Wildlife Gardening Project
Care Co-ops Community Farm – Wildlife Gardening Project
What is the Wildlife Gardening Project?
The Wildlife Gardening Project is a gardening service for people with mental health support needs that are living in the community and would like to develop a wildlife habitat in their garden or a garden that they have access to. The project is a partnership between the Care Co-ops Community Farm and Mind in Brighton and Hove and the project is funded by the Tudor Trust.
Who are the Gardening Team?
Through the project, current mental health service users are given the opportunity to join the Project’s gardening team and develop their skills in wildlife gardening. Service user volunteers receive full training at the Care Co-ops Community Farm and they are supported by an experienced Team Leader in delivering the gardening service.
What can the Project Offer?
The Wildlife Gardening Project is focused on creating gardens which are low maintenance and designed to suit individual needs, are based on organic and wildlife garden principles and which are designed to attract birds, butterflies, bees and other wildlife. After an initial startup visit where the team helps to create the wildlife habitat, the team then offers a quarterly follow-up visit to monitor progress and to discuss the new garden and any further developments that are needed. In addition to this, there will also be opportunities for people to get in touch with other people who are receiving a service from the Project, to make new friends, exchange ideas and swap wildlife stories.
How to Access the Service
Anyone who is interested in this service and would like us to come and transform their garden should contact the Wildlife Gardening Project Team and arrange a time for the team to go and visit and discuss their requirements. The team will then visit the garden and perform an initial assessment of the soil and space available and will listen to what is wanted and discuss what options are available. Due to the Project being funded by the Tudor Trust, there is no charge for labour for any of the work done on the garden. However, we do request a small contribution of £25 towards the materials, seeds and plants that are selected to go in the garden.
Once the initial work is completed then the team will return to visit each garden every three months to do some garden maintenance and ensure that everything is going well. These visits also provide the opportunity for any questions to be asked about how the new garden needs to be looked after, or indeed some of the new wildlife that may have decided to visit.
Learning Opportunities and Volunteering
The Project provides a number of learning and development opportunities and support to volunteers who wish to participate. A number of volunteering opportunities are available for a wide range of gardening enthusiasts who are committed to developing the project. In addition, we are also looking for volunteers who are current mental health service users and who would like to join one of our wildlife gardening teams.
The Project offers full training and support to volunteers and a range of learning opportunities in horticulture and conservation including:
- Organic gardening skills
- Wildlife gardening and conservation skills
- Social skills, working to support others
- Work advice and guidance
- Valuable experience for CV
- NVQ levels 1 and 2
- Health and Safety awareness skills
A weekly training day takes place at the Care Co-ops Community Farm, plus on the job supervision and training is available from experienced team leaders.
For Further Information
If you have a garden and would like support from our gardening team, or know of someone who could benefit from our service then please contact us for further information or an informal chat. Our contact details are:
Care Co-ops Community Farm
Stanmer Offices
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN1 9SE
Telephone number: 01273 696153
Jenny Bell – Community Farm Team Leader
E-mail: jenny.bell@careco-ops.org.uk
Ian Law – Senior Project Worker
E-mail: ian.law@careco-ops.org.uk