GardenLend

According to Matt Sims of the Wrexham Leader, demand is soaring for allotments in Wrexham as rising food prices, growing concerns over food miles and demand for organic produce prompts a new generation to grow their own. http://www.wrexhamleader.co.uk/news/Rising-food-prices-push-up.4219320.jp

With no allotments in the whole of Caia Park, where a quarter of Wrexham’s population lives, surely some alternative arrangements must be made.

 

With local councillors launching a consultation to find out how many people in the area would like an allotment, the process could take forever.  Even though there was an election pledge to provide allotments and there is local demand for space for growing fruit and vegetables, persuading the council to allocate land, finding and identifying the right land and getting the project off the ground looks set to get bogged down in bureaucracy.  Meanwhile, residents of Caia Park, Wrexham, Wales and beyond are left in limbo.

 

According to recent figures released by the Local Government Association, more than 200,000 allotments have been lost over the past 30 years in the UK despite demand having never been greater.  Presumably, the land has been turned over to unaffordable housing, which is not much use when one cannot afford the mortgage or to feed oneself; that is another matter for further discussion.

 

If you are planning on growing your own to survive the credit crunch or waiting in an endless line to get an allotment, why not join GardenLend?  We also need those with gardens that are not in use to join, to provide space for the keen but landless growers.

 

The scheme - although online - is locally based and led, based on need and availability.  People wanting garden space to grow fruit and vegetables register their desire so to do, giving brief details of their aims and ambitions.  Others, with gardens that are underused or neglected, post the details of the land they have that could be turned over to more productive use.  Either by browsing the lists or by replying to details posted, the two then contact each other - firstly online - and, should they want to take matters further, arrange the finer details, including share of produce and take matters from there.  Couldn’t be simpler and avoids all the waiting involved with local authorities coming to a decision.

 

Please register at http://find.gardenlend.co.uk/ucp.php?mode=register and take the first steps towards your green dream.

 

Message threads for Wrexham have been set up at
http://find.gardenlend.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7  for Gardeners and

 

http://find.gardenlend.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=8 for Garden Owners

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The Wimbledon Eco Festival 2008 was relatively well-attended and filled with all the stalls and features that would expect from such an event, plus a few new and interesting ventures focusing on limiting the impact caused by our waste, warmongering, greed and pollution upon the environment and each other.

Sarah and I “personned” the Merton Freecycle stall, along with the Freecycle banner, a few bookmarks with additional information and a series of contact slips, cranked out earlier that day on a hastily-cobbled together “Mini-Roneo” (photo at end of article), with the Freecycle logo, the group’s web address and a couple of well-meaning mantras; all with the intention of spreading the word about Freecycle, the need for recycling and re-use along with the vital fact that we must all work together or die trying.  Noble thoughts, indeed; partially achieved too! 

We may have enlisted a few new members and had a number of interesting discussions on the way; mostly based around Freecycle, its methods and message - which is what we were there for in the first place.  I had a fascinating examination of the various models of passing on unwanted items: free, paid for, one-to-one, one-to-many and through distributed networks with and without central points of storage and available transportation links.  The Mayor of Wimbledon agreed that it was a “good thing” and a useful extension of and an adjunct to the work and services provided locally by his charity of choice: the Vine Project in Mitcham, who (incidentally) do have storage and transport facilities.

We had greatest interaction otherwise with Sustainable Merton - thanks Tom for bringing the banner and bookmarks! - and the Green Homes Concierge stalls with whom we discussed all matters recyclable, sustainable and growable. 

One of the stall-holders has been “reduced to guerilla gardening“, such is his lack of green space whilst so much of it goes unused around him at home - one GardenLend card (along with the address for Modern-ism.com - our Modernist jewellery store) was quickly passed to him and the conversation turned to the need for a more equitable distribution, or at least the potential for use, of land for growing plants and vegetables; an increasingly important concern worldwide.

Light relief was provided by Fairtrade tea and cakes available from the Church Hall, along with a Farmers’ Market stall and other environmental and green concerns held under cover, for logistical and meteorological reasons familiar to all who have ever attended a Church Summer Fete.  The strawberry scones more than made up for any shortfall in political discourse or my usual desire to preach the message of Anarcho-Syndicalism as the only way forward, so another victory was to be had.  But for whom is a matter of some conjecture - probably the good folk of SW20 and surrounds.

Sustainable Merton and Green Homes Concierge provided speakers for the later talks, appearing prior to Satish Kumar of Resurgence who was in London for the weekend as part of the Campaign against Climate Change

The Church Summer Fete atmosphere was, in some ways, the disappointing aspect of the whole day.  Everyone seemed to be preaching to the converted.  Even the venue - Christ Church, West Wimbledon and its eco-congregation - had already signed up to the environmentalist message and were set upon the path of worthy endeavours that are so essential should Mankind hope to stand an earthly chance of seeing the next century, let alone the next Millennium. 

This is my point - “at last!” I hear being cried out collectively - we must spread the message to the unbelievers, the uninformed, the downright cussed and to everyone else in between.  Probably the best place to put Freecycle and other sustainability projects is right in the heart of Mammon - shopping centres - where people spend their money on replacing things that are still usable or shopping for things that they can ill afford. 

To start with, food-based shops and supermarkets could be useful allies, as there is no conflict with their core goods and services on offer, also allowing the “green message” to be spread regarding environmentally-friendly products, organic food and recyclable packaging, before challenging the perpetual need for the “latest thing”, be it furniture or electronic goods.  A Freecycle banner in every town and city centre?  GardenLend information and connections everywhere people congregate and complain about their lack of green space? Gardening and growing fruit and vegetables on all the abandoned green areas that you pass by each day?

What do you think?

After all this, on the way home down the hill from West Wimbledon, we spotted so many green spaces that were neglected, just crying out for a gardener …

… along Bushey Road, West Wimbledon,

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And for those doubters amongst you, the patent Springham “Mini-Roneo”; “Roneo” being colloquialy used as an affectionate generic term to describe all manner of mimeographic machines and often in no way having - as in this case - anything to do with the company Roneo SA.

“Freecycle”, however, does refer to Freecycle, for whom I am the co-Moderator of the Merton group.

Any and all other copyrights and trademarks acknowledged.

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The West Wimbledon Eco Festival this year is on 14 June and is being hosted at and by
Christ Church in West Wimbledon 
16 Copse Hill, Wimbledon, London, SW20 0HG - information on getting there 

From Christ Church’s web site:

Eco-Festival

Our Eco Festival this year will be on Saturday 14th June from 2pm to 6pm. We have an exciting programme being put together with internationally renowned speakers booked to be with us.

 

http://www.christchurch-westwimbledon.org/

 

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More specifically, there will be stalls, including Merton Freecycle, Fairtrade Tea & Cakes, Free bicycle training and maintenance from “Pedal 4 Health” and “Dr Bike”, a “Carbon Gym” to calculate your carbon footprint, the 12th Wimbledon Guides’ “Recycled Fashion Show”, along with other stalls and information from local businesses. 

 Sarah and Ian from GardenLend.co.uk will be in attendance, hoping to spread the message that “a garden is not just for Chrysanthemums” and the wider word of rescuing neglected gardens, as is their mission in all things. 

 Two environmental talks are planned: 

 4pm Tom Walsh from Sustainable Merton & Andrew Long from Green Homes London will speak on “Confronting climate change: the why and the how”

 5pm Satish Kumar, editor of Resurgence magazine and presenter of the BBC documentary Earth Pilgrim will speak on the topic of “Being an Earth Pilgrim”

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Today is “World Environment Day” - according to the UNEP website: “the day’s agenda is to give a human face to environmental issues; empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development; promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues; and advocate partnership, which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future. “

One way of empowering people that immediately springs to mind - quite naturally! - is to join GardenLend and to put more neglected green spaces to good use. 

Failing that, any thoughts on what can be done to help slow, if not reverse, the planet’s hastening environmental decline are welcomed here. 

Also, please let us and our readers know what you have done or plan to do by commenting on this post.

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