A DORSET-BASED social enterprise has teamed up with a local restaurant to sow the seeds of change.
Future Roots, a project helping vulnerable adults, has teamed up with the Engine Room Restaurant at Poundbury Gardens to deliver a fresh basket of local vegetables every week to the restaurant.
Based just three miles from Poundbury Gardens, the vegetables grown on Future Roots’ four acre Whitfield site are tended to by a group of vulnerable adults collectively known as the Countrymen's Club.
In return for providing the carefully nurtured local produce for diners at the Engine Room to enjoy, the club is receiving vouchers to spend on tools and seeds at any of the Gardens Group’s three centres.
Future Roots was established nine years ago and provides a range of programmes for all ages from both Whitfield Farm and its original site, Rylands Farm near Sherborne, Dorset. The not-for-profit social enterprise specialises in giving positive purpose to those in the local community who are struggling with transitions in their lives and is open every day to people who have complex issues to deal with.
All staff are trained to facilitate positive change with the help of animals or plants, with Countrymen’s Club sessions now running five days per week across the two sites.
Activities at the farms include woodworking, pottery and animal assisted therapy. The team at Whitfield particularly enjoy horticulture, making their partnership with Poundbury Gardens the perfect opportunity to share the fruits of their labour with the wider community.
Cath Collins, group food manager at the Gardens Group, said: “We’re so inspired by the work undertaken at Future Roots and have been bowled over by the range and quality of the vegetables that they’ve produced.
“Provenance is really important to us at the Engine Room and this initiative dovetails perfectly with our ongoing commitment to local and seasonal sourcing.
“We all hope that our partnership helps shine the spotlight on the great work that Future Roots does and inspires more volunteers to get involved.”
CONTACT ME:
t: 01305 830981
e: catherine.bolado@dorsetecho.co.uk
twitter: @DorsetEchoCB
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