Everyday Growing Stories

By Erinma Ochu ()

We’ve been busy making a film to capture the story of what happened on Everyday Growing Cultures, including the mapping walks run by the Kindling Trust and Grow Sheffield. The film is now turning out to be a tale of three cities, Manchester, Sheffield and now New York, and how they all approached the same problem of growing vegetables on public land.

We’ve interviewed the key players who are trying to make it happen in the UK, Farida, Danny, Kirstin and Steven and in New York we visited Wendy from Green Map, who has just secured a vacant lot with local residents on the Lower East side via 596Acres and Daryl at East New York Farm in Brooklyn which has been going for 15 years and helps growers to gain access to tools, skills and other growing resources.

Whilst reviewing the footage, the research value as well as the community value in making a film is becoming increasingly apparent. The process of filming, which involves listening to and watching participants, captures insights into how each project in each city approaches the same problem differently.

There are some commonalities and clearly different contexts arising. In New York, for example, resilience in the face of a housing crisis, hurricane sandy and small living spaces might have played a role in motivating local residents to make it happen.

We certainly had great fun making the film. Meeting people has built bonds, connections to the project and inspiration to us as growers. We hope that watching the film will encourage reflecting on the own journey, new insights and connections that we’d not envisaged and inspiration to keep going and to achieve what’s been achieved in New York but also closer to home in Todmorden, through Incredible Edible for example.

There were also some great surprises including an Urban Growing Centre under a railway bridge in Harlem and Cherry trees that were discovered on the Grow Sheffield walk.

The Rodale Pleasant community garden in Spanish Harlem tended by Mexican community groups claims to now have humming birds visiting them! They have Group plots and individual plots and share responsibility to tend common growing areas in between and around plots.

And there were some ideas, including one from Danny at Grow Sheffield who wondered whether a great place to grow might be where two communities are in constant contact but there may be tensions e.g. where refugees and asylum seekers come to the refugee and asylum council offices, there is an outside empty space that could be used to grow.

We don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone so to find out more about what we saw, come to the public event and screening on the 23^rd July 2013. Register here for a free ticket.

Thanks to everyone who welcomed us into their offices, gardens and homes to make the film.

Can’t make it? Contact us to let us know if you’d like to screen the film in your network [mailto: ]