An exciting new ‘grow your own’ initiative for residents in the China Clay has been launched as part of Eden Projects’s Harvest Festival.

Thanks to a £106,797 grant from Local Food, a £57.5 million funding programme supported by the Big Lottery Fund which will be supporting food related community projects right across the country.

Growing Together is a Community Greenspace project working in partnership with Cornwall Waste Action, encouraging residents in the China Clay region to start growing their own fruit and vegetables, as opposed to spending their earnings on packaged foods transported from miles away. It can cost as little as £50 per year for fruit and veg if ‘own-grown’ in a small bed whereas for the same amount of food from a supermarket could set you back over £1,000.

The project recognises that not everyone who is keen to grow their own vegetables has the necessary space available and so looks to match them with others in the community who have unused garden space or land.  It is hoped that both parties will be able to share in the resulting produce and benefit from new friendships and connections to their local community.

Andrea Vaillancourt-Alder, Growing Together Project Co-ordinator said: ‘‘This exciting project is great opportunity for local people to get involved in shaping land for growing food. TheLostGardensof Heligan recently donated vegetable seeds to help us get started and we want to hear your ideas and work together to make a difference in the Clays. We are looking forward to growing, learning & sharing together with the project participants and partners as we begin to ‘grow our own’.’’

Participants will be supported by garden share agreements, ensuring that all growers are CRB checked and by offering growing starter packs, resources such as tools and seeds to share with a free program of learning and social events to further support

Andrea explained: ‘‘A series of free ‘learning events’ and fun garden activities such as the creation of a shared growing space at Clay TAWC is in development. Currently scheduled are composting workshops and training on how to grow your own food. Other activities in the pipeline include foraging workshops and ‘green builds’ where sustainable materials are used to create bespoke functional features such as a tool store for the shared growing space at Clay TAWC.

The free learning events and activities will run throughout the lifespan of the project; however, it is important to us that the initiative is shaped by local people and so we are keen to start hearing from people about their own ideas.

Andrea is particularly interested to hear from anyone who is keen to start growing and anyone who may have garden space or a greenhouse going spare that they would consider sharing with local people.

For further information on Growing Together and the events programme please contact Andrea on email: (Aktiviere JavaScript, um die Email-Adresse zu sehen) or on phone: 0777 294 0662, web: www.growingtogethercornwall.org.uk