Discover a great idea

Urban farm project

  • Added: 12/07/15

Overview

I would like a piece of land where the community can come together to engage in learning how to grow, harvest and eat their own foods. This would encourage healthy eating and organic gardening and get people outdoors more. I would like to be able to harvest wind and solar power to generate heat for grow houses and collect rainwater for irrigation. I would also like to incorporate other groups in running the estate - for example we could provide help to homeless mk with fruit and vegetables to feed the homeless and they can provide man power at the project which would increase self worth in a homeless person. If my idea becomes reality, in the future I would love to have a farm shop selling the produce grown, grow flowers and trees for the people on the estate to purchase without having to go miles to do so as we are a predominately disabled estate and maybe one day even a community coffee shop.

Beanhill is in the process of being allocated some land and i will be expressing an interest in some of this land for my project idea. I have spoken to local residents about my idea and i've had lots of positive feedback and people saying they would love to be involved. I have already this year started to make some very small changes to the estate which has had a great response from the community. I've taken on the wildflower meadow which was created by the local residents group but then no one bothered with - i'm in the process of introducing new wildflowers and removing some of the nettles and grasses. I also introduced a bugbox at the wildflower meadow which my son and myself had great fun building. My idea is to have a place where people can come and do as much or as little as they like with no stress and form new friendships within the community as at the moment there is nothing for people after 5pm on the estate so I feel working people miss out on feeling included.

I'm hoping to encourage the younger generation to come and grow some things that they can then harvest and take back to the school and cook and eat so they see the full cycle of the food chain. I have also just recently become interested in growing food from kitchen scraps so therefore reducing waste. The green houses I would like would be made from recycled plastic bottles and heated in the winter by wind and solar power and watered by harvesting rainwater. I really feel that disabled people feel like they cant be involved in much so disabled friendly planters would be a must. We do already have a very small orchard on the estate but this really needs improving and more trees planting which I would love the project to do and to be available to the community.

Within the project I would like people to maybe gain some qualifications in horticulture by running courses. The project would also offer tool hire and maybe a team of people who would be willing to sort peoples gardens out for them who are unable to do them thereselves. I would also like to offer seed swaps and plant swaps and just generally create a hub where people can come and go as they please.

I'm also really interested in recycling, so far i've recycled a wooden gate into a roadside planter, used scrap tyres to make a fun minion planter and somebody has just given me 2 old benches that just need a bit of tlc to get them back into usable condition so I would really love to incorporate that into my project too. I would eventually like the project to be self-sustainable with regards to funds. I could go on for hours but im sure you get the idea.