Veg Libraries Give Easy Access To Healthy Food

Feed Leeds is a network of individuals and organizations working in partnership to support local food growing for its social, economic, environmental and health benefits, and to promote healthy, sustainable and affordable food in Leeds.

The Leeds Fund Micro Grants enabled them to develop Little Veg Libraries, giving their community easier access to healthy food.

How have you been supported by Leeds Community Foundation and what has this funding enabled you to do? 

As a grassroots, volunteer-led  organization we applied for a Micro Grant to develop our new project ‘Little Veg Libraries’. We are keen to support people into growing some of their own food and wanted to create a way for more experienced growers to share their skills and resources. Inspired by the Little Free Libraries that have grown across communities in Leeds, we used the grant to design and build two Little Veg Libraries (LVL) as community hubs for people to share seeds, seedlings and surplus produce, as well as gardening books and magazines.

To ensure the LVL were looked after, we worked with Incredible Edible Guiseley and Garforth to host them within their on-street food growing projects. The Guiseley LVL is handily located next to their Little Free Library, while the Garforth one is outside the local medical centre ensuring they are central to the community. They have been a great success with seeds and seedlings being donated and taken away by community members. Our wider ambition is to inspire other communities to develop their own LVL and this has been the case. The Micro Grant is a great way to kick-start ideas  and reach out to the wider community.

Can you give us an example of an individual and or group and how they have responded to this work?

When we built the LVLs, Feed Leeds was also engaged in another project ‘Sow a Row Xtra’ which encouraged people to sow extra seedlings to share with other. The LVL played a key role as Xchange sites. In addition, Sow a Row Xtra contributed to the Growing Friendship project, which ran workshops with migrants and refugees providing seedlings, soil and tools so could try growing some of their own food. This has been a fantastic initiative building friendships and sharing skills and resources.

What challenges and opportunities do you face as an organisation in the current climate?

The climate emergency is central to our work as we support, promote and lobby for more local food growing in Leeds. It is important that more land is made available and support is in place for community food growing projects to flourish. It is well evidenced that  being outside in nature, gardening and growing food is good for both mental and physical health.

We would like to see more funding made available specifically for food and food growing initiatives to support the necessary shift to net zero. Leeds is developing a food strategy for the city, in which increasing local food production will be a central theme. Increasing community food growing and ensuring local residents have the opportunity to get involved and learn new skills, build confidence and enjoy eating more fresh, local food will help Leeds to become a more inclusive city.