The 25th annual London Harvest festival took place on Saturday September 16th, knitting together London’s city farms and community gardens, and the staff and volunteers who make these sites so special. Our own Richard Choksey took part in the day as one of the judges on the panel. Participants competed in the animal show and the horticulture and home produce show with categories such as ‘best display of seasonal produce’, best ‘pollinator friendly plant’ and ‘best jar of honey’. There was a bumper crop of competitors this year with 9 farms and gardens taking part.
The festival was held at the Lambourne End Centre for Outdoor Learning whose site catered for attendants to try their hand at a variety of activities such as archery, blacksmiths and tug of war. It was a wonderful chance for like-minded organisations to meet one another, connect and celebrate their work.
Kentish Town city farm won the blacksmiths prize for their 25th anniversary plant sculpture. The prize was a uniquely handcrafted plaque made on-site during the day by Urban Crafts Foundation, with help from volunteers. Surrey Docks farm won the animal show, their team of young farmers gained 1st place in the goat, lamb and guinea pig classes, as well as 1st for rare breed with their Oxford Down sheep and 1st for their 17 year old pony Kiera in the veteran class. Lambourne End and Wellgate community farm also won several animal categories. It was a joy to see such commitment of care from the groups involved towards their livestock. The full list of winners can be seen here.
The event is part of the Urban Harvest fortnight of events in London which celebrates growing in the city, including London in Bloom, Capital Growth's food growing gathering and more. The London Harvest Festival is completely volunteer-led and overseen by the London Association who are a group of dedicated trustees. Next year’s festival will be open to anyone who’d like to attend. We would love to see 2024’s festival even bigger with more people joining in. You can take part however big or small as you feel able. For more information on how you can get involved, contact; [email protected].
Urban green spaces, including city farms and community gardens, are not being used enough to help people living with dementia and their carers, according to a new report from Natural England.
In one of the biggest surveys of its kind so far, people living with dementia and their carers...