St. Raphael's Edible Garden is a

community garden A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plot ...

located in St. Raphael's,

Neasden Neasden is a suburban area in northwest London, England. It is located around the centre of the London Borough of Brent and is within the NW2 (Cricklewood) and NW10 (Willesden) postal districts. Neasden is near Wembley Stadium, the Brent Reserv ...

. The former derelict site was acquired by

Sufra A ''sufra'', ''sofra'', or ''sofreh'' (; ; ; ka, სუფრა) is a cloth or table for the serving of food, or, in an extended sense, a kind of meal, associated with Islamicate culture. Forms of the ''sufra'' The word comes from the Semit ...

in 2016 and was granted permission to build a community garden project by the Brent Council in 2017. The garden is a private space for local residence and visitors as a space to learn and engage in

community gardening A community garden is a piece of land gardening, gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for thei ...

activities.

Background

The site used to be home to a

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

, which was demolished in 2013. This caused a

brownfield land Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...

to be present in the St. Raphael's estate, which locals referred to as an “eyesore” which was prone to flytipping. Local residents decided to develop the site as a community garden. In 2015, Sufra NW London was raising money for an edible garden in the area. It used several backings from different funds, including

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an Indian-born British actress, presenter, author, television producer, activist and former model. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulo ...

's support with

Marks and Spencers Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

' Spark Something Good Campaign. In an exclusive interview with the express, Lumley said: "I love the St. Raphael's edible garden project. St Raphael’s community in Brent is today creating an edible garden in the middle of their estate so they can bring the residents together and encourage a healthy lifestyle for all." In 2016, Brent Council approved a growing garden project. The garden project was located just a minute walk away from Sufra's main office and was named St. Raphael's Edible Garden. The charity officially launched the project in March 2017 and runs a Growing Club twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays from 10am to 2pm. The garden project featured numerous projects, including a Chicken Club, which teaches how to look after poultry. In November 2016, Sufra was featured on episode 1 of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''The Big Food Rescue''. Which followed two men on a mission to change Britain's food habits by rescuing the fresh food that supermarkets used to bin and getting it to the people who need it. It highlighted the use of the community garden and how it benefits local residents. The community garden won £1000 in funding from Aviva Community Fund in 2017, this was used for resources such as seeds to kickstart the growing of edible plants. As of 2019, the garden has increased the number of people Sufra helps to 3000 annually. It was fully completed and officially opened in August 2019.

Features

As of 2019, St. Raphael's Edible Garden currently has a

tipi A tipi or tepee ( ) is a conical lodge tent that is distinguished from other conical tents by the smoke flaps at the top of the structure, and historically made of animal hides or pelts or, in more recent generations, of canvas stretched on ...

made of wooden poles and organic cotton that is used for outdoor cooking, a wildlife pond which has fish and other pond animals, and a

chicken coop Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises poultry, domesticated birds such as chickens, Domestic duck, ducks, turkey (domesticated), turkeys and domesticated goose, geese to produce chicken meat, meat or Egg as food, eggs for ...

for the production of eggs. The garden also has raised beds and

fruit trees A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans. All trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, the te ...

and is managed and maintained by staff and volunteers. A greenhouse was also developed in the Garden for the growing of flowers and other botanics.

Activities

* Creative Artisanal Workshop * Growing Club * Sami's Chicken Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Raphael's Edible Garden Food banks Charities based in London Charities based in Brent Botanical gardens in London Gardens in London Greenhouses in the United Kingdom