The first weekend of October was glorious. The sun shone and the weather was warm. Britt and I were so pleased (and relieved!). For the last month and a half we had been working on a big communal event inspired by the new development’s planned community gardens. With the help of an amazing group of people we celebrated the potential of this new site for common ground. It all started with a walk to visit gardens across the community and then ending by breaking ground and breaking in the site.
Over the last few months I’ve been wondering about these proposed communal sites. How will they develop? How can I get involved? Since the 1960s local residents have, traditionally, created community gardens by transforming vacant lots into green spaces. The impulse came from residents’ own desires and realised by their drive. In this case, it’s the developers who have decided that we want these spaces, that we desire a common land. How is that going to work exactly? What do we want from this place and what can we offer to make it? A month before the event Britt and I were walking by the empty fields meant to hold the gardens and allotment. When we got back to the show home we both wondered how we could break the field in.
We talked to Lorelei, the show ground gardener. Over the past months she’s been developing the show home garden, running workshops and initiated the Showgarden Swopbox outside the house. She imagined a procession to the gardens and some food. We all thought we should build a big table, sit around with our neighbours, eat and start to plot out possibilities! Lorelei proposed a route for the walk and started to get to work finding people in the community who might invite us into their gardens.
Britt and I started on planning the building of our table. We thought it would be great to use some leftover materials from the Countryside build and contacted the overall sites manager Nigel Whebby. Him and his team were incredibly helpful. Thanks Tom, Andy, Tony and all the other guys and ladies who helped on site! Then our friend Alex came over from Rotterdam with a great design and lots of patience and together with people from the neighbourhood we basically built a table for 60 people in three days. Result!
On the day of our event, Jenny arrived at the show home early to start to prepare a meal for eighty! She was armed with squashes (and lots of other veg) sourced from Prospects Trust at Snakehall Farm where she volunteers, and other ingredients
from Food Cycle, who create community meals out of surplus supermarket food that would otherwise go to waste (they are always looking for volunteers if anyone is interested!). With the help of a whole bunch of volunteers she transformed our show kitchen into a buzzing community kitchen. We were chopping, dicing and peeling. She even took over one our neighbours ovens because we didn’t have enough space to do all the baking.
The show garden filled with people in the late afternoon. More than we imagined! Lorelei talked us through some of the ways she’d transformed the show garden and before setting off prepared us for our route. We’d been given an apple tree from the Trumpington Community Orchard and I asked if we might all take turns carrying it to the new site. As we walked from private gardens in the new development, to Dave Fox’s plot in the allotments, stopping to see the beehives, the orchard and the chicken collective, different people took the plant’s weight. Along the way we heard different stories about how important these green spaces are for our physical and emotional sustainability and the central role they play in creating a sense of home. When we finally reached the proposed new site we found a place to plant the apple tree we’d taken turns to carry. We broke ground and christened the site!
Dinner was next. The table was set, the bonfire burning (thanks Matt!) and the food laid out. Jenny and her team had created an amazing feast of salads, hot tasty soup and the most delicious cakes. We all took our seats. People at the table told us about garden and growing projects and initiatives they were involved with. Alex, one of the kitchen volunteers, told us about the upcoming pumpkin festival. (http://www.cambridgesustainablefood.org/pumpkin-festival-2015/). It is 'pay as you feel' but you have to book (free) tickets. Susanna, who talked to us along the walk about the polytunnel plots, invited people to get involved in taking care of the Trumpington Community Orchard. With hot cider in hand we turned to our neighbours to talk about what each of us imagined for this site and how we might make that happen.
There is no master plan for what will happen at the community gardens, except for a small building. It’s up to all of us. The gardens are not legally protected, so if we don’t use the land it can be used for something else. As the sun went down and the air started to cool, we ate and drank together. We toasted to the site, to each other and to beginnings. We had managed to break in the land by wearing it. I hope we keep trying it on and shaping it to suit our needs. If you are interested in getting involved to make that happen get in touch.
