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Our Growing Communities Network (GCN) creates positive
environmental and social outcomes for the communities involved.
We work with local schools, parish and town councils, and community groups to set up and support growing spaces. These growing spaces are linked together to form the Growing Communities Network, where expertise, ideas, and seeds/plants can be shared with one another, and where spare food can be shared with local community kitchens and food banks.
We:
Set up
We set up growing areas, orchards, and spaces for biodiversity.
Support
We offer ongoing advice, ideas, info packs and resources to make growing simple.
Connect
Connect with other growing and community groups, volunteers, and the wider community. Share ideas, and expertise. Grow together.
Engage
We offer bespoke workshops covering various topics and activities around food growing and supporting biodiversity.
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The network is made up of:
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School growing areas
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Community growing areas
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Allotment groups
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Community orchards
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Individual households
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Free food locations
Click on this icon to register your interest in becoming a community partner - You can click the link below to view a pdf
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Food banks
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Community kitchens
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Other groups supporting local vulnerable people
Get involved today - become a Community Partner
Environment & biodiversity
Environment and biodiversity is at the heart of everything we do. We encourage engagement with nature and biodiversity enhancement throughout our work.
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We work with local groups to create spaces that support wildlife, such as bug hotels, ponds, orchards and wildflower patches.
We provide resources and information on wildlife-friendly gardening practices, such as companion planting, in order to optimise productivity while encouraging biodiversity.
Health & wellbeing
There are clear health and wellbeing benefits for those involved in growing food and looking after growing areas, as well as having access to fresh healthy fruit and veg.
Community growing projects support social connection while encouraging outdoor activity and connection with nature in areas where access to nature may be scarce.
We also support health and food resilience by redistributing produce to local food banks and community kitchens, so that healthy food can be accessible to everyone.
Education & empowerment
Our work in schools engages children with nature in a fun and actionable way, so that they can learn where food comes from and how to grow produce while supporting wildlife.
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We work with schools to create a learning environment for children that supports an interest in food and wildlife, and which encourages a sense of ecological stewardship that they hold onto.
When we are developing a growing community, we carry out surveys and work with focus groups and other stakeholders to explore local needs and possible locations that might be suitable for developing. As part of this process, the community itself identifies local groups within that could be supported with fresh produce. These could be food banks, care homes, single parent cooking classes, etc.
Our projects serve communities and are community-led.
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The social benefits of our Growing Communities Network initiative are as important as the environmental ones.
Our Growing Communities app maps out drop-off and pickup locations for free food in growing communities across the UK. This means that free food can be easily located and distributed to local people who need it most.
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The app is free and available on both iPhone and Android.
Search 'Growing Communities' on the Apple Store and Google Play.
How does it work?
Local volunteers collect produce from growing spaces and orchards in the locality and deliver food to identified groups. The app also enables local allotment holders, individual households, and locations where there is free fruit to be included in the network.
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