Anrhydedd i hyrwyddwr bwyd o Gymru
A Montgomeryshire woman whose ambition is to establish a Centre of Food Excellence with a community garden, kitchen and café where parents and children can learn more about where food comes from and how it can be imaginatively prepared and enjoyed, has been made an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies for her work in food promotion.
Mrs Lavinia Vaughan, who farms with her husband at Porth Farm, Caersws, Powys, is the founder of the Mid-Wales Food and Land Trust. During the last two years, working with local primary schools and farmers, she has established schoolyard markets in the three counties of Powys. The schoolyard markets are part of the CAFÉ (Children Agriculture Food and Education) project which was initiated by the Trust in partnership with the Countryside Council for Wales, and were set up to educate children and their parents about the origins and seasonality of local food. They have also created an outlet for locally-produced meat thus adding value to livestock which otherwise would have been shipped out of the area.
Mrs Vaughan, an intuitive cook and proprietor of Porth Farm Foods, is an experienced chef who also caters for private functions and produces ready meals with Graig Farm Organics and other local food producers.
On the home farm she has established an organic garden and a teaching kitchen used for demonstrations in the use of local seasonal food and a teaching aid for disadvantaged adults. In the last year she has also opened a Welsh delicatessen and tea room in the local village supporting local food producers.