Digging for victory in Dagenham

Before I visit, I have the impression that Dagenham’s glories are of another time: the once-largest car manufacturing plant in Europe is long closed; Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s Dagenham-based creations Pete and Dud are no more; the Roundhouse pub no longer shakes to the likes of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd who learnt their trade on its stage. It occurs to me as my Tube pulls into the station, that if there were a Top Trumps of London boroughs, there may be better cards to hold than Dagenham.

I’m here to visit Alice Holden at Dagenham Farm, a two-acre site that only a couple of years ago was a neglected former local authority nursery. Alice has spent much of her working life outdoors, on small and large scales – from kitchen gardens to commercial farms. She recently published her first book, Do Grow – Start with 10 Simple Vegetables, in which she advises the time- and space-poor gardener on how to grow some food – even if it’s in a window box and 10 minutes a week.

Under the stewardship of Growing Communities – a not-for-profit social enterprise intent on building a community-led, sustainable food supply in north London – Alice has led a tiny team at Dagenham, dedicated to transforming the site into a centre of organic food production. It hasn’t been easy.

“When we came here there was a foot of sand and gravel sandwiched between layers of plastic fabric. We excavated the whole site by hand,” Alice tells me. “In came 200 tons of compost to improve the soil, which again we moved by hand. It was a year of hard labour but we got to know every inch of the ground.

“It’s heartening to see how quickly the wildlife has come in, and how rapidly you can grow incredible produce when the soil’s been covered and neglected for so long.

“It can be turned around so quickly, thank goodness, if you work with natural cycles.”

Most of the team’s energy has focused on the glasshouses and polytunnels, where year-round production of their core crops is possible. The vegetables, herbs and fruit go to restaurants, a seasonal farm stand and box schemes: Growing Communities’ own box scheme feeds almost 1,000 Hackney homes a week.

Two years in, with volunteer support, the farm stands on its own two feet financially, but it’s not easy to make ends meet. “We have to be creative. We have a lot of cut-and-come-again salads and leafy greens that give repeated crops, as well as courgettes and beans that produce more the more you pick.

“The glasshouses allow us to focus on producing high-value crops that enjoy the extended season undercover – aubergines, peppers, basil and tomatoes – that customers really value. It’s all the fun stuff really, with the field-scale crops – carrots, onions and other staples – coming from larger farms within a 70-mile radius of London.”

The beauty of the set-up is that Alice doesn’t have to compete with supermarkets; she offers something different. “The proximity to customers gives us an edge – we can grow varieties that don’t travel so well. We grow perhaps 25 varieties of tomato, most of which you won’t find in the shops. This gives us some insurance against disease and our customers get a more interesting, varied supply as well as enjoying some delicious heritage varieties. It also means we can save seed and by saving them from the best plants, we are building up a seed bank that flourishes in our conditions.

“Essentially, this is what I’d advise any urban gardener to do: buy the staples in the supermarket and grow food that’s expensive in the shops, that crops repeatedly, of varieties that aren’t available, and save a few of your own seeds to sow next year.”

Communication with customers is very much part of Alice’s work.

“It’s not enough to deliver a box of veg; our customers – many of whom live a fairly urban existence – want to feel part of things. The newsletter keeps everyone up with what’s happening on the farm, and through that and the website we can make sure they know our story, what’s in each box and, equally importantly, have the recipes that make the best of each ingredient.” Alice has collected seasonal recipes over the years, a selection of which appear in her book.

“Gluts and famines can be a problem whether you grow on this scale or at home. Fortunately, growing a few varieties of each crop means famines are rare and the box scheme can call on other suppliers if that does happen. The restaurants take care of overproduction by processing gluts to use later. In time, we hope to have a kitchen on the farm to do this ourselves and to cook with and for visitors.”

Coming from a farming family, Alice took a fairly circuitous route to Dagenham. “I didn’t do much on the farm when growing up – but I fell in love with nature. Farming was seen as non-cerebral and certainly not a career for women.

“After university, I worked on a couple of farms while I decided what to do and had an epiphany at Blaencamel Farm in west Wales: when growing is combined with a group of people you like, on a certain scale, and is biodiverse, I felt this might be the job for me. That was 11 years ago.

“I worked on lots of farms, had a spell at River Cottage, then did a Soil Association apprenticeship. After a short spell managing a 100-acre farm in west Wales, I moved to be with a partner in London. I was a little at sea until I saw this job on Twitter – and saw immediately that it was a gem waiting to emerge.”

Even this early in the farm’s evolution, Alice’s eyes are on the bigger picture. “The Growing Communities approach is all about establishing a trade model based on box schemes, farmers’ markets, and supporting a network of small-scale farmers. It means producers like me are paid a fair price, that there’s training for other start-ups, which creates a financially viable supply chain, and there’s a rising customer-base that wants to be part of that.

“It’s hard work but it’s good work – it keeps me sane. So many studies show the best yields are often obtained from the smallest sites. It gives you so many advantages – proximity to customers, transport networks, and schools. There are nine million people within a few miles.

“I love this place and I want to keep it going and we now have a lot of people relying on us, who have become part of its community. It makes sense of your place in the world, especially in troubling times.”

What Alice and Growing Communities are doing is the real deal: she and the team have turned a desert of gravel and plastic into a thriving farm, they grow organic food for local people, and are building a community at the same time.

“Everyone involved seems to take ownership of the place – volunteers and salaried staff are equally involved. Every week we’re humbled by how much people, customers and children, love coming here.”

That it is working might be success in itself. As Alice says, “It makes me more hopeful than I was on a huge farm in Wales – so much can be achieved in a small urban space.”

Most of the world is fed by small farms, just like this one, built by and for a community that wants a more sustainable way of feeding itself. “We’re taking on the food system from Dagenham!” shouts Alice, as I run for the bus. And I believe her.

Growing Communities (020 7502 7588; growingcommunities.org)

Do Grow - Start with 10 Simple Vegetables by Alice Holden is available as a paperback or an ebook (The Do Book Co, £8.99). Order from Telegraph Books at £7.99 + £1.95 p&p. Call 0844 871 1515 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk.

RECIPE

Alice has worked at various farms and gardens all over the country; one of them was Fforest farm near Cardigan in Wales, best described as a modern eco-campsite. Alice supplied the kitchen with fresh seasonal produce and, in her book (see below), she includes some of the most popular recipes that her customers devised to deal with gluts:

“The women at Fforest camp would try to use up all the gluts I sporadically bestowed on them – bin liners full of chard, crates of tomatoes, and courgettes that appeared from nowhere overnight.” This recipe for beetroot is by Anja Fforest Dunk.

German Beetroot Salad recipe

SERVES
6 to 8

INGREDIENTS
1kg beetroot
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 medium white onion, finely diced
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of salt
Fresh parsley, finely chopped

METHOD

Cook the beetroot whole in boiling water until tender. Wash in cold water and gentle tease off the outer skin. Slice into 3mm thick rounds.

 In a jam jar, shake together the oil, vinegar, caraway seeds, onion, salt and pepper.

 Pour the dressing over the beetroot while it is still hot and toss. Once the salad has cooled down, sprinkle with the parsley. This goes well with meatballs.