Get Growing project with OrganicLea - Impact report

Introduction
In October 2019, the Urban Growth Collective team won one of the three Changemaker Innovation Prizes
offered by EIT Food in the context of its Hackathon organised at the Impact Hub King’s Cross. The following few
months, the team spent time refining the concept, and the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic catalysed a
significant change in the concept, which was initially focused on hydroponics, aeroponics and other vertical
growing techniques to increase urban food production in under-utilised spaces. After the outbreak of the
pandemic, we saw interest in food growing soar, with more and more people seeking to turn over their back
gardens, patios, windowsills (and indeed any available space) to home food production1. Decreasing one’s
reliance on a food system that is unsustainable in so many ways is a very sensible move, and if this tendency is
maintained after the crisis, it could help lead the way to a much more resilient, equitable and
environmentally-friendly food system in the UK. Gardening in challenging times like the ones we are facing also
presents tremendous mental health benefits: studies have demonstrated again and again the many therapeutic
benefits of gardening for both health and mind. We therefore wanted to support this trend and help those who
might not be able to afford to start growing their own food to be able to do so, independently of the space or
resources they have available.

The project
The project we implemented consisted in providing free kits for people to grow their own salad and herbs, as
well as expert support to help them in doing so, in a series of 1-1.5 hour interactive Zoom calls. Kits and
supporting materials and sessions were delivered to participants for free, in partnership with OrganicLea, a
worker’s cooperative growing organic food in Waltham Forest, London.

We worked with OrganicLea to deliver sessions to groups they were already working with and they knew would
be interested in such a pilot programme: an Age UK group of older people who were self-isolating at the time
(cohort 1), and another group mixed group, recruit from social prescribing referrals, sheltered housing, and
housing estates in Leyton and Walthamstow (cohort 2).

Kits delivered to participants included:

- Herb pots: 3 pots - a selection from basil, chervil, chives, coriander, parsley or peppermint
- Seeds: lettuce, rocket and nasturtium
- OrganicLea compost
- Pot and labels
- Instructions
-

Two interactive Zoom workshops with OrganicLea experts (Sunniva Taylor and Claire Turner) were offered to
participants in each cohort, with a two-week interval between each session. Each session lasted between 1h
and 1h30min. The first session focused on seed sowing and the second one on herb care - but these were also

https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/the-self-sufficiency-surge/?utm_source=SFT+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4bdbf1df3c-Newsletter
+214_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bf20bccf24-4bdbf1df3c-105144777

1
open Q&A sessions, and provided opportunities for participants to introduce themselves and share their
experience, questions and comments - on the topic of the session or on food growing more generally.

The process for both cohorts was structured in a similar way, with the following key steps:
- Recruitment of participants
- Delivery of herb pots, seeds and compost
- Salad sowing Zoom session (a few days after the delivery of the kits)
- Herb care Zoom session (two weeks after the first session)

We had a total of 22 participants across both cohorts. This was lower than initially planned, as we aimed for a
total of 40 participants, and had 23 registered for the first cohort and 23 for the second cohort. Actual
attendance was 11 in the first cohort and 11 in the second cohort. This has shown us that if we are to extend
the project, we may need to provide further support to enable people to participate, and/or aim to recruit
larger numbers of people to reach the envisioned number of active participants.

Both cohorts were invited to complete an impact survey at the beginning and at the end of the experience.
Only 8 participants out of a total of 22 completed the survey, in spite of reminders being sent. Out of these 8
participants, over 60% (5) were over 66, 25% (2) were between 36 and 45 years old and one was between 56
and 65 years old. The vast majority of participants were female (83%, 7 out of 8).

Budget
The budget for this pilot project split into two cohorts was as follows:

Item Cost

4 online Q&A with a gardener sessions £120

Preparing plants and materials for all participants £150

Preparation of written/video resources and sharing £105

Coordination and outreach £360

Plants £180

Seeds, compost, plant labels, etc. £250

Transport - one delivery to each house £240

Overheads (15%) £211

Total £1,606

Timeline and participation

2
 Timeline Number Number of Welcome email Delivery of First Zoom Second Zoom
participants active plants & seeds session session
signed up participants

Cohort 1 (Age 23 11 Wed 15th July Mon 7th Sep Fri 11th Sep Fri 28th Sep
UK)

Cohort 2 23 11 Fri 2nd Oct Tue 6th Oct Fri 16th Oct Wed 28th Oct
(Mixed - see
above)

Insights on impact
Impact survey

Impact indicator % of participants who % of participants who Variation

‘agree’ or ‘strongly ‘agree’ or ‘strongly
agree’ - baseline survey agree’ - end survey

‘I’ve been gaining skills 50% 75% +25 percentage points

and knowledge’

‘I’ve had the energy to 50% 100% +50 percentage points

do the things I’ve
wanted to’

‘I’ve been feeling 75% 100% +25 percentage points

positive about the
activities I’m involved in’

‘I’ve been doing physical 63% 75% +12 percentage points

activities regularly’

‘I’ve been able to make 88% 100% +22 percentage points

decisions about the
activities that I do’

‘I’ve been eating fresh 63% 100% +27 percentage points

fruit and vegetables’

‘I’ve been feeling able to 75% 100% +25 percentage points

connect to the people
around me’

‘I’ve been feeling able to 63% 100% +27 percentage points

connect to the natural
world’

The baseline survey has illustrated improvements perceived by participants across all wellbeing impact
indicators monitored. It suggests that participants had increased energy levels, started eating more fresh fruit
and vegetables, have felt able to connect to the natural world, gained skills and knowledge, felt more positive
about activities they were involved in, did physical activities more regularly and have felt able to make
decisions about activities they are involved in. However, it should be noted that only 8 participants completed

3
the baseline survey and 4 completed the end survey, so these findings may not reflect the experience of all
participants.

Selected quotes from participants:

- ‘Thank you. I learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it.’

- ‘I learnt a lot – I hadn’t a clue!’
- ‘Thank you. It was very inspiring and confidence building.’
- ‘It’s inspired me to grow further’
- ‘I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this, and the company, as I’ve been in lockdown for so long. I’ve also learnt a
lot. Thank you.’
- ‘This has really inspired me to see the plants growing’
- ‘It’s been so nice to do something different’
- ‘It’s done wonders for my mental health’
- I've enjoyed seeing life growing out of tiny seeds. It’s magical.’
- ‘Thank you. It’s been lovely. A lovely project.’
- ‘Seeing seeds come up has made me free ‘oooh aren’t you clever!’’
- ‘I find it harder online’

Participants requested more:

- Veg growing courses – either on-line or in person

- Online veg growing zoom sessions
- Online veg growing sessions at start of year
- Access to compost (and winter plants?)
- More Zoom classes
- Monthly ideas of what to be doing each month e.g. monthly update newsletter

Next steps

- Organiclea and Age UK successfully applied for a Covid Emergency Lottery grant to continue with the
sessions, drawing on the EIT partnered sessions as a pilot. These sessions will be running in the first
three months of 2020
- Organiclea has also been inspired by this project to incorporate the model into other projects, where
planned activity cannot be carried out because of ongoing Coronavirus restrictions. They are to offer a
place-specific version for residents in the Leyton area of Waltham Forest where they have been trying
to develop local food hubs; and to residents of one particular estate in Walthamstow. They are also
developing a youth-focused version for delivering elsewhere.
- Organiclea is now also proposing another follow-up project to this, to create “how to” horticultural
films for learning and training - see separate proposal.