Go to slide:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
The group enjoyed a day in the sun in the beautiful landscape of the community market garden that has been created on the site of two disused bowling greens within Platt Fields park.
We visited the garden to get a sense of what might be possible for the Touchstones garden and the Dining Room space and see how they can work together.
This was to gain insight in how we can potentially use some of the produce from the garden at Touchstones and integrate it into the kitchen. It was also important to see how having a space like this improves local biodiversity, community cohesion and provides nutritious organic food.
It’s also important to learn about where our food comes from, and how in the Dining Room we can provide the best possible produce.
We had a tour of the garden to see what produce was in the garden, how the space was shared with other local community groups and spaces for kid’s activities and play.
We prepared lunch together; some people harvested peas and prepped them whilst others peeled and chopped some beetroot for the salad. Others prepared the dough for the flatbreads that were cooked over the fire.
We sat together and enjoyed a beautiful fresh salad with chickpeas, beetroot the fresh flatbreads, it was a delicious and healthy meal, enjoyed in such a quiet and peaceful setting.
After lunch we had a wonder round the herbs to find something that would be nice to make a tea from. We identified what was in the area and briefly discussed the benefits of certain herbs.
After we finished our tea, it was time to leave the garden and get everyone back to Rochdale. Everyone agreed that it would be nice to use our garden at Touchstones to create a relaxing area. Some people were also excited about the possibility of growing food onsite that could be used in the café, even if it was just herbs that could be used for making teas or cooking with.