Summer 2025 Newsletter
IN-FOCUS - Volunteer Week 2025
Every year in June, the UK celebrates Volunteer Week (2nd-8th June 2025). Here at the Farm, we are lucky enough to have a huge roster (approximately 60!) of extraordinary volunteers who help keep this place running. This year, Sam (newsletter Editor) sat down with Hafsah (Volunteer & Community Outreach Manager) to talk about the volunteer programme at SCF, social outings and training opportunities for our volunteers, and the social, mental, and physical benefits of gardening and volunteering.
Click here to read our In-Focus piece for this edition.
Open Farm Sunday Fair - Sunday 8th June
On Sunday 8th June we participated in the country-wide Open Farm Sunday initiative - and were absolutely packed to the rafters! It was a roaring success, with hundreds of people arriving each hour throughout the day. We raised about £1,000 in donations alone.
We enjoyed welcoming our friends at Sustainably Muslim in for a private sheep shearing demonstration in the morning, as well as a run-through of all the different crafts we had on display, including an Alpona Art workshop by Tower Hamlets based Bengali artist Husna Parvin, who was with us for the whole day producing this stunning art form.
We then opened at midday to the public, collaborating with members of the local community including our friend Justine from the London City Farm Yarn Project, plus basket making, lace making, yarn spinning on the looms, and the collaborative production of a huge community art piece which is hanging up in the covered walkway. Come and visit to spot this!
We also welcomed the much-loved local Oitij-Jo Kitchen on site to provide our Bengali kitchen for the day, whose food was absolutely incredible. We also welcomed back our on-site Rosebery Tea Hut for their summer opening hours too.
Lastly, all our sheep got a haircut in bi-hourly shearing demos throughout the day - including new lambs Barley and Rye for their first ever shear!
Thanks to all the wonderful staff and volunteers who made this happen, and to all our visitors for spending your day with us. It was so good to see you all.
Champions for Children fundraiser - ONE DAY LEFT!
There is ONLY ONE DAY LEFT to donate to our yearly Big Give campaign which funds our annual programme of free school holiday activities for local children and young people. Every donation until Tuesday, 17th June will be doubled. That’s right - DOUBLED - whatever you can give, no matter the size.
Click here to DONATE NOW if you can spare a few bob, and thank you so much for your support!
VEG OF THE MONTH - Berries! So many berries...
The Veg of the Month for this newsletter is our incredible seasonal crop of berries! This past week we harvested serviceberries, jostaberries, gooseberries, mulberries, pink currants and white currants. This particular crop was distributed between the Spitalfields and Smithfield branches of St John Restaurant who we have a long-running produce partnership with, who turn them into gorgeous sauces to go with their dishes. They are packed with Vitamin C, and plenty of minerals and antioxidants.
The mild temperatures we experienced this Spring, plus tons of sunshine and the early pruning and mulching we carried out, gave us a wonderfully high yield. Service berries in particular are very sweet. Jon, chef at the Smithfield branch, is originally from Canada where these grow in abundance - and he was impressed and excited to see such a successful UK-grown crop for his menu.
There will be more berries coming - they are not all gone, fear not! Pop your head into the Farm shop over the next few weeks.
Photo credit: Hafsah Hafeji. Pictured: growing volunteer, Sean (left) with our Head Grower, Chris (right).
UCL Research Project
We are currently thrilled to be hosting a research experiment by UCL PhD candidate Ana Vadeanu, that investigates pollinators across different green spaces in London. The crates you see here each have something called a Polly device inside, which is powered by a small solar panel. This is bio-acoustic technology calibrated to measure bumblebee visits within 1m of its placement.
Site Developments
Our new toilets (3 plus an improved disabled/baby change facility + wet room) are finally open! We also have a new hand-washing station complete with overhead canopy. Thanks to our Site Manager Steven, who has overseen this process from start to finish and managed relationships with contractors, funders, and visitors alike. We are thrilled with the result.
Still in the works (proposed finish date: 30th June), we are also looking forward to a brand new kitchen including more storage, a dishwasher and a washing machine; guidance lighting down the main pathway from the front gate for those colder, darker months; and new festoon lighting in the kitchen garden area for dusk gatherings.
These works have been carried out by the contractor Mears, and jointly funded by Tower Hamlets Council and The Veolia Environmental Trust. We are grateful for the ability to improve our facilities and accessibility.
Lastly, we have a very cool project coming up in the calendar, collaborating with Alex of Biofonic - follow us on socials for more detail soon...
That's it for this edition! Thank you for reading.
The Farm is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00am to 4.30pm.
We look forward to welcoming you soon.