West Craigie Farm started its Local Food Project over two years ago, with the help of social enterprise funding, to grow food for the farm shop and cafe. Farmer John Sinclair supplied a poly tunnel and some ground for the project.
Working with the City of Edinburgh Council criminal justice service, offenders on community service get the chance to develop key skills and work experience to get into employment.
Now the group, who are all women, have secured a grant from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to design and build a new wildlife display garden this year, supporting habitat for birds, bees and butterflies at the South Queensferry farm.
”We will use the SNH money to pay for consultancy time to help with the planning, and to pay for materials like bee houses, bird feeding stations, interpretative boards and plants,” says Yvonne Dalziel, manager at West Craigie Local Food Project.
Karen Morrison, communities officer at SNH says its important that people from all walks of life experience the outdoors.
"We hope the people involved in this project will enjoy seeing the wildlife garden develop and will go back with other members of the public to enjoy the fruits of their work,” she says.
Once the garden is finished, there will be a special opening ceremony, in April, and the garden will then be open to the general public.