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About The Project
It was in the autumn of 1994 when a group of us decided to get an allotment.
I got a map of all the different sites from the council and cycled around
town until I came across this secret little site hidden behind Moulsecoomb
railway station. The first plot we took on was a long thin strip running
from the top of the site to the bottom gate and was overgrown with ash
and brambles. In fact the council gave us it rent free for the first
year because it had been derelict for nearly 20 years!
We set about clearing parts of the area laying swales (a posh word for ditches) using an A-frame
- a simple device that measures the contours of the land. Because the
allotment is on such a slope we did this to stop our soil being washed
away to the bottom of the site where the nettles grew lush amongst the
rubble. We've also terraced some of the beds where we grow the more conventional
crops to stop soil erosion. Not that there was much soil to stop being
eroded when we first started! One of our regular and more exhausting
jobs has been the carrying of heavy bags of compost and manure up the
slope to try and improve the ground until the worms started to return.
Over
time as friends drifted away we decided to put the project on a firmer
footing - we started to have our regular `open to everyone - no gardening
experience necessary' workdays, became a not for profit company and started
to put on regular events.
Payment for doing a bit
of work means you get to take home whatever vegetables are growing. While
you’ll
find the usual potatoes, runner beans and courgettes we also grow more
unusual vegetables such as heritage tomatoes of different shapes and
colours, fiery salads and odd
looking cucumbers to
encourage people to experience all the varieties of vegetables we grow,
we also put on popular events such as pick and cook where we hire in
community cooks who get people to go round the project picking the food
that is then prepared and cooked on site for everyone to try.
We've now
got eight plots where you will find us doing everything from organic
gardening, forest gardening, wildlife gardening and - the thing that
gets people talking - outlawed
vegetable gardening. Infact
this isn't your normal allotment site - there's no corrugated iron, we've
left areas for wildlife to hang out in, and other bits uncultivated so
we can picnic, sunbathe and bake potatoes in the fire. There’s a compost
loo, wattle and daub wendy house and living willow tunnel for kids. A
large treehouse/shed/outdoor classroom is being built by school children
from the Alternative Centre for Education (a school for pupils at risk
of exclusion) and youth offenders. As well as numerous school visits
we also run the environment club at the award winning Moulsecoomb
Primary school and
a gardening club at Falmer High School.
From the top of the site you can
see the South Downs - a green desert of a landscape that looks like someone's
taken a giant lawnmower to it and shaved off all the vegetation. Our site
couldn’t
be more of a contrast and the local wildlife certainly seem to have given
it the thumbs up. No chemicals or pesticides, a double hedgerow of native
trees, a big pond and lots of hidey-holes means that the whole site has
become a wildlife haven - an important `green lung' for the town, backing
onto wood and farmland and inhabited by badgers, foxes, moles, voles,
frogs, lizards, slow worms, numerous birds, butterflies and insects. We
even spotted a stoat once (in fact the only wildlife we don't take too kindly
to is the slug and snail, but then the site has become a balanced eco system
and they aren’t
such a problem now). As local wildlife expert Dave Bangs described
us “Moulsecoomb Forest Garden is a little nugget of hope amidst the
wrecked and neglected treasures of Brighton’s natural heritage. It
shows that people and wildlife and food growing CAN be in harmony. Today
one allotment site…tomorrow our whole countryside.”
We have
become embedded in the local community, an important free resource offering
horticultural, educational and social opportunities to all residents
in these surrounding built up urban areas.
The project isn’t
just about gardening but also has a role in being part of the social
glue that binds communities together, with all types of people, young
and old, youth offenders to people with learning difficulties working
together in a safe and pleasant environment.
Warren Carter - January 2007
Aims Of The Project
* Reduce anti social behaviour by involving excluded pupils
in the running of the garden.
* Improve community health by offering free,
organic and locally grown vegetables to low income families and older
people.
* Enhance skills and employability by offering practical based
training and volunteering opportunities. Click here for more info.
* Getting
children involved in planting, growing and eating healthy food, and respecting
nature and the environment.
* Creating and enhancing wildlife habitats,
protecting bio-diversity including old fashioned vegetable varieties.
* Promoting
sustainable lifestyles, by encouraging and educating people about composting
and the benefits of organic gardening and locally produced food.
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