Edible Guernsey tries again after failing to flourish at first
COMMUNITY growing initiative Edible Guernsey has been relaunched and islanders had a chance to look around its St Peter’s site yesterday.
Originally launched in 2014, the charity suffered from a lack of infrastructure and funding. But now a new team has come on board to refocus the project.
The aim is to encourage sustainable and self-sufficient food production by providing a space that holds community spirit and social wellbeing at its core.
Guy Hendry is part of the newly restructured team and said they were grateful to support they had received so far, which included road planings from Ronez, seeds from the Men’s Shed and 200 tonnes of soil from Original Alternatives.
He said the project was important.
‘We import all our food and agriculture which is not sustainable,’ he said.
‘We, in Guernsey, have a huge amount of land doing nothing.’
The idea of Edible Guernsey is to have community areas, where all the volunteers need to work together to care for the crops. But then the volunteers will also have their own pieces of land, on which they can grow what they like.
Currently there are just 14 volunteers, but there is enough space for 55 people to get involved. It is hoped the space will attract entrepreneurs and innovators.
Food grown in the communal area is sold as hedge veg, with surpluses given to the volunteers.
The project is already moving forward, with a section of the glasshouse put over to West African crops, which should thrive under glass, such as bush corn.
It is hoped that some old water tanks can be removed to create a reservoir for trout.
A perennial food forest is getting started, with produce such as rhubarb, artichokes, raspberries and fruit trees.
n A working party is to be held at the site next Monday from 11am. To find out more should visit the group’s Facebook page or email edibleguernsey@gmail.com.
