Target reached!
We were all blown away to have achieved our £5k target in the first 4 days of our cr...
Nottz Garden Project
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Aim
Building community resilience through creative art filled green spaces, growing free food and empowering others to grow for themselves.
Nottz Garden Project is a community group with a manifesto:
- Growing food for people where access to fresh food is limited, either through absence of provision or through low or no income.
- Building community resilience, by promoting engagement with food growing and gardening to empower people to grow their own food, improve their diet and mental health.
- Providing creative art filled green spaces and bringing wildlife into neglected or abandoned urban spaces. (sometimes guerrilla!)
Radford & Hyson Green NG7 in Nottingham is where we focus our work:
- Radford is diverse: 57% White British, 22% Asian/Asian British and 11% Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- 15% of the population live in households reliant on means tested benefits
- 33% of children aged 5-15 yrs are living in poverty
- 38% of children are obese
- 46% of elderly residents are in receipt of pension credit
- Life expectancy for males is 73 yrs (versus UK average 80 yrs)
- NG7 is ranked in the top 15% most deprived wards (out of England's 7000+ wards)
- The area has our city's 2nd highest crime rate with half of all crime classified as anti social behavior
WHAT WE DO:
Growing for Good – In 2021 we started to grow food on an allotment in Nottingham, donating the majority of the produce to Himmah Foodbank in Radford. The veg takes the form of bags that contain a selection of veg, sometimes with a recipe suggestion and always with a guide so people know what they’ve got. The veg bags are given out at Himmah to people who collect emergency food parcels or are used in cooking classes or hot meals provision.
Gamble St Corner is a guerrilla veg & flower garden on the corner of Gamble St and Forest Rd East in Radford NG7, started in Feb 2023.
Previously a neglected piece of wasteland, in 2023 we turned it into an art filled green oasis providing fresh veg and flowers to the community. We created an eye catching veg mural as a backdrop to ensure a welcoming and vibrant destination. Wildlife is encouraged into the space by a variety of pollinator friendly plants and the installation of 3 insect hotels.
Please play the video below where we explain to the BBC the project in general, gamble street corner and the link with Himmah.
Transformation: Plz watch these short videos for a look at the work we did to transform Gamble St Corner! The garden is open 24/7 to passers by to harvest fresh food or flowers, access the Little Free Library (where they can take or donate books) or just sit on the wall, enjoy the green space and take it all in.
Community Events: We run community events on the corner which so far have involved Free Tomato Plants, Tacos on the Corner, and a Flowers & Bees day where we had mural painting, street art and seed bomb making. Plz watch the short film of Tomato Day on 24th June 2023 for a flavour of our events! Gamble St Corner is a joint project with Himmah, which came about through the fresh veg donations we made and also an increased interest in community growing by the charity.
Flowers & Bees Community Day 2nd September 2023:
Click the photo to watch what happened when Notts TV came to visit Gamble Street Corner ahead of our community day!
Raleigh Street Patch will be our second site in Radford NG7 opening in 2024!
We've agreed access to some land right in the middle of the community where we'll grow veggies and flowers on a 20m x 3m back wall site in an old churchyard about a 5 minute walk from Gamble Street Corner. Its quite a different setting but the same ethos will apply, growing food for free for people who need it, bringing in wildlife through pollinators and inspiring people to grow their own food through engagement with the new green space.
Amazing local charity SFICE are based next door, assisting the homeless, refugees and other vulnerable adults in our city. They host ESOL classes and cooking lessons on site and also host a 3 nights per week Social Cafe feeding the homeless. SFICE have a demand for fresh healthy food for their service users so they will definitely be using some of the food grown! Read about SFICE here: SFICE Website
Art & Creativity is a key part of Nottz Garden Project. Our spaces are vibrant, eye catching, cool spots that can inspire community to take interest, break up the concrete jungle and show people that there is a different way!
It’s why we painted a crazy veg mural on the wall of Gamble St Corner (inspired by 'Fruit Salad' by Katherine Bernhardt, which she painted on the on the Venus Gallery in Los Angeles in 2015.) Its why we ran an under 16s mural competition and now have a Community Canvas for people to leave messages, doodles, paint pictures - whatever they like!
Its also why we installed a Little Free Library on Gamble St Corner (& why we'll put one on Raleigh Street Patch) – everyone should have the opportunity to access reading and the benefits it can bring.
NEW / PIPELINE PROJECTS:
Free Veg Market is a new initiative to provide a market style setting for the community to access free veggies. The setting on Gamble Street Corner allows us to engage with the people, talk about the garden and the veggies and provide a dignified shopping experience rather than a 'handout' At the end of the market , any fresh food leftover is donated to Himmah Foodbank for distribution with emergency food parcels.
A linked initiative is our Free Veg Collective encouraging local growers to donate their surplus veggies to the market knowing that it is going to help a community in Nottingham that really needs it.
A project in its infancy is NG Seedz , more than a seed library - this is a Growing Bank , an outreach to encourage the community to feel empowered to grow their own food through provision of equipment and knowledge.
So what will we use funding for?
Securing our future on Gamble Street Corner:
- further improving the garden soil
- topping up / replacing equipment e.g. water butts, hose pipes
- providing tools for volunteers
- providing paints and equipment for creative elements in the garden e.g. murals
- a program of 3 plant giveaways per year
- a program of 4-6 community events per year
- improving signage and education about types of veg, benefits, recipes
A new site for 2024 - Raleigh Street Patch
- improving the ground and getting it ready to grow
- setting up water butts & other infrastructure
- equipment & tools for volunteers
- a program of 2 plant giveaways
- a program of 3 community events
- setting up a Little Free Library (we already have one at gamble street corner)
Nottz Garden Project Allotment
- adding a 3rd low cost polytunnel to increase volume and improve planning of seed sowing /seedlings + plants for plant giveaways for the 2 sites
- provision of compost and pots for plant giveaways
Guerrilla Greening
- people in the community are always telling us about neglected corners, areas that need some TLC or planters that are left derelict
- we'll take on small areas and guerrilla garden them to improve the area
NG Seedz
- setting up seed bank format, branding, printing
- pots & compost supplies
- information / 'how to' guides and packs
Community Outreach
- a program of outreach to local groups, organisations businesses and individuals to share Nottz Garden Project aims and spread awareness
- information packs, exhibition leaflets, miscellaneous giveaways like badges and stickers
Community Recipe & Food Project
- through a program of group workshops & individual interviews , gathering recipes and stories around food culture, faith, poverty, connections
- publication of Recipe & Food Project into a fundraising book
In a nutshell this crowdfunder is aimed at consolidating what we started at Gamble Street Corner, adding a second site in Radford NG7 and taking Nottz Garden Project to the next level with more outreach and bigger community resilience impact.
Please give generously, we really do appreciate it and it will make a huge difference to people in our project area. Thankyou!
We've gathered an amazing selection of rewards from the coolest of the cool friends of Nottz Garden Project. You can grab the rewards on the menu on the right (remember Notts Garden Project gets x 2 Matchfunding for all rewards too!)
Big Love to everyone below for all your support!
(Links below to each reward provider + some photos of physical rewards)
Hotel by Forget Me Notts Dash Vegan Hamper Soul Buggin'
FoodBank Soup Silkscreen Bespoke Planter by Grow Notts
Get Guerilla Gardening by Ellen Miles Signed Copy
Seed Bombs by @maskedgardening Project Tee Gamble Tote
REWARD SPONSOR LINKS:
https://www.hockleyhustle.co.uk/
https://www.nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/
https://www.thenottinghamforager.com/
https://soulbuggin.eventcube.io/
https://www.georgieartist.co.uk/
Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund has provided £5,820 of match funding
This project successfully funded on 12th November 2023