Deri Reed

🌟 A Heartfelt Thank You to the BBC Food & Farming Awards Team 🌟 We’re still buzzing with gratitude after being named the BBC Morning Live Community Food Champion at this year’s BBC Food & Farming Awards. 🌾🍽️ To the organisers, judges, and everyone behind the scenes who made this incredible event possible: thank you for shining a light on the power of food to transform lives and communities. Your dedication to celebrating the heart and soul of food producers, growers, and changemakers across the UK is truly inspiring. This recognition isn’t just for us—it’s for every volunteer, grower, supporter, and neighbour who’s shared in the vision of Cegin Hedyn. Together, we’ve shown that food can do so much more than nourish; it can unite, heal, and empower. Thank you for giving us a platform to share our story and for believing in the work we do. We’re humbled, inspired, and more determined than ever to keep building a better food system. 🙏 With endless appreciation, Deri & the Cegin Hedyn Team 🌱 #bbcfoodawards #CommunityFoodChampion

I can’t believe it! This award is dedicated to all the volunteers who share their time, the businesses who share their skills, the growers who share their produce, and the people who have donated their money to make this project happen. I’m truly honoured and humbled to be this year’s Morning Live BBC Food & Farming Awards Community Food Champion 2024! Cegin Hedyn is a testament to what a community can achieve when they come together to step into their own power to take responsibility for a food system that’s letting us the people & our planet down. #bbcfoodawards

Our health starts beneath our feet 🌱 Healthy soil grows healthier food. Healthier food fuels healthier people. Yet most of us are now more disconnected from the soil than ever before. One of the simplest and most powerful things we can do is return goodness back to the land naturally, building resilience into our food systems from the ground up. Compost isn’t waste. It’s future food, future health and future fertility. The more time I spend growing food, the more I believe that caring for the soil is caring for ourselves too. Look after your soil, folks. It really does look after us in return. Give this post some ❤️ if you agree and let me know in the comments if you grow, compost or dream of doing more of it someday. Big love, Deri x

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Food should nourish communities, not just corporate profits! Time to get your votes in for the change you want to see! #Wales #plaidcymru #cymru

Words just won’t capture how much of an honor catering for Glasbren’s Calan Mai was this weekend! Just wow!!!

I’ve been sitting with this for a while. A quiet fear that one day, cooking just… disappears. Not because we chose to let it go, but because we no longer need to. Everything done for us. By systems we don’t see, with ingredients we’ve got no relationship to. Maybe life gets easier. Maybe it gets more convenient. But do we lose something important along the way? For me, cooking is about more than food. It’s about connection. Control. Knowing how to care for yourself. And I’m not sure what replaces that if it goes. Curious where you land on this. Does it resonate, or do you see it differently? — #foodforthought #cookingmatters #foodsystem #healthandwellbeing #communityfood sustainability realfood

Last weekend I drove to Stroud, slept in the back of the car, and finally visited a place I’ve been hearing about for years. @thelongtablestroud And I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s built around a simple idea: what if everyone had access to good food, and people to eat it with? You walk in. No awkwardness. No questions. You pay what you can. Or you don’t. And you sit at long tables with everyone else. Some people pay more. Some less. Some nothing. And it works! Everyone is paid properly. The place is full of life. Strangers talking, sharing, eating together like it actually matters. And it got me thinking about The Warren. What could be possible here. I don’t have the answers yet. But I’m really curious. Do you think something like this could work at The Warren? I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts. #communityfood #paywhatyoucan #thewarren #carmarthen #foodforeveryone #eatogether

Looking for two lodgers 🌱 As things shift a bit in my life, I’m opening up my home to two people who want to live in a calm, thoughtful, shared space. The rooms will be available from mid May. This isn’t just about filling rooms. I want to create a home that feels steady, respectful and nourishing to be in. A place to land. The house is a stone barn conversion in a quiet hamlet about 5 miles from Carmarthen. It has three bedrooms, a log burner and an Aga, off-road parking, a shed, and a 1/4 acre space outside including a vegetable garden. It’s a peaceful spot, surrounded by countryside, with room to breathe. There’s also space to grow food, both inside and outside. Whether you’re already into growing or just curious, there’s room for pots, seedlings, and getting your hands in the soil. I’d love that to be something shared and enjoyed. The kind of home I’m hoping to create is calm, low-drama and not a party house. Clean, with shared responsibility for the space. Friendly and open, but with room for everyone to do their own thing. A place where cooking, eating well and slowing down are part of everyday life. I run The Warren and Cegin Hedyn, so a lot of my life revolves around food, community and trying to do things in a more meaningful way. Outside of that I’m often running, cycling, getting into cold water or spending time around saunas. I’m drawn to simple, grounding things and would love to share a home with people who enjoy that kind of pace of life. I also have three pet ducks. This might suit someone who is grounded, self-aware, respectful of shared space, and interested in food, growing, or sustainability, with a relatively steady lifestyle. Getting the right people matters more than rushing this. If it resonates, drop me a message with a bit about you, how you like to live, and what you’re looking for in a home, or share with someone who might be a good fit.

Fermented Wild Garlic 🌱 Hey friends, the season is in swing, here the recipe I used for mine! Let me know how you get on! Happy fermenting! Recipe: Simple 2% ferment (no fuss, no waste) You’ll need: • Wild garlic leaves • Fine sea salt (2%) (That’s 2g salt per 100g leaves) Method: 1. Chop your wild garlic 2. Weigh it 3. Add 2% salt 4. Massage until it releases liquid 5. Pack tightly into a jar 6. Press down so everything is under the brine 7. Leave at room temp for 5–10 days Ready when: Fresh, garlicky + lightly sour (not funky) Store: Fridge, lasts months Use it on: Potatoes, toast, beans, dressings, everything Top tips: • Keep it submerged • No iodised salt • White film = fine, skim it • Bad smell = bin it #fermentation #wildgarlic #foraging #carmarthen

Climate Action Day at the Allotments (Welsh Version Below) As part of the Social Farms & Gardens Camau Gwyrdd project, we are hosting a FREE, hands-on climate action day at the Cegin Hedyn community allotments. What’s happening: Build an Upcycled Planter – with Lauren Faithfull from @tirawelvegboxes - Turn pallet wood into your own take-home planter, filled with our own compost and plug plants from the allotment. Composting Masterclass – with Andrew Kirkpatrick - Learn how compost all our food waste from the cafe and how to start a simple home system. Wood-Fired Pizza Lunch – with Deri Reed from @warrenmanselst - Pizza from the wood oven with lots of local veggies while we talk about food miles, seasonal cooking and saving money through local food. —- Diwrnod Gweithredu Hinsawdd yn yr Allotment Fel rhan o brosiect Camau Gwyrdd Social Farms & Gardens, rydym yn cynnal diwrnod gweithredu hinsawdd AM DDIM, ymarferol yn allotment cymunedol Cegin Hedyn. Beth sy’n digwydd: Adeiladu Planter Ailgylchu – gyda Lauren Faithful o Tir Awel Trowch bren paled yn planter i’w gymryd adref, wedi’i lenwi gyda’n compost ein hunain a phlanhigion bach o’r allotment. Dosbarth Meistr Compostio – gyda Andrew Kirkpatrick Dysgwch sut rydym yn compostio holl wastraff bwyd y caffi a sut i ddechrau system syml gartref. Cinio Pizza Ffwrn Goed – gyda Deri Reed o The Warren Pizza o’r ffwrn goed gyda llawer o lysiau lleol tra byddwn yn sôn am filltiroedd bwyd, coginio tymhorol a sut i arbed arian drwy fwyta bwyd lleol. #carmarthen

We’ve Won a National Award – Please Watch Our Film For me, this award belongs to the people who show up every Monday, in all weathers, to build something hopeful. From three plots, a woodland area and a polytunnel to a space that supports wildlife, food production and community wellbeing, it has been a collective effort. If you have ever volunteered, donated, shared our work or simply believed in what we are trying to do, this is yours too. Please pop us some love in the comments below and share this video far and wide so more people can benefit from this wonderful space. Thanks for reading Deri Reed. #carmarthen @castellhowell @discovercarms @cwmpas @ynnisirgar @bwydsirgarfood @cavscarms @bbcfoodprog @tnlcommunityfund

Join us! 🥕 Ymunwch â ni! Free 5 week course, Thursdays, 5-7pm from 12th March* at Cegin Hedyn, Carmarthen ✨ Learn valuable meal prep skills ✨ Cook with seasonal produce, explore new cuisines, fermentation, pickling and how to cook pulses ✨ Get an insight into food safety & hygiene ✨ Learn how to reduce food waste and how to save money ✨ Cook delicious, nutritious food! * taking a break for Easter 🐣 In collaboration with our friends at @ceginhedyn . Supported by Connecting Carmarthenshire. 📧 Contact [email protected] to learn more and sign up. ___ Cwrs 5 wythnos, yn rhad ac am ddim, bob dydd Iau, 5-7yh, o 12fed Mawrth*, Cegin Hedyn, Caerfyrddin ✨ Dysgwch sgiliau gwerthfawr i baratoi prydau bwyd ✨ Coginiwch gyda chynnyrch tymhorol, archwiliwch fwydydd newydd, eplesu, piclo a sut i goginio codlysiau ✨ Dysgwch fwy am ddiogelwch a hylendid bwyd ✨ Dysgwch sut i leihau gwastraff bwyd a sut i arbed arian ✨ Coginiwch fwyd blasus sydd hefyd yn faethlon! *Byddwn ni’n cymryd hoe dros y Pasg 🐣 📧 Cysyllwtch â [email protected] i ddysgu mwy a chofrestru