The Wardieburn is one of several projects Edible Estates are working on in council estates.  They all have the goal of forging a new relationship between communities and their local greenspace, and setting up edible landscaping initiatives which will result in degraded urban greenspace being brought into use.

The project is part of a trend for local authorities opening up to community growing projects as a tool for community regeneration.

When the small British mill town of Todmorden, tucked in between Yorkshire and Lancashire, first began installing fruit and vegetable gardens all around the area as part of theIncredible Edibleprogram, it likely had no idea that the novel, yet simple, concept would make the town a foremost inspirational and self-sustaining model of the future.

Fresh herbs, succulent greens, and tasty fruits can be found growing near civic buildings, college campuses, supermarket parking lots, and various other places. Small garden plots, raised planting beds, and even small soil strips in these areas can be found brimming with fresh produce, all of which are free to anyone who want it, and at any time.

It is all part of a program called Incredible Edible, which was founded by Mary Clear, a local grandmother of ten, and Pam Warhurst, former owner of a local restaurant in town known as Bear Cafe. The duo had a shared goal of making Todmorden the first town in the UK to become completely self-sufficient in food — and their endeavors have been successful, at least as far as keeping up with demand for produce from locals who want it.

The program so far utilizes 70 large planting beds located all around the town to plant raspberries, apricots, apples, blackcurrants, redcurrants, strawberries, beans, peas, cherries, mint, rosemary, thyme, fennel, potatoes, kale, carrots, lettuce, onions, vegetables, and herbs. Not only did locals quickly catch on and begin taking the produce, but they also generally respect the system and do not take advantage of it.

“If you take a grass verge that was used as a litter bin and a dog toilet and turn it into a place full of herbs and fruit trees, people won’t vandalize it. I think we are hard-wired not to damage food,” said Warhurst, concerning the notion that offering free fruit and vegetables might lead to abuse or other crimes. She noted, in fact, that quite the opposite has occurred — theIncredible Edibleprogram has improved community relations, and reduced crime by an incrementally higher amount every single year since it first started.

The program has been so successful, in fact, that many other communities both in the UK and abroad are now interested in starting their own public garden programs as well. Besides improving the sense of community and reducing crime,Incredible Ediblehas renewed a new sense of appreciation for food and how it is grown, as well as renewed interest in actually growing it among the next generation, which is the envy of many progressive communities around the world.

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034412_home_gardening_vegetables_civic_buildings.html#ixzz1ghPutqsG

Henceforth we will be calling the initiative ‘Edible Estates’, the name refers to the target communities for the initiative – Council and other social housing estates, and the initiatives goal to support local households to establish edible landscapes within them.  The branding has interchangeable figures (see below) to promote the message that the project is for all ages, male and female.

We have registered the domain www.edibleestates.co.uk and will be developing a tailored site in the new year which will facilitate networking of participants within and between different projects.  Our hope that this will have similar functionality to the Ning sites which we have been setting up for recent community growing groups such as Lochend Secret Garden.

The project is designed to be community led and delivered.  Over the past month, a team of local residents have been attending regular workshops to  install a forest garden around the site.  In the coming weeks we will start upon the construction of raised beds, and the Community Shed which will provide a store for tools, a clean room and a large veranda for workshops.  The shed will be built by local project participants supported by skilled facilitators (see image below).

Lochend Secret Garden will be the first project using Re:Solution’s Edible Estates model which will seek to establish multiple growing spaces throughout the housing estate over the coming years.

www.lrcommunitygrowing.ning.com

There is great potential to use GIS to pull together information regarding parcels of land, ownership of adjoining households, condition and management of land etc. to develop a tool for planning the development of community gardening projects in Council estates.

I would recommend it to anyone thinking of applying to the lotteries to go to the roadshows.  Normally you don’t get the opportunity to meet grant officers, and it does help to put a face to the person on the end of the phone, when your tearing your hair out and roaring at the ceiling when filling in application forms.

It does appear that the community garden element has been shoe horned into a fund designed for village halls.

The fast track process requires quite a bit of information to be in place for October, (being as the fund was announced in June), and I wonder how many community groups will be able to do this, on the plus side if you can do this you could get your decision by Feb 2012.

Conversely, the standard (slow track) application would start with a deadline in December 2011 but you won’t get a decision until Feb 2014, a long wait for a community growing group.