The Millennium Square project is ongoing and very exciting to be a part of. Last week we had a day of maintenance which was quite wonderful and not only because we had our youngest volunteer to date who was the grand age of 5 weeks old!!

The project came about when @Bristol decided that the beds in Millennium Square needed updating and wanted them to be edible so that they would compliment the Food exhibition which they are now running for 3 years. We are working alongside @Bristol and Almondsbury Garden Centre on the project and it has been challenging this year as we didn’t begin the project until half way through the growing season so to have cleared, planted and in 2 beds cases harvested and replanted, is quite a feat.

There has been criticism. Some people feel that fruit and veg belong in allotments, and one chap in particular was very cross and said that vegetables should only be grown in the countryside in fields, but we feel really passionately that it’s vital that we show that good, fresh and organic food can be grown in the urban landscape and also can be beautiful and create an impact on that environment. we also believe that its vital that people see that crops do sometimes fail or have issues, so we aren’t going to spray the plants with chemicals in order to make them look perfect, but rather use good and organic methods to help the plants through whatever the issue is and encourage strength and vitality in them.

By 2050 it is estimated that 70{2f2874fc6125dd5cf7bd0be296e4e150855e421b2444f8743791b81c4b31d296} of the population will be living in cities and these cities will need to be thinking about how they feed themselves. Yesterday the IPCC announced that unless we pretty much stop relying on fossil fuels we will never combat the effects of climate change, and that we need to address that now. Food distribution systems rely heavily on fossil fuels to move food around the country so we need to find alternatives to this. Growing in groups and buying from local producers is going to need to be the way through this so that we rely on far smaller chains of local distribution that can use alternative power methods to deliver goods to our cities.

By 2020 Bristol aims to be the UK’s most sustainable food city. Come along to Millennium Square and get inspired by what we are doing, help yourself to some free crops and make sure you use them, and think about how you might become part of the food growing revolution in Bristol!