Let's Grow Our Own

By Carol Longbottom from the Todmorden News

FOOD production has become a worldwide political issue with concerns over food being flown thousands of miles before reaching the shelves – but a group in Todmorden has a local solution to a global problem.

Home grown food in community gardens, grow bags in back yards, orchards, beehives and wormeries will sprout up all around the town in the Incredible Edible Todmorden initiative, said Pam Warhurst, who along with Mary Clear has been speaking to schools, businesses and local groups as part of a fact finding mission.

Anyone interested in creating a sustainable connection between people and their food is invited to a public meeting to be held at 6pm on Monday, March 17 at the Bear Cafe, Rochdale Road, Todmorden.

“At the moment we’re flying food all around the world and it’s having a detrimental impact on climate change and food prices. We believe the logical way forward is for towns and cities to become self sufficient in their own food production.

“At the moment there is not one single town in the country that is doing what we’re trying to do; this would be a first,” said Pam, of the Bear Wholefoods.

“We’ve spoken to a lot of people already and there’s a lot of interest. At the moment there are many individuals, groups, schools and businesses that are all doing their own small projects in this kind of area.

“For example, Todmorden High School is in the process of bidding for Food For Life flagship status, which will mean growing and cooking their own produce, Todmorden in Bloom has planted herbs at the station and the Bear is offering a loyalty card to support local orchards.

“We want to bring it all together, extend it and bring in broader sections of the community.”

This vision for the twenty-first century Todmorden would involve community gardens on small plots around the town, orchards planted, beehives and wormeries established and managed, African-style grow bags, which are designed to grow more with less soil, in people’s gardens and the community coming together to share their own areas of expertise and to learn.

“We want to create a link across the generations by bringing in the
older people who may like to share their own expertise in growing food and cooking it.

“People in the community will be growing food for their own use. This is about getting a greater percentage of home grown food onto the table and connecting people with what they eat,” added Pam. “We really want to make this happen and we hope that a lot of young people will get a buzz out of this as well. I know a lot of young people are very concerned about the environment.” A number of larger projects, designed to take Todmorden into the future, will also be discussed at the meeting.

Tony Mulgrew, the driving force behind the Todmorden High School bid for Food for Life status, said he was very excited about this extended scheme. “We had a lot of people making contact with us after the story appeared in the Todmorden News and Pam was one of them. “This will be about getting as much good healthy food into the community as cheaply as we can that is why at Todmorden High we’ll be offering free cookery classes, not just to the youngsters but also the adults, especially the single parents. “I want to show everyone how easy it is to make nutritious meals cheaply,” said Tony.

For more information about Incredible Edible Todmorden contact Pam on 01706 819803 or go to the meeting at the Bear Cafe.