Greener Leith

We read today that signs are to go up in Pilrig Park advising people in Polish that it is illegal to drink there. The police have taken these steps after receiving a high number of calls for underage drinking, vandalism and other crimes. We hope these signs will be bi-lingual, at the very least, so that local Polish people don't feel unfairly targeted.

Of course, we are delighted to see that the Leith Police are taking proactive steps to tackle vandalism in the park.

Did you know that the 'I love Leith' Facebook group has more than 1000 members now? That's why Neighbourhood groups need to get on the web. It's one of those odd ironies of modern day city living that you may not know the people living in your stair anymore, but the chances are you have some means of connecting to the internet, and that you regularly check some sort of local website.

Although the web is maybe more an additonal communication chanel rather than a substitute for more traditional means of communication, it is a great way of building a relationship with like minded people, and encouraging people to take part. Recently, our Greener Leith website passed an important milestone - more than 100 people now subscribe to our news updates, one way or another, and so to all our subscribers we'd like to say thanks for reading! We're pleased to see so many different people commenting on posts recently, and that the site generates an increasing amount of feedback. Keep it going, as we want this site to reflect the views of our readers too.

Also you might not know that local voluntary organisations that join Greener Leith have the option of getting their own 'editor' account for this site, so that they can post news easily. If this something that could benefit a group you are a member of please get in touch.

Recently we discovered the 'Social Media Guide', a booklet produced by a chap called Paul Caplan, on behalf of the Media Trust. It's given us loads of food for thought on how we can make better use of the 'Live Web' and we thought we'd better pass on the link as it is one of the best guides to understanding the power of some of the latest web services, many of them free, that we've seen. Best of all, it includes a few case studies about how voluntary sector organisations have integrated these services into their work.

Some of the people who turned out to help us plant the Pilrig Park Berry Hedge, were members of the Edinburgh Slow Food 'Convivia'. We were fascinated to learn that Edinburgh has the largest Slow Food group outside London in the UK, so I asked Pilrig resident Donald Reid to tell us more. He writes:


The Slow Food Movement began in Italy as a reaction to the spread of fast food and the emergence of convenience as the guiding principle in how and what we eat. An international non-profit organization, Slow Food encourages us to take a little more time to understand and appreciate the food we eat, highlighting the basic philosophy that eating good food can, and should, be a daily source of pleasure in our lives.

Slow Food doesn't refer to slow cooking or long, drawn-out meals – instead it promotes an attitude to food which values locally grown produce, eating food in season, artisan producers and non-industrialized farming. Slow Food sees food and eating as valuable parts of our cultural heritage and seeks to improve our relationship with the people involved in growing, making and selling food. Increasingly, Slow Food also challenges us to be more aware of the social and environmental impact of our frequent food choices, offering the radical suggestion that we could eat our way to a solution to some of the world's current ills.

Slow Food in Scotland

There are a number of Slow Food groups, also known as convivia, in Scotland. The Edinburgh convivium is second only to London in size in the UK with around 200 members. Local gatherings and events take place every month, including informal 'Slow Suppers', cooking demonstrations, farmers' market lunches, tasting evenings, visits to local food producers and special meals with top local chefs. We also run a 'Slow Food Recommended' scheme for local restaurants and food shops, and are involved with taste education opportunities such as Cooking for Kids.

For more, visit www.slowfoodedinburgh.co.uk or www.slowfood.com

Sighted today on a North Edinburgh cycle path. There's only one thing worse than people who don't clear up after their dogs. People who do bag it, then fail to bin it. What's the point of sealing your dog's poo in a plastic bag and leaving it for someone else to clear up? We know of park rangers in Edinburgh who have found bushes covered in hanging bags of poo as a result of the same dog owner throwing their poo bags in the same place for months on end. The absence of bins is not an excuse. Your dog, your responsibility!

We salute the north Edinburgh, chalk carrying person, who is so keen to shame irresponsible dog owners. 

We've been alerted to this virtual tour of the ferry road allotments, courtesy of Phoebe Salter. She took more than 100 photos of the allotment site last weekend, paying particular attention to the weird and wonderful sheds she found there. Given that there's about a two year waiting list to get a plot on most of the allotment sites around Leith, we thought this might be of interest to all those waiting - and anyone else who's shed curious.

Technorati Tags:shed, allotment, leith, photography