Evaluation
The most visible sign of change in the town is the transformation of public and green space into herb gardens, vegetable patches and orchards for use by the whole community. Ornamental planting has been replaced by edible fruit and vegetables by local people who are engaged in the growing, picking and cooking of local food.
Derelict sites and once neglected road side verges have been cultivated for community use. The result has been a visual improvement which adds to a sense of community pride and ownership and has reduced anti-social land uses. The town has started to consider derelict and previously unsightly land as a resource and an asset, rather than as a liability.
The growing, picking and cooking of local food connect and engage local people with their public spaces. The crop belongs to the whole community and everyone is encouraged to pick vegetables and take them home. Picking a vegetable is an act of ownership and responsibility, it involves recognition of the source of food and it is the first step in the development of skills and awareness of its cultivation.
Incredible Edible Todmorden is an inclusive project because it recognises that there are benefits of everyone in the town having access to local, healthy produce, even if they didn’t participate in its planting.
“at first we were a bit disappointed that everyone was taking the rhubarb but then we realised it was a lesson … that next year we should just grow more of it” Nick
Incredible Edible Todmorden hopes to engage a broad membership by breaking down jargon that people may not know or find difficult to relate to such as carbon footprints or food miles. Incredible Edible Todmorden work hard to avoid single group dominance in their work. Excluded groups are engaged as part of the solution rather than seen as a problem, for example young offenders worked with other local people to plant a community orchard.
“The project is not a membership group but a project for everyone and anyone who wants to eat better and cares about the future.” Pam
Incredible Edible Todmorden succeeds because it connects people in the town through the shared growing, picking and eating of food:
- it questions the way people think about public green space and empowers them to take responsibility for it
- it is based upon local action, it is about changing behaviour through strong local leadership
- it represents a bottom up approach to tackling wider issues of climate change which is truly inclusive – it involves everyone in the community from every background
- it breaks down barriers between people by focusing on something that we all love and need - food - because it is inclusive
- it is some truly joined up thinking –it makes connections in the town so local growing is embedded into education, health and local business
Incredible Edible Todmorden will succeed if it is able to embed local food production in the economic, social and political life of the town. It is a useful example of the development of a sustainable community that depends on small donations of time and land, knowledge, resources and hand graft from public, private and voluntary stakeholders in the town. It represents a different way to address overarching global and local environmental concerns while also creating less tangible by-products such as social involvement, integration, civic pride and an investment in the built environment.
