By Anne MacLennan I’ve heard it said that the proposed new Tesco supermarket in Portree will make us more food secure, but it may not be that straightforward. A food secure community has physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets...
What do you think about the food environment on Skye?
by Anne MacLennan Public Health Scotland wants to hear what you think about our food environment on Skye: what food is available and affordable to you, and how that shapes what you buy and eat. Access to affordable, healthy, acceptable and sustainable food is...
ReRoot Update
ReRoot is considering hosting a Food Information Day in March or April, with a focus on sustainability and food security. They are currently in discussions with the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, which aims to improve diets in Scotland. The institute will be able to...
Where to Start With Foraging Fungi
by Caroline Bruns of 'Totally Wild UK' Study Mushroom Identification: Begin by familiarising yourself with common wild mushroom species found in the UK. Understand their distinctive characteristics, habitat preferences, and growth patterns. Join Foraging Courses and...
What is the Future for Community Composting in the Highlands?
Highland Good Food's podcast looks at different approaches and ways of composting across Highland, whether you're doing it at home, with council collections, or at your local community garden. With Pamela Sutherland, Head Gardener at Inverness Botanic Gardens. Listen...
Naked Barley – the forgotten super grain
Barley was the most cultivated cereal through the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Around 8,000 years ago a single gene mutation in a barley plant in northern Iran enabled it to freely shed its husks when harvested and threshed, so the grain could be eaten without...
Amphibians and reptiles: working with crofters and kids
by Janet Ullman, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation janet.ullman@arc-trust.org Saving Scotland's Amphibians and Reptiles is a project of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC). We work with crofters to support their needs in establishing or maintaining populations...
A food system off-track?
by Anne MacLennan Salmon farming is unsustainable according to a report published last month. Aquaculture is the fastest food production system in the world. Farmed fish have outnumbered wild-caught fish since 2022. Seventy percent of salmon are now farmed, with...
The whole truth: campaign to resist ultraprocessed foods
The UK government's Department of Health and Social Care had planned to encourage retailers to shift the balance of price promotions towards "minimally processed foods" - which includes fruit, vegetables, beans, whole grains like rice and pasta, and unprocessed meat....
Salmon farming reflections
by Anne MacLennan Skye's Scottish Salmon Think-Tank (SST-T) recently joined the Coastal Communities Network, a community-led network of local groups ‘committed to the preservation and safeguarding of Scotland’s coastal and marine environments’. Formed in 2017 with...