This week, I was planning on writing about strawberries but Growhampton has some incredibly exciting news to share…

Here on our edible campus at the University of Roehampton we grow fruit and vegetables using organic principles. In essence, this means that maintaining healthy soil is our number one focus and this ensures our crops grow strong and resilient so no artificial fertilisers or chemicals are required on our growing beds.

Although we grow following organic guidelines, our growing spaces are not certified organic as we are only a small growing project and the cost of certification is not yet justifiable on our small scale. We have some fantastic strengths in our project such as the ultra-local, zero food miles production with produce being grown and sold right on campus and the educational exposure to food growing and healthy eating that our project brings to younger people and students. Our on-campus food outlet The Hive Cafe which uses some of the fresh produce grown on site also stocks certified organic food and drink in addition to other local and ethically sourced items.

In the UK, the leading organic certification body is the Soil Association which carries out this certification work in addition to promoting organic food and farming. The Soil Association has just announced the finalists for its yearly Organic Awards.

Growhampton’s Hive Cafe is a finalist in the Organic Eating Out category amongst some other incredibly prestigious and worthy contenders. This is great recognition for the efforts we have put into sourcing the most sustainable and delicious food for our customers. This year the public will vote for their favourite in each category throughout September. Voting is open now and will end on 30 September and the winners will be announced on 8 October. If you love The Hive and our edible campus as much as we do, please show your support and vote for us using the link on the right.

The Hive Cafe is open Monday - Friday from 8.30-4pm and will be opening Saturdays from 10am-2pm from 20 September onwards.

Joel
Joel Williams is the Grower for the University of Roehampton Students’ Union’s Growhampton project

Next Week? Strawberries of course!