One of the great things about Community Food Growing is it does not just grow food but it helps people grow too. And while I am sure that “nature walks … tree planting and wild swimming” all give great benefits I suspect that Community Food Growing, as illustrated in the photo the Guardian has used, has the deepest and longest benefits.
As a lecturer at Capel Manor and at Organic Lea, students often had to fill in ‘wellness’ forms at the beginning, during and at the end of the term to see how they were feeling. It was for them to see how they were doing, mentally, while on the course and also related to funding. And of course I asked students too how they were feeling through the courses I taught, and both those forms and the responses to me from students show how helpful and sometimes even transformative being involved with food growing is for most people. And the funders could see their funding was working!
And growing food has a deep affect on people.
It’s the whole seed to plate thing, the nuturing from planting a seed, watching it grow, protecting it, watering and feeding it, then harvesting and eating it, often with others people, communally. That’s something above and beyond what “nature walks … tree planting and wild swimming” give, though they themselves have special elements to them.
And as the article also notes, and the hard nosed bean counter should spot immediately, social prescribing saves money! The NHS and local councils will save significant sums of money if they invest in social prescribing AND specifically in setting up and supporting Community Food Growing projects as part of that.
Community Food Growing is a Win Win! People get better mental and physical health and of course healthy free food and councils and other local and national institutions save significant sums of money.
It’s odd we’re still in the pilot project stage with social prescribing, and council support for food growing remains minimal, but I can see both exploding in the next few years.
So, which council leaders and officers are going to make a name for themselves leading on this?
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