Friday 20 April 2012 saw the majority of people at Growing Together rising earlier than usual. On this day, was an organised coach trip to two other organically run schemes. At these we would see how similar or not, they were run to GT.
The first stop was OrganicLea, in Chingford, just on the London and Essex border.
Until 2009, the huge ten acre site, (to put it into perspective, Growing Together is one acre), along with it’s huge greenhouses, were council owned and run. It was where a lot of the councils bedding plants were grown, for the parks, beds and roundabouts in the area.
We were given an introductory talk by a few of the staff and then after a very welcome cup of tea, we were given a tour of the site. First off were the greenhouses, where it was great to see gourmet salad crops being grown directly in soil beds, nearly all year round. A lot of concrete had to be dug through initially though, as the council did all of their growing in pots on tables, so all the floors were initially concreted over. We were told that OrganicLea had built up a good relationship with a few local pubs and restaurants and the salad crops made up the majority of their income. This of course got the brains of most people from GT going and Matt was soon inundated with requests that GT should look into doing something similar.
Other beds had green manure ready to be dug in and string hung from overhead ready for other climbing crops like tomatoes and cucumbers, that would be grown during the summer.
Outside, we where shown beds with remnants of last years crops and onions and garlic that had been planted this year. Although these use quite a bit of the soil available to them, new raised beds were continually being made as time and help from volunteers allowed. Already there is a large selection of planted fruit trees, bushes and vines planted about the site, but there is still a lot more of site free, so there is lots more that can and will be done. It would be interesting to go back in five years to see how much they have progressed.
The next stop was ‘City Farm’ in the London borough of Hackney. This scheme started in 1984 and was much more a finished project, happily running daily.
By now it was raining a little and people were hungry as it was lunch time, so the first stop was the dining area. To be honest I was bowled over, both by the size of it and the kitchen areas but also the large menu available and the amount of people eating and drinking there. It was in fact very hard for the GT crowd to find anywhere to sit, after they had bought their various sandwiches, beverages and cakes.
After a bit of lunch, the majority of us then went just a few steps outside to see the animals. As it was raining, the animals were being brought into their well kept living areas, where they went straight to work on their own lunch, which consisted for many, of a large bale of hay. No matter how hard we all tried to get their attention to stroke them, they seemed more than happy just to stay out of hands reach, to munch on what looked to us most unappetising. But they seemed very content and happy with their lives.
There were donkeys, goats and pigs, most with babies, and chickens and ducks running around the paved outside area. You could easily forget that you were right in the centre of a very busy London borough but I suppose that was part of the reason that it was built.
Just as it was time to return home, the weather got worse, so we were all happy to get back on the coach. To say we all had an exciting day out would be putting it mildly and I will definitely be putting my name straight down for the next organised trip out.
The first stop was OrganicLea, in Chingford, just on the London and Essex border.
Until 2009, the huge ten acre site, (to put it into perspective, Growing Together is one acre), along with it’s huge greenhouses, were council owned and run. It was where a lot of the councils bedding plants were grown, for the parks, beds and roundabouts in the area.
We were given an introductory talk by a few of the staff and then after a very welcome cup of tea, we were given a tour of the site. First off were the greenhouses, where it was great to see gourmet salad crops being grown directly in soil beds, nearly all year round. A lot of concrete had to be dug through initially though, as the council did all of their growing in pots on tables, so all the floors were initially concreted over. We were told that OrganicLea had built up a good relationship with a few local pubs and restaurants and the salad crops made up the majority of their income. This of course got the brains of most people from GT going and Matt was soon inundated with requests that GT should look into doing something similar.
Other beds had green manure ready to be dug in and string hung from overhead ready for other climbing crops like tomatoes and cucumbers, that would be grown during the summer.
Outside, we where shown beds with remnants of last years crops and onions and garlic that had been planted this year. Although these use quite a bit of the soil available to them, new raised beds were continually being made as time and help from volunteers allowed. Already there is a large selection of planted fruit trees, bushes and vines planted about the site, but there is still a lot more of site free, so there is lots more that can and will be done. It would be interesting to go back in five years to see how much they have progressed.
The next stop was ‘City Farm’ in the London borough of Hackney. This scheme started in 1984 and was much more a finished project, happily running daily.
By now it was raining a little and people were hungry as it was lunch time, so the first stop was the dining area. To be honest I was bowled over, both by the size of it and the kitchen areas but also the large menu available and the amount of people eating and drinking there. It was in fact very hard for the GT crowd to find anywhere to sit, after they had bought their various sandwiches, beverages and cakes.
After a bit of lunch, the majority of us then went just a few steps outside to see the animals. As it was raining, the animals were being brought into their well kept living areas, where they went straight to work on their own lunch, which consisted for many, of a large bale of hay. No matter how hard we all tried to get their attention to stroke them, they seemed more than happy just to stay out of hands reach, to munch on what looked to us most unappetising. But they seemed very content and happy with their lives.
There were donkeys, goats and pigs, most with babies, and chickens and ducks running around the paved outside area. You could easily forget that you were right in the centre of a very busy London borough but I suppose that was part of the reason that it was built.
Just as it was time to return home, the weather got worse, so we were all happy to get back on the coach. To say we all had an exciting day out would be putting it mildly and I will definitely be putting my name straight down for the next organised trip out.