BRITISH TOWN WORKING TOWARDS FOOD SELF SUFFICIENCY

Tree Hugger - In Todmorden in West Yorkshire, Great Britain, a grass-roots effort to put the land to work has grown into a project drawing national media attention, Incredible Edible. The brains and energy behind Incredible Edible is Pam Warhurst, who combines insight gained as a former leader of Calderdale Council with the commitment that comes from being involved in a just cause. The principle is simple: food unites us, all peoples regardless of social rank or means, can communicate in the language of food. . .

Incredible Edible has planted two orchards and many veggie gardens. They work with authorities to use public space, like the fire stations and railway lands, for common gardens. Getting the social housing landlords involved reaches out to those who live in apartments without access to their own land.

School children in Todmorden eat locally grown meat and produce at every meal. Children learn from agricultural projects and participate in farms run by the schools. The Todmorden High School is now seeking funding for an aquaponics installation, which will grow fish and recycle the nutrient rich water for growing water-intensive plants, for scientific study of the environmentally-friendly food production options for the future.

It does not stop at growing food. Incredible Edible holds workshops, like how to kill and prep a chicken, how to forage for edible plants, and skills for canning and preserving. Blogs and a Twitter presence tell the ongoing story.

The Incredible Edible project is on track to meet their goal to make the town self-sufficient by 2018. A third more people grow their own vegetables, seventy percent buy locally grown produce at least once a week and 15 times more citizens tend their own chickens, compared with a year and a half ago.