Rooted Community Food

11/09/2026

We’ve hit TWO TONNES of donated food 🎉🎉🎉

Our 2026 food donation stands at 2032kg and our project total at well over EIGHT TONNES!! This is incredible work from the Rooted team in really difficult circumstances this year. A huge thank you to our community growers - you know who you are 😉- and to the dedicated support of the steering group and watering group.

Little did we know that the Climate Resilient Garden work that we did last year funded by Blue Heart would be critical training for the 2026 heatwaves.

Mulching beds, prioritising thirsty & struggling plants, watering at the coolest part of the day, shifting sessions to early starts and being super resilient and having lots of fun ensured we weren’t held back this year.

Huge congratulations to the entire Rooted team and many thanks to all our project supporters.

The National Lottery Community Fund
Sussex Community Foundation
Blue Heart
Devonshire Collective
Towner Eastbourne
Devonshire Family Hub
Willingdon Trees Community Centre
Old Town Community Fridge
Defiant Sport
EAGS
Sanctuary

09/09/2026

08/09/2026

Thanking our friends for a really beautiful collaboration
☀️ 🌱 🎥


Devonshire Collective
eastbournesketchbookclub

07/09/2026

When you find out you’ve been awarded for the fourth consecutive year 🎉

We simply could do the work we do without the steady and consistent support of . We are super grateful for another year of funding which is supporting us to deliver weekly growing session which provides fresh produce for members of the Eastbourne community - we are currently less than 100kg away from 2 tonnes this year, which will put our project total at 8 tonnes of food.

Today’s Monday session was SO satisfying! Our kitchen plot was in need of some love, so we got down there and really tore through the work. We emptied one compost bay, topping up beds as we went and filled the other compost bay.

We hadn’t banked on doing a harvest but came away with armfuls of apples & squashes!

26/08/2026

At today’s experimental photography workshop with artist Emily Hawes in collaboration with Devonshire Collective, we were adding to the footage captured during our Whitbread Hollow walk.

Emily encouraged us to get creative, letting go of any expectations or preconceptions around the final piece and to be guided by our relationship with the allotment.

We enjoyed slowing down, being observant, finding alternative perspectives… and were delighted to find a ladybird nursery nestled in our calendula blooms.

Devonshire Collective

21/08/2026

Today was our second event with artist Emily Hawes and , and it was simply perfect. We’d rearranged dates because of an Airbourne clash 🫣 but we honestly couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Emily led us on a walk retracing the history of Mary Ann Gilbert and her groundbreaking social experiment on The Downs, which helped pave the way for allotments as we know them today.

[If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a neat arrray of search elements: Manglewurzel, Swing Riots, Rick-burning, Enclosures Act, Whitbread Hollow.]

Emily brought two cameras from the 1950s–60s that use 8mm film and encouraged us to shoot as we walked. It was such fun - especially the nostalgic clicking of the film running through the cameras.

It was a lovely experience, stitching together scraps of historic knowledge while standing on the very same earth where that history unfolded.

Emily will be golfing one more public event on Sunday 30th, back at our plot (it’s free) get in touch if you’d like to join us!

31/07/2026

31/07/2026

130KG DONATED TODAY 😱🌱

Small team but we delivered BIG today. An early start saw us splitting our harvest into two deliveries, one to Willingdon Trees and the other to a bustling session at Defiant Sport.

Had the loveliest moment chatting with a Defiant Sport mum who shared her joy in cooking and fermenting our Rooted food.

25/07/2026

Gosh, what a beautiful morning!!! Thank you everyone who came to the Emily Hawes’s phytography workshop with Devonshire Collective, hosted by us at Rooted!!

We had so much fun learning about phytography and experimenting with shapes and forms on film, using natural development mediums.

Emily will be taking our work from today and creating a film incorporating lots of perspectives from different aspects of the allotments. We cannot wait to see the final results!

22/07/2026

110KG DELIVERED TO LOCAL FAMILIES TODAY 🌱

This is exactly why we’re here, guys. All this abundance went straight to families at Devonshire Family Hub this morning within an hour or so of being harvested - imagine all those delicious, wholesome meals being cooked tonight.

Another 20kg was swiftly delivered to the Willingdon Trees fridge… hope you guys love those huge marrows!

We’ve now added Devonshire Family Hub to our delivery rounds and already love hearing their feedback.