Join us for a 5-day FREE Commercial Horticulture Course in February/March 2013
Make the most of an amazing training opportunity to learn how to set up an organic food growing business from the growers themselves, this Spring. We have a growing market for organic local food, an amazing network of support and training straight from the field – what's stopping you?!
Latest news
On Monday 29th October the University of Manchester went to visit one of the growing sites of Manchester Veg People with three chefs who have recently started to buy veg from the cooperative.
Last Saturday FeedingManchester held their 11th event at the Creative Living Centre in Prestwich. This was FeedingManchester’s first sojourn outside of the city centre, drawing 50 dedicated members of Greater Manchester’s sustainable food movement for a full day of events.
Where do our seeds come from?
A few weeks ago we put in a Big Dig bulk order of seeds from a well-established British seed company. They run a very generous discount system for allotments and community gardens – 50% off the retail price on orders over £175. As a group, we saved over £100 on our order.
One of our Big Dig gardeners asked if we could look into buying from a more local company next time, one which supplies seeds bred specifically for conditions in the North-west. Several companies were suggested, and I went off to look into them.
Food projects and growers managed to have some fun during summer despite the washout, with loads of exciting open days, festivals and markets. After enjoying days out at places like the Wigan 'Good Life Show' and the Tameside Food, Drink, Health and Wellbeing Festival, the FeedingManchester team have now turned their attention to the next event of their own.
We are looking for volunteers to help promote the local food family here in Greater Manchester.
Volunteering opportunities include working with our Foodlink NW partner: a North West-wide initiative to promote local food to more people by providing a platform for free or low-cost publicity.
We would like to invite you to attend the upcoming FeedingManchester event. We've been maintaining our commitment to support groups, individuals and organisations around Greater Manchester, and encourage discussion between them.
25 officers and tenants from eight housing associations across Greater Manchester came together last week for a seminar on setting up community gardens on housing association land.
The event was part of Kindling’s Big Dig project, and brought together Jade Bashford from the Community Land Advisory Service and Raichael Lock from the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens.
The BBC featured two Prestwich parks last week. On Thursday a journalist from North West Tonight visited Philips Park and filmed volunteers working on the Incredible Edible Prestwich and District (IEPAD) fruit garden and on Saturday Radio Manchester’s Manhunt programme solved cryptic clues to find their way to St Mary’s Park and meet our volunteers there.
Allotments and community food-growing gardens in Greater Manchester will open their gates to the public on Saturday 15th September, in the largest open event of food-growing spaces ever seen in the UK.
Sixteen local gardens are taking part in The Edible Gardens Open Day, providing members of the public with a glimpse of the green spaces on their doorstep. Over 5,000 people are expected to participate in national events and activities throughout September as a result.