Category — England

A proposal to bring a major exhibition of British food, farming and countryside to Hyde Park, London on 26th-29th September 2013.

Buckingham Palace – Message from Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, in support of Farming in the Park, London, 2013

Now that the majority of the population live in towns and cities, there is every reason to draw attention to the fact that just 3% of the working population produce about 80% of the food consumed by the whole population of this country.

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Sheep grazing in cityscape. Some 300 lambs and 350 Mule ewes graze the parkland across 35 fields in Milton Keynes. Source: Farmers Guardian.

It is a logistical challenge running livestock in the heart of a thriving city

Farmers Guradian
20 September 2011

Excerpt:

The aim? To care for the city’s parks and green spaces and run a sustainable farming enterprise in view of the public. An ambitious aim, some might even say crazy, but whatever the opinion, it’s a work in progress.

The initiative is the brainchild of self-funding charity The Parks Trust and local fourth-generation livestock farmer, Luke Stacey.

The intention is to manage the land well, progress it to a good environmental standard and educate local residents about farming within an urban location.

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‘Food from the Sky’ in London at Budgens supermarket, which has 17,000 visitors a week

By Eifion Rees
The Ecologist
July 26, 2011

Excerpt:

The idea is to give other community projects all the information and advice they need, to help them realise what’s involved and how to make it work, says Budgens Crouch End’s owner, Andrew Thornton.

‘For other stores to take this on they’d have to believe it wasn’t going to be terribly onerous for them, and our work will help with that side of things.’

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The Edible Map of Hackney by Mikey Tomkins. “You Are Hungry: Mapping An Edible Urban Hackney” investigates how much food can be grown on 25 hectares of south Hackney. Complete map here.

More and more people are finding imaginative places for growing food in urban environments

By Edward Platt
The Guardian
1 September 2011

Excerpt:

The map offers a beguiling vision of a district recently ravaged by riots, and yet it isn’t entirely wishful thinking. When Tomkins had greeted our small group half an hour before with a pot of his London Fields honey, he had explained that the tour we were about to embark on would not only take in the places where food might be produced, but the places where it was already in production.

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The Honeytrap cocktail.
35ml Krupnik honey liqueur
25ml The King’s Ginger liqueur
15ml rosewater
15ml lemon juice (about half a lemon’s worth)
25ml honey

Shake with ice and serve with a twist of lemon in a martini glass.

By Ian Douglas
The Telegraph
23 Aug 2011

Excerpt:

Mikey Tomkins keeps the hive on top of the hall and organised the event as part of his work at Sustain, a charity that promotes good practice in food production. ‘We’re a charity, we promote food in huge variety. There’s the sustainable fish for London campaign, the real bread campaign, and Capital Bee [a Sustain campaign sponsored by the Mayor of London's office] is part of Capital Growth, which promotes food growing in London.

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Local police who helped set up the allotments have reported an incredible fall in the amount of anti-social behaviour in the last two years since, the allotments were established

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Landshare
10th August, 2011

Excerpt:

In 2009, the early days of Landshare, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall visited a community allotment for local residents in Leigh, Greater Manchester, as part of a River Cottage programme. Two years on, the allotments are thriving, and local police are amazed to find that anti-social behaviour has fallen by over 50% in the area.

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See larger image here.

The ‘Alpha Farm’ project which will seek to transform a disused office block in Wythenshawe into a fully-functioning vertical farm.

Manchester Evening News
Aug 9, 2011

Excerpt:

Manchester could be at the forefront of an ‘agricultural revolution’ if a radical plan to solve the world’s food crisis takes off.

Organisers of Manchester’s International Festival 2013 want to turn a disused tower block in Wythenshawe into Britain’s first ‘vertical farm’.

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By John Jackson
JJ Books
3rd Revised edition edition (May 23, 2011)
236 pages

A Little Piece of England, tells the tale of how the author’s family, living in a sliver of countryside in London’s commuter belt, came, over some ten years, to make itself, in its ‘spare time’, self-sufficient in its requirements of milk, meat, eggs, vegetables and some fruit.

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By Pam Gregory and Claire Waring
Flame Tree Publishing
2011

Keeping Bees is a comprehensive and straightforward guide to the rewarding pastime of beekeeping.

Following an overview of the impact of bees and honey throughout human history, the book delves into an
explanation of the inner workings and social structure of a bee colony within a hive – knowledge that is key to becoming a successful beekeeper. Then learn about all the essential equipment and practices required to begin your exciting journey into the world of beekeeping.

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June 1942 – House and Garden.

Britain need not be nine meals away from anarchy

Edward Platt
New Statesman
27 June 2011

Excerpt:

London is not the only city in the UK to invest in urban agriculture. For the past few years, Middlesbrough has been running an urban farming and community growing project, which has led to the creation of almost 20 community allotments. Last year, the scheme involved two-thirds of the town’s schools, dozens of community groups and approximately 4,000 people.

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London Open Garden Squares Weekend 2011 and Capital Growth food growing projects

By Chloe Musson
June 17, 2011

I went along to the Open Garden Squares Weekend in London to find out how people are using vacant urban space and land to grow fruit and vegetables in the Capital. I visited the new Regent’s Park allotment garden and spoke to Capital Growth about their recent successes in developing new community food growing spaces in London. I also visited the King’s Cross Central Skip Garden, created by sustainability education charity Global Generation, and FARM:shop in Dalston, East London – a derelict inner city terrace which has been transformed into a mini hydroponic and aquaponic farm.

See photos of the garden here.

Cardiff photographer Tom Ashmore visits the Riverside community allotment garden

Excerpt:

I was met by a lovely lady of the earth called Jenny Howell, who let me through the gate with a warm-hearted welcome. She gave me a tour of the site and we had a chat about what they’re up to. I was instantly drawn to Jenny. You know the type of people – she had a chirpy voice and was full of life and humour. Being a total garden novice I relied on her expert knowledge to give me an understanding of what they do, why it’s different, and how people benefit from volunteering.

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Eco vision: founders Andy Merritt and Paul Smyth.

Down on Dalston’s farm

By Kieran Long
London Evening Standard
11 May 2011

Excerpt:

The main ground-floor room, where beds of salad plants bud, is most notable for two huge fish tanks at the front of the room, containing a multitude of tilapia fish. The fish are part of the produce of Farm: Shop but also play their part in an aquaponic system that naturally enriches the water with nutrients to feed all the plants in the room. No new water is fed into the system. The protein- and nitrate-rich water coming out of the tilapia tanks is filtered and then used to feed a series of plant beds, circulated around further tanks and finally pumped, now clean, back into the fish tanks. It’s quite astonishing, a closed system, on full view to the many curious members of the public who pop in to have a look. It’s a manipulated but natural ecology in a front room in Hackney.

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Managing Director, Leah McPherson and trainee at Cultivate London’s first site.

McPherson is aiming to sell twenty to forty thousand pots and bags of herbs as well as helping ten young people into employment.

By Rhiannon James
The City Planter
May 11th, 2011

Excerpt:

Most people are drawn to farming by the thought of lush, green fields rolling away into the distance, rich soil and fresh country air, but not Leah McPherson. For her, there’s nothing like an empty bit of London tarmac to whet her appetite for cultivation.

But then, McPherson is no ordinary farmer. She’s the Managing Director of Cultivate London, a new social enterprise which is on a mission to convert vacant city land into flourishing urban herb farms, which will supply Londoners with locally-grown produce whilst also giving unemployed young people the opportunity to build a career in gardening.

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Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire. Map shows some of the 280 hectares of rolling fields.

The National Trust is asking the public to help run a real-life working farm via the web.

In return for a £30 annual subscription, 10,000 people will take control of the farm on the Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire.

Have your say on big decisions
Because Wimpole is a real farm, the decisions that have to be made are real, and they have real consequences. But, as in life and in any other business, there is no one right answer in farming, and we need some fresh ideas – yours! The first vote will be a big one: what should we grow on the farm?

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Prince Charles To Visit Common Good City Farm in Washington, DC May 3, 2011

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, Will Visit the Farm

Dear Friends of Common Good City Farm,

It is with honor that I write to inform you that His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales will be visiting Common Good City Farm on Tuesday May 3rd, 2011 from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. HRH Prince Charles is a long-time supporter of sustainable agriculture and we are privileged and grateful for his visit. We at Common Good City Farm would like you to join us as we welcome the Prince to our farm and neighborhood.

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Ian White and his daughters Roberta and Nico at the Honor Oak Park Allotments. Photo by Justin Sutcliffe.

Plot-holders revolt over plan to scrap historic right to council land

By Jane Merrick and Mark Jewsbury
The Independent
1 May 2011

Excerpt:

The century-old right of people to demand an allotment from their council may be abolished by the Government under plans to scale back red tape, it emerged yesterday.

Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, is examining plans to free local authorities from a 103-year-old obligation to provide plots of public land for cultivation by gardeners.

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Urban Farmers: Left, Sue Reddington with Victoria Burgess-Hall, a 17-year-old on work experience. Photo by Mark Bickerdike.

“Some people were afraid we were introducing a lot of hippies into Meanwood.”

Yorkshire Post
Apr. 18, 2011

Excerpt:

Thirty years ago this July, the Lord Mayor of Leeds officially opened the Meanwood Valley Urban Farm – one of the first of its kind. It seemed like a good time to ask how the books are balanced.

The front-of-house hens, which wander freely, are backed up by a couple of hundred standard hybrids laying eggs in a deep-litter barn with access to the outdoors – but not quite enough space to be called free-range. The market garden is run on organic lines but without a Soil Association certificate, which is too expensive for the turnover, and it supplies fruit and veg to a smart Leeds restaurant, The Cross Keys on Water Lane, as well as the farm’s own shop. Bees chip in honey. Two little Dexter cows used to get bulled by arrangement and produce a calf each for the market for hobby cattle, but are now semi-retired.

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Interview with Mikey Tomkins

By Luke Miller Callahan
The Socio Capitalist
04/19/2011

Excerpt:

About Mikey Tomkins

Specialising in international political economy, systems theory, sustainable development and urban agriculture, he has been a member of DPU staff for the past 10 years, having previously taught at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Birkbeck College.

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Garden melody: Michael Leapman tests out some tunes on his seedlings. Photo: Carla Molden.

Do veg thrive on Verdi, will flowers blossom if they hear Handel? As The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra release a CD to encourage growth in the garden, Michael Leapman finds out if plants really do love the sound of music.

By Michael Leapman
The Telegraph
05 Apr 2011

Excerpt:

In 2003 some more serious South Korean researchers undertook a large project concentrating on two staples of the oriental diet, cucumber and Chinese cabbage. They played to them what they described as “green” sounds, combining classical music with noises that the plants might be expected to encounter in real life, such as bird calls and rushing water. They discovered that the effect of sound waves was to make the cabbages absorb more oxygen than those that had been raised in silence, with a consequently beneficial effect on their protein levels; but they appeared to have no effect on the cucumbers.

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