Oxford City Farm raises £15,000 to help manage flood effects
Oxford City Farm, a community lead farm in East Oxford, was hit by flooding in the last week of September and experienced a month's worth of rain in just one day, but has managed to fundraise £15,672
The money fundraised via Aviva Community Fund will go towards reducing the short term impacts of the flood as well as working on reducing the impact of flooding in the long term, for both the farm and their neighbours.
In an update shared on the farm’s website, it announced that following the help of Oli Hatt - an expert in farm drainage - it now has plans to install two grass-lined ditches which it says will “be a great step forward in making the farm more resilient to heavy rains and flooding.”
Farm lead, Nicole Titera, described the rain from the September flooding as reaching the top of a wellington boot in the areas where much of their crop is grown, resulting in 70% of the vegetable beds being lost. This meant the farm lost more than £4000 worth of produce, which it usually donates or sells to its local community to support the farm’s activities.
It was especially unfortunate timing, Nicole explained, as the floods came at the tail-end of the harvest, which meant that many ripe vegetables were lost and that they were forced to cancel their Autumn fundraiser.
But perhaps more striking than the severity of the flooding was the community response, by which Nicole said the farm was “struck and humbled.”
Nicole described an “amazing community effort to redo all the work lost” as the farm had to replant six weeks’ worth of preparatory work in three days in order to get things in the ground and maximise growth before November 1st, when daylight hours drop, she reflected “we’re lucky we’re back on track.”
Ciddy Gray, volunteer coordinator, says that following a call out for help, three times as many people than normal turned out to the volunteer sessions the farm holds on Fridays and Saturdays, including people they hadn't seen for a while, with some even doing extra work, which “made clear how important the farm is for the local community.”
Nicole reflected that sometimes working around the farm day in and day out makes you “forget what the farm means to people” but in the case of the floods “it was really lovely to see the support for it.”
The farm is also seeking long term funding as its three-year community grant from the National Lottery comes to an end, as the farm say long term funding has helped it to become more stable and consistent, allowing it the stability to run weekly activities like a goat milking programme, toddler days and cooking classes which often operate with a pay as you go scheme.
To find out more about the farm and what they do, visit https://www.oxfordcityfarm.org.uk