With the combination of the recent sunny weather, and the restrictions on being outside easing, some of our residents have been hard at work on our external allotment.
As well as offering an opportunity to learn how to grow plants and vegetables, our GLO Earth allotment will hopefully provide food for our community cafe, and maybe even flowers for us to sell.
One of our residents wrote about how working on the allotment is helping his emotional and mental well-being during Covid-19:
‘I started the allotment process at the beginning of lockdown because I saw a lot of potential with the green house and raised beds and so I started to grow herbs in my room ready to be moved into the existing beds. I’ve then prepared the onsite beds and planted it with flowers and I’ve really enjoyed starting the growth of fruit and vegetables. I have limited knowledge about this but I’ve been doing lots of research and it’s been really good for my mental health. I love cooking and by being able to grow my own stuff and then being able to use that in our café and other cooking was a natural extension. By going to the external allotment I was able to get some more knowledge from Richard to help me with the onsite allotment and also see what can be achieved with time and effort. It’s also been good to start something that doesn’t need a lot of money, but just opportunity, support and time, which the YMCA staff have given me to achieve this. It was also really good to get out of the YMCA and be in nature. I’ve been on the sick for a while now and so having something to focus on and work towards has been a massive help and I’m feeling more confident and happier. We are now hoping to get more residents involved in the process and hope they too can get the same sense of achievement that I have’
