Earth Up zine, issue 2

Description

Climate friendly food growing zine, issue 2, by Operation Farm

Since issue one of Earth Up, concerns around climate change, political shifts and instability and ecological harm have ramped up again. Against this backdrop, and amidst an onslaught of negative messaging online we can campaign and stand up against unwanted forces but focus on taking actions ourselves because people seeing positive change around them is a powerful way to nurture hope for and confidence in the future.

The most impactful group to influence and inform have got to be children and young people and in this issue Raddon Stephenson from Lalley Allotment talks about his research on food waste composting with a local school and capturing the imagination of young curious minds to change thinking about food waste as well as providing for the needs of a community plot.

Global systems of production and marketing push new products on us all the time and the garden supply sector is no exception, with petrochemical based plastic and disposable products still dominating many garden centres.  But in our gardens allotments and community spaces we can choose a different approach and employ creative ways to use found and reused materials and create biodiversity rich gardens. Get some inspiration and ideas from the low impact methods used to create Our Space community garden in Mossley.

Another crucial part of a sustainable, resilient food future is by saving and sharing seed – Jo Payne from Manchester Urban Diggers explains how and why they run their seed swaps –clue – it’s easier than you think!

An investment in the future of self -reliance is growing fruit trees and Dan from Manchester Fruit tree Co-op shares his brilliant pruning top tips based on many years of experience to help keep them healthy and bearing fruit for years to come.

Finally, there is a surge in interest in cultivating vegetables in polycultures- that is growing a mixture of plants in the same spaces to mimic natures preference for diversity for resilience and is an ancient practice for this reason. Based on workshops we ran this year we investigate some benefits and underlying principles to inform this style of food growing.

Hopefully there’s information here to interest local food growing enthusiasts whether beginning or seasoned– we growers continually learn through experimentation – so here’s to being curious, creative and meeting today’s challenges with an open mind, staying connected and sharing knowledge (and seeds!).

Contents

3 Introduction

4 Ridan the Wave – The Ripple Effects of Food Waste Composting
Raddon Stephenson

6 Using What’s Freely Available in a Community Garden
Jayne McLean Kremer, Our Space Garden, Mossley

8 Seed Swapping: A Radical Act!
Jo Payne, Manchester Urban Diggers

10 Down-to-Earth Apple Tree Care: Dan’s 10 Ds
Dan Hasler, Manchester Fruit Tree Co-op

12 Mix it up! Growing vegetables in polycultures
Operation Farm & Teresa Pereira

14 Further Reading & Resources