Producing sustainable food for the community has been part of the vision for Loveland ever since its founding. In November 2021, the commercial vegetable plots started to be created. Separate from the community beds, these plots grow food not-for-profit, to support Loveland. Whilst being coordinated by Finn, the project maintains the Loveland spirit by being community-led and requiring community involvement. The project offers an opportunity to engage with food growing and learn about truly sustainable growing methods.
You can currently find our produce in our online shop (the Grocery), the Princess Pavilion cafe and the Loveland roadside stall. We also provide the veg for our events and feasts, and you will find us at Penryn’s monthly community market.
If you’re interested in being involved then email Finn (lovelandproduce@falmouthfood.coop) or come to our specific volunteer sessions that are every Wednesday (10-4pm), everyone is welcome!
At the heart of the Loveland project is our community vegetable plot. Here, anyone and everyone is welcome to plant and harvest. This plot is the focus of our Saturday volunteer sessions and all are encouraged to take home whatever is ripe and in season. The fruits (and veggies!) of our collective labour taste so much the sweeter knowing we grew them together.
This group looks after all things trees at Loveland. In the Winter of 21/22 we planted almost 600 trees including all sorts of fruits, nuts and natives. The main thing in these early years is to have many pairs of eyes checking how they are doing - looking out for any signs of nibbling animals or rubbing on the guards and watering if dry. We have a WhatsApp group and an email list to coordinate this. We also plan to organise a few tree and orchard related fun events at the field (painting signs, a wassail, and maybe a blossom day). If you'd like to join us get in touch!
Collaboratively designed and created, the medicinal herb garden is an accessible space for the educational and practical purpose of nurturing our collective wellbeing. The initial ‘mother’ bed or ‘physic garden’ will house over 30 key plants used in an apothecary to create teas, tinctures and balms. Formed during the pandemic the herb group is a mix of participants with varying levels of knowledge and experience in propagation, production and use of culinary and medicinal herbs. There are a huge variety of herbal teas and concoctions we can grow ourselves whilst learning and working together. If you fancy getting involved email lovelandmedicinegarden@gmail.com
Be it planters, pergolas, a compost loo or even the new community barn - the design and build group have loads going on for you to get involved with. The team are at the land most Saturdays and open to requests for activities on other dates too. We have skills workshops coming up so you can get to grips with using tools and be introduced construction and craft. We’re also planning participatory design sessions, offering the community a chance to shape Loveland’s future. Design and build workshops will often feature as one event but sometimes design or build events will happen independent of each other. If you have any questions about design in particular you can contact ste@socialdesigns.org - if your preference is building you can contact fran@socialdesigns.org. If you fancy a bit of both contacting either is fine as we’ll be in touch with each other. We’ll keep you up to date with our events programme via the newsletter!
Bloomin’ marvellous flowers grow on our fabulous field too. Not only does their colourful abundance bring joy to our hearts, but the bees also adore them. The patch is led by experienced commercial flower grower Lovelander Liz and there are always things to learn and jobs to do, so get in touch if you’re blossoming with enthusiasm!
We’re at the early stages of an experiment in human-scale diverse grain using locally adapted, heritage and population mixes. We’ve sourced grains suited to the Cornish climate and landscape from local growers and seed banks as far away as Canada. The plan is to build up seed stocks of those at the same time as growing population mixes resilient to climate change. We’ve even thrown in a strip of quinoa and amaranth and we’re experimenting with intercropping pulses and using living mulches too. Current jobs are keeping an eye on what’s already sown, at the same time as exploring the best way to harvest, thresh, winnow, process and store the grains. With upwards of 50% of global calories coming from grains, they’re absolutely critical to community food resilience, and we’re excited to be learning together whilst we go. Anyone at all interested is absolutely welcome to get involved – just drop us an email: duncanpearson@yahoo.com.
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If you'd like to propose a project in partnership with Loveland please fill in our project proposal form HERE. All proposals can then be reviewed by the steering group at our next monthly meeting and we can get back to you.