North Howe

Letham Hall was a hive of activity for the June meeting where Janice Furness gave a fascinating insight into the life of honey bees and bee keeping. It was a great taster for those present who are interested in taking the next step.  Click the link on left hand side for latest Fife Beekeepers Association newsletter.

The Group meeting monthly and the next meeting will be this Sunday, 4 July, at 2pm at the Muirside Apiary. Demonstrations start at 2pm, so people should be there 10 mins before to get suited up. It is not a beginners’ meeting. Anyone interested should warn John Tout (01383 415 534) that they’re coming, so that he has enough suits, and wear wellies if poss,  pale coloured trousers, tight fitting kitchen gloves and no perfume.

More information can be found on the following webiste and beekeeping course generally start in January so plenty of time to sign up for next year.

www.fifebeekeepers.co.uk

www.scottishbeekeepers.co.uk

Just recently the Food Group agreed to purchase a piece of food preservation equipment, a canning device (see below images) that will be available to our community for use, the booking of the equipment will work on the same basis as the community apple press and any booking queries should be sent to louise@nhtt.org.uk

The Food Group were also wondering whether there might be merit in purchasing other pieces of similar food equipment that our community could use. If you have any ideas for consideration please forward them to hayley.mills@phonecoop.coop or call 01337 810342

The Food Group are busy planning a Family Food Skills Day on Sunday 1 August from 11am-2pm at Letham Village Hall.

We are still fine tuning the details but the day should include:

• Natural Dye workshop for kids
• Drop In & Out Food Workshops: bird processing, seafood preparation, food smoking, pasta making, bread making, creatively icing cupcakes for kids, canning
• Small Holding & Growing Advice
• Very Mini Market Local Stalls
• NHTT Puddledub Burger & Veggie BBQ
• NHTT Cafe
• NHTT Travelling Tavern will be available 12pm -finish

The event will be on a smaller scale than last years highly succesful Local Food Festival. It is shaping up to be a great day so get it in the diary now. More details will follow so keep an eye on the weekly NHTT eBulletin.

The Energy Group will be meeting on Monday 5 July at 7.30pm in Letham Village Hall.

Heart & Soul group

An Invitation open to all

to a special day of Joanna Macy’s “The Work that Reconnects.”

A Deep Ecology Workshop

Facilitated by Gill Emslie from the Findhorn Foundation

Saturnday 10th July 2010, 10am – 5.30pm  at Monimail Tower Project, Fife, KY15 7RJ

Suggested donation £15 –Bring lunch to share

For more information click here

From Transition Scotland Support:

Do you want the process of making groups ‘official’ Transition initiatives
to be moved from Totnes to Scotland, and if so then how?

The process of ‘going official’ in Scotland is currently run from Totnes,
which is not the case in most other countries, where once there has been a
move towards developing a national ‘hub’, the ‘hub’ has taken on this role.
This has not happened here, as TSS has framed itself as a support
organisation (not as ‘Transition Scotland’), and not one which could claim
the authority to make that kind of decision. That authority would come from
Transition Scotland a group which has not yet formally convened, but which
could fairly be said to be made up of all the official and actively
connected groups in Scotland – that’s you!

I think it would be great if we took on this role in Scotland, but there are
a few questions that need answering before we do – some of which are:

a)  Is this something that Scottish groups are keen to see happen?  If so…

b)  How would we keep this process practical, democratic and accountable?

Would we convene by email? Would every group participate, or would we have a
smaller group which revolves its membership? Or what?

c)  What process will we use for deciding how groups go ‘official’ here?

We can change the criteria to suit how we want this done – how do we decide
about changing it? Do we want prospective new groups to fill in a form, have
an interview, self-select (with some guidance) or is there another way? Do
we still call it becoming ‘official’?

d)  Do we want to be able to take ‘official’ status away from groups – and
how would that happen?

e)  Do we want to have a ‘friend of Transition’ category, for those who’d
like to be affiliated but not, for a range of reasons, to actually sign up?

There are currently quite a few groups in this position. It could be that
moving the decision making process north and making it easier, would mean
that groups find it more inviting to join, but there are a wide range of
reasons why groups don’t want to, which may not be answered by this.

f)  And finally – how shall we have this conversation?

Do we try to meet up (TSS could cover travel costs, but couldn’t do the work
you’d miss, or give the kids their tea)? Do we email? Do we create a google
group – or a forum on the new website?  Do we do an on-line conference?

So, if you have any thoughts on this – especially on how to get started with
the conversation – please get back to me before the 20th of July!

I’ve attached the Memorandum of Understanding from Transition network, which
I see as a basis for negotiation of the terms on which we would like to take
this role on (if we do!).

Many thanks and all the best, Eva

The Local Food Group will be holding their monthly meeting on Tuesday 29 June at 7.30pm in Letham Village Hall. Janice Furness from Fife Bee Keepers will be coming along to talk to the group. Following this we will be discussing our projects,  future events and meetings, click here for agenda. The NHTT Cafe will be in residence for refreshment.

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Sunday’s Collessie Gala was a great success and well attended. Our Stall was kept busy throughout the warm and sunny afternoon.  Neil shared some hand made bread to give people a taste of what a community bakery might offer.All agreed that the bread was delicous and we would like some more. More information about this project will follow soon and minutes of the sub groups last meeting are now available on the Food Group page.

Neil and Barbara's hand made bread

At the other end of the table we had a free tombola with the energy saving toolkit cupcakes proving popular with all.  Along with the cakes we were giving away energy saving bulbs, powerdown switches, tripsharefife merchandise  and the star prizes were 4 solar powered toys.

NHTT Gala Day Gallery

Did  you know that we have a ‘Market Place’ on our NHTT e Forum where you can post your produce and prices to sell to local folks. It is really easy and a great opportunity to let local folks know what you do. Just follow this link to sign up and post. Don’t be shy!

Best wishes
The Food Group

One of the projects The Transport Group have been developing over the past few months is TripStop, and we soon hope to run a pilot scheme.  TripStop is like a bus stop, but for local people who would like a lift.  It’s an alternative to rural buses for people that don’t have the use of a car.  It works for car users and non-car users, and it provides people with the opportunity to get to know each other and to share their car journeys. Click here to see the full project profile.

To help take this idea forward the we have organise a meeting on Monday 28 June at 7.30pm in Letham Village Hall. We are writing letters to  invite people who expressed an interest in this idea during last years community survey. If you did not express an interest but now think this is an idea you would like to help shape and take forward then you are most welcome to come along. The NHTT Cafe will be residence to provide refreshement.

The Letham Woodland Group have been carrying out a community consultation in the Letham area. On Saturday 26 June they will be holding a coffee morning to share findings. It will we be an opportunity for people to come along and find out more about the proposal and have some input into how it is taken forward. The event will run from 10am-12pm in Letham Village Hall.

For more information about the group and the proposed community buy out of the west woods on Letham Hill follow thi s Link

We are now moving into the second year of our CCF funding and our projects
are starting to gather pace. As such we are looking for some enthusiastic
local people who are available to work on a casual, part-time, ad hoc
basis to do a variety of work. This could include some basic administration,
project work, leafleting, helping at events, working in the Transition
Tavern or the NHTT Cafe. We need people with a range of skills but most
importantly you should be friendly, reliable and sympathetic to the goals
and ethos of the North Howe Transition Toun.

The rate of pay will be £7.50 per hour. If you are interested in becoming part of our pool of sessional
workers then please get in touch with Louise with a covering note telling
us a bit about the skills and experience you have to offer.

NHTT will have a stall this year in the Climate Challenge Zone and are looking for volunteers to help set up and man our stall. We need friendly outgoing folks who are happy to speak to people about our work and projects and encourage folks to take local action to reduce their own impact on the planet. It will provide you an opportunity to meet with other like minded community activists and encourage those who are just starting out on this road to community change.  You do not need to be an ‘expert’ on NHTT or the Transition Town model, merely bring your own experiences to bear.

This is a great opportunity to not only attend but also participate in this world renowned green and enjoyable festival. If you are interested please contact Louise

Neil at Big Tent 2009

A group of us got together to try and make this happen as folks in our community said that they wanted a local food directory from our community survey. When we got started we found out that though the community said they wanted one they were not keen to have their details in it. Folks also said that they didn’t want another Fife wide directory as that was already available. So, we regrouped and had a think about it and decided that we could offer something to local producers in the way of an ‘e’ page  they could post their local produce on. Dave Hamilton our web guru has designed a fabulous Food forum for the NHTT which has a Barter page and a Market Place and we thought that we should simply use that. Follow this link to the NHTT Food Forum We wanted to update you to keep you abreast of things. Best wishes Local Food Directory Sub Group