# Todmorden. A Town Growing All Its Own Vegetables



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

*Carrots in the car park. Radishes on the roundabout. The deliciously eccentric story of the town growing ALL its own veggies*

Admittedly, it sounds like the most foolhardy of criminal capers, and one of the cheekiest, too.

Outside the police station in the small Victorian mill town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, there are three large raised flower beds.

If you'd visited a few months ago, you'd have found them overflowing with curly kale, carrot plants, lettuces, spring onions - all manner of vegetables and salad leaves.

Today the beds are bare. Why? Because people have been wandering up to the police station forecourt in broad daylight and digging up the vegetables. And what are the cops doing about this brazen theft from right under their noses? Nothing.

Well, that's not quite correct.

'I watch 'em on camera as they come up and pick them,' says desk officer Janet Scott, with a huge grin. It's the smile that explains everything.

For the vegetable-swipers are not thieves. The police station carrots - and thousands of vegetables in 70 large beds around the town - are there for the taking. Locals are encouraged to help themselves. A few tomatoes here, a handful of broccoli there. If they're in season, they're yours. Free.

So there are (or were) raspberries, apricots and apples on the canal towpath; blackcurrants, redcurrants and strawberries beside the doctor's surgery; beans and peas outside the college; cherries in the supermarket car park; and mint, rosemary, thyme and fennel by the health centre.

The vegetable plots are the most visible sign of an amazing plan: to make Todmorden the first town in the country that is self-sufficient in food.

'And we want to do it by 2018,' says Mary Clear, 56, a grandmother of ten and co-founder of Incredible Edible, as the scheme is called.

'It's a very ambitious aim. But if you don't aim high, you might as well stay in bed, mightn't you?'...

...Incredible Edible is also about much more than plots of veg. It's about educating people about food, and stimulating the local economy.

There are lessons in pickling and preserving fruits, courses on bread-making, and the local college is to offer a BTEC in horticulture. The thinking is that young people who have grown up among the street veg may make a career in food.

Crucially, the scheme is also about helping local businesses. The Bear, a wonderful shop and cafe with a magnificent original Victorian frontage, sources all its ingredients from farmers within a 30-mile radius.

There's a brilliant daily market. People here can eat well on local produce, and thousands now do.

Meanwhile, the local school was recently awarded a £500,000 Lottery grant to set up a fish farm in order to provide food for the locals and to teach useful skills to young people.

Eccentric town, Todmorden, growing ALL its own veg | Mail Online


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

That is really cool!

Wonder if I could get this town to do something similar?


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Me too ,great idea ! Its already starting in small ways here .


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

I submitted customized proposals for this for each one of the surrounding towns. It was unanimously determined that I was :nuts:

the people around here can POUND SALT for all I care


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

The_Blob said:


> I submitted customized proposals for this for each one of the surrounding towns. It was unanimously determined that I was :nuts:
> 
> the people around here can POUND SALT for all I care


LOL I feel this way about most anymore . But then again I don't think most can help themselves . In hindsite I wish I was them.I'd had a lot better life while it lasted . While I was playing female Paul Revere and making ememies they were living their life .


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## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

So how much does this city tax its residents to maintain the gardens? I say leave the gardening to whoever wants to do it and eliminate taxes. Our govenments (city, state or federal) have no business running gardens.

Sorry to be so sour about this idea you have all taken a shine to but have you thought it out with all its ramifications? I can plant and maintain my own garden better than the city I live in. Or the state or feds. Promote freedom and dont get suckered into these feel good ideas that are promoted so prevelently.


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

The_Blob said:


> I submitted customized proposals for this for each one of the surrounding towns. It was unanimously determined that I was :nuts:
> 
> the people around here can POUND SALT for all I care


Id love to see one of your proposals. Gotta start somewhere!



TheAnt said:


> So how much does this city tax its residents to maintain the gardens? I say leave the gardening to whoever wants to do it and eliminate taxes. Our govenments (city, state or federal) have no business running gardens.
> 
> Sorry to be so sour about this idea you have all taken a shine to but have you thought it out with all its ramifications? I can plant and maintain my own garden better than the city I live in. Or the state or feds. Promote freedom and dont get suckered into these feel good ideas that are promoted so prevelently.


I dont see anything in the article that says the gubt is involved, other than the fact that 'state' land (the police station) is being used also. Seems like it was started by the community, the people, not the gubt. It sure doesnt sound like the cops are running the garden? Lets assume the cops were out there planting and tending gardens. We could all say that 'Man, thats a waste of their time, and my tax dollars (quids!)' but that sounds better than them out there giving out tickets for bs infractions to me, no?


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## TheAnt (Jun 7, 2011)

Immolatus said:


> Id love to see one of your proposals. Gotta start somewhere!
> 
> I dont see anything in the article that says the gubt is involved, other than the fact that 'state' land (the police station) is being used also. Seems like it was started by the community, the people, not the gubt. It sure doesnt sound like the cops are running the garden? Lets assume the cops were out there planting and tending gardens. We could all say that 'Man, thats a waste of their time, and my tax dollars (quids!)' but that sounds better than them out there giving out tickets for bs infractions to me, no?


You might be on to something there!!!


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

TheAnt said:


> So how much does this city tax its residents to maintain the gardens? I say leave the gardening to whoever wants to do it and eliminate taxes. Our govenments (city, state or federal) have no business running gardens.
> 
> Sorry to be so sour about this idea you have all taken a shine to but have you thought it out with all its ramifications? I can plant and maintain my own garden better than the city I live in. Or the state or feds. Promote freedom and dont get suckered into these feel good ideas that are promoted so prevelently.


In my submissions the only involvement from the local goobermint was for some form of sanctuary status (typically birds/bees) depending on the locale and a renewable lease program coupled with tax abatement... on properties that were NOT generating tax revenue anyway, but were managing to generate trash piles, drug paraphernalia, and vermin (some of it 2-legged). The idea was to be a metaphorical lighthouse.

meh


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## becky3086 (Aug 6, 2011)

I like the idea but it seems like people like me would want to can and store a lot of food and that would not be fair to some others. 
I also wonder what it would do to the farmers in the area.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

becky3086 said:


> I like the idea but it seems like people like me would want to can and store a lot of food and that would not be fair to some others.
> I also wonder what it would do to the farmers in the area.


CSA individual yields are based on member equity (traditional or 'sweat'), so it's not a problem if you're putting the time (or money) in

There will always be those who would rather pay (or are already too busy) than get their hands dirty.

In my experience, focused (mono)culture farms can sell their product(s) for less than a typical CSA.


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