Other Land Access and Urban Systems

1. Find any sort of alternative land use system operating in your area. Report on how the system functions, and the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to it. Assuming you are landless or in need of more land would this system work for you? What changes would you need to make in your routine to make the option realistic? Does joining the system make economic or ethical sense to you?

Our project site is located on Whitehawk allotments. One of the larger plots on site is run by Whitehawk Community Food Project – “The Whitehawk Community Food Project is located on Whitehawk Hill in East Brighton on an old allotment site which had become disused in the 1990's. The site covers nearly 1 acre and has beautiful views of both the sea and the South Downs. It is now an established and productive community garden including fruit, vegetable and herb beds, poly-tunnels, ponds and a forest garden/orchard area. The site has been developed for people to be able to enjoy and participate in organic, biodynamic and permaculture techniques and principles. We aim to be an inspiring and valuable demonstration site where people can learn through practical hands-on experience.

Fresh seasonal produce is always available as a thank you in return for helping out. Gardening days are Thursday and Sunday - 2pm until dusk and we welcome anyone looking to find out more about food and food growing. We are a well connected group with a passion for growing food. We run a cooperative urban garden promoting nutritional food growing all the year round. Our health and wellbeing is uppermost. Thence we help others.” - http://www.thefoodproject.org.uk/moreinfo.html

The advantages are quite obvious. They offer lots of FREE training on a whole gambit of gardening activities, allowing you to up skill in a number of areas easily. You get good planting ideas from a site so similar to our project site, as we are faced with the same weather challenges and relief challenges. The networking and seed sharing opportunities are good also. The only downside I can see is the small windows of time that can be spent on site, they only offer two afternoons a week, one being a “work” day for the conventional nine-to-fiver.

It’s a terrific system to help you grow, cultivate, harvest and eat locally grown and sourced produce. It’s close proximity to both our house and project site make it definitely a viable addition. This geographic closeness means that little, if any changes would need to be made to our routines in order to make this work for us. With the draw of a share of the food that you are aiding in growing/tending etc, it makes great economic sense to do this, and the lessons of seasonal produce growing and eating that is promoted by the scheme means ethically this is a sound project.