Grow your own is sweeping the nation but not everyone wants to wait for an allotment. Hugh met the women who are reclaiming wasteland in a bid to make their town self sufficient
Pam Warhurst and Mary Clear are on a mission to make their West Yorkshire town, Todmorden, self-sufficient in staples. Within 10 years they want their community producing and buying their own fruit, veg, meat and dairy.
25 years ago Todmorden had 44 allotment sites, but now there's just four. So, without a pole of land between them, Pam and Mary became the country's unlikeliest guerrilla gardeners.
They planted in municipal tubs by the bus stop, on the railway platform, at the school, in the cemetery, outside the doctors' surgery. The aim: to inspire others to get growing in their own back gardens, on balconies, outside their offices... wherever they could.
Find out how you can get hold of unloved land, or share your garden with growers through Landshare.
They launched their Incredible Edible mission this March and just eight months later, the local council, Calderdale, has begun to respond to the momentum, giving permission to plant 500 fruit trees around the local playing fields and looking for plots to turn into new allotments.
Pam and Mary were inspired to launch their local food campaign when they realised the connection between global oil and grain prices and the cost of food back home.
So, should we become veg revolutionaries, armed with beans and a bag of good quality mulch? There's a long tradition in it - not always successful.
350 years ago, Gerrard Winstanley started a movement called the True Levellers. Otherwise known as The Diggers, Winstanley and his followers wanted economic equality for all. Their key weapon was simply taking over common ground and planting food for consumption by all. Perhaps their most famous 'guerrilla gardening' site was Saint George's Hill, Weybridge in Surrey which ended in a skirmish. The Levellers planted the green with vegetables but were met by a hostile Lord Fairfax and his army who drove them off the ground and pursued them through the courts.
The modern version of guerrilla gardening was started in 1973 by the Green Guerilla group in the Bowery area of New York. The gardeners took over unloved rough ground in front of some tower blocks transforming it into gardens that were tended for years by volunteers. Now, the New York City parks service looks after the garden.
For more information on Todmorden's gardening exploits go to www.incredible-edible-todmorden.com and www.todgrow.forumandco.com
Watch classic River Cottage series for FREE on your PC with 4oD
.jpg)
Get the latest from Hugh on the River Cottage website.jpg)
Your Comments
Post your comment
Please note: In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in to Channel 4:
Sign In Here or Register Here
Comments closed
Comments are closed at the present time
Comments
Thank you for your comment!
Your message will be reviewed and the best ones will be published below.
If you intended to make an official comment to Channel 4 please contact us.
Comments