Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens
The Executive offered the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens a Sustainable Action Grant of £21,000 in 2005-06, £29,000 in 2006-07 and £35,000 in 2007-08. The project supported the establishment of a Community Garden Network for Scotland and city farms and allotments, by mapping existing activity - publishing a map - and providing networking support, promoting and disseminating good practice, raising awareness of the benefits of community-managed gardens.
City Farms and Community Gardens aim for the production of fresh food, meeting local needs in a sustainable way and the purpose of the grant was to assist in encouraging this. Additional funding was also awarded from Scottish Natural Heritage for the biodiversity benefits of the project.
A Growing Communities in Scotland seminar in Stirling in November 2005 highlighted the project and brought together groups from across Scotland.
The Federation established a partnership with the Scottish Community Diet Project. The intention was, taking account of related projects, to support the links between diet, health and exercise, to support community engagement, particularly in deprived areas, and develop empowerment of those communities, promote social enterprise, and help people to participate more actively in their local environment.
The map of all the community garden projects in Scotland was completed. This colourful, user friendly map includes 37 community gardens, from Shetland to South Uist to East Lothian. It was launched by then Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development Rhona Brankin at the HOPE Trust garden at Arbroath on August 22 2006. It was sent to member groups and distributed publicly.
A Community Garden Starter Pack for Scotland was printed and distributed. There was production of a report on work in Scotland, based around a practical "community gardeners' year planner" full of details of relevant events, funding and garden tasks listed month by month. This was very well received by projects who were grateful for a practical publication.
The Federation recruited fieldworkers to offer practical support to groups and train volunteers. Regional meetings began - one in Edinburgh attended by 5 projects, and one in Perth attended by 7 projects and a speaker from SNH. Their success led to arranging further meetings, covering community planning and accredited training for volunteers, e.g. in Lanark and Glasgow. This work developed in association with Trellis, including further meetings in Aberdeen, Poolewe, Ayr and Arbroath.
Staff and volunteers also attended the Garden for Life marquee at Gardening Scotland, advising visitors on allotments and community gardening. The Federation gave workshops at external events such as the Scottish Community Diet Project national conference on "growing your own food" and promoted community gardening as part of a "street allotment" event food festival in Falkirk.
The Federation held national networking events at Battleby in October 2006 and September 2007 for delegates from grass roots projects, local authorities and other support organisations. This included practical workshops on how to run a box scheme and become a social enterprise.
Support to community gardening projects continued, helping them flourish and continue to provide benefits to health, diet, community regeneration and biodiversity. This included:
- attending the launch of the new Bridgend Community Allotment in Edinburgh, which is part-funded by the NHS and has a strong health message (healthy eating and exercise),
- providing advice to Wester Hailes Community Health Agency volunteers who wanted to start up their own vegetable garden,
- helping arrange an accredited training scheme for volunteers with learning difficulties at community gardens in Glasgow, by linking them up with Borders College in Edinburgh, giving advice to a group on Arran wanting to start up a community garden,
- providing advice and support for a proposed community garden in Tayport,
- visiting Greendykes/Craigmillar, Edinburgh, to assist in creating usable green space for tenants in new housing,
- providing contacts to Aberdeen City Council which was keen to set up allotment training grounds in Duthie Park,
- providing contacts to NHS Scotland who were collecting figures for a research project on obesity and physical exercise,
- providing a proposed community garden/ farm project at Glenochil prison with encouragement, support and contact information.
From June 2007 to March 2008 the Federation provided support to 27 community farm and gardening projects, helping to ensure that community gardens in Scotland continue to provide benefits to physical and mental health, diet, community regeneration and biodiversity.
There was work with other organisations such as the Garden Scotland working group chaired by the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society - to allow shared resources, and help community groups with joined up services from support organisations. The Federation was elected chair of the Garden for Life Forum of national voluntary sector bodies.
There was a contribution to the report, 'Growing Scotland,' compiled by the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society. This report highlighted the importance of gardening to people's health and well-being, the environment and the economy.
The Federation arranged two tours for local authority workers, MSPs and senior NHS staff to see the varied work of community gardens in Edinburgh and Glasgow - to show 'decision makers' that community gardens are about 'more than just gardening'. 24 people attended the tours which were excellent opportunities for networking, and likely to encourage local authorities and the NHS to increase partnership working and funding for these grass-roots projects. As a result of the tours, the Food and Health Alliance wrote an article about the Federation in their newsletter, widely read by NHS staff.
The Federation contributed to two Government consultations - on Scotland's food policy, 'Choosing the Right Ingredients,' and on the role of greenspace in a Mentally Flourishing Scotland.
FCFCG Scotland membership increased to 45. The Federation was successful in finding sources of funding to continue activity in Scotland beyond the end of the project period, which would allow an increase in the number of fieldworkers throughout Scotland with more regional meetings for networking and site visits.
Contact
Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens
PO Box 17306
Edinburgh
EH12 1AJ
Tel: 0131 623 7058
E-mail: scotland@farmgarden.org.uk
Website: www.farmgarden.org.uk