We are a Workers Co-operative of Queer Community Growers, stewarding a beautiful piece of land in East Glasgow. We seek to actively contribute to the struggles of food sovereignty and land justice in Glasgow, Scotland and beyond.
Since 2018 we have been farming a secluded half of an acre tucked away behind the old Parkhead Wash House. This building was once a focal point for the local area and we mirror this by placing community at the heart of what we do. As a family of staff and volunteers we:
- Grow fruit and vegetables for 30 households and a few food businesses each week from Spring through Autumn, using agroecological, no-dig methods to ensure our ecosystem (including the people) is as healthy as possible.
- Run regular volunteer sessions for anyone interested in learning more about growing food and connecting with others, particularly aiming to create a safe space for people from the LGBTQ+ community to facilitate access to land-based skills for this community.
- Run workshops on food growing, beekeeping and other outdoor crafts for local organisations, schools, nurseries and the general public. We do these at the garden and throughout the city.
- Put on free community meals and events at the garden and offer the garden as a space for local groups to meet and organise.
- Rent out our outdoor event and workshop space, The Canopy, which includes fire pits and a pizza oven.
- Offer our services as community and market gardening consultants.
Our commitment is to cultivate renewal; of ecologies and communities. We believe that the health of human society is deeply interwoven and entwined with the health of the land. Capitalist systems have cut people off from the land that nourished their communities, destroying ancient knowledges and privatising what we by right should hold in common. We hope to create and restore sustained connections between human communities and the extraordinary non-human community that feeds and guides us.
Engaging with food growing, in and for community, can be hugely rewarding. Physical, mental and spiritual health can all be tended to, as we in turn tend to plants, soils and eco-systems. We believe that everyone should have access to these benefits and work hard to make that possible. However, we also know we don’t have all the answers, so if you’re a long-term volunteer or haven’t made it to the garden yet, we’d love your input and ideas, help us make the garden all it can be!
