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Stock photo from Wix.
Times have been tough for community growing projects and allotments during the COVID19 pandemic. Thankfully the governments of the UK acknowledged the importance of food growing, production and distribution, and therefore allowed such sites/projects to carry on, as long as they followed measures to protect staff, volunteers and the public.
Luckily, the pandemic has shown to have many benefits, such as an increase in the interest of Grow Your Own, with many people taking up the hobby at home. This is great due to the benefits of gardening on health, not to mention the benefits of eating fresh fruit and vegetables you have grown at home. But what if you have no garden, or space to grow?
Stock photo from Wix.
Thankfully during the COVID19 lockdown, we have still been active here in Fintry and it is great that we have actually also managed to recruit 1 new volunteer, with another visiting the garden yesterday for a tour and talk and another in the "pipeline" so to speak. We already have around 8 volunteers at the moment so this is a welcome addition to our team. In projects such as this, you can never have enough volunteers, so I wanted to give a bit of an insight into why you should come along and volunteer with us.
Volunteer Scotland is an organisation here in Scotland that bases its work on promoting and supporting volunteers and organisations who have volunteers, and they explain the benefits of volunteering as follows:
Gain confidence. Volunteering can help you gain confidence by giving you the chance to try something new and build a real sense of achievement.
Make a difference. Volunteering can have a real and valuable positive affect on people, communities and society in general.
Meet people. Volunteering can help you meet different kinds of people and make new friends.
Be part of a community. Volunteering can help you feel part of something outside your friends and family.
Learn new skills. Volunteering can help you learn new skills, gain experience and sometimes even qualifications.
Take on a challenge. Through volunteering, you can challenge yourself to try something different, achieve personal goals, practise using your skills and discover hidden talents.
Have fun! Most volunteers have a great time, regardless of why they do it.
The Royal Horticultural Society, an organisation we are members off as a community garden, list the benefits of volunteering in a community garden, which you can read here.
These benefits are on top of the benefits you will, of course, get from gardening on your physical and mental health, so it's a win-win. If you are interested in volunteering with us, please do get in touch via email, the website, our Facebook page, or via our advertisement on the Volunteer Scotland website.
