The project started mainly from a Transition Town project to make Farnham more sustainable in food and less reliant on food miles to provide even the basics to feed local people. It also has a real community feel with a pizza oven of cob and a sharing feeling behind all their actions including education for children. They have about 100 people eating their produce each week.
Members collect their veg from the field on saturdays through the season and have a clear idea of what they are due each week - produce gets divided up between all members so it is fair.
A key element is the volunteering which keeps it all ticking over. There seems to be a core group who keep things going but the bulk of the harvesting is done by volunteers who pick on a saturday morning, count up and divide what there is to a set amount for each share. There is a professional grower and now an apprentice on site. They recently crowd funded a 'Grow a Grower' campaign to provide a few basics needed to ensure the continued co-ordination and provide some resources for teaching in their education programme.
http://www.farnhamfood.com/
Founded in 2008, Farnham Local Food is a community-run local agriculture project supported almost entirely by volunteer labour. We currently have land at Runfold and Dippenhall. Our aim is to provide fresh, locally grown vegetables for people in and around the Farnham, Surrey, England area.
The project was started because it was felt that there was a need and a niche for the kind of lifestyle that maintained a healthier attitude towards fresh produce and the production behind it. Here’s some of the things we are proud of:
• We care about the environment and are proud that our produce has virtually no food miles which means we are doing our bit to preserve our planet.
• Our vegetables are the freshest in town, being picked on the same day they are collected.
• Same-day freshness guarantees that our veg maintain valuable nutrients which are lost in mass produced supermarket veg that has travelled for miles to reach your table.
• Freshness equals taste – the fresher the veg the tastier they are.
• We aim to maintain a fair comparison price with supermarkets organically grown produce.
• Although not certified organic, we use organic practices to grow our veg which means everything is free of pesticides.
• Over and above producing, we are a community group that is run almost entirely by volunteers. Anyone who joins has the opportunity to actively help out with the scheme. There are a wide variety of tasks ranging from participating with outside maintenance such as growing/sewing crops, clearing land, watering, harvesting to getting involved in the running for example; marketing and general administration, although this is not a pre-requisite for joining. We have many volunteers who help and they do so for different reasons: To teach their children about how food gets on the table, to learn about growing veg for themselves, to join part of a community group, to make friends and much more.
We currently have places within our scheme if you would like to receive our produce weekly. There are a three different sizes of share available at very competitive prices, please refer to our veg shares page for more information.
Vegetables are available for collection for approx. 28 weeks each Saturday from mid June to mid December. Adverse growing conditions determine the exact start date and those joining the scheme will be informed of this date during May.
Harvesting begins at 10am every Saturday and produce is available for collection from 1 until 4pm. Share scheme participants weigh their own produce according to the allocation of the day.
Share Cost
Our Family Share cost be £15.50 per week, the Standard (2 to 3 person) share is £11.50 per week and the single person share is £7.50 per week.(2014 prices)
We are different from box schemes as we ask our members to commit to taking vegetables for the season or to give us one month’s notice before leaving the scheme.
LET’S TRANSFORM OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD
You can make a difference by supporting our Grow a Grower campaign!
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/grow-a-grower/
With abundant experience in the field, Farnham Local Food is now looking to share its food-growing skills with the wider community. Not only are we growing vegetables, we are also growing growers!
We already have a consolidated team of volunteers behind us so our next step is to train our first ever apprentice as a certified organic grower with the Soil Association. Donate now to our Grow-a-Grower campaign so we can finance this training and also build a weatherproof shelter on our field that will house community events such as workshops, school visits and social gatherings!
Join our efforts by adding a little, or a lot, to our online fundraiser at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/grow-a-grower. With your help we are going to turn our not-for-profit cooperative into a stronger and more sustainable community project.
Why?
Local food tastes better! It’s healthier and causes less environmental impact. Besides, this is a chance to bring our community together for a great cause. We would like to see the movement for local and healthy food spread across the entire Surrey-Hampshire border area!
Who are we?
We grow vegetables to organic principles year-round from two small sites supplying 75 families with vegetables each week. Work is carried out by a diverse and wonderful team of volunteers led by our professional grower and a newly appointed apprentice. We welcome everyone to come and join in and experience growing vegetables as part of a supportive and fun team. We host local groups and try and spread our knowledge throughout the community.
Can you help us grow a sustainable local food enterprise that will continue to serve the community in and around Farnham?
With abundant experience in the field, Farnham Local Food is now looking to share its food-growing skills with the wider community. Not only are we growing vegetables, we are also growing growers!
We already have a consolidated team of volunteers behind us so our next step is to train our first ever apprentice as a certified organic grower with the Soil Association. Donate now to our Grow-a-Grower campaign so we can finance this training and also build a weatherproof shelter on our field that will house community events such as workshops, school visits and social gatherings!
Join our efforts by adding a little, or a lot, to our online fundraiser at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/grow-a-grower. With your help we are going to turn our not-for-profit cooperative into a stronger and more sustainable community project.
Why?
Local food tastes better! It’s healthier and causes less environmental impact. Besides, this is a chance to bring our community together for a great cause. We would like to see the movement for local and healthy food spread across the entire Surrey-Hampshire border area!
Who are we?
We grow vegetables to organic principles year-round from two small sites supplying 75 families with vegetables each week. Work is carried out by a diverse and wonderful team of volunteers led by our professional grower and a newly appointed apprentice. We welcome everyone to come and join in and experience growing vegetables as part of a supportive and fun team. We host local groups and try and spread our knowledge throughout the community.
Can you help us grow a sustainable local food enterprise that will continue to serve the community in and around Farnham?
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