In the small town of Todmorden in the north of England, fresh organic produce is growing everywhere. There are sweet-smelling herbs at the railway station, vegetables sprouting in the public car park, and an apothecary garden next to the local Health Centre. This is the Incredible Edible movement, a grassroots campaign to provide healthy fresh food to the whole community, while promoting local produce and educating people on the joys of cultivating veggies.
Incredible Edible co-founder Pam Warhurst explained how she and her friends sat around a kitchen table six years ago, brainstorming ways to make positive change in the world. They began with a simple question: Can we find a unifying language that cuts across age, income and culture, that will help people themselves find a new way of living? Then came the thunderbolt. Food is a basic human need, but fresh, healthy organic food is a basic human right. “None of this is rocket science, but it is inclusive,” Pam says. Ultimately, this is a movement for everyone. We say, ´if you eat, you´re in´.”
What followed was a public meeting, where Pam and her associates received a standing ovation after presenting their plan. It was an ambitious, idealistic project which not only addressed the issue of what we eat, but where we spend our money and what we teach our children.
“I wondered if it was possible to take a town like Todmorden and focus on local food to re-engage people with the planet we live on, create the sort of shifts in behaviour we need to live within the resources we have, stop us thinking like disempowered victims, and to start taking responsibility for our own futures,” Pam explains.
Three key areas are covered: planting free food for the whole community, supporting and promoting farmers and other local food producers rather than supermarkets, and rolling out an extensive educational network to directly involve residents and students with the project.
Incredible Edible is run by unpaid volunteers and began with the planting of some small herb gardens and the launch of a local seed bank. Now, every school (and church) in the area is involved with the movement. They have provided chickens, planted orchards, and installed a fish farm at the local high school, which was such a success that a course in agriculture has since been launched. The group also offers free staff training for primary school teachers on issues of food awareness and cultivation, as well as adult learning schemes through ties with the college. All the children in Todmorden can now recognize a tomato plant, and have benefited greatly from getting their hands dirty in the community gardens.
Continue reading “Incredible Edible Free Food Project Replicated Worldwide”
Sophie McAdam 