More than a veg box: a visit to Sims Hill Shared Harvest   

More than a weekly veg box, Sims Hill Shared Harvest is growing connection, community and a stronger local food system. Bristol Good Food’s Projects and Impact Coordinator, Ruth Hislop-Gill, visited the farm to discover how its CSA, community growing projects and partnerships are helping people across Bristol connect with food, land and one another — and why you might want to become part of it. 

Recently, I visited Sims Hill Shared Harvest, a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm on the northern edge of Bristol, to learn more about their work and explore some of the opportunities, projects and individuals which make this place so unique.  

While Sims Hill operates as a working farm, producing fresh fruit and vegetables for its members, it is also cultivating connection, belonging and community. During a visit to the farm earlier this summer, I was struck by the many ways it brings people together through food, growing and a shared connection to the land, as well as the team’s ambition to create even more opportunities for people from across Bristol to feel welcome, connected and at home there.

Growing food, growing community

CSAs are a great way to support local agriculture. They promote sustainable farming practices, give customers fresh, seasonal produce and perhaps most importantly create a direct relationship between farmers and members through volunteering opportunities, farm visits and community events.  Members of Sims Hill can sign up to full or half shares (payable per month), suiting different household needs and incomes.  

It’s a model that helps reconnect people with where their food comes from, sharing both the rewards and the realities of farming. 

Find out more here about CSAs: Home – CSA Network UK 

In addition to operating a CSA scheme, Sims Hill works with local communities in several different ways. One project that particularly stood out to me was Soil Connection, a project that runs on Thursdays during the growing season.

This project brings together people with experience of the UK asylum system to grow food, spend time on the land and connect with others. Over the years, the project has developed into a vibrant community space, with attendees coming from a diverse mix of countries including Nigeria, Afghanistan, Syria, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, with many participants also bringing along friends and family. 

The team shared stories of people cooking together using produce from the farm, participants swapping growing knowledge from different parts of the world, and friendships forming across generations and backgrounds.  

Another community making use of the lovely space at Sims Hill is the ‘Chinese Cabbage Club’, an informal growing group that operates largely independently on the site, cultivating a range of South and Southeast Asian vegetables that are important to their communities and food cultures. 

What feels so powerful about these community projects is the freedom they create for people to participate on their own terms. People can share their skills, knowledge and cultural traditions with one another, learn from their peers, and build relationships organically. There is a genuine sense of people being able to be themselves and belong, in spaces that are welcoming, informal and free from structures or expectations. 

A small team making a big impact

What was equally impressive was hearing just how much is achieved by a relatively small staff team. 

With three members of staff each working three and a half days per week, Sims Hill balances the demands of food production with the time and care needed to support community initiatives. While they do an impressive job of managing both, it is clear, both from my conversations at Sims Hill and with other community growing spaces across Bristol, that producing enough food to make a growing enterprise financially viable can often sit in tension with the desire to engage local communities in meaningful ways. Time spent supporting volunteers, running community sessions and creating inclusive spaces is time that cannot be spent on food production, yet these social benefits are often among the most valuable outcomes that community growing projects deliver. 

The power of partnership

Another strong theme from our conversation was collaboration. 

Sims Hill is currently developing a partnership with Coexist Community Kitchen, bringing together complementary expertise, resources and networks. Between them, they offer growing knowledge, access to land, food and community engagement experience, established relationships with community groups interested in growing, and infrastructure to support fundraising and community development. 

Together, they are exploring exciting possibilities for the future, including expanding community food activities and developing new infrastructure that could make the site more accessible, welcoming and beneficial to a wider range of people. 

It’s a reminder that some of the most impactful work happens when organisations bring different skills, experiences and perspectives together. This has been a common theme across many recent conversations with BGF partners, and something we are actively thinking about in terms of how we can better support collaboration, resource-sharing and partnership working across Bristol’s food system. 

Supporting the future of Sims Hill

Sims Hill offers an incredible opportunity to connect with the land around us, learning about food growing, nature and community while supporting the farm and the farmers who invest so much time, skill and care into producing food for Bristol residents. 

At a time when many of us feel increasingly disconnected from our food system, Sims Hill offers something refreshingly different: a chance to be part of it. 

And that is exactly what their CSA membership scheme makes possible. 

By becoming a member, you’re not simply signing up for a weekly veg box. You’re supporting local food production, helping sustain a resilient community farm, and enabling the wider work that makes Sims Hill such a valuable part of Bristol’s food landscape. 

If you’d like to support Sims Hill Shared Harvest and enjoy a season of fresh, locally grown vegetables, consider joining their CSA today. 

Sims Hill is one of the 23 community growing groups participating in this year’s Get Growing Trail. The site will be open on Saturday 12 September, 10am–1pm. Come and enjoy a barbecue and pizzas, farm tours, some music, and hopefully a panel on CSAs. Feast on the delights of the summer and say farewell to another season! Find out more about the Get Growing Trail. 

To stay updated on future events, job opportunities and news, don’t forget to sign up for the Bristol Good Food Update at bristolgoodfood.org/newsletter.