The idea
Squash is a people-powered community organisation, rooted & home-grown in Liverpool 8 since 2010, committed to positive social change in our neighbourhood through regenerative urban agriculture & community food enterprise.
For over a decade we’ve worked to make Windsor Street into a vibrant urban food place inc. a community-designed therapeutic garden, seed library & eco-building housing a community food shop & vegetarian cafe.
The Community Micro Farm will be a new & exciting community space that will:
- transform derelict land into bio-diverse growing space
- grow nutritious crops like salad leaves, mushrooms & herbs
- create a plant nursery of multicultural food, flower & medicinal plants
- provide a youth training programme
- be an inter-generational space to share existing skills & skill up local residents in urban food & flower growing
- provide a sustainable income stream to help fund on-going, free community horticulture & wellbeing activities
What we'll deliver
- We'll make good a piece of derelict land through clearing, levelling & rectifying to make sure it's safe to use for all
- We'll install a shed, raised beds, soil, composting, fencing & gates
- We'll install disability access
- We'll install workspace for indoor & outdoor growing prep plus a seating & fire area for community gatherings
Why it's a great idea
The Squash Micro Farm will:
- improve local people’s access to nutritional food
- teach community members, especially young people, the skills to feed themselves well
- co-produce a community owned green space which is beautiful, well-used and which makes people proud
- create opportunities for improved community cohesion, for neighbours to meet each other by stewarding public space together
- help develop new enterprise and community business, developing a more economically resilient neighbourhood
- make lasting change by create a skilled-up team of Urban Farmers
- create a dynamic space that will continue to grow healthy, fresh and delicious food for years to come
support young people; nurturing passions and developing the next generation of environmentally-conscious community leaders
Steps to get it done
- We'll clear the land of rubble and other debris
- We'll level the land so it can be worked upon
- We'll run community design, participation & consultation sessions
- We'll recruit project worker
- We'll recruit young people and other community volunteers
- We’ll install signage
- We'll install the shed
- We'll create the external seating & working area including firepit
- We'll install the fencing and gates
- We'll install the disability access path
- We'll install the external raised beds, line and fill with soil
- We'll host progress sessions with wider community
- We'll plant shrubs/bushes & trees
- We'll begin seed propagation
- We'll install signage
- We'll invite wider community to launch event
