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The beginning of an Incredible Edible Revolution

 

IEB Green

 

The Incredible Edible network picked up early on on the buzz in Bristol.

“Bristol as a city is vibrant, fiercely independent and proud of it’s food culture. On every corner there is an restaurant or cafe, all offering different menus from all across the world, from our wonderful Thali cafes with their offers of tiffin and spicy wonders to the wonderful Bristolian cafe whose breakfast I am yet to find anywhere to beat, to the amazing Poco, offering tapas, some of which is sourced from the U.K and much of that from very close to Bristol.

Bristol also has amazing food growing projects. The Severn Project gives people in rehabilitation programmes the skills and knowledge needed to grow food professionally through salad growing in the centre of the city. . . .

And yet, as always, there are areas that come across as complete food deserts, areas where land is underused and seemingly unloved. There are areas of poverty, social isolation and no community spirit. I arrived in Bristol just over a year ago and several things struck me immediately. Firstly I sent a lot of emails to projects I thought I’d like to volunteer with and I was only replied to by one.bSecondly it was really hard to find information about community projects and often it literally is a case of stumbling over one, and finally there was a lot of urban space just sitting there, doing nothing…”(But that’s not the end of the story, folks! Read the blog piece via the link for more.)

No Comments Community Impact, Food Justice, Food Sovereignty, Inspiring Action, Media Coverage

Bristol 365 coverage of our crowdsourcing initiative

http://www.Bristol365.com published a story about our crowdsourcing initiative with Spacehive.

“Incredible Edible Bristol takes to crowd sourcing website to raise funds to transform Bristol into the UK’s first edible city”

IEB Green

“Incredible Edible Bristol is a grassroots movement to transform Bristol in to the UK’s first edible city through helping groups based across Bristol to grow their own food on whatever land is available. Incredible Edible Bristol aims to do this by offering plots of land, seeds, tools and advice to groups of volunteers who are looking to start growing edible plants in their neighbourhoods. They are also engaging schools and universities through a series of education programmes and also aim to run health programmes with hospitals and care homes in a quest to transform Bristol in to the UK’s first Edible City.”

No Comments Food Justice, Food Sovereignty, Inspiring Action, Media Coverage

Gardening is defiance, plus you get strawberries

 

Bristol 24-7 gave us some good media coverage back in March when we were just getting started! It captures our ethos and spirit really well. You can find that coverage here.

“Incredible Edible Bristol is a new initiative set up by a dedicated group of gardeners and community leaders in Bristol. The idea behind it is to get people across the city growing food in as many places as possible including shared and unused spaces. . . Incredible Edible Bristol is about creating a revolution of kindness and resilience in Bristol. It draws on the wider Incredible Edible movement for inspiration, but also, because this is an urban environment, it also draws important inspiration from the edible cities movement all over the world – and in particular, from Ron Finley’s work in South Central Los Angeles.”

Incredibel Edible 3 poster

No Comments Food Justice, Food Sovereignty, General News, Media Coverage

Get your shovel Bristol, you’ve pulled

Join or Start a Project

Join or Start a Project

Incredible Edible Bristol recently got some great coverage in Crumbs magazine. You can read all about it here.

 

“If you were strolling through Castle Park this week you may have tripped over a giant vegetable bed full of all manner of green offerings – spinach, kale, leeks, herbs and perhaps wondered who ‘owned’ this generous glut of veggies. The answer is – you do. Well, everyone does. It is the fruits (or the vegetables…) of the labour of a group of Guerilla gardeners who have been planting food in public places all around the city for everyone to help themselves to.”

No Comments Community Gardens, General News, Media Coverage

Amerind Groove!

Amerind Grove 1

When local Incredible Edible BS3 member Sheena Stewart approached Amerind Grove, a BUPA Elder Residential Home in Southville to see if there was scope for a positive three way partnership between Incredible Edible Bristol, Ashton Gate School and Amerind Grove, the answer was a resounding, inspiring ‘yes!’

Amerind Grove got right behind the idea, even shipping BUPA staff from as far away as Staines to work on the project. Meanwhile, other volunteers, including some of our own Incredible Edible Bristol and BS3 people, have generously given time and expertise to transform the space at Amerind Grove into three large edible beds with wheelchair access—and to clear the ground for a beautiful wildflower meadow for Altzheimer’s sufferers to wander freely in.

Amerind Grove warmly welcomes any ongoing support and volunteering on this project. It is a truly exciting, intergenerational project, where local school kids can work alongside elderly people, sharing the joys of food growing. To get involved, simply contact the home and/or contact Incredible Edible BS3! You can also reach the right people by writing to admin@ediblebristolorguk.wpcomstaging.com

We love that Amerind Groove!

Amerind Grove 2 Amerind Grove 3 Amerind Grove 4 Amerind Grove 5 Amerind Grove 6

No Comments Community Gardens, General News, Partnerships and Collaborations

Way Out West in Bedminster

West Street Crew at work

The Job Centre in West Street, Bedminster, got the community teamwork treatment on Sunday 4th May when Way Out West, Bemmie Patchwork and Incredible Edible BS3 got stuck in together to create a bed and plant it up. The turn out was fantastic. Three wonderful women even stopped in on their way to Dundry Hill, kitted out with backpacks and fabulous good cheer, digging and then marching onwards!

Lots of fork work, weeding and worm care—interspersed with laughter and sips of water—and a new bed appeared, to be filled with shrubs and herbs, with plenty of space left for fruit bushes and even—the crew hope—some cherry trees.

The wonderful Stef Brammer led the charge, ably assisted by everyone else there. There was plenty of discussion about the balance of the bed, how it will look from the road, and the extra space for plenty of gorgeous edibles to come—including sunflowers rich in all those fabulous essential fatty acids!

The locals seemed to approve too. A young couple sitting at the bus stop soaking up the sun while they waited loved the idea of edibles by the bus stop!

Watch this space for more great teaming up and partnership in BS3. Great people. Great fun. Gorgeous results. What’s not to like? Plenty more plans in the offing too. It’s looking lively way out west in Bedminster!

West Street crew

No Comments Community Gardens, General News ,

East Street Planter Ninjas!

East Street BS3 planter reccy

Map of Planters East StreetOn Friday 18th April, four of the Incredible Edible BS3 group decided to have a quick reccie meeting to take forward plans to revitalise the East Street Planters. Co-founder of Incredible Edible Bristol and expert horticulturalist Sara Venn was there too.

East Street is a busy hub in BS3, where the local community and traders are gradually revitalising the area with greening. There are several large planters, some with large gaps in, some with what Bonnie Hewson, a key BS3 member, describes as ‘slightly sad bamboo with some lavender and oregano dotted about’. Time for an edible makeover!

The local shopkeepers have been great at watering the planters, and Incredible Edible BS3 hopes they will continue to do so when the planters are bursting with lively, resilient, hardy and scented herbs: rosemary, hyssop and thyme for starters! The Bedminster Town Team have been very supportive and are contributing £50 towards the new plants. The Incredible Edible plant-mapping ninjas were spotted eating cream eggs and making plans as they went. Now that’s what we call Easter style!

The next plan will be to book the planting day. Anyone wanting to help or to get involved, either with this project, or future BS3 projects (of which there are many) should get in touch via the Edible BS3 Facebook page, or via this website. If you eat, you’re in (even if that means just cream eggs!)

No Comments Community Gardens, General News ,