Everyone’s welcome – if you eat, you’re in!
Opportunities to get involved with food growing in Greater Lincolnshire are diverse – including Community Gardens, large and small, rural, village and urban, formal and informal; allotment associations (e.g. Willoughby Road Allotments in Boston); projects for teenagers (e.g. 13+ Garden Hub in Louth); mental health support projects (e.g. Don’t Lose Hope in Bourne); Care Farms (e.g. Hall Farm Eastoft CIC); schools (e.g. Washingborough Academy), and online groups.
Click on the pins to find links to growing projects and organisations in your area.
Contact the organisation to find out how to get involved. Many, but not all, of these projects welcome volunteers or visits from the public – please check before you visit.
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Make it happen in you area!
Scroll down for links, resources and more, and get in in touch – we’d love to hear about it and support you in any way we can.
This map is by no means complete or comprehensive, and we continue to add to it. Although we don’t run any of these organisations, and can take neither credit nor responsibility for their work, we are keen to support, encourage and connect with community food growing projects across Greater Lincolnshire, welcome enquiries, updates and information about new projects and sites – please get in touch with Laura@lincolnshirefoodpartnership.org
More community growing inspiration from Lincolnshire
- Lincolnshire Organic Gardeners Organisation – a brilliant organisation, with tons of local knowledge, a stall on Lincoln Farmers Market, and lots of talks, visits and events.
- Ropsley Market Garden – Lincolnshire’s first Community Supported Agriculture – a model for a sustainable, local food future, and Middle World Farm, Lincoln’s new CSA project
Ropsley Market Garden CSA
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between farmers and their local community, in which the responsibilities, risks and rewards of farming are shared. communitysupportedagriculture.org.uk Ropsley Market Garden is Lincolnshire’s first CSA – the first of many: the English CSA moment is now here: people increasingly recognise the need for sustainable, resilient, healthy, local food,…
Growing Projects in Schools
- Growing in schools – three inspiring examples in Lincolnshire!
- School growing projects – Resources and information for schools from the RHS
- Allotment Cooks – growing, cooking and eating, from a Lincolnshire secondary school teacher and allotment grower, active on social media
- Food for Life – schools scheme from the Soil Association
- Food Smart – primary school teaching resources from our neighbours in Peterborough & Cambridge
- TastEd – schemes of work, lesson plans and resources, which are currently free for UK Primary Schools from tasteeducation.comGrowing in Schools
Resources for community growing
There’s a lot that you can do without money, formal documents or official structures – we need these things to serve us instead of being barriers to adding care, connection and beauty to our communities.
That said, if you decide that you want to apply for funding, your group will almost certainly need to be formally constituted, with a bank account and a minimum of three trustees.
How to start a community growing project
A fantastic guide from the Incredible Edible Network – you’ll need to register first – it’s free to join and you gain access to tons of useful resources and downloadables.
Some favourites of mine are:
- easily editable posters and flyers
- growing in your street
- crop planner
- creating good signage – plus this inspiration from other sign-makers
You might like to share information about your garden on the Good to Grow Lincolnshire map, especially if you are welcoming volunteers. They can also help with reduced cost insurance, and have some great resources – such as Anti-racism in food growing
How to fund your growing project
Getting started doesn’t need to be expensive – but if you decide you need funding to scale up, here are some pots of funding available to community gardens:
- Community Champions – The Lincolnshire Cooperative supporting local charities and community groups https://www.lincolnshire.coop/community/community-champions
- Lincolnshire Community Foundation – Grants for organisations and projects in Lincolnshire: https://lincolnshirecf.co.uk/grants/
- Awards for all – £300-£1000 for small organisations, to build strong relationships in and across communities, improve the places and spaces that matter to communities, and to help more people to reach their potential. www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/national-lottery-awards-for-all-england
- DPD Eco fund – Anyone can apply for funding from the DPD Eco Fund, although they particularly encourage schools and educational facilities working on green projects with their students. (Scroll down, it’s near the bottom of the page!) green.dpd.co.uk
- Community Wildlife Grant – £50 to 500, for parish councils, charities and constituted voluntary groups in Lincolnshire. Includes funds for tree and hedge planting, village nature area creation, leaflets and information boards. https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/grants-funding/apply-community-wildlife-grant
- Magic Little Grants – £500 for charities and community groups. Includes funding for improving biodiversity and green spaces, enabling participation in physical activity, responding to the climate emergency, promoting sustainability and increasing community access to outdoor space. https://localgiving.org/magic-little-grants/
How to make your edible garden grow
If you’re starting a garden or allotment, Spiral Seed are kindly offering this really useful guide to starting a healthy, organic garden using permaculture design principles. Big thank you to Graham Burnett!
Huw Richards provides a fantastic free youtube resource for growing veg.
Calendar credit: selfsufficientschools.co.uk – you might like to sign their petition to make school food-growing and self-sufficiency a dedicated national curriculum subject.
Here is an example of a model constitution that you are welcome to use, with thanks to Linda Scrutton and Dunston Community Garden Group for allowing us to adapt this from their constitution.
Recent online events:
Introduction to Care Farming in Lincolnshire
With Deborah Evans from Social Farms & Gardens, and Mark Coulman from Hall Farm Eastoft CIC in Lincolnshire.
It’s clear that there’s a lot of scope for this in Lincolnshire. If you’re interested in find out more or being part of a Care Farming network, please get in touch.
Connecting with the council on public growing projects
Monday 1st March, 10am
We hear from Matthew Davey, Environment and Community Projects Officer at Lincolnshire County Council, and Kate Bell, Climate Change manager at Lincoln City Council on their approach to working with community groups.
- how to apply for a community wildlife grant
- how to nominate an asset of community value
- sustainability toolkit
- map of Lincoln’s green spaces
Growing in schools
Monday 15th February, 10am
- Emma Keyworth from Washingborough Academy will give us a guided tour of the inspiring and pioneering growing work at a Lincolnshire Primary school
- Jayne Hickling, a secondary school teacher and founder of Allotment Cooks, on growing food with teenagers
- Kim Smith from TastEd talking about enjoying fruit and veg with kids with “more carrot, less stick!”
Community Growing in Lincoln
Monday 1st February, 10am
We heard from Liquorice Park, University Herb Garden, St Andrew’s Garden, Sincil Bank Community Allotment, Hillside, Ellie’s Garden and St Giles Garden.
Quick overview of this series of online events, 2021
More actions:
Find a Foodbank
We’ve mapped foodbanks, community larders and affordable cafes across Greater Lincolnshire.
Find your nearest foodbank to request help for yourself or someone in your community, volunteer your time, or make a donation.
We’re working together for greener, fairer and healthier food for all, through sustainable local action in Lincolnshire.
Find out more, and if you’re with us, join us!
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More Lincolnshire food news from our blog
3 things I took away from the Lincolnshire Food Summit
Reflections by Laura Stratford, Food Partnership Coordinator At the end of last year, around 80 people who are involved in foodbanks and other kinds of food support gathered at The New Life Centre in Sleaford for the Lincolnshire Food Summit. We came to listen, to share, and to find ways to collaborate. From what you…
The Lincolnshire Food Summit 2023
How do we ensure that everyone in our community has enough good food to eat? 80-odd people involved in foodbanks and community larders, -groceries, -cafes and more, got together on the 23rd November at the Lincolnshire Food Summit. It was an opportunity to develop local and collaborative responses to food challenges, in an economic context…
The Future of Food in the Fens – online event
This online event explores a range of challenges that we will face in relation to food production on the Grade 1 land of the Lincolnshire Fens, including transport, flooding, climate change, policy, infrastructure, biodiversity and more. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, contribute to discussions and will be prompted to reflect on a…
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