The One Planet Matters Growing Communities Network creates positive environmental and social outcomes for the communities involved. How?
We work to enable communities, councils, environmental groups, and others to create or support growing spaces. These growing spaces are linked together within a geographic area. We combine this with our School and community orchard project to develop a network that grows fresh healthy food. Visit our Facebook page here to see some of the projects
How is this environmentally positive?
When we are working on a growing project we produce a plan that combines growing with companion planting. We provide information on plants for pollinators and support the community with resources and volunteers. We help plan and create bug hotels, ponds and plant both trees and hedging to create improved biodiverse growing areas. There are also clear health and well-being benefits for those involved in growing and looking after fruit and vegetable growing areas, as well as having access to fresh healthy fruit and veg. Our work in schools is important in showing young children where food comes from and we hope that it also develops an interest which they might come back to later in life.
The social benefits of our Growing Communities Network initiative are as important as the environmental ones. When we are developing a growing community we will carry out surveys and work with focus groups and other stakeholders to explore the need and possible locations that might be suitable for developing. As part of this process, the community itself identifies groups within the community that could be supported with fresh local produce. This could be food banks, care homes, single parent cooking classes, etc
How? Local volunteers will pick up from all our locations in the locality and deliver to identified groups - We are currently developing an app that will also enable local allotment holders, individual households, and locations where there is free fruit to also be included in the community.
Help us develop our Growing Communities Network. Support environmental and social change today by donating here.
Thank you
The action part of what we have set out to do is focused on the creation of our "Growing Communities Network". Since November 2020 we have started to develop our community network. Click here to see where we are active.
.png)
