Incredible Edible Network
The Incredible Edible Network is a network of people in different cities throughout the UK, and beyond, that connects people within communities by engaging them in the transformation of the own urban (from small villages to large towns) landscape where they live, and by turning disused urban plots into a source of healthy food. The network has three core values (known as plates): learning, community and business. The Learning aspect of the network is the learning of the arts (e.g., growing vegetables and fruits, cooking) but also the development and learning of cultivation at the local school level. The Community aspect of the network focuses on (re-)connecting and (re-)creating links between neighbours, and between humans and nature. Finally, the Business component of the network focuses on promoting and working with businesses promoting and working towards a local food economy.
Although the primary focus of the network is local food production in urban and peri-urban areas, the Incredible Edible community does an incredible work on urban soil management, as food cultivation comes from proper soil management. Moreover, by cultivating food in urban areas, the network’s action enriches the value of urban soils, attributing them not only an aesthetic value, but an ecosystem services value too (food production, water infiltration, carbon storage, cooling).
Description
The Network started in 2008 by a small group of friends in the town of Todmorden (north of England) that wanted to make use of the left alone areas of their town. Since then, the model has been expended throughout the UK and the world through the development of edible gardens from abandoned plots, or town’s green areas as small as a front door garden. Each Incredible Edible groups are unique and are adapted to the local context, ideas and wishes of the participants, the businesses and all the stakeholders involved.
Although there are no set practices and modes of action of the Network, it engages each an everyone in the community not only when growing food but also when cooking the products, and when designing the seed beds and the sign to identify the vegetables and fruits growing as well as the instruction about when to pick the products. The Network aims at being inclusive and visible. Therefore, the areas that are cultivated are in the public space, where everybody can see the cultivated patches (be it at the local train station or next to the doctor’s office). The food is free to pick when mature by anyone passing by. In some cases, the food is harvested and then cooked before being shared again with the community. The project is inclusive and is therefore working with people of all age (from childhood to retirement), all religions, all ethnicity and all background. The network’s activity reduces social isolation while enhancing people’s ability to re-establish social bonds.
The Learning component is therefore also for people of all age. Schools have teamed up with Incredible Edible and have started to offer agricultural classes in the Todmorden high school for example. The Incredible Edible groups work with schools and their gardening clubs to pass on soil cultivation and food growing skills. The Network promotes the exchange of knowledge and information in real life but also through their website. Indeed, articles on different soil management techniques and tricks are often published online. For instance, the Network published an article on mulching to promote the practice during the winter season and an article on the benefit of composts for the International Composting Awareness Week in 2019. Similarly, the Network published the Peat Free April campaign’s tip and tricks to access affordable peat free composts.
The Business component acknowledges that individuals have the power to promote small local business that are working towards local food economy. Through activities and project, the local Incredible Edible groups can help the local farmers and small businesses to flourish and to re-invent themselves. For example, Incredible Edible Penryn group has launched a “Pay as Feel” café that uses some of the produce from the garden and surplus from local business that would otherwise be thrown away. In Middlesbrough, the Incredible Edible group invited a local egg producer to sell at a market where they were represented. Thanks to a friendly conversation, the egg producer got a deal with a local cafe that is interested in buying their eggs directly.
The Incredible Edible Network supports the Big Climate Fight Back campaign of the Woodland Trust, which aim to plant 64 million trees in order to fight global warming. With this in mind, the Incredible Edible Middlesbrough formed a partnership with a local landlord (company) and local gardeners to make use of the unused area behind one of the building belonging to the landlord. The area has been planted with nuts and fruit trees and the pruning will be carried out by local specialists.
N.B.: The Network is also having an influence on a political level. Through their Right to Grow Bill, the Network has secured a proposal to amend the Government’s Levelling Up Bill. Its inclusion is yet to be debated. This Bill would enable the population to have access to public land, which is one of the main challenges faced by the Network groups at the moment. This bill is twofold: i) local authorities should map public sector land which is suitable for growing or environmental enhancement, ii) create a simple process whereby communities can apply to cultivate this land for a defined period without the need for a formal lease or license.
Check out the resources below to learn more:
Website: https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/