Joining the network

What does it mean to be part of the FGN?

We have 35 members of the FGN and all participate in different ways. FGN members receive a fortnightly newsletter, and are part of a WhatsApp group, where we share information about upcoming events, workshops and other offers of support. Broadly we support members to run workshops, to fundraise and to organise. We also host regular get-togethers both informal and celebratory (like our Harvest Fair) and more formal decision-making assemblies. As we grow the network there will be more sub-projects held by the network that members can get involved in. At the moment we are running WalthamWild, a project designed to help gardens support and monitor biodiversity.

How does the network work? 

We have two paid coordinators at the moment Emily (emily@organiclea.org.uk) and Greg (greg@organiclea.org.uk) who are funded by OrganicLea to help facilitate network activities. We also have a coordinating group (currently made up of four members from the Leyton Boundary Garden, Welcome Garden, Time To Grow, Community Apothecary and Earthseed + Emily and Greg). This group rotates every 6 months and members are paid to help make decisions about the future of the network. We also aim to run regular network-wide assemblies to decide together where we want to go and what kind of movement we want to build to get there.

What is the network trying to do? 

At the very minimum, we are trying to make sure that growers in the borough know about one another and are able to collaborate when they need to, and that growing groups can easily access the skills and knowledge around fundraising and organising that exists in the network. More than that we are working on identifying gaps in our work and helping incubate projects that could serve all the network members. For example, this might include a borough-wide community composting scheme, a shared space for network members to organise and a land-matching service.