Wildbrook Community Food and Growing Hub

03/01/2025

Made a New Year's Resolution to get some exercise, get outside more, learn a new skill or make new friends?

Getting involved in a community food growing project is a great way to do all of those things! Last year, one of our volunteers told us, "It feels incredibly wholesome to volunteer at your growing hub. I always learn so much, and I know my time is well spent helping to grow food for a good cause."

Why not give volunteering at Wildbrook a go this year? Community volunteering sessions resume on 16th January and run weekly on Thursdays 10am-12pm and 1-3pm. Turn up between those times at Wildbrook to find out more or email [email protected]

20/12/2024

Wildbrook Community Food & Growing Hub will be closed for the Christmas break from 21st December.

The veg bag scheme will restart on 8th January (order by 6th Jan).
Local Food First CIC's Friday 10am-12pm sessions working on the Wildlife Pond and dead hedge will resume on 10th January.
Thursday Community Volunteer sessions will restart on 16th January.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and New Year! 🎄

19/12/2024

As the end of 2024 approaches, we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped, visited and been involved in Wildbrook Community Food & Growing Project this year.

It was a challenging year with the weather but there have been so many highlights: we've grown a lot of food and donated the majority of it to Oldham Foodbank; Local Food First CIC have created a wildflower meadow and wildlife pond; the overgrown areas of the orchard have been cleared; and we've hosted events including orchard pruning training, children's activity sessions, school visits and, of course, the Wildbrook Jamboree. Revitalising a site like this is a huge undertaking and it would not have been possible without the support and help from the local Fitton Hill and wider Oldham community.

We're looking forward to growing and being outside in 2025 and hope to see you at one of our volunteering sessions or events!

19/12/2024

It was the last Thursday Community Growing Session of the year at Wildbrook today and a great opportunity to say thank you to all of our volunteers who work so hard!

We made beautiful wreaths from sustainably foraged foliage and enjoyed festive snacks and warm spiced apple juice, with lots of opportunities to chat and catch up ahead of the Christmas break.

Fancy joining us in the New Year? Thursday growing sessions resume on 16th January 10am-12pm and 1-3pm.

18/12/2024

Find out how the Community Food & Growing Project is growing food in cold weather at Wildbrook and at The Hub, Alexandra Park in this new blog post.

Now we’re into winter months, the weather is colder and frost is more common. At both The Hub at Alexandra Park and at Wildbrook Community Food & Growing Hub, we’re being proactive to protect o…

09/12/2024

Get involved with the Wildlife Pond that Local Food First CIC are creating! Details are in their post below 👇

06/12/2024

Our volunteers did a fantastic job at yesterday's volunteer sessions despite the rain! Some of them braved the elements and got on with mulching fruit trees while others stayed busy in the shelter of the polytunnels as they sieved soil, sorted pots and planted up seedlings. Thanks for coming along everyone!

05/12/2024

Today is - a great opportunity to remember that good food comes from good soil! 🌱

We often don't give much thought to the ground beneath our feet but soil is an amazingly complex ecosystem. It's the most biodiverse habitat on Earth, home to an estimated half of all species and an excellent carbon store.

We're enhancing and feeding the soil at Wildbrook as we mulch trees in the orchard, create leaf mould and make compost. This all helps towards our aim of improving community access to affordable and healthy food in Fitton Hill. Come along on a Thursday 10am-12pm or 1-3pm to get involved!

03/12/2024

What a range of weather we had in November! The mild autumn meant that we were still harvesting tomatoes in the polytunnel at the start of November and we managed to continue with weekly harvests of leafy salad crops for most of the month. Then came the snow and heavy frosts... ❄️

Now the weather has dropped cooler, we've moved to harvesting the winter crops monthly in order to give the plants time to recover and grow.

02/12/2024

For those local to Failsworth, Failsworth Growing Hub have their Festive Foods Stall tomorrow at Failsworth Library - details on the poster below 👇

Only a week to go to our Festive Foods stall with delicious homemade cakes, biscuits, tasty jams and chutneys and great prizes on our ‘prize every time’ tombola. Come along on Tuesday 3 December, 11am-2.30pm, on the lower ground floor of Failsworth Library, at the back of the café.

29/11/2024

Thanks to everyone who came to Local Food First CIC's orchard pruning workshop recently, facilitated by The Orchard Project. It was great to see attendees growing in their knowledge and confidence of how to prune fruit trees and care for a community orchard and will help the Wildbrook Orchard trees stay healthy and productive. Feedback from attendees was that it was a "really lovely day led by Joe and the group".

This is a part of a Nature Hubs project, awarded by environmental charity Hubbub and funded by Starbucks.

26/11/2024

A huge thank you to the three different groups of Oldham College students who have contributed their time and energy to Wildbrook in the last few weeks!

Under the direction of Local Food First CIC, they have cleared the area of brambles for the future Secret Garden and also the Family Garden, as well as creating the Pear Avenue path, starting the dead hedge around the pond and creating compost bales. The students were cheerful and hardworking and a phenomenal amount of work was completed - despite the cold weather!

25/11/2024

Local Food First CIC's biodiversity project is taking shape and will be a boost to bugs, pollinators, birds and small mammals at Wildbrook! 🐸🐝🐛🦋🐌🐞

The pond is filling up, thanks to recent snow and rain. The dead hedge has been started and when complete will provide food and refuge for wildlife. It's been a real community effort with Oldham College students getting stuck in and building compost bales. These will serve as bug hotels and future nourishment for the orchard trees.

To volunteer and learn about improve biodiversity here on site contact Local Food First for details.

The project is funded by the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund, accessed through the Greater Manchester Environment Fund.

23/11/2024

Local Food First CIC's community veg bag is back! Details on how to order a bag are below 👇

The Community Vegbag is back! 🍎🥦🧅🥬

Thanks to support from Great Places Housing Group and One Oldham Fund Action Together, the veg bag will be available again every Wednesday for collection between 12 and 3 p.m from Wildbrook Community Food and Growing Hub in Fitton Hill.

Using fruit and veg from New Smithfield Wholesale Market and, if available, produce grown at Wildbrook, the large bag containing 7-8 different varieties 🥕🫑🧅🍐🥔each week costs £5.

Payment by cash💷, card 💳or Healthy Start. Order by 5pm Monday.

From January, we will have a smaller bag costing £3 and plan to offer home drop-off 🛻in Fitton Hill.

23/11/2024

We were thrilled to see Dave nominated as an inspiration as part of Spark Oldham's International Men's Day celebrations. We're proud to have Dave in our Wildbrook team. Congratulations on being nominated as an inspirational man in our community!