https://www.lushgreensbristol.org.uk/

Lush Greens Bristol, Bristol (2024)

01/07/2024

We are raising money to tackle food insecurity in South Bristol. Help make this happen by becoming a supporter member today. Donations of any size, small or large, one-off or regular makes a difference.

We are fundraising to support the veg growing we do for our local Foodbanks in BS14 and BS3.

We are supplying them with 100 portions of vegetables each week between June and Christmas, significantly increasing the nutritional value available to foodbank service users.

We are also hoping to collaborate with the foodbanks to run some cooking courses, and to provide recipes kits and cards to help service users with their confidence around healthy and affordable cooking.

Please share far and wide.

Link to donate in our bio.

https://ko-fi.com/lushgreensbristol

Images 7 and 8, courtesy of

15/06/2024

Summer is here, kind of.

Either way, harvest season is well under way. We've been picking and packing veg for the last couple of weeks now, delivering veg to local foodbanks in BS14 and BS3 , , and our veg box customers (using the Community Supported Agriculture model - CSA -, where members get a share of the seasonal harvest each week).

It is such a joy to finally see the work of our community coming to fruition with an abundance of seasonal, tasty and nutritious veg.

We are so grateful to all those who have volunteered so far at the Patch this year through some sunshine and lots of rain. We love spending time with people outside, with our hands in the soil and sharing food together. A big thank you to Olly, who every week, amidst all the work of growing veg, stewarding a piece of land and all the admin involved in running a community project, provides a delicious, hearty, nutritious meal for all our volunteers who come to help.

For those who are unable to volunteer with us but would like to support our work growing and delivering veg to foodbanks in our local area, we have set up a donation platform which you can find by clicking on the link in our bio. Any donation, small or large, one-off or regular, contributes to us tackling food insecurity by providing tasty and nutritious veg to those most impacted by our unequal society that is pushing more and more people into poverty.

A note on this. The route of food insecurity is poverty. We want to see a society free of foodbanks where people are paid a decent wage and supported properly when they are unable to work. Whilst as veg growers we can't redress the causes of poverty, we can contribute to food justice where people have access and dignity to the food they eat. To this end, as well as donating veg to foodbanks, we run a veg box scheme (CSA) on a pay-what-you-can afford model which ensures everyone has access to seasonal, nutritious and tasty vegetables regardless of income and wealth.

If you would like to become a CSA veg box member, volunteer with us, or donate to us, then click on the link in our bio.

Happy June folks. Look after one another. Spend time outside. Eat more veg.

29/04/2024

It’s been about a month since we last posted. Here are a few highs and lows since then.

The highs

We are officially registered as a Community Interest Company, which will help us to achieve our objectives as a social enterprise, navigating the ability to trade and appky for grant funding.

Our volunteer days have been picking up again in popularity. Want to volunteer with us, click on the link in our bio.

We held a CSA open day, attended by existing and prospective members interested in getting veg from us for this year: we gave tours and ate delicious food together. Want to buy veg from us, click on the link in our bio (see photo 3).

Seedlings are germinating well and growing strong and healthy in the propagation tunnel (see photos 5, 6, 7 ,8).

We spotted a beautiful baby spider ball in the polytunnel above a tray of lettuce (see photo 9).

We scythed the comfrey to make a comfrey feed. We recommend putting it in a barrel without water meaning it doesn’t smell nearly as bad. We’ll dilute this to feed seedlings in the polytunnel.

We had some beautiful new signage made by two of our CSA members (see photo 4).

• Two of our volunteers made some beautiful signage to make our site more noticeable for those passing by and joining us for the day (see photos 1, 2)

The lows

It has been very wet, grey and cold the last month or so. Meaning lots of our crops have taken a battering from the booming slug population. We have lost a lot of broad beans, sugar snaps and mangetout peas. It is hard to watch them go. This is part of the reality of growing veg without the use of toxic chemicals like pesticides. Even though organic slug pellets are available we have so far decided not to use them because of the knock on effect on other wildlife. This choice however means less veg will be available in June (see photo 10).

The committed

Olly braved a nighttime slug pick to dent the slug population. He found that the slugs we see on arrival in the morning are about 5% of what he encountered at night: a real life slug apocalypse.

01/04/2024

Get yourself some fresh, local, seasonal, healthy, tasty, affordable vegetables!

Lush Greens is gathering expressions of interest from Bristol residents in becoming members of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme and receiving a delicious bag of veg each week for 26 weeks from June to the end of November 2024. We offer a trial period, a range of pricing options and varying levels of commitment; so don't worry, there is an option to suit all budgets and needs.

A CSA is a partnership between farmer-producers and customer-members in which the responsibilities, rewards and risks of farming are shared. This means that when we have gluts of produce, you'll get more veg, but if the weather or pests mean that the harvest is damaged, then their might be a bit less of something in the veg bags.

The Lush Greens CSA bag will be a bit different from a standard veg box. Our focus is on the fresh, green veg that a local market garden is so well-suited to growing. Each week there will always be a bag of our amazing mixed salad leaves, plus 3 - 4 other items. See photos for examples of different seasonal veg bags.

We also encourage our members to be involved in the farm through seasonal festivals, open days, plus regular learning and volunteer opportunities. You can also choose to get involved in decisions about how the veg is produced, packaged and delivered.

If you are interested please fill in this form: https://tinyurl.com/4rbaab3n

29/03/2024

Well it’s wet again. For a moment it looked like we might have hit a run of some dry spring weather but we have been wrenched back into utter wetness.

Even at our scale, growing on permanent no-dig beds with woodchip paths, it is still too wet to direct sow anything. We haven’t been able to do any of our outdoor sowings of carrots, onions and radish. The bed we have planned for the potatoes to go in is still too wet and not draining properly.

Despite adding plenty of organic matter in the form of compost and broadforking the soil (the act of using a wide work to aerate and loosen the soil without turning it), we are still getting water pooling in certain parts of the site. This is because of the heavy clay soil of the land but also because previous to Lush Greens the land was farmed using heavy tractors that compacted the soil and created depressions, creating lower lying areas that water moves to and pools. We are doing what we can to remediate this but it is slow work.

We’ve also had challenges this year with rodents having a particular taste for spinach seed. We have come up with something creative to stop them getting to it…we hope!

Nevertheless, we have been hard at work: with regular volunteer days and community lunches (see our previous post on how to join our volunteer team), sowing seeds (veg and flowers) in the propagation tunnel, reviving compost heaps, weeding and woodchipping, harvesting the last of our leeks and kale, putting up infrastructure like pea supports, and doing lots of admin work (crop planning, seed ordering,, working on policies and procedures, writing funding applications and more).

We sell vegetables directly to customers, through a weekly veg bag of seasonal, tasty, affordable vegetables. To become a member of our weekly veg bag scheme, known as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), fill in our expression of interest form below.

CSA sign-up: https://tinyurl.com/yxmsnknv

Volunteer sign-up: https://tinyurl.com/mu44znd5

Our website: https://lushgreensbristol.org.uk/

CSA Network website: https://communitysupportedagriculture.org.uk/

12/03/2024

The days are lengthening and the community market garden is springing back into life.

We are looking forward to having more people come to volunteer with us as we collectively grow food for those facing food insecurity in the city, other food-focused social enterprises and members of our Community Supported Agriculture veg box scheme.

Currently we are holding volunteer days every Thursday and the third Saturday of every month (starting April 20th, May 18th, June 15th, July 20th, August 17th, September 21st, October 19th, November 16th).

If you would like to come and try some volunteering with us, please fill in the Expression of Interest form attached and we will get back to you with more details.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qRCyFUmoUD7EnC58yDzCFDS8R3SaW9eMMXmksiwStlY/edi

Lush Greens is regeneratively stewarding an acre of Bristol land (building soil health, increasing biodiversity and capturing carbon), growing veg for local food banks and food clubs, contributing to the local economy, holding volunteer days, public open days and harvest festivals, and hosting therapeutic green social prescribing visits.

01/02/2024

It’s been a while since we last posted. Truth be told we found ourselves crawling to the end of last year, despite all the successes we were ready for a break. We needed a rest, the land needed a rest and no doubt the volunteer team did too. So here we are, with rejuvenated energy and a spring in our step, on 1st February 2024, ready to go again.

For the first two weeks of January it was relatively easy to not think about Lush Greens. But with the to-do-list mounting and time doing what time does best and not standing still, it’s been hard to not press on. But here we are with the year ahead of us. Knowing we will do the best we can with the time and resources we have.

We wanted to start this year by sharing to some photos of last year that capture the collective growing project that Lush Greens is and the community effort that allows it to thrive. We are looking forward to having people back on this beautiful bit of land that we lovingly know as the Patch.

If you are interested in getting involved volunteering with us this year, in whatever you like, then do get in touch.

Happy Imbolc 🌱

19/12/2023

We recently finished providing veg for the year to our partner project foodbanks at network, run by the and .

Over 26 weeks we provided 5,431 portions of veg, weighing a total of 1,713kg. Each week roughly 100 households benefited from the veg we provided across four foodbanks in south and east Bristol.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank who provided the locally raised funds for the grant that allowed us to deliver this project and to who administered the process and funds. Both have been clear, transparent and understanding throughout the process and project delivery, for which we are very appreciative.

We are also really grateful to the support we have had from the team at along the way in helping the project run as smoothly and effectively as possible. We are currently looking at ways to access funding to repeat, and possibly expand, the project next year, in order to continue to meet the need of providing those who would otherwise not have access to healthy, fresh, seasonal vegetables grown without the use of agri-chemicals in nature friendly ways.

And finally thank you to all those who have volunteered with Lush Greens over the year to help grow the veg, to the volunteers at who have collected the veg and to our trusty volunteer who as delivered veg on our electric cargo bike.

12/10/2023

Last weekend we had our Lush Greens' Autumn Harvest Festival 🌱

It was a truly magical community day on the land we lovingly know as the Patch. The day was made possible because of the great number of people that stepped forward to help: lending apple presses, cooking up a lunchtime feast, making fire pits, decorating the site, chopping and pressing apples, baking cakes, helping with set-up and pack-down and so much more 🍎

People new and old to the Patch came by throughout the day and wonderful conversations were had.

This beautiful bit of land and the people who tend to it are creating a community full of love, joy and resillience.

We believe that by connecting with each other and the land we can start to create a future that respects and regenerates earth's living systems and take cares of our collective wellbeing.

Thanks to all those that came and joined in on the day. We look forward to seeing you again. Do spread the word and get in touch if you want to come and help steward the land and grow nutritious vegetables in haromy with nature 🌱

03/10/2023

With the cooler and wetter weather, as we move through autumn, Lush Greens is abound with wild mushrooms.

The fruting bodies of fungi whose mycelial networks connect with plants and move nutrients around the site over distances vastly greater than that of plant roots.

Our no-dig, permanent beds with lots of compost and plant roots in the soil help create a living soil for all life to thrive.

The carbon rich woodchip paths that fungi feed on are the perfect habitat for them to survive and thrive.

We do what we do at Lush Greens in service of life, both the human and more than human world. We are nature.

Healthy soils = healthy plants = healthy people 🌱

26/09/2023

Thank you to Weien Soh who visited Lsuh Greens this year and put together a lovely write up of the project on the website. We are really grateful to Weien and Bristol Good Food for championing projects like ours as part of a better, local, more just food system.

Do have a read and check out the other articles she has written recently on other projects in the city doing good on the land with people:

13/08/2023

We are excited and proud to announce that we were recently awarded funds from the food element of the Household Support Fund (HSF), which is being managed by .bristol on behalf of

The HSF is a series of local government funds provided by the Department for Work and Pensions. It supports vulnerable households with the rising cost of living, and providing support with food is a key part of this. The food element of HSF aims to increase food provision (access to nutritious, affordable, and appropriate food) to people most at risk of food inequality across the city.

The funds will see us collaborating with Food on Our Doorsteps Clubs (FOOD Clubs) run by Family Action, Feeding Bristol, Fareshare Southwest and Bristol Early Years. We'll be supplying around 130 households each week with nutritious, fresh, seasonable, and appropriate vegetables grown at our community market garden in Hengrove, until the end of November.

FOOD Clubs have been running in Bristol since July 2019. The FOOD Club model was introduced as a response to growing concerns about the high level of food insecurity for families with young children and the alarming amount of good quality food which goes to waste. FOOD Clubs are targeted to families who are at risk of food insecurity as a sustainable long-term solution. Each Club is open for a two-hour session once a week and families come during this time to collect their food. Families can join the club for a £1 a year membership fee and then pay £3.50 for a bag of high quality produce (including meat, dairy, store cupboard basics and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables), which is usually worth around £15.

This week, straight off the back of hearing the positive news of our new collaboration, we got our first batch of veg to two of the four FOOD Clubs we will be providing in the coming months. As always it was a real community effort and we can’t thank enough those who helped harvest and pack the veg, it wouldn’t be possible without you.

We are proud to be part of a local solution tackling the injust and inequitable global commodity food system.

07/08/2023

We recently featured in , a local cooperatively owned newspaper in Bristol, in their future of cities series, where they asked, 'Can urban growers provide Bristol woth sustainable food?'

A quick and massive thank you to Henry Kenyon a dear friend and talented photographer for the beautiful pictures he took and shared for the article.

The article outlines our Community Market Garden at Lush Greens, as well as the work of .bristol and more.

Urban and peri-urban (the edges of cities) offers so much potential to feed local people healthy, nutritious, fresh, organic, seasonal vegetables, through direct relationships between producer and consumer, reduced food miles, lower carbon footprints, soil healing practices, improved biodiversity, stronger local economies, resilient communities, friendships, less social isolation, educational opportunities of how and where food is grown and so much more.

Another food system is possible. One that centres people, the land and non-human life over profit, exploitation and harm.

Shout out to all the people working to make the world a more just, equitable and caring place.

We are all eaters. What we put in our bodies affects the health of people and planet.

Connect with your local food producers where you live. Eat more veg. Go well 🥦😍🌱

06/08/2023

It's been a busy couple of months.

We recently got back from the Landworkers Alliance Landskills Fair which filled us with learnings, curiousity, appreciation, love and care for all those out in the world acting with integrity and care for the land and people. It definitely provided some important reflections for us on how we work and our place in the broader movement of agroecology.

We have been working incredibly hard delivering weekly nutritious chemical-free veg to our CSA members, local foodbanks and wholesale to some great projects such as Redcatch Community Garden.

We have been granted some money that will allow us to deliver our veg on an appropriate electric cargo bike around the city further lowering our carbon footprint.

This week we are hosting a farm tour of local agroecological food growers from in and around Bristol, many of whom are members of the LWA and OGA.

A dear friend and talented photographer Henry Kenyon has been to visit Lush Greens recently to take photos which we are sure you'll agree are incredible. We've shared some of them here now. They can also be found in a recent article by the Bristol Cable in which Lush Greens is identified as a model of sustainable urban farming to help feed the city. Get your hands on a copy whilst they are available around the city.

As always some veg has grown well and others have not. We are learning to let go of what fails and move on quickly. Observe, prioritise, act, move on 👌

We hope you are all well 🌱

07/07/2023

🥦Come and volunteer with us🥕

Lush Greens Community Market Garden, in Hengrove Bristol, is based on the support, solidarity and generosity of people coming to volunteer and get involved in the various activities required to run a successful community market garden. One which grows vegetables for local foodbanks, food projects tackling food insecurity, and veg bag members.

If you would like to join our flourishing team of volunteers then please get in touch.

We provide a free lunch, an opportunity to spend time outside with other people and the space to learn new skills.

Share the word and get in touch with us 🤗

Photo credits 📷
First photo Henry Kenyon
Other photos

An additional thanks also goes to who is the cook of our incredibly delicious lunches. Much of which comes straight from the soil at Lush Greens on the day 😋

22/06/2023

We finally (nearly) got all our leeks in 🥳

This job has been on our to do list for weeks now but with tasks piling up and coming in thick and fast we have struggled to stay on top of everything. We've been trying to do too much for sure. Learning to observe and prioritise is certainly something we need to get better at.

Here's how we went about planting our leeks:

- After successfully growing leeks from seeds in trugs, we removed them with our trusty horihori hand tool. Lifting clumps out and dislodging the compost to form a pile of leeks.
- Next we take a handful of leeks and cut off about a third of their roots and a third of their foliage height.
- Once we have done this to a whole trug of leeks we carry them over to the prepared bed to be planted.
- These beds were covered in green manures about a month ago (phacelia, clovers and more), before we sycthed them and covered them in black plastic to kill the plants and let the organic matter decompose into the ground. Then we raked clear the beds and hoed off any surving plants (mainly our arch nemesis bindweed)
- Then we dibbed holes about 6 inches or so deep, thanks to Olly's handy tool making skills, repurposing resources on the site. A deep hole means we'll hopefully get a long white shank when the leek has matured.
- Then we place a leek into each hole, keeping aside any particularly small ones.
- Finally we water the leeks which backfills the hole and gives the leek the water it needs to adjust to its new home.

Hopefully we'll have some healthy and tasty leeks ready by late autumn/ early winter 🤞

12/06/2023

Well the last month or so has absolutely flown by. A few key milestones and reflections....

We've had our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) open days, where prospective members came to eat a shared meal, visit the site and understand more about what a CSA is and how it will work this year. Our first weekly shares should be ready for members in less than 2 weeks 🥦🥕🥬

We've delivered veg for two weeks to the south and east Bristol foodbank network (InHope), in our electric cargo bike, thanks to funding provided by Bristol Local Food Fund. Shout out to Jesse a local volunteer for doing the bike delivery 🚲

It hasn't significantly rained, which with our limited irrigation capacity has been really challenging. We've been having to move the limited number of drip tapes that we have around the site and at times watering things by hand. It is amazing that things are surviving. The clay soil with a layer of compost helps retain moisture in the ground and means that once plants have rooted in, after a good initial water, they can tap into moisture held by the clay. That said we really need a solid bit of rain to fall 🤞🌧

It has been really challenging managing all the different moving parts of running a market garden, having to wear many hats and juggling ever more moving parts. We have been giving it our best shot and whilst there have been some failures and challenges we are loving every moment of it and proud of what we have achieved so far 🤗

We have volunteer sessions every Thursday, 9am-4pm, where we provide a free healthy and nutritious lunch. Get in touch for more details about joining. We always really appreciate any extra help 🙌

Stay tuned for some beautiful photos of the Patch at Lush Greens courtesy of our talented friend Henry Kenyon. We think they are stunning and hope you do to 📷😍

06/05/2023

Volunteer appreciation post 🔥

On Thursday we had an epic day at Lush Greens. We had 10 people tackling some big jobs: fixing irrigation infrastructure, planting out chard, cooking food, direct sowing seeds and of course lots of weeding. MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK 🙌

We avoid using fossil fuels on site when growing vegetables and we try to extend that as much as possible to how we arrive on site too, check out the many stylish peddle powered wheels people arrived on 🚲

In one of the photos you'll see what a big patch of bindweed looks like after it's been covered in black plastic for many months. You have to appreciate how indestructible this plant is, even if it is an absolute pain in the market garden. It takes time and a lot of effort to get beds into shape for planting and we wouldn't be able to do it without those who come and volunteer 🌱

Some beautiful slow worms had been staying warm over winter under the plastic. They quickly scurried back under the bits that we hadn't peeled back 🪱

The weather this spring has been pretty poor for growing. Whilst we've had lots of rain which has been great in many regards , we've had very little sunlight meaning plants haven't been photosynthesising and growing as quickly as they might otherwise. However, we know that trying to capture as much of this rain as possible in the soil and irrigation tanks is so important as we gear up for another hot dry summer no doubt 🌧

If you are interested in coming down to volunteer or buying our veg drop us a DM 💪

23/04/2023

Some updates..

Spring is well and truly upon us. Day length is increasing rapidly, days and nights are getting warmer on average, there's still lots of rain, and everything is growing at double speed.

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers who make it all possible, sowing seeds, transplanting, weeding, building, cooking and so much more.

We recently delivered around 1000 CSA flyers to houses super local to Lush Greens. We've had a great number of responses and will be having our first CSA open day soon.

Get in touch if you would like to become a CSA member and/or come and volunteer with us, lunch provided of course.

In the photos you can see spinach being transplanted, a leek seed germinating, a healthy bed and tray of sugar snap peas.

31/03/2023

This week we started to get some of our first crops in the ground: broad beans, spinach, rocket, raddish and potatoes. 🥔🥬🥕

We are looking forward to them coming good in the coming months to provide veg for households using South and East Bristol Foodbank, our Community Supported Agriculture members and local food projects in the city tackling food insecurity.

We are building collaborations as part of a regenerative, just, local food system in Bristol. And look forward to sharing with you some of these projects as the growing season progresses. 🤗

03/03/2023

We were fortunate enough to be accepted to pitch at this event last week. We talked for 3 minutes about the Lush Greens project: what we do, the impact we have and how we would spend £1000 prize money! 🔥

It was a nerve-wracking experience but thanks to the wonderful playfulness and warmth of all those involved in the evening we managed to give a pitch we were proud of. ☺

We are so grateful to have been voted by the attendees on the night as one of the £1000 prize winners. This is going to make a huge difference to us this year meaning that we can buy specific market gardening tools and equipment which will allow us to facilitate more volunteers on the land and become more efficient in our work. This means that we can grow and deliver more vegetables to foodbanks this year and increase the number of veg shares to our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members. 🥦🥕🥬

Listening to and chatting with all the change-makers in the room left us feeling more inspired and determined for the year ahead. A big shout out to all the fabulous pitchers, panelists, SSE, Zion Bristol and all the attendees. 😍

To find out more about our work this year and how to support us through becoming a CSA member check out our website:

www.lushgreensbristol.org.uk

17/02/2023

We are excited to announce that we have been awarded £5000 from Bristol Local Food Fund to grow and deliver fresh, seasonal, nutritious vegetables to the South and East Bristol Foodbank network, which is part of the wider project InHope.

Between June and December this year, we will supply several different foodbanks in Bristol with a weekly supply of fresh and healthy vegetables grown in Hengrove, contributing to the fight against food insecurity in the city 🥕🍠🍅

We will be continuing to build on last year's work, by scaling up production as a result of the funding we have been awarded ⭐

Keep an eye out for updates as the growing season develops at Lush Greens Bristol 🌱

28/01/2023

Exciting news! Lush Greens is now taking expressions of interest from Bristol residents to join our Community Supported Agriculture scheme and receive a delicious bag of veg each week for 26 weeks from June to December 2023!

What's on offer:
🥦 Weekly bag of delicious veg from June to Dec
🥬 All grown in South Bristol
🥕 Zero chemicals used
🧅 Lowest food miles imaginable
🧄 No-dig soil-healing approach
🌽 Support our work with food banks

If you're interested then either;
- Click here (https://forms.gle/DvU5JmfiBUjBmweb6) to fill in a short form (5 minutes max) to help us to plan for the year,
- Email [email protected], or
- Text 07774 911 836

🌱What is Community Supported Agriculture?
CSA is a partnership between farmer-producers and customer-members in which the responsibilities, rewards and risks of farming are shared. This means we're looking for new members to commit to buying a veg bag each week during the growing season.

We will offer a trial period, a range of pricing options and varying levels of commitment; so don't worry, there will be an option to suit all budgets and needs. We also want to encourage your involvement in the growing of your food through seasonal festivals, open days, plus regular learning and volunteer opportunities. You can also choose to get involved in decisions about how your veg is produced, packaged and delivered.

🌱Who benefits?
🥕You benefit from getting to eat a range of fresh, tasty, local and seasonal vegetables grown without chemical pesticides or fertilisers. There's also the amazing feeling of connecting with the land where your food is grown and the people who grow it.

🥕We benefit from a stable and secure income and closer connection to our community.

🥕Our environment benefits from some of the lowest food miles possible and from the soil-healing approach we adopt.

🥕The community benefits - We are already delivering our super fresh veg to local food banks and have recently won a grant to help deliver more next year. As a customer, you will be supporting this work.

🌱What's in the bag and what will I pay?
The Lush Greens bag will be a bit different from a standard veg box. Our focus is on the fresh, green veg that a local market garden is so well-suited to growing. There will always be a bag of our amazing mixed salad leaves, plus 3 - 4 other items. See images for some examples!

The bags will be competitively priced with options for low, middle and higher income earners. As a social enterprise our goal is to benefit the community and the environment as well as helping to sustain meaningful livelihoods. In keeping with these principles, those able to pay more will be contributing towards our ongoing distribution of healthy, tasty, fresh veg to those on lower incomes.

Bristol Food Network Bristol Food Producers