Free food and vegetable gardens everywhere: the history of the city of Todmorden
The revolution starts more and more often from small urban centers; in terms of ecology, then, we should learn in this case from the town of 16,000 inhabitants Todmorten, in Yorkshire, which became the first completely edible city, winning the name of "Todmorden Incredible Edible".
In fact, in recent years all the public spaces of the village have become small urban gardens where all citizens, from 2 to 80 years old, grow and take care of vegetables, herbs and fruit. Other than "0" km or fruit and vegetable markets: here in Todmorden you go downstairs, go to flower beds, schoolyards, even the cemetery, and get your vegetables for free lunch.
© Web Todmorden, the edible Yorkshire town
The idea for a completely edible city came to Pam Warhurts in 2008, an environmental activist who, together with a friend, started planting and growing fruit and vegetables in her garden and put up a sign that reads "Please Help Yourself" ("Servitevi "). After a while, other fellow citizens also begin to do the same, and the institutions begin to get involved to support the community. In 2009 even the royals of England became aware of this initiative and Prince Charles visited Todmorden to give his support to the project.
Using all the city spaces, there are now about a hundred community gardens in the village.
At school, the little ones soon learn how to care for fruit and vegetables, while those who have a small yard or garden automatically use it as a cultivable space. For everyone, there are free courses dedicated to cultivation or forgotten eating habits, such as making homemade bread.
Everyone does their duty, no one takes more than they need, and more importantly no one wastes food.Restaurants have also started preparing their dishes using raw materials from the city gardens and tourism has increased thanks to this enchanting ecological history.
Todmorten has also become a replicable brand; many other English villages are trying to put into practice the example of the edible city. In Italy, precisely from the experience across the Channel, "Incredibili Edibili" was born in 2012, in the province of Verona in San Bonifacio.
After the garden, the town's mission was to add hens for always fresh eggs, and other poultry. In the future of the Yorkshire village there is complete self-sufficiency: the expected date? 2018, in just 4 years.
