Towards green and clean urban communities: Our Sustainability teams' service day at Vauxhall City Farm

Research has for some time now highlighted the socio-ecological benefits of urban green spaces, and this is a key factor in the team’s choice to spend the day supporting the farm. Both the Farmyard and Community Garden on site provide ample opportunities for the local community to visit, engage, make friends and immerse themselves in the therapeutic power of nature. This is underpinned by the charity’s vision to promote emotional, mental, social and physical wellbeing, particularly for children and disadvantaged people, while building awareness of environmental issues.

The team arrived at the farm and the first job after a short induction was to divide into sub-teams and get started with the first set of tasks. This included a team working in the community garden to remove weeds and cut back overgrown areas, a team removing litter from the area surrounding the entrance, and a third welcoming guests on arrival.

For my team, we were tasked with clearing and reorganising some stables and a small overgrown courtyard. The latter was a particularly impressive transformation as the team picked up their tools, cut back some huge plants, swept and tidied to reveal a lovely old brick courtyard and a whole new usable space. Some of the stables contained equipment to be used at the Lambeth County Show, for which Vauxhall City Farm run the event’s on-site farm and related activities each June, and so the team cleaned and sorted the equipment ready to be transported to the show.

The morning’s activities highlighted a number of ways in which the farm operates sustainably; maximising ecological benefit and minimising negative impacts. The equipment sorted by the team in the stables is from showjumping activities which are not currently run by the farm, but instead of sourcing new equipment for the show, a plan was developed to use this to offer hobby horse racing for children at the event. The nettles cleared by the team from around the farm grounds are subsequently enjoyed as tasty snacks for the farm’s resident pigs! Litter picking of course removes potentially harmful waste from the local environment, particularly with farm visits being popular amongst local primary schools.

After a quick team lunch in neighbouring Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens it was back to work, with the afternoon bringing a new set of tasks including helping prepare the farm for the evening. This meant lots of sweeping in the animal pens themselves, where the team attempted to learn how to heard goats, to not much success! One new friend, Daisy, was particularly keen to support the clear up effort and could only be lured away by the promise of the rattling food tin. After getting briefly distracted having fun the with the goats the team finished the job, helping bed down the stables ready for their occupants that evening. Our hard work was rewarded with a tour of the farm, introductions to more new furry friends and heartfelt thanks for all that we’d helped with over the course of the day.

Service days are a wonderful initiative at King’s, and even more so when experiences can be shared amongst teams. Not only were we able to learn more about a fantastic local organisation and contribute to their goals, we got to enjoy time together, connecting on shared values and even discovering hidden team member talents.

Urban farms are an incredible community asset that enrich our cities and offer huge benefits both socially and environmentally. It was a real pleasure for the team to play just a very small part in supporting a wonderful organisation to continue to do all that it does for the local community and beyond.

Vauxhall City Farm is open Tuesday – Sunday, 10.00am – 4.30pm with entry by donation.