The Gaskell Garden Project

    Surplus and Gleaning

    The GGP Rebel Riders Team begun its surplus mission in 2016, inspired by The Magic Hat Cafe in Newcastle and how they used surplus food to create a pay-as-you-feel culture. 

    Our 3 aims of the surplus project are: Create equal access to food, spark new conversations, and ultimately regain food sovereignty.

    We put our project into action by collecting surplus food from supermarkets to feed whoever we can reach. Using the surplus combined with our garden produce for our pop-up pay-as-you-feel Spiral Garden Cafe, we were able to save perfectly good food from being thrown away by using it to bring people together around a healthy and established three-course meal. This enabled us to create a sustainable platform for people seeking refuge to meet UK citizens on an equal level.

    We also were able to branch out and reach even more people by redistributing surplus food across Greater Manchester in the form of nutritious food boxes put together by our dedicated volunteers. During the pandemic, the demand for fresh food provision increased and our Rebel Riders crew grew. We now pick up from up to 10 supermarkets and drop to roughly 7 organisations or individuals. We can directly and indirectly feed over 1,800 people in one week by redistributing surplus food, and we only hope to continue to grow.

    Spiral Garden Café

    The Spiral Garden Café is a pop-up, pay-as-you-feel, community café based on the permaculture principles: ‘people care’, ‘earth care’, and ‘fair share’. We are passionate about improving the health and well-being of both our community and our planet. We use a combination of organically grown produce, from GGP’s permaculture garden, and surplus food from supermarkets and farms, that would otherwise go to landfill, to create delicious, vegan-friendly, three-course meals for all to share.

    We seek to create spaces where everyone is welcome and we celebrate our diverse community. Our café is run on a pay-as-you-feel basis to ensure that everyone is welcome. If you can’t afford to make a financial donation, no matter! We encourage anyone who can’t donate money to donate their time instead; this could be through volunteering for the café or in the wider GGP project. Our pay-as-you-feel philosophy gives people the opportunity to ‘pay it forward’, which means that everyone has equal access to food no matter who you are. We are strong believers that sharing food together is a fantastic way to connect with new friends and old, and to bring communities together.

    We are completely volunteer run and not for profit, all the proceeds raised at our events are used to maintain the running of the café and to support projects run by the GGP.

    We’ve previously hosted our three‑course meals at The Old Abbey Taphouse, and we also run regular café days at The Niamos Centre in Hulme. We’re now planning to bring back our pop-up Pay as You Feel Meals. To stay updated on upcoming events, make sure to follow us on Instagram.

    Festivals and Workshops

    Workshops

    Holding free workshops is a big part of GGP. Whether it’s at a festival, during a Sunday Gardening session, or at a festival! our workshops are designed so that they can be replicated and shared!!

    From 2018-2020 The GGP held a workshop space at Cakebread Workshop in Ardwick. We used this space to facilitate projects such as decor making for Freedom Matters events, creating planters for a courtyard garden at Moss Side Health Centre, and for storing all of our tools and materials.

    During this time we also trailed out having artists in the space, using the facilities for their own projects, in return for helping with GGP projects.

    Festivals

    Running workshops at festivals is a great way to celebrate everyone involved with GGP’s work during the year.  Going to festivals is a real treat for the GGP crew and well deserved after putting that knowledge to practice in Manchester and then reflecting and sharing it on the fields in summer.

    Schools

    We have been reaching out to our local schools for workshops for children. Previously we have planted a fruit treat is St Phillips in Hulme. It was such a rewarding and special day sharing it with year 1! and our crew are keen to share more knowledge of permaculture in our local schools.

    External Gardens

    Moss Side Health Centre

    We were approached by Dr Alistair Honeyman of Moss Side Health Centre to create an outdoor space in their overgrown courtyard. After much consultation and planning, we came up with a plan and enlisted the help of other Cakebread Workshop residents to help us design and create several planters and a bench for the space. A group of volunteers helped to install these and reinvent the space over summer 2020.

    Rockdove Community Plot

    Over the lockdown in March-June 2020, GGP volunteers and residents of Rockdove Avenue, turned a lawn into a thriving garden, growing vegetables and flowers for the local community to enjoy