How Share My Garden is helping people grow food in the city

Share My Garden works with communities to encourage participation through events and gardening. We teach people the skills they need to grow their own food and develop a consciousness around our current food systems in order to make better choices.

Whilst modern day food production has done a lot to establish food security it has also caused a string of unintended consequences to people, animals and the planet as a whole. By understanding these issues and seeing them as part of a system, we can better understand our connection to these problems and learn that we have the power to effect change through our day-to-day actions.

These are the four main issues affecting the planet right now:

1. Overnutrition

Recent food and nutritional advice has lead to an increased consumption of meat and saturated oils. There is clear evidence that ‘the western diet’ is the cause of several diseases associated with overnutrition such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Our focus on a protein heavy diet can be traced back to government food communications, particularly the food wheel. The food wheel divides meals into sections: protein, carbohydrates, fibre and vegetables and in doing so has led to a common misconception that protein only exists in certain foods and that these food types need to be eaten with every meal. In fact, protein exists in all food including vegetables, beans and pulses, even flour. By moving towards a more plant based diet we can regain our health, eat a wider variety of food that would give us enough protein whilst also providing wider nutritional value.

2. Hormones and antibiotics

In order to feed the demand of our meat-based diets many animals are intensively bred. The aim of intensive farming is to not only to grow the largest animal possible but also to ensure that they grow as quickly as possible through hormone use. The effect of this on the animals themselves is weak bones that cannot support their own weight and increased health problems associated with underdeveloped organs. In order to keep animals healthy in close quarters to each other, preventative antibiotics are often distributed. The result? Bacteria resistant to Colistin, the last resort antibiotic, has already been discovered in both humans and pigs.

3. Global inequality

If the same amount of land used for animal farming was converted to grow vegetables and plants to feed humans, we could easily feed 3 billion people. This really puts into perspective the true cost of a meat-based diet and its direct connection to systemic poverty.

4. ‘The Other’

The design of our food system to meet the demands of an ever growing population is just one example of humankind’s desire to control and manufacture the world around us. We are both creator and destructor and our inability to recognise this fatal flaw has made humans obsessed with their own needs. We are comfortable to live in a world where animals sit suffering in pens and where ‘other’ people live in daily poverty as we focus on the pursuit of our own security.

Participation is the key to creating empathy for others and gardening is the perfect activity to connect with our food systems. Share My Garden has brought these two activities together at Jacksons Lane community garden. Using land that surrounded the theatre we built three raised beds and throughout the year have successfully grown seasonal vegetables to give back to the community cafe.

During this time we were joined by gardening volunteers of all ages and backgrounds. Children from Highgate school, adults recommended by their NHS doctor and St Mungo’s hostel for the homeless. As well as members of Jacksons Lanes existing community and people who had just heard about the project and wanted to participate.

Our successfully grown vegetables were proudly showcased at Jacksons Lane’s monthly social lunches. Also during this time, Jacksons Lane was shortlisted for the Best Newcomers in the Creative Green Sustainability Awards, organised by Julie’s bicycle.

Share My Garden has continued to grow and strengthen its reputation within the community, building connections with Friends of Tottenham Green, Growing in Haringey and Omved Gardens. Members of Jacksons Lane were subsequently invited to the Omved Gardens dinner in support of the UN Global Goals, hosted by UN ambassador Chef, Arthur Potts.

Share My Garden has big aspirations to do more in the community and get people growing again this year. We will be hiring a Post Code gardener to make Haringey 10x Greener! The gardener will revive front gardens and streets, making them look their best all year round by planting and maintaining wildlife-friendly plants, flowers and vegetables. We also want to run community projects once a month and help everyone develop the skills they need to inspire and keep their gardens going.

To stay up to date with our next project visit us at www.sharemygarden.org.

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