Offshoots permaculture project

The Offshoots Permaculture Project is housed in the old walled garden of Towneley Park, Burnley. Offshoots is now a thriving 1 acre organic fruit and vegetable garden boasting 5 different forms of eco-friendly buildings that are renewably powered and used daily. We also have a tree nursery, ‘Rocket’ composting machines, and our very own bee hives producing honey, honeycomb and wax.

Offshoots is in keeping with the Permaculture principles, of ‘earth care, people care, and fair shares’ creating stable agricultural processes which do not poison the land and reduce biodiversity, and doing what we believe to be right and be part of the solution not the problem. We have solar and wind powered buildings, a kiln for making charcoal, a wildlife pond and reed bed, compost toilet, cob building with oven, organic vegetable production, tree nursery, ABPR compliant in-vessel composting project, backyard garden demonstration and beekeeping.

The Project has not strayed from its community roots and is there for everybody to enjoy and learn from, playing host to as many as 5000 visitors per year.

Aims and Objectives

AIMS: We aim to help people find out more about the mental and physical benefits of food growing and a healthy balanced diet. This is done by offering guided tours, workshops and direct sales to the community of our organically produced fruit and veg.

Everything grown at Offshoots is sold, including not only all the organic fruit and veg, but the honey, wax, honeycomb, and the compost. Offshoots also aims to develop and promote sustainable and environmentally-friendly ways of living, we work towards this through our eco-construction, carbon reduction and organic waste composting training initiatives. Working with schools, colleges, industry, visitors and volunteers of all ages and abilities.

OUTCOMES: Our current outcome generating activities include an East Lancashire wide community training programme in sustainable living and organic food production. An ABPR compliant domestic and commercial food waste composting service. These have resulted in thousands of local people and many businesses being informally and formally trained and many of them receiving a free doorstep kitchen waste composting collection, as well as organic local food.

Our expected future outcomes include an expansion of local food production and consequently greater numbers of local people enjoying good quality organically and locally produced fruit and veg.

Methodology

The Offshoots Permaculture Project started in May 1997. The site at Towneley Park had previously been a council depot and tree nursery that had stood derelict for 10 years. As a result of lots of hard work from dedicated volunteers, Offshoots is now a thriving 1 acre organic fruit and vegetable garden, providing a working example of how a successful garden can flourish using environmentally-friendly technologies in the 21st Century.

Target WellBeing Offshoots is also part of the Target Wellbeing Program helping people live healthier and happier lives. It’s a programme of over 90 projects that increase exercise, encourage healthier eating and promote mental wellbeing. Funded by £8.9m from National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund, it’s managed by Groundwork North West for the benefit of targeted communities across the Northwest.

There are two Target Well Being Projects running from the Offshoots Project:

The Living Allotments Project. This is a partnership venture between Groundwork Pennine Lancashire and Age Concern Lancashire. Based at Offshoots and Howard Street Community Health Centre, Burnley, the Living Allotments Project team encourages communities and targeted groups to discover the health benefits offered through involvement in allotments and garden plots.

The Project encourages people to increase their understanding of, and access to, healthy food, and increase their level of physical activity. Including workshops involving Organic Gardening, Propagation and Pruning. The Project also works with schools to offer practical advice on school-grounds based food growing projects, ensuring healthy eating activity is linked with the National Curriculum. Schools are supported to develop links with established allotments and learn from experienced plot holders.

The Offshoots Hub Project: The Hub Project has been devised to work directly with local people, communities and schools. It will provide direct training and a number of celebratory events to over 500 beneficiaries.

Promotion

Offshoots has been traditionally promoted using leaflets, word of mouth and partnership working, but more recently a website has been produced and new promotional material including folding leaflets, flyers and an information pack which folds into a mini compost bin to keep at home or on your desk! All of which are made from recycled materials.

Offshoots is also included in the Towneley Hall flyers and leaflets as well as The Friends of Towneley Park monthly magazine. There is also a link from The Groundwork Pennine Lancashire page on Groundwork’s website. Courses and workshops are constantly running in Offshoots by The Living Allotments Project, Target Wellbeing, Myerscough College, and Burnley College.

Resources

Other than the sale of the things grown and made at Offshoots including the compost, honey, organic fruit and veg etc. it has to rely on funding. Offshoots have managed to obtain this from: Groundwork Pennine Lancashire In 2002, Groundwork East Lancashire Trust (now Groundwork Pennine Lancashire Trust) was invited to manage the site on behalf of the voluntary management committee.

The Trust then secured funding to support staff and activities on site this includes: National Lottery’s Target WellBeing National Lottery Community Recycling and Economic development fund Lancashire Environmental Fund, Burnley Borough Council, Burnley Community Network, Faith 4 Change, Lancashire Woodland Partnership

Evaluation

Offshoots has grown in reputation over the 11 years of its existence and now regularly attracts over 5000 visitors per year. This is recorded in a number of ways some of which is evaluated by the funding bodies involved with the site. The project also collects testimonials and visitor comments through its visitor book and its website. Whilst we are aware that a better more activity specific evaluation system would provide dividends for the site we have accumulated volumes of positive and enthusiastic feedback, from individuals, communities and partner organisations.

In 2009 we will complete our new evaluation and progress measurement protocols which will lead to an enriched experience for all future visitors. Since opening in 1997,

Offshoots has built four eco-friendly buildings from different natural materials, installing them with wind and solar power.
The garden has been completely reclaimed from the many years of neglect, allowing small-scale rotational organic crop production.
Has run a successful food waste composting project, collecting kitchen waste from local households and businesses.
Has run a tree nursery, which began with a few seeds in root trainers. The nursery has now been extended into land, donated by Sir Simon Towneley, for mature trees.
Offshoots has won a number of awards including a BURA (British Urban Regeneration Award) in acknowledgement of the site and all the hard work that the community and volunteers has put into it.
Offshoots has been involved in developing many allotments and community garden spaces for schools and communities.
Offshoots has provided horticultural consultancy, design, supply and maintenance for Manchester's new URBIS Museum and Lancashire County Council, amongst others.
Having just been successfully inspected by the National Bee Unit, Offshoots celebrated the height of summer with a Beekeeping Extravaganza, expertly led by our resident beekeeper, Alan Griffin.
Offshoots has agreed to work with Unity College with 12 sessions over the coming year introducing the students to basic and intermediate concepts of sustainability and wellbeing, including workshops on renewable energy, organic food growing, waste management and biodiversity.

Lessons Learned

There have been many, which all projects could expect to face and some unique to the site and its circumstances. They have been overcome through the application of Permaculture design and principles.

Future Developments

Regional green waste composting facility,
Domestic vegetable garden make-over plots for local housing associations, tenants.
Portable saw mill timber processing facility

Contact Details

Contact Name: Phill Dewhurst

Job Title: Offshoots Project Manager

Phone: 01282 450270

Email: info@offshoots.org.uk

Fax: 01282 436138

Website: www.offshoots.org.uk

Organisation: Groundwork Pennine Lancashire

Address: Offshoots Permaculture Project, Towneley Hall, Art Gallery and Museum, Off Todmorden Road, Burnley Lancashire, BB11 3QR

Other Resources:

What's New