Our impact in 2024/25: Acorn Farm

This year we continued our partnership with the Acorn Farm, a sustainable food project which will support 1,000 families to start growing fresh vegetables in their own home. Our I Can Cook programme focusses on cooking healthily and sustainably and reached more than 250 people this year.

At Open Farm Weekend (left) we introduced the seed-to-plate journey to 128 participants, including 87 schoolchildren, over two days, and gave parents and teachers evidence-based advice for understanding tastes and preferences and introducing new foods.  At Fest-Hive-al at the Gasyard we delivered the same activities to 49 participants, including 24 children.

Our community cooking sessions included the inaugural Acorn Farm Stew Fest, which saw a range of facilitators preparing stew and discussing the relationship between traditional dishes, health and seasonality at ten community venues reaching over 100 participants. 96.5% of Stew Fest participants stated that they had gained ‘new skills or knowledge about growing food, cooking and eating healthily.' The venues, activities and delivery were all rated 'very good' by more than 85% of participants.

With construction of the Acorn Farm site (left) in St Columb’s Park due to complete in 2025, we’re looking forward to another exciting year.