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International Tree Foundation
International Tree Foundation
ITF is a UK charity founded by Sir Richard St. Barbe Baker. Dedicated to protecting the environment and improving lives through tree planting.
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    • About us
    • Since 1922
    • Meet the Team
    • Read our publications
    • ITF Policies
    • Contact Us
  • Our work
    • Watu Wa Miti (Kenya)
    • Sustainable Community Forestry
    • Mount Bamboutos Initiative
    • Africa Drylands
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Stonehill Community Garden

May 21, 2020News & EventsBy Jenny Weld

Stonehill Community Garden

Project Outline

Stonehill Community Gardens have planted a selection of heritage fruit trees in their project space near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Once grown, this will form the upper canopy of their “forest garden” which will provide food and learning opportunities for local people.

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Oxfordshire, UK

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Local Food Production

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Agroforestry

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Heritage Trees

Sustainable development goal 3
E-WEB-Goal-15

Project Details

The overall goal of the project is to create a forest garden with our garden users, many of whom are young people at risk, people with learning difficulties, people with mental and/or physical disabilities, ex-offenders, retired residents and local families.  As with all our projects, part of our goal is to build community cohesion among diverse groups, whilst at the same time teaching skills related to sustainable living and food production and ecological conservation.

A forest garden is an agroforestry system modelled after a healthy woodland, with tree, shrub and herbaceous layers, and which uses species that are edible and/or useful to people. This ‘carefully designed ecosystem of useful plants’ has a number of benefits including lower maintenance once established, efficient nutrient-cycling, increased biodiversity and resilience to climate change, carbon sequestration, and improved soil health.

This project aims to contribute to:

1. A more sustainable food production system, incorporating agroforestry techniques to maximize the amount of food grown on a patch of land while enhancing soil fertility and maintaining biodiversity.

2. Sustainability education, addressing topics such as organic horticulture, permaculture, the importance of biodiversity, renewable resources, rainwater harvesting and soil health.

3. Conservation and promotion of the biocultural diversity of edible cultivars – heritage fruit trees that have been lost over the decades of industrial fruit production.

Joanna Shares

Stonehill Community Garden provides outdoor learning experiences for diverse groups from communities in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse. We provide a safe space which offers more than purely a gardening experience. We bring together people of different ages, backgrounds and abilities to get active through learning practical skills around organic gardening, building and working outdoors. Through these activities we also emphasize the importance of sustainable living, biodiversity and conservation.  We hold weekly open sessions every Wednesday and schedule work on projects on other days of the week as needed throughout the year. We also have special events such as our annual Harvest Supper every autumn.
Over the last twelve months, Stonehill has increased its outreach efforts, which has resulted in increased attendance at its weekly Wednesday open sessions, especially among young people with learning difficulties. With the help of our attendees we have over the last year created several more raised beds, constructed two polytunnels, installed an irrigation system, constructed a straw bale shelter and outdoor kitchen from natural materials with a pizza oven, and we are now in the process of installing a solar hot water heater to provide hot water in the sink of our fully accessible compost toilet.

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The Old Music Hall
106-108 Cowley Road, Oxford
OX4 1JE, United Kingdom
(+44) 01865 922 430
info@internationaltreefoundation.org

Charity Number: 1106269

Company Number: 05219549

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