GROW, Barnet Lane, London (2026)

20/08/2026

Company volunteering at GROW! 🧤👨‍🌾🥕

Take a break from the office and book your team in for a hands-on day of agroecological fun & learning on the GROW Farm!

🌿WHEN? Tuesdays and Fridays 10am-4pm, (running February-November)
🚜WHAT? A day of farm tasks including harvesting produce, weeding, watering, dead-heading, flower care, seed-sowing, composting, biodiversity monitoring, and lots more. Plus a delicious veggie lunch, made with farm produce!
👩‍🌾WHO? Groups and company teams of up to15 people
🌻WHY? Not only will you be contributing to the working of an agroecological farm - you will be helping young people, adults and families who face barriers to outdoor education - learn how to grow and access fresh produce, contributing to a more just food system and environment, overall!

“We loved talking to volunteers. Seeing how GROW serves many areas of the community in building awareness of farm to fork was a massive highlight. Best bit was education on pollinators (bees) and compost production” - an employee who volunteered this year.

💚Small budget? Don’t worry! We operate a solidarity pricing model, with contributions scaled according to the size and resources of your organisation.

📩Email [email protected] or visit wearegrow.org/corporate-volunteering to find out more.

17/08/2026

FREE places available on the GROW Fungi & Flower Holiday Club… starting next week!🌻🍄🪱🔍✨️

🟠 Fungi Club: Monday 24th - Tuesday 25th August
🟠 Flower Club: Wednesday 26th - Thursday 27th August

⏰️TIMES: 10am-2.30pm

WHO’S IT FOR?
Young people aged 11-16, living in BARNET. We will be prioritising those who are:
🌱 Receiving benefit-related Free School Meals
🌱 Looked after by Barnet Council (fostered/adopted or in a care home)
🌱 A Young Carer

WHAT THEY’LL DO:
Fungi cultivation, exploring mycelium, flower care, bouquet making, identifying pollinators & biodiversity, agroecological farm skills, cooking with farm produce, and lots more. The first two days focus on fungi, the last two on flowers. You’re welcome to sign your child up for one or the other, as long as your child can attend both days of whichever club(s) they join :)

🥗 Farm lunch is included!

HOW TO APPLY:
Applications close on Thursday 20 August.
Spaces are limited, so we’d encourage applying early (https://shorturl.at/hWlWL). Once you’ve applied, please wait to hear from us directly: we’ll confirm places by phone by Friday morning at the latest, so please check that you can receive messages or calls from us.

Questions? Email us at [email protected], or call 020 8492 0406.

Please spread the word! Especially to families who might not have heard of GROW before 💚

16/08/2026

“Diversity equals resilience. If we were a monoculture farm using water intensive methods we wouldn't have survived the .”

Details on the farm, captured by at Pick Your Own Flowers last Saturday, a reminder of why we grow the way we do.

In times of struggle and stress to the land, focusing on on the small bits of beauty & growth, is key to being ‘good growers’ and providing food and connection for our community, especially those who rely on us most.

“Our agroecological farm has become an oasis for wildlife and people during the extreme conditions which are only going to become a new norm. This summer has been about being able to survive, not thrive. Even to survive and produce crops in has been such a positive, which we are only able to do through and agroecological methods.” (, Farm Manager). It’s why we believe this way of growing needs to be part of every school and community, not just ours.

“The plants are stressed, the insects are stressed, the people are stressed trying to find water... Solution-based learning, small acts of care like putting water out for the insects, and attention to how we relate to the environment & each other, is what’s going to help us through these changes.”

Some of our learnings:
🌾Intercropping flowers with veg: the sunflowers planted above courgettes thrived with the extra shade and watering.
🌾Mulching with straw! Ground that was either covered with diverse crops or straw kept in moisture; beds that are open and exposed have metre deep cracks in the North London clay-soils.
🌾Always encouraging pollinators with small water points across the farm, for them to drink from.
🌾Heat-loving crops (chillies, aubergines, okra) are doing far better than cauliflower and lettuce which have bolted under stress. Brassicas, squashes and pumpkins which will be lower yielding this year.
🌾More animals are coming to the farm to eat, as they struggle for food and water elsewhere. This summer we have lost corn and carrot beds to monkjack.

More to come. Keep observing! We’d love to hear your learnings, shared knowledge is how we build a more resilient .

16/08/2026

Reflection from last month - END OF TERM! 🐝💦🌻🧤✨️ We broke our record with 250 young people on the farm in one day! Here’s to another wonderful year of agroecological learning at GROW.

Our free education programmes reach children and young people across Barnet through intervention programmes, after-school clubs and curriculum lessons at our partner school , primary school & nursery trips, holiday & weekend clubs, AQA qualifications, and off-site work with local primary schools.

This year, our young people have been weeding potato beds and tasting mustard greens, learning about "wiggly worms" and chicken care, writing nature odes in English lessons, surveying pollinators, planting tomatoes, making flower bouquets for our farm stall, and cultivating mycelium.

“GROW makes me feel calm. I have anxiety and can feel stressed so being here is kind of like my safe place”, Y7 Student.

We've also been developing our Mini-GROW work, supporting schools to grow their own gardens.

“Underhill School have been developing their new kitchen garden, gathering skills & knowledge from their fortnightly farm trips to apply back at school. Highlights include everyone achieving their wheelbarrow license in the ice and snow (very careful barrow driving!), and planting a whole bed of perennial flowers to a professional standard!” - Beth, Senior Facilitator.

A few highlights:
🍄Fungi Academy students speaking on a panel with Merlin Sheldrake
🍅TTA student Asar-Re completing his first term as a fully employed member of the GROW Farm Stall team
🌱45 Seed Sowing & Wheelbarrow Licenses awarded across our Mini-GROWs, and after-school clubs
🥕18 young people awarded their biodiversity monitoring licences and 9 harvesting licences!
🌻Whitings School garden in full bloom and breathing exercises inside their own planted willow dome
🔍57 curriculum lessons on the farm, including our first ever Maths one
🔨Starting the community build of our student co-designed Maze Garden
🍳Cooking sessions with cared for children & therapyhorses on the farm!

Thank you to every young person, teacher, family volunteer who's been part of this!

07/08/2026

MERLIN SHELDRAKE X GROW: the future of fungi panel. 🍄🌿🎤

What an incredible evening learning about the vital role that fungi plays in farm life, and asking: why isn’t this taught more in schools?

A huge thank you to all who came, to our Fungi Academy students on the panel, and to guest speaker, author and mycologist, merlin.sheldrake for traveling down and inspiring us; alongside GROW speakers Lotta (Fungi Academy lead + ), Farm Manager , and chair .

A reminder to “Do something because you love it” (Merlin). There is so much knowledge in the unseen; to break out of extractive patterns when it comes to learning about fungi and mycelium, cultivating it in its natural outdoor habitat - out here on the farm!

“Most people learn about fungi as agents of death, decay and disease but it's a tiny part of the picture” (Merlin). There are so many transformative paths our students explore on their mycology pathways: from breaking down plastics and crude oils, to offering decentralised ways of living, and inspiring art ink.

“If there were no mycorrhizal connections here on the farm - there would be no nutrients going into the plants,” (Chris). “Fungi is particularly relevant not just as food growing but as technology in itself.”(Lotta)

Want to support our Fungi Academy, helping young people gain an AQA-accredited fungi qualification?- Head to www.wearegrow.org/fungi-academy or email [email protected] to help fund it.

“This programme is an opportunity to do things differently.” To “throw yourself into not-knowing”, with a hands-on, creative and accessible way of interacting collaboratively with the natural world.

It’s time to build imaginative, sustainable tools with the future generation. As student Poppy said, “whether that's trying to look for it in your garden or admiring it through sketches from a far.” Nowhere is too small to start.

Thank you to for sponsoring the event and .uk for supplying delicious drinks!

29/07/2026

This time last month : GROW Open Day!🌻🪲🎨🚜☀️

Looking back on beautiful photos of our biggest event of the year, by photographer and .

We’re half way through summer, and half way through our events season. It’s been an amazing start to summer, and we’ve loved seeing so many of you at the farm.

There’s still plenty more opportunities for you to visit us:

🌸Pick Your Own Flowers: **NEW DATE** just added. Get your free tickets for August 8th, September 5th & 19th at wearegrow.org/events.

🎃Pumpkin Time on 24 October: Tickets now live!

Otherwise, see you at our Wednesday Farm Stall (3-6pm), or head to wearegrow.org/volunteering for volunteering opportunities.

And a special thanks to WG WIGGINTON for sponsoring the event and VITA COCO for supplying coconut water to keep you all hydrated on the day.

23/07/2026

Introducing… WEEKEND VOLUNTEERING AT GROW!🐝🌻🧤

Never been able to make it to our weekday volunteering? We’re opening a NEW volunteering slot on Sundays, for you to join us on the GROW Farm.

DATES: Sunday 23 August, 20 September & 18 October. All sessions 10am - 1pm.

wearegrow.org/volunteering to register your spot.

WHO CAN JOIN?

Anyone who’d like to learn new skills, connect with others, and contribute to our farm.

Families are welcome. Children must be supervised by their parent/carer at all times, and be aged 5 or over (or very young infants in arms).

WHAT WILL WE DO?

General volunteering activities to support the farm. Watering, planting, seed-saving, weeding, harvesting, composting, and other agroecological farm skills - so so much to learn here!

You’ll also meet new people, get to hang out on the farm and connect with nature.

Limited spaces available. Register to book your place.

06/07/2026

PICK YOUR OWN FLOWERS SEASON IS BACK🐝🌾

wearegrow.org/events to book your FREE place.

WHEN: Saturdays 25 July, 8 August, 5 September, 10am-2pm.

How it works:
✔️ Book a free ticket (link in bio)
🚜 Turn up on the day!
🫙 Choose a jar size, pay per jar: £4 for small (6-12 stems), £8 for medium (12-20 stems), £12 for large (20-28 stems)
✂️ Pick & cut your flowers
🏡 Take them home

Come solo or with family and friends; it's therapeutic, and you're welcome to hang around the farm after or bring a little picnic. Last year we had people coming from all over London and beyond!

We'll have malope, sunflowers, amaranth, cosmos, lupins, cornflowers, snapdragons & more—all agroecologically grown, chemical-free, and supporting local biodiversity.

Fresh farm produce will also be on sale!

"I felt that I was in a little bit of heaven. Even if I wasn’t picking flowers I would’ve enjoyed it; just walking around, gazing, sniffing, touching and being with the flowers. It was very tranquil, a wonderful thing to do on your own,” last year participant.

"The best experience of my life" one woman said after doing PYO at Open Day!

All proceeds support our work with young people and the local community - including Flower Academy, our AQA floristry programme at the Totteridge Academy.

GROW

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