Giving the community ownership of a project

I attended the Bath Area Growers Convention on Sunday 6.10. To say it was an interesting and inspiring event is possibly a bit of an understatement. It was quite an intense day, in a good way, and I'm still processing a lot of what I experienced and talked to people about. I hope to introduce elements of that into the posts on here. One takeaway from the event was that it has challenged, in a positive way, how I think about the practical projects I'm involved with. The main one being the Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park, the other being Keynsham Wombles.

With the Plot in the Park, we've been having discussions about how to attract more volunteers to help us with the physical work of planting, tending and harvesting the crops as well as the inevitable weeding and other maintenance tasks. At the Bath Area Growers Convention, one of the participants questioned the use of the term 'volunteer' and the assumptions that came with that. There's questioning and there's questioning... Suffice to say, this was positive questioning that has prompted a fair bit of deep thinking on my part. What follows are my initial conclusions from that process...

The Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park is there for the benefit of the community. Amidst what can sometimes feel like the hard graft of keeping the plot going, we need to remember that. When we're thinking about what to plant, tending what we've planted, deciding when crops are ready for harvesting, and how are we going to keep on top of the weeding and the other maintenance we have to do, it can be all too easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. The plot is there in part to show that it is possible to grow and provide our own food independently of a corporate dominated food production system geared to profit rather than our health and well being. It's also there to hopefully inspire people to set up community vegetable and fruit plots in their own neighbourhoods. What we have to bear in mind in that above these and the other aims of the plot, it's there for the community.

Those of us who currently work on the plot are its custodians. We are not the plot. While the plot would not continue without our input, we cannot allow ourselves to fall into the mindset that we have any sense of ownership over it. That's easy to say but, when we're slogging away, it can feel like as we're the ones putting in the graft, that gives us a right of ownership. So, an effort is needed to take a step back to see the bigger picture. Namely that this community plot is part of a network of growers who, each in their own ways, are doing their level best to de-centralise and localise food production. The particular model we want to follow is giving the community of Keynsham a sense of ownership, not just in the plot, but also in the project of de-centralising and localising food production.

That sense of ownership can come about in a variety of ways. Obviously one way is helping to physically undertake the work needed to keep the plot producing food. Another way is talking about what the plot does to friends, neighbours and family. The one thing we strive to do is engage passers by when we're working on the plot. This gives us the chance to explain what we're doing, ranging from the nuts and bolts of what we're planting and harvesting through to the role the plot plays in the bigger project of de-centralising and localising food production. We hope that one of the outcomes of these conversations is that the people we talk to spread the word about what we're doing. When we have these chats with passers by while we're harvesting, if we have a surplus, we'll offer it to them. Sometimes those encounters will be sparked by us offering our surplus to passers by! When passers by are not there because of inclement weather and we're harvesting, if there's a surplus, it will be taken to the Keynsham Community Fridge.

What used to happen on the plot was that when crops were ready for picking, a notice would be placed by them, with some brief information and instructions on how to pick the crop. That implies having a relationship of trust with the public. Doing this does involve a bit of extra work but, the long term gains will be worth it. It's something that I'd like to bring back for the next growing season. The long term gains being that inviting people to pick what they need, sends out a signal that the plot is there for the community. The hope is that by signalling that the plot is there for the community, people will offer to help out as and when they can. When they do help out, whether that's physically working at the plot or spreading the word about what the project is about, that will be a part of the process of the wider community taking ownership of the plot.

All of the above does need more thinking applied to it. These are just some initial thoughts that I'm putting out to see what response we get and hopefully, spark a deeper discussion. This discussion about the use of the term volunteer and what it implies in the way people relate to projects such as a community vegetable plot is just one of the takeaways from the Bath Area Growers Convention. There will be others that will feature in future blog posts, that's for sure. Lastly but by no means least, I'd like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Bath Area Growers for putting on the convention, and also, for the support they're giving to the Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park.