Homeless team make an impact

The Impact project team at the allotments

A team of volunteers from a homeless project has officially joined in the Taff Community Allotment Project – a big welcome to them.
Mandy Powell, a Taff tenant, is involved in the Impact homeless project at the City Temple in Cardiff City Centre. Last year, Taff tenants and staff volunteered to grow some vegetables for the project. Now, Mandy and volunteers Dan Thompson and Claire McMahon are involved in taking on a vacant area on the Taff site to grow veg for healthy meals for the homeless on Saturday nights.
Having rotivated their plot last week, turning in some well-rotted manure, the team spent Tuesday afternoon on the allotment digging in rows of potatoes, planting onions and building a seed bed from old scaffolding boards.
This is a great step forward for our allotment project, as it means the City Temple volunteers can grow more vegetables and help feed more people. I have heard more about the Impact project from Mandy and it sounds a terrific scheme, helping people get back on their feet and giving them support and confidence.
Meanwhile, the allotment training course has been revitalised. Numbers were flagging a couple of weeks ago in the site shed on part one of the 15-week session.
With a burst of promotion on email, telephone and Facebook and just by chatting to lots of people, we have found another six starters taking us up to 12 learners.
They will be learning in the coming weeks about pests and diseases, crop rotation, how to work with polytunnels and greenhouses and lots more.

A welcome visitor

The duck stares back at the ‘pond paparazzi’

The learners on the training course were treated to a close-up brush with nature this week! While they were outside the training shed with tutor Aisling, someone noticed a mallard duck had flown on to the allotment pond, just metres from where they were standing. The curious thing was, the same duck was being chased around by three drakes above our heads for about half an hour beforehand!

Clearly in need of some time to get away from all that excitement, she spotted the pond and dropped down for a bite of fairy weed, which covers the pond and is a delicacy for ducks.

Curiously, as the phone cameras appeared, she stopped and looked put out by the ‘paparazzi’ attention, staring back at the learners!

It was a great sight and a pleasure to have an unexpected guest sharing a moment with the class.

 

There have been other wild ducks which have settled on the much larger allotment site pond about 300m away – indeed last year they reared a brood of eight chicks on the pond.

Shoots of spring

Well, the frustrating ‘spring’ weather appears to be finally over and we can get on with some proper gardening!
It’s been difficult juggling the problems of the weather and all the work that needs to be done on the site in preparation for the spring.
Normally, you have better weather in March to spread things out and get things done at a steady pace. This time, it’s been a late start on the site and a bit of a rush to get things sorted.
However, I am pleased to say, we are getting more new faces involved, who are both enthusiastic and hard-working, which is a great combination.
Two of the poorest plots on the site at the end of last year, which had not really been well looked after, are now being overhauled. The one has been fenced off by new tenants Alan (pictured) and his friend Trevor. They’ve been busy fencing off their section, turning over the soil, building cold frames and getting some plants in the ground.
Next door to them, two friends who volunteer with the City Temple Homeless Project, have taken on a section, which they have rotivated in readiness of planting. They are hoping for a good crop of root vegetables, which will end up in the pot for stews and casseroles to feed people in need on Saturday nights.
This is a great project and I have been learning more about it lately, speaking to Mandy about what a difference it makes to the lives of the people she and the other volunteers come into contact with.
Elsewhere, other tenants have been busy on their own plots, getting in potatoes, adding manure to their plots freeing volunteers up to tackle the Community Growing Space, raised beds and fruit cage.
There’s gradual work going on at each of those sections. The first early potatoes (Kestrel, Pentland Javelin and Maris Bard) have been planted in the community space, along with late garlic and compost has been bought to top up the raised beds. We are looking at ideas for the raised beds this year, as the expected bumper crop of tomatoes was hit by horrible blight and we only managed to save about 10% of about 400+ tomatoes, sadly. We also don’t want to re-plant tomatoes in those beds, in case the soil is still carrying any trace of the blight. Unlikely, but not worth the risk.
Meanwhile, the allotment training course is ongoing, although the numbers have dipped this time, meaning we’ve been rushing around trying to get more involved. Fingers crossed, one or two more people will get on the course so it can continue!
So, a late start, but plenty going on and worth reporting about on the blog. We hope to have some more interesting and exciting news to come, once it is confirmed.

New course for the spring

We’re delighted to announce there will be a new course, Basic Gardening Skills, starting later this month.

Fresh from the success of the Pests and Diseases course, which the participants enjoyed, tutor Aisling Judge has started signing up recruits for the new course, which starts on February 19th and will run for 15 weeks.

I can’t believe that it’s not even 9 months ago since we started the training in Growing Green’s own meeting shed. Since then, we’ve had two more successful courses in the Taff Community training shed and this will be our fourth course.

This is a good opportunity to thank tutor Aisling for all her work with the learners and for keeping them motivated over the cold winter months. It’s a logical time to be doing things like training on the one hand, but getting people to turn up in the cold, rain and snow is something quite different.

I was very impressed with the learners information displays about pests and diseases and I look forward to seeing everyone putting their new found knowledge to the test this year – although, hopefully, there won’t be as many bugs and diseases as we battled with last year.

Meanwhile, we’re looking at investing in some cheap membrane to cover a small area of weeds and improving the signage and layout of people’s plots, so everyone knows who’s where in 2013! We’re expecting most people to trickle back and begin working the plots and communal areas as the weather gradually improves – all the ‘old timers’ on the site have dissuaded us so far from planting garlic and onions, as it’s been perpetually wet and cold for months. But we must get them in later this month or miss our chance.

Plus, there are plans to install the guttering on the training shed roof, now the weather is improving (slightly!) and we’re chasing some funding for a few project ideas we have on the site. In fact, the funding meetings have kept us busy for some weeks, behind the scenes, as we look to improve upon the site infrastructure. More about this in future posts.

Someone suggested linking a photo from sunnier days, to keep us motivated!

Tapping into funding

Brave souls at the allotment course

The allotment group committee officers had a very productive meeting with Environment Wales this week.
The group is keen to get registered with Environment Wales, not only to open up more doors for funding, but also to access support with writing policies suited to an allotment, volunteer training, advice on grant bids and other great opportunities.
The committee members were very positive after the meeting, feeling that it is a very positive thing to have a hands-on grants officer coming out to the allotments on a cold, winter’s day and offering to
First things first, the group has to get busy with registering and that involves adopting the right policies and making sure all the paperwork – constitution, etc. – is all in place.
Given the incentives of the funding and ‘hand holding’ by the grants team, the feeling is that something positive can come out of getting involved with Environment Wales.

Winter tidy up begins

We had a walk round of the allotments just before Christmas with a pen and paper to draw up a ‘to do’ list for the new year. Now we are slowly, weather allowing, getting on with the jobs in hand.
There’s plenty to do, from sorting out box beds, to preparing the communitty growing space, putting up guttering on the training shed and installing the rain tank, clearing up round the container and tidying up the raised bed area.
The notes of things to do are pinned up in the training shed for whoever pops down to have a go – one tenant has already earned brownie points by taking on the box beds!
All in all, there’s plenty to do and, coming into 2013 with a fresh view on things, we can achieve a good deal this year.
On the training front, the accredited courses continue to go from strength to strength.
Trainer Aisling Judge is currently talking to the learners about further courses in the training shed, which will really benefit all those taking part.
The group officers are also sitting down in January with a grants officer from Environment Wales to become registered with the organisation to become eligible for future funding. This could be a regular source of development income for the project in future, as the group take forward more ideas on the site.

Thrift is the best way

The WEA Organic Gardening Course in the shed

I recently attended a great course run by the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, aimed at helping us make our projects function well – on less resources!

We have done well with generous support from individuals, businesses and organisations working in the community.

The latest act of generosity has arrived on the back of a tipper truck, from a building site run by Leadbitter Limited. Taking down the hoarding around the construction site in the centre of Cardiff, they offered the posts and boards for us to use at the allotments.

Allotment holders are always delighted when someone is generous enough to supply free materials and the Taff plots and our neighbours will make good use of this material from Leadbitter – thank you for helping us out.

On the Federation of City Farms course, we all learned that the future of funding projects could become more difficult and that we need to learn what our grandparents would have fondly called thrift and foraging. It’s also about calling upon the skills of negotiation, bartering and a touch of talking your way in with people who can help you.

We heard some great examples from an orchard project in Abergavenny and a youth project in Rhondda Cynon Taff, where people have asked and received.

Back at the Taff Community Allotments, we are already thinking ahead to our plans for next year. Work is underway on our box beds, using the scaffolding planks donated by Generation Hire. We are also hoping to source some free rotted wood mulch, which will make a great soil conditioner.

Meanwhile, the new Workers Education Association accredited course on Pests and Diseases is under way. Tutor Aisling Judge has a ‘full house’ of with 12 willing students attending the sessions at the allotment shed on Tuesday afternoons. The recently completed Organic Gardening course proved a hit, with everyone learning lots.
One good pointer from Aisling is to ask the farms we source our manure from about whether it can be called organic or whether they use any treatments on the pasture land.

Allotment star wins award

Fanwell Tandi, right, at the Housing Hero Awards

Popular allotment holder Fanwell Tandi has spoken of his delight after winning a prestigious award.

Fanwell, who lives in Riverside, Cardiff, has been involved with the Taff Community Allotment Group for the past two years and has been the chairman for the past 18 months. His enthusiasm and leadership and help for other tenants resulted in his nomination as a Housing Hero at the Welsh Housing Awards 2012.

He attended the ceremony at the Vale Resort Hotel in Hensol, Vale of Glamorgan, with staff from Taff Housing and his guests, son Clever Tandi and tenant and Taff allotment holder Jayne Palmer.

Fanwell has been involved with the Taff Community Allotments at Leckwith since February 2011 and he has attended gardening training courses, assisted other tenants with work on their plots and helped maintain the community growing areas on the site.

During one of the worst summers on record, as other gardeners gave up hope of growing anything, Fanwell showed leadership and support to other tenants. He helped them re-plant seeds, gave his enthusiastic help and was an inspiration to others.

Commenting on his Housing Hero Award he said: “This was indeed a night to remember for many years to come. I am very pleased to receive the award.”

Elaine Ballard, Chief Executive of Taff Housing, said: “It’s brilliant that Fanwell has been recognised in this way. He is one of life’s ‘quiet leaders’ who shows people nothing is impossible. He has encouraged others in tough times and celebrated their achievements with them. We’re honoured to have been there with him on his special night.”

Scholars in the shed

The courgette relish has proved a hit

I am pleased to report the allotment training sessions are going very well, with a good turn out each week enjoying the practical course work with tutor Aisling Judge.

The new training shed has proved a real hit, with participants laughing and enjoying the course enormously. It has quickly become a base for learning key skills at the allotments. The current Organic gardening course is drawing to a close and will be followed seamlessly by the Pests and Diseases course.

What is very pleasing is seeing how much more confident the tenants and residents are. They are quite literally walking out of the training shed and using their new skills and knowledge on the allotments, which is terrific to see. And there is a great cameraderie too, with everyone getting on and supporting one another.

Meanwhile, the feedback from the sample jars of courgette relish from Inner City Pickle has been great. They have got people talking and proved to be a big hit. The relish was a topic of conversation among the plot holders at the recent group meeting, where we reviewed what had been achieved in a difficult growing year and began to plan for 2013.

The arrival of 6-8 tonnes of quality manure has been met with excitement by the tenants. We’ve spread some and the rest is being transferred to the manure bin. There are patches that will really need at, as the extensive regeneration of the soil on the site in the spring site wasn’t as thorough as we’d thought, with two lower lying patches not as productive or draining well.

Good partners, relish and shed laughter

Tenant Esther Patricio’s Zimbabwean maize defied the wet summer!

It’s been one of the most fascinating months so far on the Taff Community Allotment Project, with so many things going on. We look back on our first full year of cultivation at the Leckwith allotments and we can be proud of what we’ve achieved, against such a poor season of weather for growing.

As autumn shifts into the early part of winter, we have turned our attention again to training, with another successfully attended Workers Education Association accredited course getting under way. This time, we’re delighted to host it in our new training shed – a fine 12ft x 12ft structure, basically kitted out with chairs, tables and whiteboard and very cosy and full of laughter during the course. We even have a tenant in a wheelchair able to access the course, with a ramp into the shed.

The tutor, Aisling Judge, has everyone enjoying themselves as they learn – with the allotments outside the door acting as both inspiration and training ground.

Elsewhere, the fantastic support from our contractors and partners paid off in a different way at the Community Housing Cymru Public Relations Awards. The promotion of their input helped us secure the Successful Partnership category. Stories in the South Wales Echo, trade press, this blog and elsewhere impressed the judges. Just to mention them all again – thank you to GKR Maintenance, Leadbitters, mi-space, Cosgrove and the Probation Service for all their contributions.

The Probation Service were down at the allotments this week as part of a feature on their best work in Cardiff. They took photos of the footpaths, fencing and beds they have helped tenants with this year. We’d like to particularly thank Rob Robbins and Sam Holt for all their hard work coordinating the Probation sessions, which made such a massive difference to the project.

We’ve just had delivery of sample jars of courgette relish from Inner City Pickle, a local business that works on the food markets in Riverside and Roath. They look great, with specially printed labels for Ty Enfys, Riverside Play Centre and City Temple Homeless Project.

Next year, we hope to develop the relationship with Inner City Pickle to hopefully produce more jars of tasty treats, which they can either eat or possibly sell to make some money and raise awareness about their own projects. Check out Inner City Pickle at: http://www.innercitypickle.co.uk/index.html

On another positive note, our group chairman Fanwell Tandi has been short-listed for a Housing Hero category at the Chartered Insttute of Housing Cymru Awards. This is a black-tie event at the Vale Resort Hotel near Pontyclun. A world away from Fanwell’s days on the allotments, but great recognition for the journey he has made as an allotment gardener and ambassador for the project.

Looking back on this year, the tenants think that luck was on our side, with late planting and raised beds saving us from the worst of the wet weather. We produced some epic runner beans, great Charlotte potatoes (one of the few varieties to succeed) and succulent mange tout. But the late fruiting strawberries were probably our showpiece – the plants have produced abundant crops long after other plots have harvested theirs.

The beneficiary projects of the Community Growing Space area – Ty Enfys mother and baby hostel, City Temple Homeless project and Riverside Play Centre – have received good quantities of free veg and fruit from the site. That’s been a pleasurable outcome from the project.