Dig It Day 4 July 2010

ST THOMAS ALLOTMENT ASSOCIATION Dig It Day 4 July 2010 EVALUATION REPORT by Hannah Reynolds Associates 29 July 2010

St Thomas Allotment Association Dig It Day: 4 July 2010 Evaluation Report The allotments are cool because you can learn about stuff and when I m @ school I will know more than other people. Try something different every day and start growing. An inspirational event showing tremendous community spirit exists in Exeter. We re grateful to the sponsors and stalwart band of volunteers who dedicated their valuable time to make the event possible. We learned some simple ideas which we can easily put into practice. Do it again! Over 150 people attended the Dig It Day held at Guys and Hylton allotments in Exeter, organised by St Thomas Allotment Association. Taking part in the event were 42 allotment holders. The following is an evaluation report of the day carried out by independent evaluators HRA. In summary, the day was extremely well-attended and enthusiastically enjoyed by all. Comments in particular highlighted the sense of community that the day had engendered and that it was particularly interesting to see other activities such as hen keeping. There were no negative feedback comments in interviews with visitors or allotment holders. Suggestions for future events included more produce stalls, regular masterclasses for growing tips and wider publicity. 2

Attractions at the Dig It Day included tips on hen-keeping, sowing and planting advice, children's workshops and tips on digging up potatoes. Visitors were invited to take a tour of the allotments, meet the allotment holders and discuss a variety of growing matters with them. Allotment holders were also primed to drop into the conversations some clues of the answers to a quiz that was avidly and competitively completed during lunch the tour. Flexibility, to enable visitors to have choice as well as structure about the workshops and activities, was an important element in the organisation of the event. The organisers had created a register of everyone who booked to attend the Dig It Day. At the point of Registration on the day, volunteers issued a site plan for the day showing the location of each activity, first aid etc., a choice of pizza or burger plus allotment salad for lunch and a timed programme of activities. Whilst all the programmes were the same, they were staggered, ensuring that each group had undivided attention for at least 40 minutes at each Workshop and that there were very small groups/family clusters going round with lots of allotment-holders and having an in-depth visit to that person's plot as well. 3

There were a number of workshops which children and adults could attend: Sowing and Planting an Allotment: Creating an Allotment in a Day The organisers cleared half a plot which is about to be allocated to a newcomer, rotavated it, and got it ready so that each group could plant and sow a section: e.g. potatoes, peas & beans roots and leeks, carrots, parsnips, brassicas. The aim was to "create" an allotment in a day as a gift for the unknown newcomer. Crops from Pots Getting the most out of container growing if you have only a small garden. Hen-Keeping An introduction by people who keep hens on the allotment, telling them about care and regulations, as well as an exhibition of different breeds and a mobile hen ark by Harepathstead Poultry, a businesss located just outside Exeter and regularly featured at River Cottage. Potato Growing and Harvesting This workshop included the chance to harvest and take home potatoes grown on his plot by 'Potato Pete' Lovell, specially for the visitors. 4

Children's Workshops Organised by 'Organic Arts' based at West Town Farm, Ide. Activities included designing a flag for Guys & Hylton Allotments for the new flag pole; making clay gardens; vegetable story-telling for children sitting on vegetable-designed cushions! The 'Love Local Food' van was also promoting its fresh produce sales by van across Exeter (a Lottery funded project). The weather was dry but blustery, causing some of the yellow balloons tied round stall gazebos to pop before they could be given to children visitors at the end of the day. Stalls included an allotment produce stall, creating an African sack mound garden. The produce stall was very busy and successful, selling produce donated by allotment holders raising nearly 150 towards next year's event.. Both visitors and stall holders commented that they could have sold or bought double the produce that was available. Lunch of organic burgers or make your own pizzas, served with 'allotment salad' freshly harvested from nearby plots, was popular and a locally-made ice cream was bicycled to the event. The quintessentially English feel of the day was complete when the summer weekend Okehampton to Exeter steam train steamed past with passengers waving from their windows to allotment visitors. The tea, coffee and juices were not only provided free by Sainsbury's but Sainsbury's staff also ran the tea stall all day. Other agencies and businesses had also sponsored the event. A full list is outlined at the end of this report. 5

The evaluation of the event was carried out by encouraging visitors to sit at the evaluation table and give their comments about the day. The views of children were particularly sought the allotment holders and growers of the future. In return for comments, evaluators handed out organic cotton bags full of healthy eating recipes, stickers and pens donated by Devon County Council and packets of seeds donated by Suttons Seeds. Many of the visitors had come along to see what having an allotment might be like. The evaluators spoke to 6 families whom, after their tour, said that they would now want to go on the waiting list for an allotment here or elsewhere in the city. A significant number of attenders had no garden and were coming to find out what growing might be possible using containers or growbags in the garden or on a patio/balcony. Funders and sponsors of Dig It Day Devon Community Foundation - Grass Roots Fund Devon County Council - Locality Budget Exeter City Council - My Neighbourhood Grant Sainsbury's - Tea, Coffee, bottled water, cordial, cardboard cups, napkins, salad dressing ingredients, wet-wipes + Two Quiz Prizes for Children Sutton Seeds - 600-worth of packets of seeds for sowing and Goodie Bags Exeter City Parks Department - tents, walkie-talkie Exeter City Recycling - Compost Making Bin for the quiz Devon County Recycling - calico bags for everyone ('Don't Let Devon Go to Waste') + 'Eat Well, Waste Less' book/recipes by Bish Muir 6

Quiz prizes Bernaville Nurseries, Cowley -herb planter and children wheelbarrow set South West Water - Water butt + stand + connection kit Kitchen Garden monthly magazine - 12 month free subscription 'Organic Gardening' - Kev Pearson Large bags of compost - St Thomas Allotment Association Habitat - children gardening set Kevin White - Stainless steel garden fork 'Starting with Chickens' by Kate Thear &Gina Richards Solar Shed Light - Erica Conner Fresh Hens Eggs - donated by Becky & Kev Pearson Evaluation Comments The comments of the visitors to the Dig It Day follow with (c) denoting a comments from a young person or child. Good Day (c) The weather was okay, could have been better. The tour was very good because we got to see the chickens and stroke them and finally hopefully the food will taste delightful (c) Erica was a great teacher she should be on the telly teaching people to grow things! Very interesting day. The tour was very informative. I learnt a lot, especially about hens. Weather good and lovely atmosphere. Good tour friendly and interesting people. I think a once a month there should be a class on learning different skills on an allotment. We had a good tour. Met some friendly people. I loved meeting the chickens. Found out some interesting information. Suggest some sack or netting in water trough to help out any bird that falls in to get out. It would be nice to have a leaflet to remind you what jobs should be done in the allotment at what time of the year and what planting goes together and helps with what e.g. marigolds and carrots. 7

Great to get the tips about growing tomatoes in a pot above the grow bag to give more depth. A simple tip, but I hadn t thought of it. Thanks Erica. Wonderful, wonderful day. Allotment holders are so enthusiastic about their plots. So nice to see so many young families encouraging the young ones to grow. My husband and I learned a lot. Certainly be back next year. Thank you Christine and all your colleagues! Please advertise more by chance we read a letter from a local councillor in the Express and Echo advertising the event. I went to the Art workshop and made a great flag (c) Friendly and welcoming, thanks I ll be signing up for an allotment Excellent and informative day. Very well-organised and everyone very friendly. The allotments are cool because you can learn about stuff and when I m @ school I will know more than other people. (c) I ve had a wonderful day. The sense of community and partnership between the allotment holders is truly inspirational. Everyone is helpful and willing to talk. The only point I d make is to have the presence of a council allotment foreman so that people could discuss the renting of a plot or the length of the waiting list. Thank you for a wonderful day. I liked the chickens (c) The food was really nice, especially the cakes. Pizzas were really good you could make it yourself (c) Very enjoyable day, well-organised, everyone welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable. Ideal for people like us who are considering an allotment just wanted to know more. Lunch was great! I like the allotment because you can grow vegetables and plants (c) It s a change. It s different. It is good to see all the stuff that people grow. I m going to grow potatoes. 8

Try something different every day and start growing. An inspirational event showing tremendous community spirit exists in Exeter. We re grateful to the sponsors and stalwart band of volunteers who dedicated their valuable time to make the event possible. We learned some simple ideas which we can easily put into practice. Do it again! Nice that people have got together. Great sense of community. Fantastic day. Great community day out. I learned lots and free eggs! Can t wait till next year! The tips in the growing workshop were fantastic and she really made it simple and informative I might even have a go now myself! What a fantastic afternoon! I feel thoroughly inspired to go home and rotivate my lawn up to grow potatoes. Also I ve been shown how to grow carrots in a pot seeing as how I ve been unsuccessful in growing them in the soil. To top it all it seems like we ve been able to find a suitable partner for my wife s aunt! We had a wonderful day. Very interesting to see the fruits of everyone s hard work. A privilege to buy some fresh vegetables on the produce stall. I really liked the art workshop and the tour was really interesting. (c) We would like to say thank you to all involved in the open day at the allotments. It was very enjoyable and informative. Information received will be put to good use. We would be interested in attending a monthly workshop if this became possible. Love the community spirit and friendliness here. Highlights are friendly, lovely people. Fabulous to have free tea and bags. Good selection of foods. Big thank you. Fantastic day even better than last year. Loads to do and loads of nice people. Children artwork workshop fantastic. Perhaps next year we ll have a parking attendant? We ve had a wonderful day very, very interesting. It really makes one feel how important it is to recycle and to grow your own produce. The chickens were very interesting. Well done to everyone involved to make it worthwhile. I loved the ice cream. (c) What did I think about the day? It was really fun. And making pizzas was really fun. (c) 9

I did flag painting and made clay animals. (c) The allotment holder gave me fresh produce for free. How kind is that. Great to be able to tour the allotments I learned a lot about growing. (c) You ve got it sussed, the allotments, the activities even the weather s been good! Inspiring and interesting day. Really well-organised and everyone so welcoming and helpful. Loved wandering round the different plots. Interesting chickens and lovely produce. Thank you for a lovely day. Excellent day. Good food. More stalls? Everything really helpful. Crops and pots are great. The best thing about today was the arty stuff. I loved it so much. It went so quick I feel like 2 hours is a minute! (c) We need more of these weekends! One every weekend somewhere in Exeter would be great. What an informative day it has been. Wonderful, friendly people willing to give their time to give free knowledge and produce. Don t change the format and the more informal the better. The tub growing was wonderful. I learned a lot. It was really good to see how people keep chickens. I ve put my name down for an allotment now but I work full time so might be a struggle. It would have been good to have had more produce for sale. I bought loads and would have bought double that. Thank you. The food was truly excellent and the event as a whole was a joy especially for the kids great success. Especially thumbs up for the pizza making and flag making. Very enjoyable afternoon. Good to see so many children involved and lots of local support. Thanks for the first aid tent! And Potato Pete has taught me how to grow potatoes in grow bags. Brilliant. I really enjoyed the day and that it was fun for everyone. I think my favourite thing was the art thing. I just wish I could do it all over again. (c) HRA Evaluators 6 July 2010 10