Alec Leggat

Keeping your own chickens is a simple chore which is rewarded by the freshest and most delicious eggs you will ever eat. They are also the most expensive.

In the winter I feed and water our three once a day before I leave for work in the morning. At the weekend I will let them out into the veg plot where they can scratch around for a bit. I made moveable fences, or folds, so that I can keep them in the part of the garden I want them in and not scratching away at my precious plants.

They associate me with their food so they are always pleased to see me and they provide us with two or three eggs a day throughout the year.

These are the third set of chickens we have had. The first two sets were lost to local foxes due to carelessness on our part. Their accommodation is now well fortified and virtually fox proof.

Cleaning out the chicken house takes about 20 minutes once a week and their by-product is a great activator for the compost heap.

“The Rosendale Allotments were established in 1908. It is an 18 acre site owned by Dulwich Estate on Knights Hill between Herne Hill and Tulse Hill in South London.

The Allotment Association is constituted as an Industrial and Provident Society, registered and regulated by the FSA, and therefore bound by the rules and regulations which govern such bodies. The Association is formed by the members, and a membership fee is charged. There are 480 plots on the site and the 500 plot holders and sharers are a diverse group, drawn mainly from South London, with all its rich ethnic and cultural variety.”

The allotments association has a Community Outreach Officer, Amy Nelson, who engages schools and local community groups to develop and run food growing workshops on the allotments and at other local sites. Her remit extends to encouraging people to grow food in their gardens, balconies or windowsills. She also supports new community gardens by providing them with skills and support. 

Amy represents part of the increased recognition over the last 5-10 years of the importance of connecting people to the origins of the food they eat.

From the website of London Borough of Southwark: “The Heygate Estate was built in the 1970s and was home to more than 3000 people.  Due to a range of physical design challenge, such as poor security, low energy efficiency and environmental issues, we agreed to rehouse residents and demolish the estate completely to make way for a regeneration of the area.

The rehousing of residents began in 2008. The estate is now nearly empty, with residents rehoused around the borough in new homes of their choice. There are a small number of residents who still live on the estate and they are in discussions with us to assist them with their move.

Following the successful rehousing programme of Heygate residents across the majority of the estate the priority for Southwark is to firstly secure the vacant blocks and then to proceed with demolition.”

This is a large housing project at the Elephant and Castle in south east London where residents have been in the process of relocation for some years. It seems a “guerrilla” regeneration project has grown up in the time available before demolition proceeds. There is evidence of cultivation of various edible plants but this polytunnel in the sky caught my attention.

Lyndhurst gardening club has been going a few years now. Although space is at a premium in all inner London schools, the young gardeners have been able to grow tomatoes, courgettes and sweetcorn in planters dotted around the playground. Kate who runs the club used some of the ingredients to make this lovely food for the school’s international evening.

Local Greens buys seasonal vegetables from small organic or spray-free farms which are close to their base in the Herne Hill/Dulwich area of South East London. Carrots still with the dirt from the field on them, untrimmed leeks and savoy cabbages are bagged up in biodegradable plastic bags early on a Thursday morning. A selection of other seasonal veg is also available. They are then distributed in their dinky electric van to collection venues around Herne Hill and Dulwich. Customers can collect their bag that afternoon or on the way home from work in the evening.

Local Greens is a not for profit organisation set up by three women who are passionate about sustainability. The idea is to provide locally grown organic or biodynamic seasonal veg to local people, reducing food miles and ensuring fresh produce.

No armchair ordering from a catalogue for Local Greens. Therese, Jean and Maria take pains to research, visit and build working relationships with their farmers to establish partnerships that help ensure sustainability. In a venture into micro localism, they recently introduced the South London Salad with leaves produced by local gardeners. So the salad can be on your plate the same day it was picked.

http://www.localgreens.org.uk/how-it-all-started-and-why

Feston is a volunteer for The Salvation Army in Malawi. He helps to protect children in his area from traffickers. Feston heard a group of villagers talking about 13 year old Lisette, not her real name, who had been taken to a brothel by her “aunt”. Feston rescued Lisette and, using his own resources, took her by public transport to The Salvation Army rescue centre at Mchinji. Within 24 hours Lisette had begun to settle into the supportive life of the centre where she is fed and cared for. However, after a standard health check soon after her arrival at the centre, Lisette was found to have serious STIs and be HIV positive. Staff at the centre will continue to care for Lisette, providing counselling and making sure she goes to school and tries to recover her life.

A village bike repair shop in Dedza district, Malawi.

Bike are used to transport most things in Sub Saharan African countries like Malawi. 

Things we like about school.

Three women from Kachere in Dedza district, Malawi with their bikes provided by SAID. The bikes are supplied by ReCycle in Colchester, UK, to the Salvo Cycles bike workshop in the neighbouring district of Mchinji where SAID has a centre for children who have been rescued from child trafficking. Community volunteers use the bikes to get about their area more easily and raise awareness about child trafficking and child rights.