Being an island, a lot of the food we eat is brought in by ferry and sold in the island’s (great) shop. Growing more, both as individuals and as a community will reduce the amount of fresh salad, vegetables and fruit that’s imported. Our new Gardening Club, who share information, advice, seeds and equipment and increasingly busy; Eigg has seen seven new polytunnels erected in the first six months of 2009, and more are planned.
Many of our growers are doing so using organic or permaculture methods. This reduces the amount of chemicals and fossil fuel based fertilizers – working with, rather than against, nature, and reducing our CO2 emissions.
Big Green Meals
In December 2008, almost the entire population sat down to a three course meal in our community hall. 80% of the ingredients for the food we prepared ourselves came from Eigg or our close neighbours on Muck, Rum, in Mallaig and Arisaig. Venison, mackerel, seafood, vegetables, frozen summer gooseberries and brambles washed down with homemade wine and beer.
On July 19th we’re joining in with The Big Lunch for a picnic of local produce on the beach.
I’m actually glad I found this post. I’ve been scouring the web for details on solar energy for awhile.Looking forward to reading through more posts about energy.