Picture © NTPL / fisheye images
The National Trust has today launched a campaign to create a new generation of "grow it yourselfers", including a massive seed giveaway and a new interactive website.
Food Glorious Food aims to inspire children to plant, nurture, grow, harvest and eat their own food and encourage families to enjoy more local and seasonal produce.
To kickstart the campaign and send young growers on their journey, Food Glorious Food will be giving away more than 170 million free seeds, which the Trust says is equal to up to four million pumpkins, 26 million bags of rocket leaves and 70 million lettuces.
The free seeds are easy-grow pumpkins for those with a garden and rocket or lettuce seeds for those with less space, challenging the myth that you need a garden to grow your own. A new interactive website, Food Glorious Food, has also been developed to support families who sign up to the growing campaign.
"Growing our own food is, and will increasingly become, an essential skill," said Iwan Huws, Director of the National Trust. "Through this campaign we want to reach and inspire a new generation of young people to connect with the land and grow food.
"We know that once children get started they are hooked. The experience of growing food from seed is enthralling, so the focus of Food Glorious Food is on action and involvement, encouraging children to learn and enjoy by doing."
National Trust Gardeners will be on hand to help with growing tips. Picture © NTPL / Fisheye images
The focal point for the campaign is the website, which features a virtual vegetable patch where children can care for pet plants that need tendering and care just as real plants do, so they can learn what to do in the garden.
Once registered, young growers will receive weekly step-by-step advice from National Trust gardeners on how to grow their plants in the form of helpful friendly characters. The website also features factual information and advice for parents including a guide to growing the seeds and child-friendly recipes.
A leaflet offering top tips on growing lettuce, courgettes, radish and potatoes is also available at several National Trust properties. "We want to use the Trust's 100-plus years of experience to help children to have fun discovering how easy it is to grow food," added Mr Huws.
The campaign is part of a wider National Trust drive focussing on sustainable food production, and it also comes on the heels of a campaign to create 1,000 new allotments and promote seasonal eating locally grown food.
The Trust is increasingly moving towards the use of high quality, local, seasonal and sustainable food, much of it from its own gardens, in its kitchens and cafés.
Find out more about the campaign, get growing tips and sign up for free seeds at Food Glorious Food.
