Cotgrave Community garden fundraiser

Aim: We want to secure our future and further develop the garden for community-wide benefit.

We are Cotgrave Community Garden - an off-grid food garden in the heart of the East Midlands, creating space for community growth and nourishment. We are fundraising to improve and expand the garden for the benefit of the community.

The community garden is a space to relax, have fun, meet friends and feed your soul.   We believe all communities should have places where people can share skills, share food and create connections for mutual support.                                                                                                              We use growing and sharing food as a way to support ourselves and the environment; creating a strong community resistant to challenges.    We challenge climate change and food security issues by improving opportunities for environmental access and education, by growing local food in harmony with nature, capturing carbon through tree planting & soil health and creating space to support biodiversity. Empowering our community to grow and live sustainably

What's the story?

A group of like-minded community members came together in 2019 with the vision of creating a green space for all. In 2020, we were kindly offered the use of Cotgrave Welfare Club land and volunteers quickly got to work turning what was once a disused bowls green into a thriving space filled with organic food, flowers and wildlife for all to enjoy.

Over four years, volunteers have created growing beds for food and flowers, planted hedging which will provide edible hedgerow fruit when mature, 14 dwarf fruit trees, a mini-wildflower meadow, created habitats for wildlife and are currently developing a sensory area.

What does CCG need money for?

We are reaching more and more people so we need to develop and grow the community garden. This will enable us to host an increased amount of community activities, educational sessions and collaborative support provision as well as improve overall infrastructure

We will....

• Be able to ensure a consistent supply of organic produce to the community 

 Cotgrave Community Kitchen stands against food insecurity by redistributing surplus food to the community - hosting a social supermarket twice a week and providing emergency food parcels while preventing good food from going to landfill. Our produce supplements the huge range of food CCK offers on a 'pay what you can' basis so you can enjoy local organic produce.

Each week  community gardeners pick produce from the garden, fill a wheelbarrow and walk around the corner to CCK's social supermarket to fill a shelf with feel-good food.

Healthy, nutritious and locally grown food shouldn't be reserved for those in a better financial position. We all have the right to access good food which is good for us, so in the spring and summer we are a 'living supermarket'. When the garden is open, anyone is welcome to come in and buy fresh veg at a price that is good for them.

We want to continue growing high-quality produce to share. This means improving our growing space with better infrastructure and opening the garden more often during the busy growing season

Purchase equipment to help improve soil health & water conservation                                  Healthy soil = healthy plants and a healthy planet. 

We don't use any chemicals on-site so rely on the health of our soil to fill our food and plants with good stuff. We'd love to eventually be able to produce enough compost for all our needs but, until then, we need to buy in peat-free, organic compost to nourish our hardworking no-dig beds.. 

Sustainability is very important to us as is water conservation so we plan to continue developing our water storage and composting capacity. We are currently able to collect and store over 5,000 litres of rain water. We want to buy more solar irrigation kits so we can make the most of our water as the summers get hotter and drier.

• Launch 'The good-food club' a programme of community cook and eat events

With your help, we can hold regular community eating events and nutritional workshops. Throughout 2022 and 2023, we hosted picnics, cooking workshops and garden-to-plate lunches but we urgently need to buy better equipment. Your support will enable us to develop our cook and eat events, sharing the benefits of good food and creating positive connections to what we eat.

In winter 2023, with CCG's very own nutritionist, we hosted a cooking demo around the corner at CCK - cooking up a veggie ragu for customers using garden produce, sharing skills and sharing food. This is what some customers had to say:

"It was very tasty! My first vegetarian food" and "It was very, very good.I have the recipe, and will certainly make it! Thank you so much"

• Expand work with local schools & young people

For the sake of our planet, it's essential young people find a connection to the great outdoors, to learn where our food comes from and understand where we fit into nature.

Creating a positive connection to our environment and growing food is proven to support the development of self-confidence and resilience among young people. We currently host school holiday family activities but we need funds to develop the sessions.

Since 2022, we have worked with Trent Bridge Community Trust and its Positive Futures youth programme. With young people from local secondary schools, we grow food, cook and build together. This is what Jermaine from TBCT says about our work together.

   "Samie who runs CCG has helped the young people associated with the community garden become connected with their community again. She has enabled these vulnerable young people to make a difference and  become proud of their achievements within the community

  "The work undertaken has allowed for increasingly positive generational relationships, mental health boosts for those involved whilst also helping to build life, entrepreneurial and employability skills.   The entire Trent Bridge Community Trust team wholeheartedly believe that CCG is providing opportunities and a positive impact upon the young people involved and any funding raised would aid in being able to continue to make a beneficial difference within the community."

Throughout 2022 & 2023 we hosted pupils from Cotgraves Candleby lane school - this is what F1 class had to say about their experience in the garden 

"We have visited Cotgrave Community Garden many times over the last few years. Samie at the Garden has always been incredibly accommodating and helpful and clearly has a true passion for the work that she does.

 "This is very inspiring for our children to experience and makes visiting the garden a very special time. We have taken a lot of inspiration from our visits and have set up our own garden in our School Nursery.

 "Since our visits to the Community Garden, our children have learnt about the importance of caring for plants in our own garden. The children now show an interest in life cycles and love to bring in their own seeds and plants to grow.

"Last year we planted sunflowers at the Community Garden and the children continued to care for them in our Nursery garden where we spent many Summer days watering them and excitedly watching them grow very tall! 

"The Community Garden is a very special place in Cotgrave and a fantastic link to our school to encourage a love of gardening and getting outdoors! "

F1 - Candleby Lane School

We want all young people in Cotgrave to have this experience too! 

We have three wonderful schools in Cotgrave and we want to get them in the garden as well as continuing school holiday activities. 

With your support, we can continue our work with local young people and families, giving the opportunity to get outside and learn about food sustainability and the environment as well as finding a lasting connection to nature.

We know the time children spend outdoors has decreased for many reasons, leading to a disconnect between themselves, nature and food. With your help, we have the perfect opportunity to change that for young people in the area, and instill a love of nature and food into the next generation.

Over the last 4 years our wonderful local community has helped CCG become the space that it is; without your support, seed donations and smiles on the street this space wouldn't exist.

How you can help now

• Making a donation. Whatever you can give , you will be helping secure the future of this green- pace and helping us provide meaningful opportunities
• Sharing this page & spreading the word! Send it around to everyone you know, tell your friends and your hairdresser and the post person! 
• Come and get involved! We are always open to new volunteers, join us and help in whatever way you can, come along to an event day or on any day to say hello!

Thank you for your support!