Permaculture is a system of cultivation which uses the land in a sustainable way. It is a system which rejects the use of artificial fertilisers or chemicals, and requires composting, recycling, and careful management of topsoil and water supply. It uses methods known to traditional cultivators and organic gardeners, linked to a larger ideal of working towards a sustainable environment. In urban areas in particular, permaculture can involve and empower local communities, to counteract economic and social problems.
Permaculture can be practised in a small way, in individual gardens and allotments, but is also well suited to community projects, where the resources, the work, and the produce can be shared between members of the community. There are permaculture groups in many parts of the country, many of them linked to LETS groups (Local Exchange Trading System). These are trading groups, where the members trade goods and services on a barter system.
Springfield community garden
The Holmewood Estate was built in the 1950s on land about 150m above sea level on the south-east edge of Bradford. The estate was planned without individual gardens, and with little regard to shelter or aspect, and after 40 years remained as housing in a largely useless landscape of windswept grass, with no motivation for residents to become interested in caring for it. A member of the local community group who was a keen gardener became concerned that there was little opportunity for residents to garden, produce food or learn about home cooking.
With funding from City Challenge and Bradford City Council, the Springfield Community Garden was born. A site of 3 hectares (7.5 acres) on the edge of the estate was made available by the council, and a permaculture design team came to survey the area and produce a design. They lived on the estate during the survey period, getting to know local people and encouraging interest and participation in the project.
At an early stage, the aims of the project were drawn up. These include:
- encouraging local people to grow food both in their own gardens and on the site, as this has economic, social and environmental benefits. Food growing can save money, improve health and give people an interest in creating a healthy environment.
- providing a resource for local people through workshop space, tools and material for green wood working and horticultural craft skills.
- developing a commercial business based at Springfield that will provide training to help people into employment or further education.
- providing a facility for those in the community with learning difficulties.
The vegetable gardens were laid out on the upper ground, where the soil is lighter and workable. Swales or ditches were dug across the site to catch surface runoff. Fish ponds were dug in the impermeable clay in the lower part of the site.At least 4,000 trees have been planted to provide shelter and woodland produce. Buildings, hard standings and the access road were sited on areas of old shale tip.
Two new timber buildings were constructed. The farmhouse kitchen provides office and meeting space, as well as facilities for people to learn about cooking and using produce from the garden. The other building is used as a workshop and potting shed. Three polytunnels provide propagation and growing space for a wide range of plants.
Sustainable techniques have been used wherever possible. A wind turbine provides approximately 90% of the site’s electricity needs. Water consumption has been minimised by the construction of compost toilets, by channelling ‘grey’ water into a willow-growing area, and by saving rainwater for irrigation. In spite of fairly high rainfall, the area has been subject to recent water shortages.
The project has three full-time staff, and every day there are local residents and other volunteers on site who are closely involved with the project. Springfield provides a resource for those with learning difficulties, training for the unemployed, and a site where local children are welcomed for informal play and learning.
Brixton, London
A large, neglected vicarage garden in inner-city Brixton has been turned into an organic allotment, wildlife haven and community garden by TCV and the Brixton LETS EAT group. (LETS, standing for Local Exchange Trading System, is a bartering scheme through which members of a group trade goods and services with one another without using money. There are LETS groups throughout the UK.) Work started in November 1994, to make a small, walled area behind the vicarage into an organic allotment, on which crops of salads, beans, leeks, courgettes and other vegetables have been grown.
A large bog-garden for wildlife has been created, and quickly took on an established appearance with a wide variety of invertebrate and birdlife attracted to it.
Members of the LETS EAT group go regularly to the garden to water, weed and crop. Workdays are held each month at which as many members as possible turn up to work, exchange ideas and socialise, and together improve their skills in organic and wildlife gardening. It is hoped that the garden will take on an educational, leisure and ecological role for the wider community.
