To support the wellbeing of Maldon District residents, Maldon District Council and Abberton Rural Training (ART) are working in partnership to bring a new community initiative to encourage residents to ‘Stay At Home, Grow Your Own’.
The initiative hopes to introduce how growing your own can bring a more nutritious, diverse and healthy diet as fruit and vegetables are excellent sources of vitamins and minerals, and herbs can be used for seasoning to replace added salt. Plus, working in the garden provides a light form of physical activity to keep active at home, which brings a range of benefits to mental and physical health. Being outdoors boosts vitamin D levels (under certain sunlight conditions) and offers stress relief and support for emotional wellbeing.
There are a limited number of free starter kits available to get people growing their own at home, which are targeted at Key Workers, individuals or families with financial difficulty, and/or individuals with a physical or mental impairment, or a health condition. To see if you qualify for a free starter kit you can scan the QR code or visit Grow Your Own Pack.
The hope is that residents in Maldon will benefit from the initiative immediately and take what they have learned forward into the future which will save money on fruit and vegetables, as well as having wider environmental benefits for the whole district.
Toms Farm Shop in Great Totham are supporting the scheme and have generously offered to deliver the starter packs to qualifying residents free of charge.
To get involved visit ART’s YouTube Channel for online tutorials which are easy to follow and ART’s website to access information and activity sheets.
If you are growing your own, please join the Abberton Rural Training online community to help spread the word about how much better you are feeling for getting involved in growing your own. Don’t forget to tag @MaldonDC and #livewell to encourage others to grow their own too!
#StayAtHomeGrowYourOwn #EatWellAtHome #livewell #ART #AbbertonRuralTraining #KeepingActiveAtHome #StayInWorkOut @ART @MDC
Contacts
- Abberton Rural Training (ART)
- Abberton Rural Training is a rural training Charity operating across NE Essex and has created a range of online learning resources and tutorial films on YouTube for people to access for free.
- Website: www.abbertonruraltraining.org
- Dedicated webpage for the article: www.abbertonruraltraining.org/GYO
- Charity number 1169247 UKPRN: 10053247
- Contact:
- wendy.bixby@abbertonruraltraining.org or
- Jacqui.stone@abbertonruraltraining.org
- Tel: 01787 228269
- Maldon District Council
- Contact:
- emily.fallon@maldon.gov.uk
- Tel: 01621 732686