In a contextual sense, 'independence, economic wealth, and individual choice are indicative of a high quality of life, but our focus on achieving this status has contributed to the loss of Community' (Sharpe, Mair, & Yuen, 2016, p. 5). In a variety of locations around Edinburgh, Scotland (UK), communities are working to create new and ethically significant food relationships and practices. These are seen as helping to assist a multitude of concerns, including health, increased leisure activities, community engagement, education and sustainability (Kneafsey et al., 2008). ABSTRACT this paper presents the perspectives of participants from three community gardens in edinburgh, Scotland and investigates the role that food growing plays in their recreation and leisure activities, personal development, the development of their children and the impact on their communities. thirty-eight participants were interviewed using qualitative, semi-structured questions to explore their motivations and experiences from their involvement with community gardens. Participant observation was used to better understand the importance of the gardens in their lives. the participants felt the gardens were places that fostered neighbourly engagement, increased leisure opportunities, social support, community health, connectedness, and community diversity. they were also places that promoted knowledge exchange inside the garden and in to the homes of the people and the community itself. anxieties over land use and land reform highlighted how community gardens symbolised empowerment but also showed resistance to the hegemonic structure of local council and government. in effect, the research suggests that community gardens grow much more than just food, they grow community.

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This paper describes a curious meeting in Glasgow between Joseph Conrad and the Scottish writer and journalist Neil Munro in the year 1898. Conrad was visiting Glasgow with the aim of giving up literature and finding a captaincy in order to return to the sea. He met Munro partly because he admired Munro's works, partly because Munro had reviewed his published work favourably. They had a bibulous dinner at the home of X-ray pioneer Dr John McIntyre, and then a night-time stroll through the city which culminated in an uproarious outbreak of schoolboy japery. This article describes the meeting and outlines its significance in Conrad's life and career, while also introducing Munro and his work in order to explain why Conrad felt the need to meet up with him. The meeting is discussed in terms of how it represents a perhaps surprising connection between 'creative' writing and commercial journalism.