Wolves Lane is a 2 acre former plant nursery in Haringey. Over the last few years Haringey Council has been exploring options for the future of the site, which included asking OrganicLea to assess its viability as a food growing market garden operation along the lines of Organiclea’s Hawkwood Nursery operation in Waltham Forest.
OrganicLea’s Farmstart programme is currently supporting new groups of growers to take on new sites, and one such group is London Grown, now formed as a workers’ cooperative and developing a community food enterprise at Pasteur Gardens, a 7 acre derelict recreation ground site very close to Wolves Lane nursery.
A coalition evolved with a vision for turning the Wolves Lane site into a hub for community food enterprise, and preventing the loss of its extensive rare urban glasshouse infrastructure. The aim is for an initiative that grows and distributes sustainably produced food to local residents and businesses; engages a wide range of people in learning and skills activities, and health and well-being benefits; establishes itself as a centre for promoting healthy eating; and offers space for community groups and social enterprises to run activities that benefit the community.
The coalition which is taking on the site includes:
- London Grown, who will be able to complement their field-scale growing at Pasteur Gardens with glasshouse use at Wolves Lane
- Crop Drop, Haringey-based veg box scheme, who can use the site to expand their distribution and provide an outlet for produce grown on site
- OrganicLea, who can offer support from experience of running a community enterprise in food growing and training at Hawkwood Nursery
- Shared Assets, a ‘think and do tank’ which is researching and promoting good models of public land management
- Dee Woods, BBC Cook of the Year in 2016, who runs healthy eating programmes and is a volunteer chef at the Granville Community Kitchen
Watch this space as plans evolve for volunteering and training opportunities at the site; if you are keen to get involved please email londongrown[at]gmail.com
