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Squash Nutrition and the Food for Real Film Festival

Squash Nutrition is an arts and health collective who, for over 10 years have been working towards a more creative, socially healthy Liverpool. We love making creative social health projects that celebrate food in all its wild and rich diversity. We celebrate good food and know it's a brilliant social tool that really engages people. We embrace our shared environment and particularly the local food we can produce in it - as a means of creative social inclusion, wellbeing and change.

Squash is a hands-on social enterprise; sharing and learning skills that make us feel more balanced and well. We're especially interested in engaging with people who may have been socially or culturally marginalised. We think that everyone should have equality of access to the enjoyment of good food in all of its aspects and culture.

We are based in Toxteth and are committed to positive environmental action within our local community. The 'Toxteth Produce' project, is working towards making L8 an environmental hub for Liverpool, offering local residents and visitors opportunities to learn, rest and play in a cleaner, greener environment with a sustainable future.

This year we'll be taking the project wider with an electric converted milk-float that will pull a mobile allotment and pop-up field kitchen. Also we're working with Toxteth Library to make a heritage seed resource for locally saved veg and flower seeds. There's a drop-in edible growing session every Saturday 3-5pm at John Archer Hall with Donna - all welcome!

Another current Squash action is the Village Farm Orchard project where local growers are applying permaculture principles as they plant 'pocket' or scattered community fruit and nut orchards in Stockbridge Village, Knowsley. There's a drop-in at the Village Farm Hub every Thursday morning 10.30-12 for a cuppa and growing activities.

At both sites we're also proud to have hives packed with wonderful bees making the most delicious local honey! Get in touch about bee-keeping courses.

We're in it for the long-term. We imagine Liverpool’s urban food gardens developing and shaping over many years; 50 years, 100 years, 200 years..... bearing fruit and veg, and growing people (but not on trees!)

As artists, chefs, film-makers, bee-keepers and gardeners, the Squash team is passionate about developing new and vigorous arts and health practices. Our programmes embrace innovation and exchange and are built through community participation and ideas sharing processes. One such process that we believe will continue to have far reaching impact for both Liverpool citizens and those further afield is the Food for Real film festival, piloted in 2012 and raring to go forward this year (21-24th November 2013)

Film is a great medium for exploring food - food for the future, food as culture and politics, food for health and change, foods as history and art, food for real. Through the Food for Real film festival our aim is to share important local and global interests and issues with diverse audiences. We aim to grow an annual Autumn festival that showcases both issue-driven and celebratory food-focussed films, with corresponding educational activities, talks and actions.

Food for Real will continue to:

• Make and show great food films.
• Screen documentary, artist, feature, animation and public information films exploring food impacts.
• Showcase local food urban agriculture projects that are blossoming in Liverpool and the North-West through documentary and films made via community reporting.
• Highlight food network initiatives and possibilities.
• Find weird and wonderful venues to show case innovative food practice, like the 125ft long Poly-tunnel cinema last year on Dutch Farm Speke.
• Host debates with film-makers, activists and food specialists.

We think the festival will be a significant, accessible, vibrant and interactive platform from which to increase understanding of and launch new ideas about sustainable food practice and global food culture relationships. Come along and let us know what you reckon!

At a recent food and film night in Toxteth we showed a local community food film and a short TED film by 'gangster' gardener Ron Finley. Referring to these films volunteer Gill said, 'Watching them films has inspired me to grow some veg. So I'm going to plant a few rows in my garden.' Since then, Gill has grown tomatoes, potatoes, chillies and rhubarb, and is looking forward to her first harvest!

For upcoming monthly Food and Film nights in various venues check facebook.com/foodforrealfilmfestival for updates.

To get involved.....

In Toxteth Produce contact Lisa or Jackie at toxtethproduce(at)gmail.com
In Village Farm Orchard contact Kath at thevillagefarmorchard(at)gmail.com

Check out www.facebook/squashnutrition for updates on all our events!

www.squashnutrition.org
0151 707 7897
admin(at)squashnutrition.org

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