Page 20 - ALG Issue 4 2018

General
Working with allotment groups to
bring together drought science
and local growing knowledge
On the 23rd May 2018, DRY (Drought Risk and You) and About Drought held
a workshop for allotment holders at University of the West of England, Bristol. Allotment holders were selected as potential harbingers of drought in local settings as they are already sensitive
to periods without rainfall and dry soil conditions. Over a full day, we shared resources and co-produced new materials with participants from a diverse range of community, organisational and business perspectives. Joining us were members
of the National Society for Allotments and Leisure Gardeners, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, a local farmer, committee members from the nearby Patchway allotment
site, and an entrepreneur developing a moisture-retaining material. John Elson,
a cartoonist, contributed ‘creative note- taking’ in the form of a series of cartoons that cleverly and humorously captured the day.
In the morning, we focused on sharing and building on materials we have created as part of the DRY project’s narrative and science communication work. Professor Lindsey McEwen outlined the project and shared UKCP09 scenarios for the Bristol Frome catchment and the most recent drought-related science developed through hydrological catchment modelling by our colleagues at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford. Within this, we were keen to know whether allotment holders interpreted any potential problems or opportunities in terms of possible seasonal changes in rainfall, temperature, in total
cloud cover and change in temperature coldest night under different climate change scenarios.
Following this, researcher Liz Roberts shared three digital stories that have been created with allotment holders in the South West. These stories prompted a series of discussions that incorporated the notion of creating shade versus stunting growth, of working collaboratively
on allotments to make sure shade is
created in the right areas; also about the intergenerational aspects that came through in several of the stories about learning water practices from elders and then sharing these with children, sometimes from intercultural contexts and about the potential of growing different types of veg to adapt to changing growing conditions in the UK. Might we all move to a Mediterranean diet, and what is the best way to cook a Yacón (‘water root’ in Inca)? The participants then storyboarded their own future stories about adaptation under different climate change scenarios – linking food growing to a range of contexts including the future social and political contexts to allotment growing.
In the afternoon, researcher Patty Ramirez shared currently available online resources about watering in allotments and gardens, such as advice produced by organisations like the Royal Horticulture Society and Garden Organic. We also looked at different types of gardening knowledge (scientific
and experiential; data and stories), and
the ways allotment groups and relevant organisations disseminate planting and other types of advice. Having thought about the pros and cons of different types of materials, we considered how water advice could be integrated into existing resources. Participants suggested including water efficiency information on the back
of seed packets or including advice in guidelines and handbooks produced by the allotment committees for new allotment holders. We trialled whether it would be possible to create a timeline of seasonal or
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