Grow Organic - Community

Aim: This programme aims to help reduce the inequalities in health and wellbeing by offering food growing, healthy eating and related activities to 'hard to reach' adult groups across Bradford and District, such as women of Asian origin and other communities experiencing deprivation.  It also supports teachers, childcare professionals and others to grow food with children or vulnerable adults through training or consultations, building on our long experience of providing enjoyable, safe and appropriately challenging sessions which afford opportunities for learning, physical exercise, socialising or just fun.  BCEP programmes have been used as a model of best practice by several national organisations including the Women’s Environment Network, BTCV and the Black Environment Network.

We are especially proud of these achievements with our regular weekly groups:

•    One of the new men's groups is now gardening regularly on what was an overgrown allotment and has made fantastic progress both on the ground and in sowing seeds and growing them on in the greenhouse.  The partner organisations involved with this group are also working well together.

•    The men have been so fired up by what they've been doing in the group that 2 of them have taken on an allotment nearer to where they live. Others asked the group to help rejuvenate the overgrown garden at the hostel where they live. The residents and staff have now taken full responsibility for it, and it is full of fruit, vegetables and flowers.

Fresh organic produce•    The regular Asian women's groups, have been working very hard on their allotment plots; two of the groups won prizes for their produce at the W Yorkshire Annual Organic Show, and one woman for her home-grown chillies. They take their home-grown, organic food home, trying out recommended recipes for new or unfamiliar crops. Some groups enjoy creating their own healthy recipes with their allotment produce, eg a delicious mustard greens, spring onion and mackerel dish or a very popular runner bean and prawn curry created for an Eid celebration.

•    Five cooking sessions at the Treehouse fairtrade cafe were a fantastic learning and sharing experience, both for the gardening group women  and the café staff. Having learned how to make satay stir fry with peanut sauce, home-made bread and soup, the women then showed the staff how to make 'real' vegetable curry with rice. The whole concept of cooking and selling at the café was great for the women, especially seeing customers enjoying the curry they had made.

Learning to ride a bike•    Our regular members are supported in taking on new challenges; for example 9 women attended a medicinal herb walk in the Yorkshire Dales, some attended Apple Day and joined in the fun activities, 7 enjoyed their first camping experience on a weekend in the Dales in July and 10 joined a new cycling programme based with BCEP.  3 members of one women's group were confident enough to attend the Black Environment Network Conference in Manchester, and 2 of them spoke about their experiences in public . . .

. . . and one woman came down to London to meet Prince Charles at a Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens event which celebrated growing in urban environments.

During the first year of the programme we also provided 4 special training sessions for staff from a wide variety of settings across the Bradford District to encourage them to grow food with children. Feedback showed that many of the participants were inspired to develop some of their outdoor space into a growing area for children; all felt more confident to try out a wider range of growing activities with the children in their care.

In addition, we provided 17 'taster' sessions aimed at raising awareness of the health benefits of growing your own food, with activities such as sowing a pot of seeds or planting up a container of vegetable plants to take home. Venues included community festivals, schools, libraries, children's centres, community centres, allotment sites, and a local FE college.  Over 650 people were reached during this year through these, in a range of locations including Silsden, Keighley, Crossflatts, Shipley, Fagley, Eccleshill, Manningham, West Bowling and Little Horton.

Feedback from regular groups:

"I always look forward to the gardening sessions. I love the fresh air - I’m always tensed at home, this relaxes me and I enjoy chatting to my friends."

"[X]  recommended this group to me, I have high blood pressure and I feel tired all the time, at home I always go to sleep, don’t do much of exercise, now I have joined the group I feel so much better in myself."

“I am glad I came, I’ve learned something about planting seeds. Let’s hope these grow better than the ones I’ve tried before at home!”

“I always feel better when I come out into the fresh air, just moving about, you know, makes everybody feel better. Plus we are getting the healthy exercise. It’s good now that the weather is getting a bit warmer, it is so lovely to be outside."

“I’ve enjoyed finding out about the different ways of growing vegetables. It’s interesting to compare it to how we grow food in the Caribbean."

“I’m from a farming background, so it’s like going back to what I know. I also enjoy being outdoors in the fresh air and doing physically hard work."

"It's a peaceful place and I’m learning new stuff all the time."

“I really enjoy the allotment sessions because we have a good laugh!”

Feedback from one-off community events: 

'Is that all you do?  It's as easy as that!'

'I really enjoyed that.  Can't wait to do it with the children!'

Funding Body: