Humans Who Grow Food

Meet Rhiannon from Devon, UK 🇬🇧

“Six years ago, on whim, I took on an allotment in my village, having never grown a thing in the years before and with no idea of the transformation it would bring to my life. I learnt from the people already growing on the site, from friends and family and from the amazing online growing community (mainly on instagram).

Fast forward to 2025 and I am now growing my own food to support my family and have started a community growing project, Devon Dig and Donate CIC, to grow fresh, nutritious food for those experiencing food poverty in Devon. I am now truly converted to gardening and growing and want to show people that it isn’t as scary or difficult as we might think!

I grow food as I wholeheartedly believe that homegrown is best! Organically grown food is so much better for us and growing your own is immensely fulfilling. There is no better feeling that picking vegetables fresh from the veg patch for lunch or dinner, or sharing food and flowers with friends and family. I’ve also found that growing my own food and gardening has been transformational for my mental health and wellbeing. I find connecting with nature and nurturing my plants on the land one of the most mindful and calming things to do.

I have an allotment which is approximately 7 metres by 14 metres where I grow a range of vegetables including brassicas, roots vegetables, onions, garlic and lots of other delicious veggies. I am growing more and more flowers and dahlias and sweet peas remain my firm favourites!

Eating your home grown food is so fulfilling and is a wonderful feeling, to know that you have grown and nurtured a plant into fruition is wonderful. I also love teaching other people how to grow their own food and seeing them get excited about it.

Anyone can grow, in any space and once you’ve started you won’t look back! Don’t let potential costs put you off, there are so many ways you can garden on shoestring - free compost from the council, reusing containers, free plant pots on local market websites, and free seeds from seed swaps”.

A heartwarming example of the remarkable achievements possible with limited resources and local materials when an entire community comes together.

Meet Joseph Otieno from Kenya 🇰🇪

“I’m working on an organic permaculture farming project in the Nyathuongweno Community. The goal of this project is to create a place where people can come together and learn sustainable farming and permaculture skills. Through this project, individuals and families gain experience and can share these skills with others to help them live more self-sufficiently and sustainably.

We want our students to spread knowledge about organic farming and permaculture, helping others thrive. We are building a community that offers a healthier, eco-friendly lifestyle. We also encourage the use of these skills in the local community and with our neighbors. Our vision is to create a network of similar communities across the country and beyond, which will serve as learning centers for a sustainable future.

The project is fun, family-friendly, and focused on teamwork, respecting each other, and helping the whole community. We aim to be fair, efficient, and productive while maintaining high standards. As a community organization in Kenya, we focus on using local resources to improve the lives of households.

Our work focuses on reducing poverty and illiteracy. We provide disadvantaged youth, orphans, and school dropouts with permaculture and organic farming skills. They learn simple farming methods that can improve their economic situation.

The project is located in the Nyathuongweno Community Permaculture Project Village, Homa Bay County, in the eastern part of Lake Victoria.

**Mission:** To end poverty and illiteracy, and to create innovative farming technologies that help communities thrive.”

Meet Sonia Manchanda from Bangalore, India 🇮🇳

“I am a naturalist and a designer with a love for open spaces, clean, green and sustainable living. My family moved to Bangalore for its weather and its reputation as a verdant garden city. The soil holds possibility. That possibility also is for new knowledge and ventures. So the city attracts talent, grows rapidly, unchecked.

We kept moving away from the center of the city while our work opportunities continued to grow. Finally we picked up a bunch of urban plots and returned about an acre of urban land, chemical and concrete free - to nature. Reverse urbanization!

We have been revitalizing the land which did not have a single shrub or tree on it, for over 20 years, turning it into a farm and with the trees grown, nearly a forest : farm in the heart of a totally urban new part of the city. Hemmed in by high rises, a lone acre lung.

Growing food is the most fulfilling thing one can do, to seed, nurture, harvest and create wonderful and fresh new recipes to nourish and inspire family and friends. It’s a fundamental human and creative act.

In a busy life - when nature gives you plenty, that too can be a challenge. We had 500 coconuts in one harvest and we had to figure setting up a mini plant at the farm to make virgin coconut oil.

Learning to respect nature and its interdependence and resilience and the sheer knowledge that comes along is rewarding. I learnt how to plant a cocoa tree from the farmers in Amazonia, through a friend. And how to harvest the beans. Our daughter is a farm child, rooted, eats fruits off the tree and knows the difference in taste between home and commercially grown produce. Every child deserves that in their childhood. Without roots, we are sadly adrift.

I believe that the soil beneath our feet is the most creative surface there is – admit it, we can go to the moon but we cannot grow a tree – food, flowers. How can we not see that and cover the natural growth spirit with our so called inert, lifeless manufactured world.

Pick up a handful of soil and and feel it!”