The Kernel was buzzing on the sunny afternoon of Saturday, 27th of October as we celebrated our first anniversary by holding The Men’s Shed open day and a big autumn apple juice off. Lots of local folk turned up to make and sample the fresh apple juice. We managed to breeze through 200kg of the locally harvested apples, saving them from going to waste. Men’s Shed members demonstrated their wood-working skills, showed off recent projects and sold beautifully finished bird-feeders and cutting boards. You could also make simple apple bird feeders with Andrea from Transition’s Edible Campus, hear about plans for the Kernel’s Urban Farm from Elliott, the Botanics’ horticultural expert, and chat about your climate change concerns with Ali and Kaska from Transition. All with a generous serving of hot dogs and yummy soup. A great day to celebrate a great year!
Among last year’s highlights are putting the final touches on the workshop space by the Men’s Shed, hosting a multitude of Transition Community SkillShare workshops and the Permaculture Scotland Gathering, and the establishment of the ToolShare library. We even made a start on a clay pizza oven, a perfect addition to any future social occasions at the site. The Kernel growing space has also started its transformation into an innovative Urban Farm, and a centre of horticultural know-how for everyone, with many exciting developments still to come over the next year. But as Jane Kell, from St Andrews Environmental Network, said, the most impressive thing was how the space brought people together:
“The project came about because we felt that there was a need for somewhere simple where we could pull all the groups together that worked on environmental-type projects, where we could meet in the shared space and therefore share skills and cooperate more to make a bigger difference. Actually seeing it happen, and knowing what we wanted to happen is happening at a wonderful level has been the highlight of this year.”
We hope we will see you at the Kernel over the next year! (Can’t wait for that first locally sourced, locally made pizza…yum!)
In the podcast below weyou can hear from some of the key Kernel movers and shakers whom we interviewed during the event, including Jane Kell from St Andrews Environmental Network, Ali MacLeod from Transition, Henry Paul from Men’s Shed, Andrea Roach from Transition Edible Campus and Elliott Forsythe from Kernel Urban Farm and Community Garden. They talk about the origin of the project, last year’s memorable moments and exciting plans for the future!
You can find all our Community Share for Climate Care podcasts on Anchor here. They are also available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcasting apps.