For two days (14th and 21st March) Land Army volunteers were helping out the lovely people Adam and Charlotte at Glebeland City Growers in Sale.
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The week before the open day the temperature had dropped by about 15 degrees, so there was some nervousness as to whether or not anyone was going to turn out.
And of course they did, because the gardens involved put on a great event, each and every one!
It's been several months since FeedingManchester #11, held in Prestwich, where about 50 participants joined us to share experiences and knowledge about growing projects, allotments, community-supported bakeries, and much more. We're now excitedly finalising the details for our next gathering, FeedingManchester #12, where we will headed out to Bolton!
Community food-growing gardens and allotments across Greater Manchester will open their gates to the public on Saturday 16th March and invite local people in to get involved.
Gardens in Wythenshawe, Fallowfield and Moss Side are taking part in The Big Dig Day to show their neighbours how spending time tending their local community garden is not only fun and satisfying, but healthy too.
Many of the participating community food gardens are putting on activities such as seed sowing, preparing raised beds, and planting onions.
On Saturday we started our third course on how to set up an organic food growing business, taught by the growers themselves. Over 5 weeks 12 participants will be learning about soil, propagation, field scale growing, pests and diseases, finances, co-operative models and more, with the aim of becoming new growers for Manchester Veg People!
Day one of the course was at Fir Tree Community Growers with the amazing Jenny Griggs, who developed and ran the first course for us back in early 2012.
Join us for a unique coach trip to one of the best farmer markets around and celebrating Abbey Leys 100th Farmers Market on Sunday 3rd March 2013.
Abbey Leys, an organic family farm near Knutsford in Cheshire, will be celebrating their 100th anniversary next month! Abbey Leys have been organic since 2001 and produce organic eggs and potatoes which are sold at their farm shop, markets and their very own monthly farmers' markets.
Access to land, money for equipment and advice - these can seem like huge barriers to starting out on a farming career. FarmStart Manchester could be the answer!
The Kindling Trust has established, what we believe to be the UK’s first FarmStart initiative: an incubator farm for those new to farming, allowing a new generation of growers to trial their farming business ideas in a low-risk way..
Are you looking for a team activity day with a difference? Do you want to give something back to your local community and do something positive for the environment? Combine all of these on a day out at a local farm with the Greater Manchester Land Army
The Greater Manchester Land Army aims to increase local, sustainable food production for Greater Manchester. We work with new organic growers, supporting them on their journey towards establishing viable and productive businesses.
On the 12th & 13th January the Kindling team met for our strategy weekend to both share our collective vision for the organisation and to plan future steps.
Nearly all the Kindling team were able to make the weekend with Helen, Kirstin, Nona, Alan, Katie, Chris, Debs, Chloe & Emily spending Saturday and Sunday, sharing ideas and previous experience, discussing and planning our next steps.
Helen and Chris attended the renowned Oxford Real Farming Conference on the 3rd & 4th January, both to give a presentation on Kindling's work with Manchester Veg People, and to network with an amazingly diverse range of progressive food and farming organisations.
The Oxford Real Farming Conference is a unique annual event: