Friday, April 26, 2013

The Community Farm, Chew Magna near Bristol.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

guides and toolkits to help you set up or develop a community food enterprise, by Making Local Food Work

Practical Guides and Toolkits

Below are some practical guides and toolkits to help you set up or develop a community food enterprise. Where appropriate they have been grouped per type of enterprise, but all of the resources will have relevant tips and information whatever the type of enterprise you are interested in. If you find any of the links are broken let us know by emailing info@makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk.

also the section on Community Supported Agriculture has a lot of material..............

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

A Share in the Harvest: CSA Action Manual - here.
A Share in the Harvest: Appendices - here.
Evaluating Community Supported Agriculture: The impact of CSA projects - here.
Community Investment in CSA - here.
Pig Ignorant: A guide to small scale pig-keeping - here.
DIY Marketing for CSAs - here.
Community Supported Agriculture: A teaching programme for degree students in agriculture and related subjects - here.
Finding land to grow food: Community Groups' guide to legal issues - here.
Removing the barriers: A guide to making growing projects accessible to all - here.
A range of briefing sheets:

Plunkett Foundation, The Quadrangle, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1LH

The Community Farm at Chew Magna near Bristol

Practical Guides and Toolkits

Initial Advice

Advice and Support for Community Food Enterprises - here.
Community Food Enterprises: A guide to getting started - here.
Using the media: A practical guide - here.

Enterprise Support

Make Money, Manage Money - here.
Student Guide: An introduction to community food enterprises - here.
Trading for Success - here.
Social Enterprise Toolbox - links to the toolbox in the Enterprise Support pages of the website.

Legal and Governance

The Simply Suite:

From Conflict to Co-operation booklets:

Farmers' Markets

Building Successful Farmers' Markets: A guide for market organisers - here.
Stalls that Sell More - here.
Understanding Your Customers: a guide for local food retailers - here.
Finding Customers for Local Food: Using customer profiling - here.
Making Farmers' Markets Work:

Funding Tips for Farmers' Markets - here.

Local Food Systems

Exploring the growth of the community food sector through cross-collaboration - here.
Collaborative Communities: what community food enterprises learnt by working together:

Setting up a collaborative group
Effects of collaboration on wider community
Benefits and challenges
Seeking outside assistance

Collaborative Communities: background case studies:

Community Shops and Local Food

How to set up a community shop - here.
How to open a local food shop - here.
Local Food Guide: A guide to stocking and selling more local food - here.
Grow a grocery: A guide to setting up a wholefood co-operative - here.
Shopping for a Shop - here.
Raising Funds - here.
Designing a store that works - here.
Benefits of selling local food: Case studies - here.
Planning a Community Event: A guide to promoting your enterprise - here.
Selling and Serving: Becoming a customer-focused, successful enterprise - here.
Retail Marketing - here.
Volunteers: A guide to maximising your volunteer resource - here.
How to reduce your environmental impact - here.

Country Markets & Home-Produced Food

Better Business: A guide for country market producers - here.
An introduction to selling techniques for country markets - here.

Food Co-ops and Organic Buying Groups

Food Co-ops Toolkit: A simple start-up guide - here.
How to set up a food co-op in:

School
University
Work

Organic Buying Groups: A guide to setting one up - here.

Farming and Communities

Increasing collaboration between farmers and local communities: Benefits and barriers - here.
Keeping farming local: A guide to creating closer links between farmers and their local networks - here.
Supporting local farmers and local food: A guide for communities to create closer links with local farmers - here.
Lessons from Fordhall: A guide to setting up and running a community-owned farm - here.

Mapping Local Food Webs

From Field to Fork: The Value of England's food webs - here.
From Field to Fork: Individual location reports:

Birstall
Darlington
Faversham
Haslemere
Hastings
Hexham
Kenilworth
Knutsford
Ledbury
Otley
Sheffield
Shrewsbury
Totnes

Mapping Local Food Webs: A toolkit for your area - here.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Distribution and Supply

Food Hubs: Adding value through catering - here.
Food Hubs: Distribution of surplus from allotments - here.
Supply chain development: A new local and organic food depot for London? - here.
Eat Somerset: Distribution mapping project - here.
Supplying food access projects: Community food hubs - here.
Supply chain brokerage: Local food for Cambridge University - here.
Joining the dots: Collaborative food buying and sustainable distribution for London restaurants - here.
Local Food Links: The first ten yeras of learning about adding value through catering - here.
Small Scale Food Hubs: An investigation - here.
A Growing Trade: Hihghlighting commercial opportunities for community growers - here.
Growing Manchester Veg People: A practical guide - here.
The Story of Moss Brook Growers - here.
Growing Communities: Manual of monitoring and evaluation - here.
Financing the community food sector - here.
A Healthy Profit: Simple guide to pricing the food you make and grow - here.
Good planning for good food: Using planning policy for local and sustainable food - here.
A student guide to bringing fresh, affordable food into your university - here.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

first raked and started sowing

Good progress with the entire plot laid out, the primary rotavating done and half the beds formed.

I even have the first raked and started sowing. This is an achievement and so pleased to get there.

Due to the rain I spent a day in the tunnel and now have 1000 tomatoes sown.

It may look pretty bare but watch it grow.

Friday, April 12, 2013

help the market garden to florish this season

Hi, if you can help with a pledge of your support can help email me at laurencesn@blueyonder.co.uk

As a brief, I have taken on the formation of a 2 acre plot of ground that was a community garden within East Malling Research on land they allocated from their 500 acre estate in Kent. I have their support to establish a market garden based on 'Community Supported Agriculture' lines, that is people join as a member, receive discounted veg and produce and can come along to learn new skills if they want. We aim to have this set up in September but until then I need funds to establish and pioneer this season. We have the support of the Plunkett Foundation who work with new community co-operatives to produce local food.

Any sum over £10 is appreciated, I can offer of a box (or perhaps more) of seasonal veg and other produce for all donations over £25.

Need donations towards our project expenses. All are appreciated to enable progress this season as a new and independent Community Supported market garden (CSA).

There is the offer of a box (or perhaps more) of seasonal veg and other produce for all donations.

Also a free subscription to our market garden once registered for all pledges of support for our project over £50, (as well as the box of veg and produce).

You can paypal flowforms@gmail.com or direct 'bank-to-bank' (ask for details) or cash

go to https://www.facebook.com/EastMallingCommunitySupportedAgriculture
or http://www.projectdirt.com/project/9146/
or https://sites.google.com/site/londoncommunityagriculture/

Thanks

Laurence

We need donations to cover specific items:

Seed potatoes - £90 for 75kg of seed

green manure, or ground cover seed, that is clovers, field peas, vetch etc - £100 or more

weed control membrane - 'Bioroll' at £112

expenses for petrol etc - any donation really appreciated

Ride on mower with trailer, secondhand, approx £500

Likely to need to buy the container, any offers over £10 of sponsoring that would be fab

Irrigation pipe - not sure how much this may cost as yet
Another rotavator, £350

Manure, the plot needs muck to improve the soil.

Also the costs of researching the new structure with the Plunkett Foundation who have offered us their advice and support, any offer appreciated

Soil toxicity testing..... is it true there is no cheap and easy test?

Little wonder there is no idea on how much toxins we are eating and only building sites carry them out.

Soil Association say "Hello,

Unfortunately there is no cheap and simple way to do a thorough test on soil for toxic substances. If you know what toxin you are looking for, and can do a specific test for that substance, that is possible, (and the price will vary depending on the substance). But to do a very wide ranging test would be expensive. For organic farmers and growers, when land goes in to the 2 year conversion period, the organic inspector will always ask about the previous history of the land use. If land has previously been in industrial use, then organic certifiers would require soil tests. There are some chemicals, like PCBs, which are widespread in the environment, even though their use has been banned for many years, and it is in practice impossible to avoid some ubiquitous environmental contamination which human beings have caused over the last 60 years.

What organic farming and growing can do is guarantee that no more toxic chemicals are added to the soil or sprayed on food that we are going to eat. Hope this helps."

https://www.facebook.com/soilassociation/posts/10151595058993816?comment_id=39715806&offset=0&total_comments=2&notif_t=feed_comment

For interest here is a sample report.................... It is for a building site. No such requirements for land we eat food from and may be sold.

http://www.fastsoiltesting.co.uk/static/Sample-Soil-Contamination-Assessment-Report.pdf

Rapid Response Soil Testing

–

Contamination Report

Section A:

Introduction

A site visit was carried out on Monday 13

February to collect soil samples from

Sample Site

Soil contamination testing was required within 3 previously identified potential hotspots to assess the

current

levels of contamination in order to classify the waste before disposal.

Hotspot 1

–

5m x 5m x 5m (LxWxD)

Hotspot 2

–

5m x 10m x 5m

Hotspot 3

–

15m x 5m x 2m

Soil samples

are

to be taken every

from the center of the area

and testing is to be carried

out against

Ecofficiency’s Standard Classification suite

A sample location plan is included within Appendix B of this document.

Section B:

Contamination Assessment

Samples 8 & 9 taken from Hotspot 2 have been classified as hazardous due to elevated

levels of Petroleum

Hydrocarbons (TPHs).

Sample 4 taken from Hotspot 1 also showed elevated levels of TPHs however these readings were

inconsistent with other samples from the same area.

Section C:

Waste Classification

Sample ID

Waste Classification

EWC Code

Comments

Sample 1

Non Hazardous Soils

Sample 2

Non

Hazardous

Soils

Sample 3

Non Hazardous Soils

Sample 4

Hazardous

Soils

Sample 5

Non Hazardous Soils

Sample 6

Non

Hazardous

Soils

Sample 7

Non Hazardous Soils

Sample 8

Hazardous

Soils

Sample 9

Hazardous Soils

03*

Section D:

Conclusion and Recommendations

The majority of test results were returned as non

hazardous and within SGVs for the development

of site.

Elevated TPH levels identified at Sample Locations 4, 8 and 9 were inconsistent with the readings acquired

from the majority of the site and should be treated as hotspots. These areas should be excavated in full until

all visual and olfactory evi

dence of TPH contaminated ground has been removed. Further soil testing should

then be undertaken at each side and the base of the excavation to validate the removal of all contaminated

ground identified on site.

Due to the identification of contaminated ground it is recommended that the local authority is consulted at

this stage to advise on whether a full Phase 2 Site Investigation & Risk Assessment is required to satisfy

planning conditions.