Calon Teifi Veg Growers Group

Tim Swann's picture
Posted Tue, 22/12/2009 - 13:49 by Tim Swann
Project Aim: 
To get more people growing more food by pooling knowledge and resources.
Date started: 
Thu, 10/09/2009
Public Launch date: 
Thu, 10/09/2009
Project Description: 

We are a sub-group of the Calon Teifi Food Group. Members meet once a month, currently at someone's house, to discuss the ups and downs of growing veg (any edible crop) on their patch: which may be anything from a window box to a farm.
If weather and light permit, we walk round the host's plot to see what's going on. Then everyone gets a spot to talk about their successes, failures, aims, etc.
In winter we may also show a video.
This way we get to learn what works best in our climate here.
We also do informal labour-swap: helping each other out with those jobs you can't face by yourself.

Inspiration: 
The initiators live 800ft above sea level in wet, west Wales. So there's a steep learning curve to find what grows best and how to grow it. It's so much easier if we pool our knowledge.
Outcomes so far: 
We started in late Autumn. Even so a dozen or so people have met for the last few months.
Unexpected outcomes: 
We have realised that Winter is actually the crucial time to learn, because this is when you choose seed varieties and plan for the coming year. Come the Summer all we can do is see how other people are faring and think about doing things diferently next year!
Obstacles, and how we overcame them: 
We are a widely scattered Transition Area with no obvious central place to meet. So we meet in each other's houses / gardens. But communication is still a problem. We need a website so that members can easily leave messages for each other: hope the proposed Transition Network site will help.
Many members are not very computer literate. Many do not have email, etc. Someone has to do a lot of telephoning.
Lessons Learned: 

Start something small and if it works it will grow. Don't think you have to have a big plan, a budget and a launch.

Contact email: 
calonteifi@googlemail.com
Resources
Number of People Involved: 
25
Sources of Funding: 
Nil
Sources of materials: 
No special sources. Though we do attend local, seed swaps.