Spring Arran Pioneer Project news
Hi everybody,
It’s been over six months since our last newsletter, and though we are no longer doing quarterly updates, we are still here plugging away. The Pioneer Project has moved through significant transition over the past year, and the gardens have continued to run independently through the winter and into another productive season with a little support from our end where needed and requested.
Our focus, as ever, is on land and access to land. Community food growing in Scotland depends almost entirely on the goodwill of those who hold the land, and we are grateful for that goodwill throughout the history of our organisation. But goodwill is not the same as security, and it is not a foundation for the scale of change needed. This is why we continue to advocate for community ownership and woodland crofting – as a long-term answer to how communities access land, and a route to increase food production on our island.
Woodland crofting addresses a key missing ingredient: people living on the land to grow food and manage it well, tying food production to affordable housing and sustainable woodland management. The gardens are remarkable, diverse spaces and prototypes, but if we want to build towards increased sustainability and self sufficiency, land must be accessible to those who would make food growing a vocation – not just a hobby, but part of a livelihood.
Our thanks to the Ayrshire Climate Hub for their continued support of our work.
Beltane greetings, and Arainn gu bràth!
Simon and Louise – The APP Directors
Growing Food Around Arran
The gardens have moved into another productive spring, and we’ve planted more bare root trees and soft fruit across various sites between January and April, around Arran and for the first time in Holy Isle. We’ve selected varieties of apple and pear tree from Drumfearn Trees in Skye, along with raspberries, currants and other soft fruit, native trees and edible hedging from RV Roger to fill gaps and extend the food forest plantings at Cordon and Clauchlands in particular. We are also increasingly using our own cuttings to propagate new soft fruit, and Simon has completed a grafting course with Phil from Drumfearn Trees, held at Darroch Nurseries.
In terms of seeds, we visited the Seed Library at Arran Library in Brodick, and this remains a brilliant community resource where seeds can be borrowed, grown, and returned. We also visited the Mid Argyll Seed Co-op earlier in spring, a local organisation working towards locally adapted seed for our climate – well worth taking inspiration from.
Cordon Community Garden is finding a new rhythm this spring. After five years of the Pioneer Project coordinating volunteer days there, and APP Director Simon living adjacent to the garden, it is now passing into the hands of those community members who know it best and show up most consistently. Simon will continue to contribute to the garden this season on that basis as the group who look after the garden determines its future.
Both Cladach and Pirnmill are run independently with continued support from APP where requested, and the Shiskine Community Gardens are now part of Bellevue farm. Drop us an email at arran@pioneerproject.scot if you’d like to get involved with any of the gardens we have helped to establish.
Read on for more of their news in their recent newsletter – see the link here
Featured image shows apple blossom at Cordon community garden April 2026. Photo credit: Arran Pioneer Project.
