Home Grown - Community Owned

 

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HogCO is a growing network of nearly 70 community food projects in Devon. We work with rural communities to support local food projects and help groups join together to develop skills, access land and opportunities to grow their own food. Membership is free.

Participating groups can access a range of support including:

Advice: 

An experienced project worker to advise on the development of your local project and act as negotiator on your behalf - from the germ of an idea to fruition.

Financial help:

Each group can apply to receive up to £250 for capital costs such as seeds, tools and materials.

07/07/13 UPDATE: This is currently available but this fund is limited.

 

Professional help:

HogCO can find and fund a professional service to help your group. For example, a solicitor to help draw up an occupancy license for land, or a permaculture designer to help plan the plot lay-out. 

Training:

We offer training sessions to HogCO groups to help members gain the skills needed to run their growing projects. For example, we've provided courses on: fruit tree pruning, fruit and vegetable growing, preserving, and First Aid. Please check our training page for details of the workshops that we currently have planned.

Information Hub:

Our resources are available to everyone and can be downloaded from the resources page of our website. They include Toolkits on Planning, Legal and Access issues, a collection of case studies, information sheets, template policies and other useful information.

Partners:

Working with our partners we can help to find and negotiate land to suit your needs.

Networking:

Be part of a network of growing projects who can share experiences, skills and seeds!  Join our facebook group to communicate, network and share knowledge.

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Who we are and What do we do?

Home Grown - Community Owned (HogCO) works with rural communities across Devon to support local food projects.  We help groups to join together to develop skills and seek opportunities to grow their own food.

Home Grown - Community Owned is a  Community Council of Devon (CCD) programme funded through the Big Lottery Fund's Local Food Scheme.

Why we do it

Some of the main challenges facing rural communities are the prospect of ever rising fuel and food costs and the lack of community cohesion.  By working together, groups can improve their well being, community involvement and the environment.  Being involved in a community garden can improve health and happiness, helps you develop new skills, make new friends and above all its fun!

HogCO prioritises community food groups that involve a diverse range of people, creates partnerships and are innovative in some way.

The benefits 

• Increased skills and confidence in how to grow your own food.
• A local organisation and shared assets that will continue to provide future benefits to the group and  wider community .
• A supportive network bringing like-minded people across the generations together.
• Most importantly, more fresh local produce to feed your family, friends and communities. Healthy to produce and healthy to consume!