We are taking a fresh green look, with an eye on the cost of living, at Imbolc which is celebrated on 1st Feb.
We will look at foods from seed to plate, what we can do to reuse everyday household items and produce a fresh seasonal meal to share with our community, to celebrate the Gaelic festival of Imbolc (in my belly), where we look forward to the lighter days of spring.
Project Description
At Cròileagan Siorrachd Àir a Tuath (North Ayrshire Gaelic Baby & Toddler Group) we aim to provide the opportunity for children (6 months to 4 years), their parents and carers to learn the Gaelic language, through talking, songs and games in a relaxed and welcoming environment.
As well as our weekly sessions at Ardrossan and West Kilbride we value the opportunity to share Gaelic cultural events with our community.
Imbolc (in the belly) was the start of spring for the Celts, midway between winter solstice and spring equinox, a time to celebrate moving from the dark of winter to the light of spring.
We will provide fun, active workshops to look at our food, how to make use of recycled materials as part of growing and storing vegetables. What foods are in season, when stored correctly, can be used even at the end of winter. What can be cooked with these ingrediants ? Brot (soup), Bannock bread and finish with something sweet? of course, all the best meals do. At the end of the day we will sit down with our families and invited guests from the community to enjoy a meal. As together all of the workshops will have contributed to the meal. And of course all the workshops will be bilingual, Scottish and Gaelic.
Workshops will include;
Making plant pots from old news papers, filling with compost and planting seeds. Cress seeds will give a fast growing result for our children to take home and watch them grow into something they can eat. A bilingual instruction sheet will also be provided to take home, we hope our families will make more pots at home and enjoy planting their own vegetables.
Recycled materials from around the home; can we make table decorations ? A spring gift for loved ones ? The symbols for Imbolc are the Snowdrop and Light, representing it as a time when the seasons are moving from the dark of winter into the light of spring. Children will be encouraged to bring materials from home and with some stock materials and some imagination we will get creative.
Cooking; A menu of traditional Gaelic foods such as Bannock bread, Brot (soup) will be made with the children preparing vegetables, mixing and stiring. Bilingual recipe cards will have been premade and provided to take home. The recipes will be fully costed to show how much it will cost to make at home.
We will have opportunity for some Gaelic songs and story telling by and for the children after our meal, making for a Gaelic festival to be rounded off in the traditional way.
Our Cròileagan has a strong group of committee members and volunteers who will work together to organise and run this day, however some training is required to make this day possible in the form of the Basic Food Hygiene training, the cost of which is included in this application. Having this training will future proof us with providing more activities of this nature for our families. The same is for aprons for volunteers and children, having these purchased will mean we can extend the learning from this festival back into our weekly sessions.
Costs of this event to include;
Basic food hygiene training for 3 volunteers @ £105 per person = £315
Travel to training (Kilmarnock from Three Towns) £20
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