Carfin Street Gardens
The Carfin Street Gardens is a growing project that tackles food insecurity by providing green space for Pantry members and local residents to grow their own food. The project contains 36 raised beds situated outside the People’s Pantry, which makes them easily accessible for people to incorporate a visit into their shopping visit: whether it’s to pick some fresh herbs, harvest some fresh salad leaves or just take a seat in the peaceful gardens to relax. The instalment of the planters has transformed a highly built up area with little available greenspace into a lush, self contained growing space.
The project has been incredibly active in its first year of growth and has engaged 80 participants. Throughout the summer of 2022, we have delivered 6 workshops to provide an introduction to sustainable growing. We provided all the necessary materials, seeds and equipment for participants to contribute to the running of the raised beds on Carfin Street. Additionally, we have distributed 30 window boxes to enable participants to grow herbs, wild flowers and vegetables from the comfort of their home. These initiatives supported people in the development of innovative approaches to understanding and enacting the role of food in their lives.
First Harvest Community Meal
As a part of this year’s Govanhill International Festival, the Carfin Street Gardens hosted a community meal for local residents and the wider community to celebrate our first year of growing food. Over 70 people attended the event and were fed a delicious meal made by local residents and participants of the ‘Introduction to Growing’ programme that ran throughout the summer of 2022. Kin Kitchen – a volunteer run vegan community food project focusing on sustainability – also contributed food to the event.
Window Box Series
The Carfin Street Gardens also distributed 30 window boxes this summer to people wanting to grow food closer to their homes. We ran 6 workshops where participants would learn about growing food on their window sill such as: radishes, rocket, cooking herbs, lettuces and wild flowers. Through learning about sowing seeds and plant care, participants were able to engage in all parts of the growing life cycle: from sowing seeds to cooking produce.
If you would like a window box this year then please get in touch with Fi who will let you know when the sessions are running again. Contact: fi@govanhillbaths.com
Soup Kitchens
One a month we deliver a soup kitchen outside the doors of the Pantry to the wider public. Throughout the colder winter months we have been enthusiastic about serving warming and nutritious food. As members of the public visit the stall they are able to sit down in the Carfin Street Gardens and enjoy the natural environment whilst they have their meal. Keep an eye out on our Facebook and Instagram page for information about the next soup kitchen!
How to get involved
We are always looking for new volunteers! Email Fi at fi@govanhillbaths.com if you would like to get involved.
Are you interested in learning about growing nutritious food within an urban environment? Come and join our group of gardening volunteers who spend time growing food, running soup kitchens and learning about sustainable gardening. Every fortnight there is an opportunity to attend a workshop where you can learn about garden planning, composting, growing fruit and vegetables, herbalism and fermentation. Additionally to these workshops, we also have a weekly maintenance session which takes place on a Wednesday morning from 10-12pm.
Help Support The Pantry!
You can help our work by making a donation. Every penny will let us continue providing affordable healthy food to the community.
Clicking the button below will take you to our JustGiving page.
