Family garden allotments have been being used in England since the 1700s. Typically, a town council provides a tract of land and sets up an allotment association to manage the allotment and coordinate with the individual gardeners. During WW II Victory Garden days, families were given a 10 yard by 30 yard (today they are measured in meters) standard plot: large enough to provide vegetables for a family of 4.

	I have been able to visit two allotments in England over the past 10 days—one in Manchester—and one in Coventry. Today I will share my experience at David Wilkin’s allotment at the Wellington Road Allotments in the Fallowfield neighborhood of Manchester; David was kind enough to give me a tour of his allotment that he has been using for 9 years.
	Originally farmland when the allotment started during the second world war, the area has since been fully developed with streets and houses—so the allotment occupies what is now a portion of a city block. On a street corner the size of 3 or 4 house lots, Fallowfield has 54 individual (10 x 30) allotments. Families pay a small monthly fee to the allotment association (typically around $5.00 per month).
	The first thing that I noticed was the look of permanence: Allotments all had sheds and many had greenhouses. There is even a central shed run by the association where one can warm up a lunch—or share a cup of tea with friends.
	David runs his organic plot through a 3–year rotation: brassicas->potatoes->beans->onions. He feels that this helps him to maintain soil fertility and confuse insects. His garden provides he and his family with vegetables late May through March. He plants a few fast growing vegetables several times a year in a succession—and he also plants early and late varieties of crops to spread his harvest through the year.
	In his greenhouse he raises: Tomatoes Eggplant Melons Peppers Grapes

Crop List:
Fennell
Winter broccoli
Kale
Cabbage
Sweed
Red Cabbage
Spring Cabbage
Swiss Chard
Leeks
Parsnips
Zucchini (courgettes)
Beet root
Beet spinach
Carrots
Potatoes (Yukon Gold, Desiree, Pink Fir Apple)
Squash (4 types)
Broad beans
Runner Beans
Gooseberries
Onions

Challenges:
Two of his biggest challenges are pigeons which eat his brassicas (He covers the beds with green netting), carrot root fly (he covers the beds with Enviromesh—an air and water permeable sheet), and slugs.

Soil & Water
For soil and water conservation from September through May he uses a black fabric mulch—which lets water through—but reduces weed growth, evaporation and top-soil nutrient loss through erosion.

David double digs his raised beds, places horse manure in the bottom as he digs, and liberally applies compost which he makes.

All and all, David’s garden is bountiful and I was able to enjoy several wonder meals made from his garden harvest: 4 different vegetables at each meal including salads, root crops roasted with a bit of olive oil, and a wonderful English dessert–gooseberry fuul.

See David’s Allotment:
http://wiki.worldflicks.org/wellington_road_allotments.html

Next week we visit an allotment garden in Coventry England. This allotment is much larger than the allotment in Manchester and covers an area of 3 or 4 city blocks. They have 180 full allotments

Learn how to develop a community centered, impact oriented project.

Over 100 worldwide students are partnering in developing projects in our current online courses. Students are from Latin America, Europe, North America, Asia & Africa. Partnerships are developing between 40 & 50 projects. They will be posting updates on the Facebook & Development Community pages.

Check in periodically—students will be asking for help with their projects—but also posting suggestions for other students. Projects are ranging from model forests to sustainable tourism, wetland conservation, land use management plans, soil & water restoration & management, alternative forms of income generation, deforestation, advocacy, youth, nomadic pastoralism, food insecurity & vulnerability to climate change.

Tell us about your projects. What do you have to offer to these online students?

Please post your stories and your comments to our blog, our Facebook page, or to our Development Community.

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OL 341—Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change

This week, we conclude posting samples of our light version of our most popular course: This is the last class in the course. This will allow you to have a little background on what students are posting on our Facebook page, and at our Development Community. Just click on the two links below.

Assignment 6. How will you organize your ideas for presentation to a donor?
OL 341 Assignment Six CBA Discussion
Magee Example Project OL 341 Assignment Six

Sharing your project with a donor.
	This week you will meet with an important person for sharing your project. I hope that you decided to meet with a donor. You can explain that this is an initial project concept on which you are hoping to receive feedback before you continue with its development.

In the meeting they will tell you one of two things:
1. The project concept falls within their goals and that you have some good ideas.
2. The project concept is very interesting, but doesn’t fit within their programming goals.

But they might have an interest in an area that fits another one of your organizational goals. Maybe you presented a health project to them, and you discover they are more focused on agriculture. Maybe your organization also does agricultural projects. Think quickly and say that you have a similar scale project in agriculture—can you return in a week to show it to them?

Ask the donor if they have any special programs or interests in projects that include adaptation or other aspects of climate change. If they do, get the details—and ask them if they would comment on your project’s design from this vantage point too. Their input at this early stage can help you over the next few months frame—or posture—your project for a better chance at funding.

A benefit if you haven’t done this before is to have the opportunity to do it and to experience what a donor appointment is like without putting too much at risk. It’s perfectly reasonable to approach your local donor to say that you have the seed of an idea for a project and that you would just like to get their input on it before you proceed further. It is also perfectly valid to say this is part of a certificate course in project design and management.

Another obvious benefit is to get a different kind of feedback than what you’ve been getting from your co-workers and community members (and me!).

A donor, or your boss, or your professor may all have a different perspective on development projects than your co-workers do. They also have the power to let you proceed or not and so it’s very valuable to understand what their perspective is so that you will better be able to sell it to them when your concept is fully developed.

The Lite Version
Each week, running in parallel with the course, I will be posting a discussion sheet about community-based adaptation, and an example of the week’s homework. This is simply to give you the opportunity of seeing what these courses are like from the student’s perspective & also give you an opportunity to better understand what the students are discussing that week.

This is called the Lite Version, because the full course has a collection of online student resources, expanded discussions about that week’s assignment, and, of course, it has the course leader who works with students in reviewing their assignments and in making suggestions for their projects.

Is providing this information helpful to you? Please let us know your thoughts!

Be sure to visit the CSDi’s Development Community. Join 450 colleagues in sharing resources & collaborating online.

Like us: CSDi Facebook.

Learn how to develop a community centered, impact oriented project.