FoodSmiles

FoodSmiles is a Community Benefit Society, based in St Albans District, which aims to encourage people to grow and eat more sustainable local food through building a community of food-growers. We make local food and food-growing more accessible, bring our community together, share skills and provide a new source of local food for St Albans. We laun... ched our Community Supported Agriculture scheme on April 23rd 2014, on a small corner of an organic farm on the edge of nearby Harpenden, and harvested our first crops less than three months later in early July. We grow a wide range of vegetables there and we have four polytunnels to help us to grow all year round. It's a veg-box scheme with a difference: our 35 members pay a small annual fee and commit to a few hours working on the farm each month, and we share everything we grow in a weekly veg box. In spring 2017 we took on second site as part of this scheme; a plot at the CDA garden in Hixberry Lane, St Albans, meaning some of our St Albans members can work on a plot closer to home. In 2017 and 2019 we also set up two 'Incredible Edible' community gardens in St Albans town centre, which are open to all. With these two gardens we aim to bring local people together, provide free food for anyone who wants to take it, enhance the town centre, provide food and shelter for wildlife, and enable us to teach and share growing skills and promote the benefits of growing-our-own.Read More