Meet Sam, one of our Action for Local Food Ambassadors
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what made you want to get involved as an Ambassador?
I grew up in the Welsh countryside but I’ve been a Londoner since 2007, and an Islington resident for the last decade. Even though we grew veg in the garden when I was a kid, it wasn’t until about 3 years ago I realised that it’s something I was missing in my adult life. Probably something to do with not having a garden in London! But I did realise, and luckily enough there was a community garden (Tremlett Grove Gardening Group) just around the corner from home. So, I began my gardening in earnest just three years ago and quickly discovered several things. First, it’s really fun and satisfying to grow vegetables (and fruit – we have an espalier apple tree and a glorious grapevine at TGGG). Second (and this wasn’t something I’d anticipated) I felt so much more connected to my neighbours – it was like I was growing new, deeper roots in my neighbourhood. Third, I felt a little better about my individual impact on the climate crisis, specifically by getting my hands involved in composting. Finally, I discovered I had so many questions and that I had so much to learn – so when I heard about the Action For Local food programme, it was the perfect way to deepen my connections and knowledge.
What have you got out of the programme?
Gosh, so much. The course began during the pandemic, so for the first few months the focus was on taught topics by the amazing Sue Amos, covering a syllabus of material to do with gardening and growing – exactly what I was seeking to take back an apply at TGGG. Some of the highlights that come to mind right now – the jam jar soil test (figuring out soil composition so you know what it needs), companion planting (which families of plants are complementary), and permaculture principles (we’ve actually just got funding at TGGG to build a green-roofed sheltered seating area using reclaimed timber). Once we started meeting outdoors in person at Story Garden, the networking aspect of the programme really came into play. Here were a fifteen or so like-minded Londoners, and the amazing team at Global Generation and Octopus Communities, and a new network of support and knowledge. As a result I got involved at a Demonstrator site in Holloway and at the incredible Plant Nursery which offers seedlings to local gardeners in return for helping out at their site. Such a great initiative! TGGG got more than half of our plants from them.
Have you been able to put any learning from the programme into practice, or share any skills you've developed with others?
Yes! We have about 12 raised planters at TGGG but the soil seemed really varied in consistency and results. We’d learned about the jam jar soil test on the programme, and so one weekend I shared that with the group at TGGG. Results were very interesting, and highlighted that each planter had unique soil structure (and therefore unique requirements to improve it). So this spring we’re being much more targetted about adding compost and topsoil in different quantities to each box. Compost is a big one too. When I first got involved at TGGG we just had one of those plastic compost bins, and it wasn’t really working. After learning about composting best practice we decided to build a 3-bin compost system (re-using wood we had replaced on our raised planters). This spring will be the first year we don’t need to buy compost, and the 3-bin system means next year’s compost is already ‘cooking’ too.
What would be your 'do one thing' message to encourage others to take action for a local, climate-friendly food system?
Explore your neighbourhood – as soon as I started looking, I noticed how many growing sites there are. And chances are most of them will welcome new people with open arms.
Has being an Ambassador inspired you to take action on climate change in other ways?
Mostly it has deepened my understanding and conviction in the simple and practical ways I can do my part, even living in a huge city like London. But I could also give a plug for a writing project I got involved with last year – a collaboration between writers’ group 26 and The Wildlife Trust. I wrote about the threat to coastal habitats and you can have a look at the other habitats under threat. [https://26project.org.uk/26habitats/coast-4/]