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The mission of the Ecological Land Co-operative (ELC) is the creation of residential smallholdings aimed at new entrants to horticulture and mixed farming, protected for ecological agricultural use in perpetuity. A dream for many, but one for which the barriers are high. Leading a land-based livelihood can be a tough path, which we know all too well about. 

Our latest FeedingManchester event brought together over 100 groups from the sector to shape a new sustainable food strategy for Greater Manchester.

Join us this Spring in preparation for the new growing season.

It's always very tempting to write an article about the hugely inspiring Oxford Real Farming Conference the second we get on the train home. Each year, we return to report on the exciting talks we heard, the inspiring people we meet, the workshops we spoke at and the fringe sessions we organised.

Not this time.

Veg Box People workers co-operative is part of the Kindling family, one of the enterprises we’ve incubated and supported in our quest to transform Manchester's food system. From tiny beginnings just 18 months ago, the co-op now provides organic veg bags to 125 customers each week, and is seeking a highly motivated new co-op member to join its committed, multi-tasking team.

Our FarmStart programme is the UK’s very first incubator initiative for organic farmers, providing training, affordable access to land, infrastructure, shared equipment and a ready market. This year we’ve got three new FarmStarters spread over two sites who are about to get stuck into their first ever season of organic veg production on a commercial scale. They'll be documenting their unique experiences over the growing season as they get to grips with creating new land-based livelihoods, so watch this space...

For some Valentine’s Day is a reminder to tell those we love how much they mean to us. For others it’s another commercial invention to make us spend more money. Either way, we thought it would be great to do something different this year – and we’d like to invite you to join us.

This Valentine’s day we’re going to take the opportunity to love our local farmers: we want to tell the people who are out in the fields, come rain or shine growing our lovely local organic veg, just how much we appreciate them.

Karen Hughes is an organic grower in Morayshire, Scotland, and runs the brilliant Roots, Fruits and Leaves box scheme. Earlier this year she took part in our ‘How to set up a FarmStart’ training and is scoping the potential for replicating our Land Army scheme north of the border...

Nona worked with Kindling for two years, co-ordinating the Feeding Manchester network. She dropped in for a chat with Emily, newest addition to team Kindling, to find out what she's been up to since moving back to Ohio and how her time in Manchester helped get her there.

Kindling co-founder Helen was invited to participate in a mini-conference last week called ‘Creating Common Good Land Use’, to talk about growing peoples' skills to facilitate ‘common good’ land use. It was the last in a series of events that Shared Assets have been delivering to identify key barriers to ‘common good’ land use and some solutions to them.