with plans to open café in each location.

three people, smiling, standing outside a shop called the Bread Maker

These cafés will be based on a social enterprise business model and the visit to Aberdeen was very helpful in terms of how to get such an operation off the ground.

Learning Outcomes

  • To learn from the experience of the host on how to design, develop and maintain a successful cafe operation using a social enterprise model.
  • To learn from the host on how to target their customers.
  • To learn from the host about the impact and the benefits they bring to their community by providing such a service, and seek their views on what they would change (if anything) when setting up the business.

Community Organisation:
Lar Housing Trust

Exchange Host Partners:
The Bread Maker Café

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
Social Enterprise Scotland

“We hope to replicate many of the things the Breadmaker Café has in place. As a social enterprise model, the Breadmaker Café is the gold standard. We were able to gain an understanding of every aspect of setting up and running a catering operation which, like many struggled post-Covid.”

Case Studies

Zero waste for people and planet

Looking at how to increase social enterprise impact not for profit model through zero waste for people and planet- refill not landfill!

a close up of bottles of seeds, oats, flour, rice and other unidentifiabl food items

Learning Outcomes

  • Increasing customer footfall
  • Deciding whether setting up supply arrangements with local businesses should be a key focus
  • Where to target time and investment

Community Organisation:
Kintyre Weigh

Exchange Host Partners:
Handam Refill Shop

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
Inspiralba

“Our average spend per customer is the same as Handam, but their footfall is greater. We realised that working on setting up supply arrangements with local businesses will not be a s worth our time as just getting more regular customers.”

People watching a fashion show with models lined up on a flight of stairs.
A large group of people sitting outside a community building
four people with hi vis jackets on sitting on a wall in front a sign Culduthel Community Woods
A birds eye view of a community garden, with raised beds and polytunnels for food growing,

Case Studies

Campy Growers at Bamff

Bamff philosophy is “We face a crisis unprecedented in the history of human civilisation, with climate change and biodiversity loss accelerating around the globe”.

Seven people, listening to a person, standing in long grass in a woodland area

“The biodiversity crisis in the UK is happening at one of the fastest rates in the world. At Bamff, we are doing all we can to create wildlife habitat – to restore nature’s abundance and to sequester carbon.”  Since Campy Growers started the aim is to do with producing local and ethically grown food, lock up carbon and create a community around the project.

Learning Outcomes

  • Increase knowledge about native plants and wildlife in an ecosystem context and replicating it at Campy when possible
  • Make this knowledge accessible to other volunteers, staff and visitors but setting up signs and informative documents on site (wildlife habitat, native plants, impact of invasive plants …)
  • Educate visitors by organising workshops (with the support of a naturalist) on site to identify what our soil and site are made off and how to improve them

Community Organisation:
Campy Growers

Exchange Host Partners:
Bamff Wild Beavers group

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
GetGrowing Scotland

“Our next task is to get a baseline of what’s already there. It could be a case of recording plants, insects in a log with volunteers. We also plan to keep a photo library. Delivering workshops will be key to spreading the word about biodiversity and how you can support it, through bog gardens, pond and wild flower meadows.”

Case Studies

Thurso Community Pantry

This learning exchange allowed both organisations to gain more knowledge about Community Pantries, sharing food, and growing food in rural communities.

Two peopel standing outside a building that has wood on the walls, with two doors and red roof

The benefit to Thurso will be a successful Community Pantry which is a development of existing Sharing Shed, with additional support to the community eg advice. This will also allow staff from both organisations to meet and make links – although this is a neighbouring organisation it is some distance away.

Learning Outcomes

  • To learn about the operational running and management of a Community Pantry
  • To learn what additional activities around the Pantry have been of most benefit to the community, eg cooking lessons, advice sessions etc
  • To share our knowledge of community growing with the KoS project

Community Organisation:
Thurso Community Development Trust

Exchange Host Partners:
Kyle of Sutherland Development Trust

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
DTAS

“On the journey home we spent most it planning our project, incorporating some of what we had seen in Ardgay, but also what we would adapt to suit our area and circumstances.”

Case Studies

Food growing in the North East

The Northeast has a very different geographical, economic and cultural landscape to the central belt.

picture of inside a greenhouse with planters

To connect with other similar organisations and see what they are doing, the challenges they encounter and information share.

Learning Outcomes

  • How health and wellbeing is supported by local community food growing, training, cooking sessions, outdoor activities and supply of accessible produce
  • Meeting volunteers and the importance of lived experience for understanding community needs
  • Working within organisation capacity and developing collaborative, cohesive relationships within the community and other 3rd sector partners.

Community Organisation:
The Haven in Stonehaven

Exchange Host Partners:
The MAXwell Centre, Campy Growers, Transition Dundee

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
Social Enterprise Scotland

“Community food growing in Dundee is miles ahead of what the NE has experienced with the application of council local food policy initiatives and council driven infrastructure.”

Case Studies

Regenerative farming network

Visited four different farms run by a farmer in Propagates Regenerative Farmer Network.

one person standing in woodland, speaking, with their arms gesturing

There was a spread of farmers, size of farm, farming background, regenerative practice, time in the network, gender and age.

Learning Outcomes

  • Learn more detail of how the Regenerative farming Network was set up, how it runs and resources that are needed to maintain it
  • Meet with farmer involved in the RFN to hear their experience of being part of the network
  • Glean inspiration, contact and advice from those involved in the RFN to inform how we can best set up a successful RegenAg peer support network in the Highlands.

Community Organisation:
Highland Good Food Partnership

Exchange Host Partners:
Propagate

SCA Endorsing Network Member:
Nourish

“The big takeaway is the importance of the network being open to all interested in regenerative farming, and from the start building a non-judgemental culture. It was clear that part of the success is making sure the network is farmer-led… letting it develop organically rather than a predetermined plan put on the mentors.”