In late November we delivered half a tonne of Ulverston-grown carrots to four schools in Barrow as part of Cumbrian Carrot Connections, our project that aims to get locally grown produce into schools, homes, businesses and local services.
Pupils at Parkside Academy, South Walney Junior School, South Walney Infant and Nursery School and Yarlside Academy received 750g of carrots to take home and enjoy. Catering staff at Yarlside also took sacks of carrots to use in school meals.
As well as the carrots themselves, pupils received healthy carrot recipes developed by our project partner ProVeg UK – find the recipes on our website here.
One pleased recipient got in touch to let us know that their carrots had been roasted up and stored in the freezer in preparation for the family’s Christmas dinner.
The carrots were given out to pupils following an assembly with ProVeg UK’s Education Manager, Martin Skingley. Assemblies explored the health and environmental benefits of eating more local vegetables, emphasising the positive impact young people’s food choices can have.
Striking calculations from ProVeg UK illustrated that pupils’ individual actions can make a huge difference when adopted across a community. For example, at a primary school with 247 pupils, if every pupil had one more plant-rich meal a week, it could save almost 12 tonnes of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere every year – that’s the same as driving a car around the world nearly two and a half times. It could also prevent the deforestation of land the size of two and a half football pitches, and save enough water to have 12,000 five minute showers!
Martin has developed a selection of national curriculum-aligned lesson plans, which teachers can use to explore this topic further. Besides the health and environmental benefits of local vegetables, lessons explore where different foods come from and empower pupils to try new foods. These resources will be available on our website soon.
The carrots given to students were grown by Richard Crayston of Gascow Farm in Ulverston, who is a partner on the Home Grown Here veg box scheme. As part of Cumbrian Carrot Connections, Richard’s carrots have also been served up at other local community events, including at the launch of Art Gene’s latest exhibition, Remembering Nature. The carrots were delivered from Gascow Farm by volunteers from Ulverston Food Project and Art Gene, who received a combined 60kg of Richard’s carrots as a thank you from the Cumbrian Carrot Connections project.
We believe that getting more local produce into local services will support our local economy, lower carbon emissions, and improve public health. With funding from Innovate UK and The National Lottery Community Fund, and in partnership with local schools, Westmorland and Furness Council, and the Cumbria Development Education Centre, we are now able to test this approach and identify the barriers that currently limit the wider use of local produce. The long-term goal is to create a thriving, low-carbon local food system that benefits Cumbrian growers and Cumbrian communities.
“We’re thrilled with the enthusiasm from growers, school staff and pupils. Everyone is keen to do their bit to support local growers, reduce their carbon footprint, and eat more healthily” says Laura Blake, Low Carbon Food Manager at Futureproof Cumbria, “We’re now having promising discussions with wholesalers and caterers to explore how we can scale the project up and get locally grown produce into school meals and other dishes.”
Learn more about the Cumbrian Carrot Connections project and discover tasty carrot recipes here: Cumbrian Carrot Connections
This project is being delivered with the support of the following partners and funders:
