Building relationships
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As our 10 Steps to being Incredible highlights, talking, getting to know each other and creating a shared vision for your Incredible Edible group is key as your group starts up. And those relationships you build, and continue to build, are what bind you together as a group and keeps people coming back work party after work party, meeting after meeting. So when you’re starting out in your activities, plan in social time, not just the hard graft of growing or planning – and make this part of what being Incredible is to your group as you continue on your Incredible journey.
Ideas for social activities:
- Starting and/or finishing your sessions with a flask of tea/coffee – ask any budding bakers if they’d like the group to test their new recipe!
- Holding your meetings in the local café or pub and staying on for a chat and drink after you’ve finished talking shop
- Hosting a get together at someone’s house and everyone bringing some homemade food, or meeting for a meal (somewhere that support local food producers of course!), or have a barbeque with the food you’ve just harvested
- Heading to the local pub quiz to test your team knowledge
- Celebrating a special occasion at your plot; Christmas, Eid, your group’s birthday, the new trees you’ve just planted
If you build these activities into your plan, together with your growing/learning/business activities, and list these as events on your Facebook page, then any potential members will see that getting involved in your group will be fun! And keeping things varied (e.g. time of day, day of the week, personal costs involved) means that everyone can get involved no matter their circumstances.
Maintaining relationships
Once your group is up and running, you’ll likely have a core group of organisers and other people who come along to help out as and when they can. Building that sense of team and shared ownership to achieve the plans you’ve developed needs nurturing, the same as the seeds you plant. As well as keeping your social calendar active, there are other tools to keep people connected:
Whatsapp group – this allows you to share photos, news, ideas and have quick discussions about what’s going on.
Facebook closed group – for more detailed shared discussions, a closed Facebook Group (rather than your public facing Facebook Page) is useful to make arrangement and share plans.
Newsletters – you can use email distribution lists to send out information to groups of people, using simple and free tools like MailChimp. This is more for information giving, than discussion and can be a good way to keep your wider network of interested people informed of your activities and plans – you will need permission to add people to your mailing list.
And as you progress, think about how you can celebrate your achievements. Feeling part of a group of people who are making things happen and changing communities can be a great motivator for prioritising Incredible activities while still managing a busy home and work life. You can celebrate your first harvest on social media, or your first year by having a birthday party. And as you develop, entering your group to local competitions or awards can be a great way of getting recognition for all the efforts of your group members – plus it might get your group featured in the local newspaper, and being ‘award winning’ can be a great way to start a conversation with a new person or organisation you want support from – have a look at the Developing connections section for more information about award schemes .
If you haven’t already, now is the time to formalise the organisation of your group
Recruiting and Keeping Volunteers
For a deep dive into the topic of recruiting and keeping volunteers, check out our Incredible Edible Masterclass – for the groups, by the groups – with Mark from Incredible Edible Prestwich and District.
Building your group’s skill-set
When you’ve developed your aims and plans for your group, you might need to get some new skills and expertise to help you.
- If it’s local businesses you want to engage with, is there a local chamber of trade or maybe it’s a case of visiting the shops on your local high street and introducing yourself and your aims for the community? If your ideas improve the shopping area then you might be very well received.
- If you would like to get young people involved then try local churches and village or community halls for clubs and associations. Generally groups like the Brownies or Scouts have awards or badges that could link in with the Incredible Edible ethos. Always approach the group leaders first.
- Do you need help with food preserving or cake making? You could always try the local WI’s or Farmers Market.
- Are there any organisations out there with similar aims that could be beneficial to work with or partner?
You’re not working in isolation, and we hear many amazing stories where Incredible Edible groups have achieved Incredible things by working together with other groups and organisations in their area – you can read about Incredible Edible Ulverston and their work with a local housing association here. The next section has some great tools for seeing who you might want start talking to or working with in your area.
