Abundant Life
Pollinators and healthy soil, critical to all life are in decline because of human activity. We can return to an abundant natural ecosystem by collectively tapping into human generosity of spirit. Reaching into and combining communities; people who are vulnerable or on a low income, farmers (conventional and organic) and urban dwellers (including asylum seekers and refugees), building and developing the activities of 3 established social enterprises: Common Flora, based near Diptford, Pollenize and Food in Community.
Seeking to offer conventional farmers inspiration for the transition to sustainable farming and hope to those facing food poverty and insecurity our learning can be shared and scaled with the offer of free food and very long term access to land.
This 18 month trial will develop ideas in collaboration with our Advisory Panel made up of Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, Nature Friendly Farming Network and Devon Wildlife Trust, a local conventional farmer and representatives of people in food poverty.
Using methods routed in asset based community development activities include:
Citizen science via ecosurveys and soil microscopy as baselines (with expert help courtesy of Sustainable South Brent) , field edge trials of wildlife predator crops and perennials on conventional and organic farming land, free long term tenancies for organic growing spaces with training and practical support eg Lifeworks have expressed an interest, free mental health training for farming and land workers families from RABI, installation of pollinator accommodation, perennial plant propagation on urban allotments, cooking in community cafes and lots of opportunities for the people to meet and share.
Human changes We will measure:
- Nature Relatedness Scale: robust, well recognized and standardized
- Simple 3 questions about the Environmental Land Management, Sustainable Farming Incentive and the 3 Compartment Model
- Warwick and Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale: robust, well recognized and standardized
Qualitative data from transcripts of interviews with people. ‘Global warming, I take it more seriously now than I did. Of course farmers used to help one another. I was 17 when father got rid of our horses. That was how I first learned farming, looking after those horses.’ Graham, retired farmer.
Land and nature impacts
- hectares of land transitioned to pollinator friendly practise
- hectares of land being made available for more people to access for organic growing
- hectares of land being planted with wild flower seed
- Micro biotic life over time
- Results of field edge trials for crops for predators
- Carbon sequestration
For more information please contact Jane Acton on mail@commonflora.co.uk or 07716588749
