Taking Root was a free ‘creative nature club’ for children aged 5-11 in the Locavore Community Garden. It ran 4 days a week for 4 weeks during school summer holidays in 2023 and included a healthy lunch and snack. Children spent time relaxing in Custom Food Lab’s community garden (the Locavore Community Garden) and taking part in a rotation of activities including story telling and writing, yoga and wellbeing, performance, film, nature crafts, food growing, forest school and cooking, led by artists and creative facilitators. Specialist support was provided for children with additional needs.
Based on a central provocation – ‘What future do you want?’, children documented their creative explorations through collaborative scrap-booking, writing and through the advocacy of the facilitators, focusing on weekly themes:
LOOK AFTER THE EARTH + IT WILL LOOK AFTER YOU
GROW IT, SHARE IT, EAT IT
KINSHIP + PLAY
GROWING FOOD TOGETHER IS A RADICAL ACT
Facilitators included: Books for Change, Francine Hajilou, Cherry Truluck, Two Tone Yoga, Charmaine Jacobs, James Middleton Dance, Wild Classroom, Holdfast Beach School.
Children also worked with Diaspora Garden, Feeding Folkestone, Wild Classroom and Another Provision to create a Community Feast for their families and neighbours. At the feast, local grower and baker Chris Foster led a workshop and community discussion around hyperlocal food systems and heritage wheat.
More information about the Community Feast.
Another Provision is the collaborative practice of researcher Dr. Hanna Baumann and artist Johann Arens. They apply strategies of public art to highlight the need for increased food justice, imagine concrete alternative models and de-stigmatise public food services. Their mobile Community Feast installation can be set up in any location where community food projects want to bring people together.