Home Grown Community Owned
Highlights 2009 - 2014
Case Study – Vicary’s Field Community Garden Project Description: Vicary’s Field is a community garden near the town centre of Newton Abbot run according to permaculture principles; they try to source everything locally, re-cycle and re-use materials and grow using organic methods. It is situated in a lovely spot beside the banks of the River Lemon and has a variety of zones including an area for annual crops, a growing area, a wildlife area with a pond, a meeting area and a forest garden area. The garden aims to be a place where members of the local community can meet and learn new skills. The garden is looked after by a core group of 12, supported by a wider task force group of volunteers. HogCO Input: Advice and guidance, access to training on permaculture, training on legal structures, site design support and micro-grant funding to assist with buying plants and tools. Results: What was once an inaccessible bramble patch has been transformed into a shared community space. Lots of local food has been produced - grown ethically with permaculture methods. Many new friendships have formed, skills have been learned and there is greater awareness of food growing in the local area.
Case Study – Chagford C of E Primary School
“Without the skills and expertise which HogCO, as an external organisation, enabled us to make use of, we wouldn’t have the cohesive vision and direction we have today… Thank You!”
Case Study – Community Orchard Week Project Description: A 3 acre community orchard established by residents of the hamlet of Week in the Dartington area of Devon. HogCO Input: Provision of advice, guidance, support and funding to enable the community to take charge of their own orchard.
Project Description: School grounds improvements including: upgrading the vegetable patch, planning an apple orchard, sensory bee keeping, improvements to wildlife area and creating an outdoor classroom area with a wood fired oven. HogCO Input: Helped to catalyse the project and bring together community stake-holders. Specific support included site design for the school garden, advice on suitable fruit tree varieties and provision of a micro-grant for fruit trees, tools and equipment. Results: Children are learning to grow their own food. Parents are engaged in ‘ground force days’ helping to shape the site such as constructing the raised beds. The grounds have been developed including: resiting of the greenhouse, provision of a paved area with picnic benches where outdoor lunches are now a feature on sunny days, the wildlife area is used as a ‘forest school’ and for outdoor learning sessions. A tool shed has been purchased, built and is replete with tools. The school grounds now offer an enriched experience of learning and fun for both the school and the community. There is a group of around 70 local people connected to the site including governors, parents, children, teachers, and members of the wider community.
Results: The group have now signed a 20 year lease for the land and have planted fruit trees and an edible hedge. This project has enabled the community to come together and be involved in monthly working party days, steering group meetings and regular events such as apple juicing days. Social benefits of meeting up with each other are also matched with health and well-being gained by taking part in physical activity such as planting, pruning and maintenance. A local wood yard donated wooden benches and a large oak table which are a welcome spot that residents greatly value.
“We grow gardeners at Chagford Primary School!”
Topsham School Garden
Home Grown, Community Owned (HogCO) It started in 2009 by the Community Council of Devon with funding from the Big Lottery’s Local Food programme. This brief document aims to give a feel and flavour of the scope, scale and impact of the project in its first 5 years. HogCO’s lifeblood is in the momentum, energy and aspirations of the many community groups that make up this rich and diverse network of 70 different organisations across Devon. The project has tapped in to a wealth of passion, skills, resourcefulness and shared values. These include: looking after the natural environment, the benefits of local food production, working together as socially inclusive communities and the happiness and well being that can be derived from coming together in projects that connect people with nature, and each other. There are a great variety of projects, settings and partnerships that have combined to great success and HogCO’s role has been to inspire, catalyse and enable these groups. Examples include: 5 school based projects encouraging the next generation, 2 community farms, 27 community gardens, a range of social enterprises, community supported agriculture schemes, community allotments, bee keeping groups and many more.
9 Groups North Devon 5 Groups Torridge
8 Groups Mid Devon Exeter
12 Groups West Devon
Plymouth
9 Groups East Devon
16 Groups Teignbridge
9 Groups South Hams
2 Groups Torbay
HogCO Groups Ashburton Community Land Project Ashcombe Community Garden Barnfield Farm Horticulture Project Bishopsteignton Allotment and Growers Society Bovey Community Garden Bradninch Bee Group Broadclyst Community Farm Buckland Food Growers Burnville Farm Castle Ham Lodge Chagfarm Community Supported Agriculture Chagfood Chagford Primary School Community Orchard Week Ltd. Copland Meadow (Totnes Allotments Association) Coxall Project Denbury & Torbryan Allotment Association Devon Link Up Exeter Growers Cooperative Exmouth Community Garden/Garden Share Food Vision Forches Community Garden Foxhole Community Garden Frankmarsh Community Garden
Gilead Foundations Greener Ilfracombe Grow Chagford Grow 4 Good South West Ltd. Growing For Life Halberton Growers Heppenstall Community Garden Hive Alive Holcombe Village Community Orchard Ilfracombe Junior School Kingsteignton Allotment & Leisure Gardeners Association Living Off The Farm Lutton Hill Mary Tavy Community Garden Madrugada, Appledore Morchard Bishop Allotments Oakwood Denbury Occombe Community Agriculture Okehampton Community Garden Otter Rotters Project Devon Queen Elizabeth’s Garden Project Running Deer CIC- Running Wild Herbs Project Sampford Peverell ‘Making the most of local food resources’
School Farm Community Supported Agriculture Seize Westward Ho! Shebbear Allotments Sidmouth BEE Project South Molton Community Garden St. Mary Magdalene churchyard community garden Sustainable Crediton Sustainable Ottery Tedburn St Mary Primary School Teign Estuary Transition Teign Village Allotment Association The Friends of the Walled Gardens at Maristow The Topsham School Tiverton Community Garden Trees For Health Ubuntu Counselling Services Vicary’s Field Community Garden Walled Garden Project West Town Farm and organicARTS Wildspace Buckfastleigh Winkleigh Youth Club Garden Wynnstay Gardeners
Case Study – Bradninch Bee Group Project Description: A group of around 20 local residents run their own bee yard in what was once the disused back garden of a local pub (the White Lion). HogCO Input: Helped to encourage and enthuse the local community to take things forward. This included helping to organise an early visioning event- the ‘bee tea party’, which engaged over 100 people from the community, had professional demonstrations, honey tasting, activities for children and more. HogCO went on to provide training sessions to empower the group around bee husbandry and the technical skills of keeping bees. Furthermore HogCO were able to donate 2 bee hives to help kick-start the group. Results: It has brought together a group of disparate people into a team that works well together and supports each other and found a very good use for an otherwise unused open space thanks to the support of the local publican. No one in the group had ever kept bees before but now they produce delicious local honey which is enjoyed by the community. The group are working to support the general health of bees as a key part of a healthy environment.
Case Study – Exeter Growers Cooperative
“Thank you to HogCO for the support and help with this project. We would still be dreaming without you!”
Project Description: Based near Shillingford Abbot (on the outskirts of Exeter) this cooperative of around 20 full members share in decision making, labour and the produce of their 4 acre site (which they rent from a local farmer). The group, along with family and friends work the land to organic standards. Their aims include helping people get out of the city and on to the land to learn about growing. HogCO Input: Arranged a network visit to another project, signposting to support, and provided a micro-grant to enable them to buy ‘mypex’ sheeting to help prepare the land for cultivation. HogCO also produced a short video documentary to promote the project and more widely community based growing. Results: The project has developed what was a completely ‘blank canvas’ of field space into a thriving mixture of growing beds, 1 poly tunnel (with plans for more), orchard area, meeting space, and a separate flower growing business on site. The meeting space has been used by various groups as an area for getting together and learning about the land. The cooperative have been able to sell surpluses to local businesses like the ‘Real Food Store’ which has helped to pay the rent. They also provide produce to the local ‘Shillingford Organics’ (for the veg box scheme) in return for storage space.
Denbury and Torbryan Allotments
Facts and Figures 70 groups engaged in the scheme across Devon. Approximately 1000 volunteers helping to support and run HogCO groups. An estimated 5000 individuals benefitting from fresh locally produced food. A total of 53 training events (including road shows and a conference) attended by around 700 individuals. ÂŁ30,000 invested to support the groups. This comprised of a combination of micro-grants (to assist with the purchase of tools, seeds etc.), professional fees (to assist with planning, site design, leases etc.), advice toolkits, templates, and training events. Production of a website with a broad range of guidance, fact-sheets and downloadable resources. The website has had over 24,000 visits.
The Future Evaluation of the HogCO project shows that the project has had a very positive impact in the community and that there continues to be a demand for the sorts of support and service that has been provided so far. Furthermore, new groups are springing up across Devon and require support. Types of support that existing groups have expressed interest in, include: • • • •
Funding, grants, and financial sustainability. The value of networking, sharing skills, knowledge and experience. The potential for further centrally supported collaborative efforts. The need to continue to ‘fly the flag’ for local growing projects at a strategic level.
The Community Council of Devon hopes to continue to provide a service which aims to meet the needs of existing and new potential HogCO groups. The sorts of community led projects that the HogCO groups represent match closely with the Community Council of Devon’s aim of ‘Helping Communities Help Themselves’. The messages, experience and learning that have come from the HogCO project are being fed into strategic planning – including the ‘Devon Food Strategy’ and the Local Nature Partnership. The HogCO brand and project will continue and the website resource will remain. The HogCO project has made a great impact for communities in Devon and we are exploring new and exciting ways to build on this success and take things forward.
Community Council of Devon, First Floor, 3 & 4 Cranmere Court, Lustleigh Close, Matford Business Park, Exeter, EX2 8PW e: info@devonrcc.org.uk t: 01392 248919 www.hogco-devonrcc.org.uk