Growing food and a family

Finding nourishment in all sorts of things

Our Allotment Journey

Back in 2020, we decided to take an allotment at the site local to us which is just a 15 minute walk or short drive away. At the time, it was the start of the COVID lock down and having more time at home we felt massively privileged to be able to secure some additional outdoor space. I grew up in a London Borough, and in some Boroughs around London plots are so scarce you could be on the waiting list for 10 years before getting hold of one because of the high demand in more densely populated urban areas.

Having an allotment is something that has been hugely enriching to our life, and the time we are able to spend together growing as a family is more varied and enjoyable – it is genuinely organic fun! It provided time out of the house which was so important during COVID times. As well as great physical exercise, being able to produce our own food and give our children a place to explore and learn that didn’t require any planning. They played in the mud, found worms, dug holes, looked at insects, filled their boots with water, walked around barefoot and got to see first hand where their dinner was coming from. This was not just about growing food but growing a family too.

Normal life takes over

Once things got more ‘normal’, it was less easy to be able to find time for our allotment. We once again, got caught up in the daily juggle of schooling, working, clubs, socialising and getting on the all the every-day household stuff. It was almost as if the lockdown had given us more freedoms in some ways, as the restrictions made space to experience an enforced different way of life.

Making time for the good stuff

Even before becoming a family of 5, we began to struggle to find the time and energy to spend time tending to our allotment and we lost nearly everything we’d been growing due to the extreme heat of the summer and not having the time to properly care for our plot. As we welcomed baby number 3, we had to let it go.

In its place, we decided to turn our tiny front garden in to a mini allotment – our very own vegetable patch! Since the front garden had already been completely destroyed by recent building works it was easy to think of a good use for this tiny patch of ruined garden.

We have loved growing our own food, and third time lucky, this year we have a marvellous array of tomato plants which have already given us some of their delicious fruits for our salads. It’s been so much easier to manage a smaller plot and being able to tend to our produce more regularly has been we have been able to give it the attention it needs – it just seems to work. This is a great learning experience, that scaling back is so much easier to manage, and recognising the barrier of that short journey to get to the allotment was really beneficial for us.

Doing less to get more

There is a real similarity between what we did with our allotment as to what I have also done with my Yoga practice. Scaling back my expectations and fitting shorter practices in at times that suit me better has helped me to maintain some kind of regularity. It really is true that by doing less you will get more!

Comparing organic and non-organic food prices

Loving the idea of eating fresher and more natural foods, I have recently spent ages comparing prices of organic and non-organic supermarket food, and how available organic produce is in my area. We are lucky to have an Organic Farm shop near by which offers a lovely range of fresh and packaged organic items and it is a real treat to pick up a few items from there.

However, it is great but Organic produce comes at a premium that is too high to feed a family of 5 on a budget. Part of our motivation to grow our own food is coming from the reality of the cost of organic produce to buy.

In my quest to find out more, I compared prices at some of the major supermarkets that deliver to our area and found that Asda actually had a really good range of items, at the lowest price. However, what I discovered when my shopping delivery arrived, is that around 75% of the organic items had been substituted which mean that I paid for an extra delivery that week, the items that arrived were in loads of unnecessary plastic. It ended up costing me more, for basically no tangible benefit. I didn’t do that again.

After continuing to search, I found an organic veg box delivery service. Able & Co offered me my first box which a huge 40% discount. The extra large size box was really good, and had a lovely range of salad and vegetable items without using any plastic which was great. But at full price – was totally outside of our budget for a weekly shop. Beware, Able & Co have a very ‘proactive’ marketing team that will hound you by telephone and email so make sure you check your preferences when signing up.

Breaking free from relying 100% on the supermarket

I finally settled on is to supplement our main supermarket shop with a weekly veg box delivered by The Essex Allotment who are a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm.  Alex Horne from The Essex Allotment Farms describes what a CSA is on his website. “A CSA is a partnership between farmers and consumers in which the responsibilities and rewards of farming are shared. Sometimes known as crop sharing, it connects the producer and consumers within the food system more closely by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms.”

What Alex has been doing since 2017 is using Regenerative Agriculture and Organic Farming techniques on his site to grow food, and he has been providing fresh food to local people via his veg box scheme since 2021.

It’s a really great scheme and it has been an absolute treat and luxury to be able to cook with really fresh, really tasty,  really local food that has been produced in harmony with nature by a local person.

Lets hope we can all be inspired to find more schemes like this to support or find a space to start growing more of our own foods. Both are good for our community, pocket and environment – a win, win, win situation!

Have you ever tried to break free from a supermarket shop? What did you do and how did it go?

N.B What I have written about here are my experiences and opinions of what I have recently found on this topic. I am not affiliated with any brand or company and do not receive any commissions for this blog.