Here are some ideas for a plan of action that you or your group could take to get people from the local community involved in developing your own ‘food growing community’.
doing a growing space audit
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get a group of interested people together to explore "where could we grow"
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create or draw your own local map and plot potential growing spaces
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conduct an ‘on foot’ growing space site audit – explore the area to find possible sites
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take photographs and record information about site condition and ownership
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map and compile your findings as set of potential ‘community growing scenarios’ – then use this toolkit to identify what community growing approaches could work in the different spaces
visualising your food growing community
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talk to the wider community about your ideas
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run a community visualisation event or hold workshops with different local groups – present the potential community growing scenarios for the area and get new ideas about them
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use the feedback from the event and workshops to identify the community growing options you want to explore further
reality checking your ideas
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contact the ‘experts’ – these might be key people from the Council or use the list of ‘useful contacts’ in this pack – ask them to help you develop your ideas
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use their technical know-how and experience to help you work out the best way to take your ideas forward
delivering your food growing community
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set up a local community growing group to oversee the delivery of your ideas
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produce an action plan for things to do in the short and longer term
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keep ‘experts’ on board – some might be able to offer advice and help you deliver your ideas, others might be able to help with funding and resources