The Story Incredible Edible Todmorden aims to increase the amount of local food grown and eaten in the town. Businesses, schools, farmers and the community are all involved. Vegetables and fruit are springing up everywhere. Public flower beds being transformed into community herb gardens and vegetable patches.
This is a very brief insight into IET www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk
Welcome To Incredible Edible Todmorden
Incredible Edible Todmorden aims to increase the amount of local food grown and eaten in the town. Businesses, schools, farmers and the community are all involved. Vegetables and fruit are springing up everywhere. Public flower beds being transformed into community herb gardens and vegetable patches.
So What is Incredible Edible? There’s no clever pitch for Incredible Edible Todmorden. Just as with the idea of sustainability – it’s a new way of living and of looking at life. Here are some of the cornerstones of what we do. Creating opportunities Finding land, using buildings, micro finance and other tools and resources. Investment The route to training in land skills and to local ways of distributing and buying food. Enabling actions by public bodies Removal of obstacles to local action – e.g. by taking away legal boundaries, soil testing, covering public liability. IET Principles Active engagement of people, around a sense of place and belonging. Shared objectives that are understandable to everyone. A strong belief in ourselves. Intuitively sensing that what we do is urgently needed. Not constrained by rhetoric or fancy words, not dependent on the permission of others. There is no one solution but a jigsaw of many parts. Reward for labour The creation of jobs. Families harvesting and keeping and sharing the fruits of their labour. Openness: you tell us We are an open group. These are our first answers to questions we’re being asked a lot. When we’ve more space and time, maybe we can paint a very big picture. Or you tell us. Email us with your thoughts: iet_hothouse@btinternet.com
From the Telegraph
Todmorden turns into a giant vegetable patch Paul Wilkinson on a daring plan to be self-sufficient Oberon, Shakespeare's King of the Fairies, once confided he knew a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, where oxslips and the nodding violet grows. If he and Queen Titania ever wafted over to the Pennine banks on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border at Todmorden, they would find them over-canopied with more serious stuff – anything from rhubarb to artichokes and King Edward spuds. "Tod", as the locals know it, is being put to the spade. Every square inch of available ground in the mill town-turned-dormitory for Leeds and Manchester office workers is being dug up and turned into a vegetable plot. Red-ribbed chard decorates the kerbside of the busy A646 to Halifax and fruit trees are thriving in dustbins in the backyards of artisans' cottages. Even floral displays, which once helped the town take second place in Britain in Bloom (in the smalltown class), are giving way to edible plants. Commuters passing through its tiny station are urged to bring scissors to crop dill, marjoram and fennel from planters on the platform. "Why pay the supermarket £1 when you can have it fresh for free?" says Mary Clear, 53, Todmorden's community development worker and one of the two women behind the "Incredible Edible Todmorden" project. She and café owner Pam Warhurst launched it last March, with the aim of making Todmorden's population of 15,000 the first in Britain to be self-sufficient Warhurst, 57, disarmingly describes herself as a local mum, but was once a high-flyer. She led Calderdale Council, chaired the area's health trust and was the Countryside Agency's deputy national chair. Made a CBE in 2005 for services to the environment, she is also a board member of Natural England. Her eureka moment came at a talk by sustainability guru Professor Tim Lang, credited with the buzz phrase "Food Miles". "Basically he said: 'Forget about growing flowers, grow food'," she explains. "It makes sense, given soaring costs and concern about where produce is sourced – and it has all sorts of benefits: it's healthier and reduces food miles. It also encourages a sense of community." At their first public meeting 60 people crammed into her café. "The buzz was phenomenal," she remembers. She realised that while people were concerned about the big issue of global warming, they felt helpless as individuals. "Incredible Edible Todmorden lets everyone just do what they want to do and not worry about the big picture," says Warhurst. "We just make sure it is knitted together and makes sense for the whole town." Todmorden recently planted its first community orchard of old English varieties of apples and pears, tastefully arranged around the municipal soccer pitch. Their aspirations don't stop at fruit and veg. They are about to launch an Every Egg Matters campaign to bring in free-range chickens. "We have calculated how many eggs are eaten locally and how many chickens are required to lay them," says Mary Clear. "Now we are mapping out all the eggs available to the public and by forming a 'Chicken Network' we are providing support to people considering keeping hens." Todmorden High School's chef, Tony Mulgrew, has begun sourcing food locally for his 800 pupils. "Through Incredible Edible I have made some fantastic contacts with local farmers," he says. "Now we have free-range chickens and eggs and rare breed pork on the menu, all coming within the normal school budget." Parents at the area's six primaries have planted tubs and tyres with potatoes and carrots, and even the GPs at Todmorden's new £6 million health centre insisted its landscaped grounds be turned over to fruit and veg. "I find myself walking through town spotting potential planting places, checking if they face the sun, wondering what the soil's like, thinking what would grow there," says Clear. "There are scores of tiny pockets of unregistered land, dotted about all over the place. Normally people would just dump rubbish there, but these days two or three neighbours get together and sort it out. Now the council is drawing up a list of spare land to be licensed to us for planting. We are publishing a map of where you can find free food. And there's no vandalism. Graffiti and damage decline if people take pride in their town."
Todmorden sows the seeds for a home grown food revolution
Yorkshire Post Article 21 May 2008 By Chris Bond A group of food lovers is trying to turn Todmorden into the country's first self-sufficient town. Chris Bond found out more. THE last time Todmorden was meaningfully involved in any kind of revolution, the Napoleonic Wars were raging and Britain was in the process of transforming itself into the greatest industrial powerhouse the world had ever seen. Back then the currency of change was cotton. Two centuries later, it is plants and vegetables such as chard and rhubarb. Surrounded on three sides by the Pennines' lush valley walls this pleasant, if unremarkable, town a few miles from the Lancashire border is an unlikely staging post for a foodie revolution, but campaigners behind the "Incredible Edible Todmorden" initiative believe it can become a catalyst for communities up and down the country. The self-sufficiency drive is the brainchild of cafĂŠ owner Pam Warhurst, who enlisted the help of her friend Mary Clear to get the ball rolling. It's only been going since February and already they've set up a website and online forum, and started three community fruit and veg gardens and a seed exchange network. Pam, who has run the Bear CafĂŠ in Todmorden for the past 20 years, switched on to the idea after listening to Professor Tim Lang, the man who coined the term "food miles", speak at a national land conference. "He said, 'forget about growing plants, grow vegetables' and it just struck me that with all the pressures we're hearing about regarding food prices and the big changes likely in the future, the best legacy we could leave our children is to make sure people understand more about what they're eating and where it comes from. "We're not interested in being anything trendy or making money. We're just a town that recognises the need for people to reconnect with good, quality food that's grown locally." With soaring food costs and growing concern about where produce comes from, Pam thinks it makes sense. "It has all sorts of knock-on effects, it's healthier, it cuts down on air miles and it helps create a greater sense of community because it encourages people to swap plants, so there's lots of spin-off's." At first glance, Todmorden is just like any other market town, but dig a little deeper and you notice something is stirring here. In just a few months, vegetable patches and herb gardens, with everything from rhubarb to rosemary, have sprung up, transforming disused land and grass verges. "We've got herbs growing up at the railway station so that anybody coming off the trains can pluck whatever they want, and we've also put recipes up suggesting ideas how to cook things like rosemary or parsley." It's all there to be cooked and eaten, she says. "Some people said they'd be trashed within days, but no one's vandalised them, there's no fag ends or beer cans, it's fantastic." Mary, a Todmorden In Bloom volunteer, believes they are helping safeguard the town's future. "I
have seven grandchildren and I'm very aware that during their lifetime there's likely to be big food shortages. "But I'm a great believer that people are supposed to enjoy eating and growing food, and that's what the Incredible Edible campaign is all about, because once you start producing your own food you're hooked." She thinks one of the reasons it's proving so popular is down to the place itself. "This is a border town and quite often they feel neglected, and Todmorden has a history of getting things done itself, there's a real community spirit here." It's something Pam agrees with. "Tod's got a very strong sense of identity and I believe that if we're going to really get people reconnected with the land and the food they eat, it's got to revolve around somewhere with a sense of place. "It can't be some amorphous national project, and what we're trying to show is that by everyone working together we can create something that's not just a quick fix, and if we can do it in Todmorden, anyone can do it." What's refreshing about the scheme is it's being driven by the local population, not by faceless, if well-meaning, quangos. "We don't want committees and strategists or rhetoric, we want people who will roll their sleeves up," says Pam. The response has been remarkable. "People are literally stopping us in the street now and asking what they can do. It's really got people interested because something like climate change can seem too big, but food they can relate to, and it cuts across class and age." Several local schools have set up allotments so that youngsters can grow their own fruit and veg, which can be sold at nearby markets, with any profits ploughed back into buying seeds and plants. There are also plans to hold cookery classes and introduce land management and horticulture courses. "A lot of kids at school don't want to be a brain surgeon or get into IT, but to be an apprentice to a local farmer, or to have a bakery business, that's quite attractive," says Pam. Local firms are getting involved, too, with ambitious plans in the pipeline for a lottery bid to help fund an organic fish farm. Other ideas are smaller, but no less clever. "We've got local cafĂŠs that instead of having loyalty cards that you can swap for a cup of coffee, you collect 'x' number of stamps and they then plant a tree instead." Sceptics might dismiss what's happening here as little more than a fad, but Pam disagrees. "If we don't link farmers into it and if we don't get consumers and producers working together and buying into the Todmorden brand, then it's not sustainable, and these hillsides will fall back into nonproduction," she says. "But because more people are starting to buy local eggs, farmers are coming to us and saying they've never sold so many, and now they're talking about getting more free-range hens and pigs." She believes the self-sufficiency drive can underpin the local economy. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and if we have a brand of sustainable tourism then that's going to interest a heck of a lot of people who will come here, which means you have more B&B's and more jobs on farms and in cafĂŠs." Pam denies it's an attempt to undermine the big supermarket chains. "We're not doing this to fight the multi-nationals and I'm certainly not going to picket supermarkets. We want to show people there is a commercial value in growing and producing locally, and if we can reduce the need to go to a supermarket then that's got to be part of the solution," she says. "But we recognise that supermarkets employ local people, so we're not trying toput them out of business here, we're just saying we don't have to fly food halfway across the planet." Campaigners admit they're unlikely to get everyone in the town eating local food, but they're adamant they can make a difference. "We're not unrealistic about what we can do, but we don't have to produce animals in Yorkshire and take them down to Cornwall to be slaughtered only to bring them back again. "Ultimately, year on year, we want to raise the amount of food locally grown and locally consumed and if, in turn, we can create more local dairies and abattoirs, then that would re-invigorate farming communities and have a knock-on effect," she says. "For me this town in the middle of the south Pennines can start a bit of a revolution, because if we get this right we can be reaping the rewards for generations to come."
Description Incredible Edible Todmorden is a loose coalition of local people, businesses and schools who are working together to increase the production and consumption of local food in the town. The movement began with a vision for the future of Todmorden as a town that cared about its food and environment. It has developed into a town-wide initiative supported by local people, businesses, farmers, schools, health services, the probation service and the local authority.
Public space Leeks, broccoli and cabbages grow side by side with ornamental plants and flowers in public flower beds and planters. Herb planters line the railway stations platforms and signs encourage commuters to help themselves. A herb garden has been established along the main road and a community orchard which includes over 200 fruit trees and bushes has been planted on public land in the town centre.
Public landowners The project has begun to attract public landowners, Northern Rail has donated land for vegetable plots, the council has allocated land for a community orchard and funding for 500 fruit trees and berry bushes has been granted.
Schools The local church has collaborated with children from the local primary school to cultivate raised beds in the cemetery. All schools in Todmorden have also planted up a growing boat, using disused pleasure boats, to grow vegetables in schools. Ferney Lee primary has a small orchard and 26 raised beds for community use. The local secondary school has invested in two commercial size poly tunnels and has integrated growing into the curriculum; they are currently applying for specialist status for agriculture and land-based industries. At the back of the high school dedicated workers look after an orchard and bee hives
Health The local health centre is transforming their flowerbeds into allotments so that patients with long term mental health problems can participate in gardening as part of their treatment. The health centre also operates a ‘pick your own’ scheme for local people.
Housing Pennine Housing, the local registered social landlord, provides tenants with land to grow food and offer gardening packs, including plants, seeds and grow sacks to encourage tenants to grow their own.
Local business Local cafĂŠs are starting to supply local produce and market stalls are now advertising their local produce. There are also plans to start a local eggs coop to be launched in spring 2009.
Evaluation The most visible sign of change in the town is the transformation of public and green space into herb gardens, vegetable patches and orchards for use by the whole community. Ornamental planting has been replaced by edible fruit and vegetables by local people who are engaged in the growing, picking and cooking of local food. Derelict sites and once neglected road side verges have been cultivated for community use. The result has been a visual improvement which adds to a sense of community pride and ownership and has reduced antisocial land uses. The town has started to consider derelict and previously unsightly land as a resource and an asset, rather than as a liability The growing, picking and cooking of local food connect and engage local people with their public spaces. The crop belongs to the whole community and everyone is encouraged to pick vegetables and take them home. Picking a vegetable is an act of ownership and responsibility, it involves recognition of the source of food and it is the first step in the development of skills and awareness of its cultivation. Incredible Edible Todmorden is an inclusive project because it recognises that there are benefits of everyone in the town having access to local, healthy produce, even if they didn’t participate in its planting. “at first we were a bit disappointed that everyone was taking the rhubarb but then we realised it was a lesson … that next year we should just grow more of it” Nick Incredible Edible Todmorden hopes to engage a broad membership by breaking down jargon that people may not know or find difficult to relate to such as carbon footprints or food miles. Incredible Edible Todmorden work hard to avoid single group dominance in their work. Excluded groups are engaged as part of the solution rather than seen as a problem, for example young offenders worked with other local people to plant a community orchard “The project is not a membership group but a project for everyone and anyone who wants to eat better and cares about the future.” Pam Incredible Edible Todmorden succeeds because it connects people in the town through the shared growing, picking and eating of food:
it questions the way people think about public green space and empowers them to take responsibility for it
it is based upon local action, it is about changing behaviour through strong local leadership
it represents a bottom up approach to tackling wider issues of climate change which is truly inclusive – it involves everyone in the community from every background
it breaks down barriers between people by focusing on something that we all love and need - food - because it is inclusive
it is some truly joined up thinking –it makes connections in the town so local growing is embedded into education, health and local business
Incredible Edible Todmorden will succeed if it is able to embed local food production in the economic, social and political life of the town. It is a useful example of the development of a sustainable community that depends on small donations of time and land, knowledge, resources and hand graft from public, private and voluntary stakeholders in the town. It represents a different way to address overarching global and local environmental concerns while also creating less tangible by-products such as social involvement, integration, civic pride and an investment in the built environment.
Big Issue Article February 2009
A Day In the Life Of IET Incredible Edible and Pennine Housing at Longfield Estate The wind was blowing across the hill but that didn’t keep people away from the incredible gathering.
The Cooking Good tasty food was cooked and served by Tony Mulgrew, the catering manager and chef from Todmorden high school. Tony brought the mobile “pulp Kitchen” with gas rings and pots and pans to the windy hill top. With butter-nut squash and sweet potato soup. Pasta, with pesto or Tomato and herb sauce with roasted sweet peppers, there was something for everyone. With fresh pressed apple juice to drink it was all yummy. There were also recipe sheets of all the dishes made, and cookery classes, to show everyone in detail how to make these healthy dishes at home, from peeling preparing and chopping veg, and sampling raw sweet potato, to the a quick easy way to get that roasted pepper taste with just a frying pan. Questions were answered and advice given. So many useful tips including how to make tasty sweet potato chips, and all demonstrated and shared free what a bargain.
The Plant Sharing Pennine Housing brought compost, seeds, planters and pots to share, with advice from Carol, folk planted herbs and beans to take home and grow on. The tomato plants were popular. Carol and Mark took the mobile plant unit (a wheel barrow) around the estate, this was a great hit with everyone. People came out of their doors to see what was going on and chose some herbs or tomato plants from the barrow. Carol gave a few pointers on how to look after the plants, to some very young growers of the future.
We also met two young men who were especially keen to grow their own veg. They examined the plants carefully and with Carols help chose a good strong healthy tomato plant each. These were immediately named by them, “Crazy Tomato” and “Crooked Tomato”. They paid close attention as Carol showed them how to pinch out new shoots so the plants wouldn’t grow straggly but stay trim and strong. They are now looking forward to some yummy fresh tomatoes, and I bet mum will enjoy them too. This is real community growing.
To learn more about Incredible Edible Todmorden visit the IET website www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk