Ochil Community Garden was set up in 2008 by Clackmannanshire Council's Adult Day Services, as a gardening project for users of the Alloa Resource Centre. Emer Kennedy of Adult Day Services was kind enough to give up an hour of her afternoon to talk about the project.
The garden is currently being tended by adults with learning difficulties from the Alloa centre, but there are plans afoot to involve children from the primary school in nearby Menstrie. Most of the vegetables are grown in raised beds, to make it easier for people in wheelchairs to help out. There is also a polytunnel, and plans to build a cabin on the site as a place for tired gardeners to change out of their mucky clothes and have a well earned cup of tea.
The vegetables
will be used for healthy cookery classes and also in the Alloa centre's
community café. According to Emer, the garden is not just about growing
food. It's also about healthy lifestyles, and about learning. It's
about getting out in the fresh air and getting mucky, seeing where food
comes from and learning about looking after the environment. For
example, the gardeners are currently constructing a greenhouse made from
old
plastic bottles! Yes, it can be done! As the garden is still in the
early stages, it is not open to the public as yet, but volunteers are
welcome (particularly green fingered ones!) to get in touch with Emer at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
There are pictures of the project in the gallery.
(Caroline Kemp, FVFL Volunteer, 5 March 2009)