We’re delighted to share that we’ve been awarded a rural grant from the Forest of Dean District Council, which enables us to fast-track plans of significantly increasing usable growing space in our kitchen garden, and invest in new kitchen equipment to increase production. This means we can expand our own Forest Deli range of foods and hopefully increase the Forest Deli kitchen team.
We’re already working hard to launch new products and start lots of growing as soon as possible. Debbie is creating and testing new recipes and Simon is busy planning raised bed layouts, making seed selections and planning which fruit and vegetables to grow. The best bit about being able to grow our own is that we will be able to limit food miles to an electric-powered 1 mile from the garden to the shop! We’ll be working with the seasons, growing what we know we will use, always ensuring zero food waste.
Without this award we really wouldn’t be able to achieve what we’re hoping to achieve in the coming year (this was very much a three year goal which is now an imminent reality!). For you, this means exciting new Forest Deli foodie delights heading your way very soon. As has been the case since we started making our own products, a portion of the profits of all of our Forest Deli branded food will be donated to the Forest Foodbank.
We’ll keep you posted as things develop (and grow) – watch this space!
More info about the grant award can be found here https://news.fdean.gov.uk/news/over-gbp-22-000-awarded-to-two-local-businesses