Building land-based futures through community 

Curious about growing food, sharing land, or starting a nature-connected community? At Bridge Farm’s buzzing networking event, over 70 people gathered to move beyond idealism and dig into what it really takes to create land-based, regenerative living projects. Jaque Taylor (photographed left) meets the changemakers — and shares how you can get involved in shaping a more rooted, connected future. 

Lead Photo by Mark Simmons.

On Wednesday 18 June, I had the pleasure of attending a Nurture the Land & Nature Networking Workshop at Bridge Farm, hosted by Livvy Drake, a behaviour change expert and sustainability consultant who spoke to me before the event to shed light on the project. The event was the second of its kind, after popular demand from the first workshop held in May brought it back with an even bigger crowd of over 70 people in attendance.  

This series of events is for anyone interested in living off the land and being closer to nature, attracting a community of like-minded people who want to support each other and potentially collaborate on projects by brainstorming, sharing ideas and ultimately putting them into actionable steps.  

‘It’s for people who are ready to do the digging — not just the dreamers’, said Livvy, who started her business, Sustainable Sidekicks, to put her knowledge, experience and network of expert ‘sidekicks’ into helping professionals use more sustainable practices. 

She organised this workshop as a mixture of short talks, facilitated discussions, Q&A sessions and facilitated networking between people with similar interests, and time for open-networking. This format allows ample time for questions as well as collaborations to take place, ensuring everyone gets the most possible out of the event.  

Alec and Helena, a couple who were attending the event for the first time, shared they were there because they want to live on the land and be part of a community, but that information online can be confusing. ‘How do you actually access land?’ asked Alec. ‘Bristol is a great city, but it’s very cost-prohibitive to have your own space’. 

They currently live in an apartment without a balcony and are gravitating towards more time and space outdoors. For the time being, they have been tending an allotment together, enjoying the novelty of growing their own vegetables.  

‘It’s so much easier than we thought,’ said Helena, who marveled at how, despite being self-described novice gardeners, ‘things just take off’. They’ve been enjoying the process and now say, ‘the goal is to live off the allotment’.  

Someone who has already achieved this particular goal is Ni, a wildlife gardener and volunteer at the event, who explained that ‘in summer, we can virtually live off the allotment’. He described to me in detail the garden he and his wife have been cultivating over the past five years, painting a picture of a beautiful garden on a slope, his allotment only a stone’s throw away, a pond brimming with newts and frogs, with slow worms, dragonflies and even kingfishers who make the occasional visit.  

He’s been a birdwatcher since he was a teenager and his interest in wildlife has only grown over the years as he currently attempts to attract every species he can into his garden. ‘I’m pleased to see the wildlife web growing’.  

The event included a healthy mix of newcomers who were more unsure about future projects and curious to learn, as well as veterans who were happy to tell tales of their own projects’ wins and pitfalls, at times inviting others to join the cause and ask them questions afterward.  

The conversations were extremely varied, but many common themes circulated throughout the night, especially a curiosity about community living. 

Amy, who described herself as a single woman in her 40’s with no kids, was personally interested in tribal living. ‘Living in a flat on my own isn’t working for my mental health’, confessed Amy. She went on to explain that she would consider living in a tiny home but that she has ‘too much stuff’, and that equally she’s ‘too old to houseshare’, and she simply doesn’t know where she fits in. 

Another attendee, first timer Julia, explained that she has an invisible disability and ‘would also rather live in a more community sort of way, not a nuclear home.’ She hopes to create something intentional, stating that she’s very interested in sustainable living, nature, food production, learning more about grey water uses and other sustainable changes.  

And Flo, another first-time attendee, is already part of a community living project. When the group broke into facilitated discussions, she explained how only three months ago she and a few friends bought a plot of land in Portugal together where they now live together with her five-year-old son, hoping to create a rewilded space that’s abundant with food security. ‘Collectively, the skills we have are really exciting. We’ve been able to put the vision in motion’, said Flo. 

The value of community was at the heart of most conversations taking place at the event. ‘It’s about the people’, said Livvy. ‘Having the independence, but really sharing it is important to me’. Livvy, who would like to start a land project herself, believes that ‘you don’t have to leave the city to be closer to nature. Look around you’.  

For people who have a calling to live closer to nature, she suggests looking for small pockets of land such as an allotment or volunteering for an agroforestry group. You can also buy fruit and vegetables through a yearly subscription to a community-supported agriculture (CSA) scheme such as Lush Greens, or even have your food waste picked up, so that it can be regenerated into compost.  

Alex Montgomery, founder and director of Generation Soil, started his project to do  just that. He was one of nine speakers that night, explaining to everyone how he came from a cooking background, then started going to various events around the city, and through that started community building. ‘I wouldn’t be standing here today if that didn’t happen’, says Alex. He stressed the importance of community building and taking part in events like these for anyone getting started and wanting to launch their own project.  

To find out more about future Nurture the Land & Nature Networking events and to connect with others setting up their own restorative, community-minded projects, contact Livvy at livvy@sustainablesidekicks.com.  

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