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Growing Care Farming Update, mid-May 2020

Welcome to the mid-May update from Growing Care Farming 

Greetings from the Growing Care Farming team

Since our last update there have been some moves towards a loosening of restrictions and, for many growers and nursery owners, the opening of garden centres is a welcome development.  Things are still a very long way from 'normal' however and although many of us will have asked ourselves the the question of when things will return to normal, the likelihood is that it won't be any time soon. 

Our webinar last month looked at creative engagement and social media during lockdown, and it's clear that there is a lot of exciting and imaginative work going on in our sector.  The potential for developing reach to a wider pool of clients or service user is something that many are thinking about and may well change how many care farms work in future and is something that we want to continue to explore.  The webinar was a new experience for our staff and was very positively received, with over 40 people registered.  It was recorded and we will be uploading it to our events pages soon - our staff team are busy getting to grips with video editing software to make it more digestible.  Big thanks to Lucy Thornton from Thornwood Alpacas and Geoff Stevens from Pathways Care Farm for supporting us in this.  You can find Lucy on Facebook and Geoff's videos of Pathways on YouTube.

Social Farms & Gardens has been asking its wider membership to respond to a survey asking how the impact of COVID-19 has affected their business or project.  We had 53 responses from care farmers who took part and, out of those care farm responses, we established that 24% are completely closed with nobody at all attending, 57% told us that some staff and volunteers are working under social distanding measures, but are closed to the public and service users.  17% said that some staff and volunteers are working but with reduced access to public and only 2% are working as normal.

We are aware that you get asked to fill out a lot of surveys and questionnaires (indeed there is another request below!) and that it can sometimes seem pointless and tiresome.  Please be assured that we do only circulate ones which have direct links to university research or which help us to gather information to lobby and represent on your behalf.  Good quality research results and data is so necessary to have at our disposal when we are making a case for our sector.


Upcoming Webinars and Online Meetings

Many people have asked for the opportunity for a more open style meeting with webcams to allow care farmers around the country to see each other, share experiences and connect.  We have run this on a smaller scale using our online meeting software, so we are now keen to see how it might work for larger numbers.  We have therefore organised an online care farming network meeting for care farmers on  on Wednesday 27th May from 10.30 - 11.30am.  Please follow the link to book so we have an idea of numbers and you will then be sent a link to join.

Our next GCF themed webinar is taking place on Thursday 4th June from 2.00 - 3.00pm and will be looking at IT and data protection issues for care farmers.  We've had a number of enquiries and requests around this subject and it is clear that it is a growing area of concern and importance for many.  It will be led by Mike Styan, an IT manager with a lot of experience working in the charity sector Rachael Fell-Chambers from Densholme Care Farm, an experienced CEVAS trainer and Code of Practice assessor.  More details and how to book can be found here

We are aware that for two or three people the link to the last webinar we ran ended up in their spam/junk folders.  If you don't receive links to join the online events please get in touch so we can check if there's a problem.

Social Farms & Gardens is also running a number of webinars based around funding and budgets to support the wider green care and gardening sector during this time.  The first two are this week - 'Budgets & Cashflow Forecasts for Funding Bids' on Thursday May 21st at 11am and 'Adapting Working Practices' on Friday May 22nd at 4pm.  Others are taking place later in May and June.  Keep an eye on the SF&G events pages.
 


Funding to Tackle the Impact of Covid-19

Grants programmes to tackle the impact of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) continues to dominate the funding landscape.  A number of new grant givers have launched funds to help organisations combat the impact of Covid-19.  Grants Online has produced an online resource to track these funds.  This information can be accessed at https://www.grantsonline.org.uk/coronavirus.html.

The information is being updated continuously, so please be sure to check the web page on a regular basis.

In response to the Coronavirus a number of funding trends appear to be emerging:

•    Funders are introducing new funding schemes or adapting existing funding streams to tackle the impact of the Coronavirus.
•    Recognising the difficulties faced by organisations in receipt of grants funders are adopting a more flexible approach in terms of achieving outputs and timings, etc.
•    Some funders have extended their application deadlines, in particular where it has involved the meeting of Trustees.
•    A number of funders have cancelled existing funding rounds.
•    Others are carrying on normally.

For organisations in receipt of grants or in the process of submitting applications it may well be worthwhile contacting the funder directly to clarify their position.
 


Covid -19:Government Guidance

Natural England has helpfully provided us with a complete list of government guidance on access to greenspace and phased return of sport and recreation from MHCLG (Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government), Defra and DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport).  Please see below:
 

  • There is updated safer access to green space guidance on GOV.UK, which links to an updated FAQ, outlining what you can and can’t do (Note: a further update goes into more detail about respecting communities and following the countryside code) 
     
  • There is a joint press release with MHCLG, which links to both Defra’s safer access to green space guidance and MHCLG’s safer public spaces guidance
     
  • A new stay safe outdoors video has been published on the Defra Twitter account, which is aimed at helping people understand the changes to the guidance. It is also published on Facebook
     
  • There is an updated countryside code video on the Natural England Twitter account, which is aimed at encouraging people to respect rural communities and the environment
     
  • DCMS guidance which includes the Countryside Code can be found here.
     
  • The Environment Agency has published a press release to inform anglers that fishing is now allowed, how to fish safely, and encouraging people to purchase a rod licence. They have published supporting social media to reach wider audiences
     
  • Forestry England has updated their visitor information online 
     
  • Natural England is also due to publish an updated Operational Note, detailing how they will reopen sites and facilities
     

Other News

Online Dementia Skills Sessions

Many of you will be aware that we've worked closely with Dementia Adventure and care farmers have been involved in their Risky Business training courses.  Since lockdown, Dementia Adventure has been running Dementia Skills Sessions online.  The sessions are two hours long and replicate their 'Thinking Differently about Dementia' session but also look at how to remain connected at this time.  These sessions were created for unpaid carers but more and more professionals are wanting to attend, so that they can look at what can be provided to engage people now, considering their long term plans and  possible further funding bids.

With this in mind, Dementia Adventure have extended an invitation to anyone involved in care farming to attend the online sessions.  Anyone who attends one of these sessions is offered a second session 'Time in Nature' which is an hour long and looks at more specifics of how to connect with nature, inside and out.  These sessions are free to attend and this link below takes you to the website and the booking page.  We hope that many of you may find this useful.

Survey Help Requested

Kirsty Ramsden, a PdD student at the University of Essex is working on a project exploring how green care might be used to support survivors of domestic abuse as part of their recovery process. 
She's really keen to understand from people who already work in the green care field per se (not necessarily working with survivors of domestic abuse), what have been aspects of their project design that have worked well and where some of the challenges have been. Learnings from this will inform the co-design of the pilot programme which Kirsty will be working on with the Wilderness Foundation. It would be appreciated if anyone with five minutes to spare could respond.  The link is here and we will look forwared to sharing her findings when she's had all the responses.

Ecosia and NHS Forest

Ecosia, the green search engine, has partnered with NHS Forest to launch #GrowYourLove campaign to plant trees dedicated to NHS key workers.  There is a target of 2020 trees to be planted next season on healthcare estates.  In order to fund the trees, Ecosia will dedicate its revenues from searches made by UK users every Thursday for the rest of May. As well as supporting the project by searching with Ecosia, members of the public can also make donations directly to the project through the The NHS Forest website. 

So, how can you help? 

- Start using Ecosia search engine and encourage others to do the same
- Sponsor a tree to be planted in the NHS Forest
- Share your #GrowYourLove sponsorship on social media

If any new sites would like to receive trees to plant please contact [email protected] 
 

 


Stay safe everyone and keep in touch with us.  We love to hear from you!
 

You can send general enquiries to [email protected] or you can contact Debbie and Rachel on [email protected] 

 
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Find out more or keep in touch with the Growing Care Farming team -
email:
[email protected] | Website: www.farmgarden.org.uk/gcf |
Twitter: @GrowCareFarming

 

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