ROOM TO GROW

We meet Rhiannon Alcock from Devon, whose plot provides a place to relax and learn. It also inspired a wonderful community project growing produce for local food banks

- Rhiannon Alcock

How long have you been growing your own?

I've been growing since I got my allotment in June 2019 and that's really when I became interested in growing food and flowers. My friend showed me her allotment and I thought "Oooh, that looks like a great thing to do" and so I contacted the local council.

Up until then my mum had spent my whole life trying to interest me in gardening, even giving my brother and me our own little vegetable patch in her veg garden. I remember she gave us £5 to buy a garden ornament for our little patch and I bought a stone dog, but the poor thing just sat there surrounded by empty earth, except for some weeds, for years!

My mum still has that dog in her garden! One of my best friends has also spent years trying to encourage me to garden and grow flowers and I never felt driven by it until the day I saw my friend's allotment, for some reason. Something shifted when I got my own allotment and I felt really connected to nature and to the process of growing and nurturing plants into fruition.

I'm so glad I decided to sign up for one because it is truly one of the best things I've ever done!

You are the founder of Devon Dig and Donate. Tell us about it.

Devon Dig and Donate is something that has been in my heart for a number of years. I work full time in education, often with vulnerable pupils and families and as the cost of living crisis and poverty rates in the UK have increased, I have supported more and more families in accessing food banks.

Through my conversations with them, and my work leading food nutrition across one of the schools I worked in, it became apparent that often families felt fresh fruit and vegetables were an expense that they couldn't always afford. And while donations to food banks are often very generous, due to the nature of collections, fresh produce is not always available for donation.