Small West Yorkshire town aims to be first town with food self-sufficiency by growing all its own vegetables

Posted by clnews News Flash Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

(NaturalNews) Different local authorities throughout the USA have been harassing homeowners for growing veggies or herbs in their front lawns. But in the small town of Todmorden, England, a grass-roots food movement has been started by one woman who grew veggies in her front yard and let neighbors pick them free.

It took six months before neighbors and passers-by got the notion that Mary Clear’s lowered fence and signs encouraging people to pick veggies from her lawn was for real. Mary, a 56 year old grandmother, kicked off a scheme thought up with local Bear Cafe owner Pam Warhurst and others to engage in local guerrilla agriculture.

Soon, others joined in and they called the movement Incredible Edible. Now this small community has 70 large, raised beds flourishing with fruits and vegetables, all of which are there for others to take from without paying.

Even the Todmorden police station has a few of those beds on its premises. The police also allow others to come and pick from them. It’s a high profile setting that lets others know it is okay to grow your own in Todmorden.

Mary and Pam realize that Incredible Edible isn’t up to feeding all 15,000 residents of Todmorden yet. But their goal is to achieve that level of self sufficiency by 2018. They’re working on getting more involved with growing veggies and fruits with a grass roots free educational system to help others learn how to plant and nurture communal food gardens.