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Growing Communities Join our climate-friendly fruit & veg scheme, visit our farmers' market, volunteer on our growing sites. Be part of the movement for better, fairer food.

GC is building a fairer and more sustainable food system by bringing communities together to support small-scale, organic farmers and food producers. Our fruit and veg bag scheme has 30 collection points across Hackney and Haringey. Our farmers' market happens every Saturday, 10am-2.30pm at St Paul's Church, Stoke Newington Road, N16 7UE. We welcome volunteers on our Patchwork Farm in Hackney. For more, please see our website.

Can you name the farmer who grew your food? In the modern age of convenience, we are so far removed from the people behi...
09/10/2026

Can you name the farmer who grew your food?

In the modern age of convenience, we are so far removed from the people behind the produce. Supermarket shelves intentionally disconnect us to mask exploitation and unfair wages.

We’re here to close that gap – shining a spotlight on our trusted growers. We’ve worked with some of these friendly faces for over 20 years, and think they deserve to be championed 💪

🌟 Thanks to you, we can pay them fairly for their hard work, nurturing the veggies which are then carefully hand-picked and hand-packed into your weekly veg bags.

💸 Fancy supporting a more sustainable food system? Use code TAKEOFF25 to try out the veg scheme life for less, with 25% off your first month of orders.

02/10/2026

🔥 Variety is everything when it comes to eating well and nothing beats the variety in a veg box

🌈 Autumn brings all the colours of the rainbow - including some you might never have seen before 👀

🌍 And all packed with flavour and grown with care for people and planet

➡️ Join now and get fruit and veg that dreams are made of. Add code TAKEOFF25 for 25% off your first month’s bags 😋

30/09/2026

Farmers need support to grow delicious food locally and sustainably at the same time as helping future generations to spend time in nature and understand where their food comes from.

27/09/2026

Did you know you can collect veg at the Redmond Community Centre with GrowingCommunities ? New members get 25% off their first month with the code TAKEOFF25 at checkout – while spots last.
Say goodbye to bland, imported produce. Growing Communities are a non-profit organisation on a mission to get sustainable, delicious fruit and veg onto Londoners’ tables.
🌈 Better for you. A weekly veg bag means a wider variety of fresh, seasonal, colourful fruit and veg – picked at its best, from varieties chosen for taste, not long shelf life. It’s so good we supply restaurants too!
🐝 Better for the planet. Organic methods mean healthier soils, richer biodiversity, and less exposure to harmful chemicals for you. And because it’s grown in season, there’s no need for energy-intensive extras like heated greenhouses or long-distance imports.
🧑‍🌾 Fair for farmers. Your money supports a system that pays growers properly.
♻️ Minimal waste. Wonky veg gets a home instead of the bin, and packaging is kept to a minimum.
Sign up now: https://www.gcvegscheme.org/

🐓Today only! 📣🍅Watch Stella Smith’s short film about Alison Bond and her smallholding in Lawford, Essex. 🌸Learn about th...
26/09/2026

🐓Today only! 📣
🍅Watch Stella Smith’s short film about Alison Bond and her smallholding in Lawford, Essex.
🌸Learn about the biodynamic practices she uses to produce her delicious fruit and vegetables, flowers, honey and eggs.
🧡look out for the orange gazebo at the market!
📍In front of St Paul’s Church, N16 7UY

23/09/2026

Meet Metske – the organic grower behind the celeriac, butternut squash, tomatoes, red onions and chard in our veg bags this week.

We recently visited Metske on his farm, where he told us he’d spent 10 years as a market trader before he started growing. He noticed something: he was making more money selling other people’s veg than they were growing it. So he decided to do the ‘honest thing’ and grow it himself.

Metske’s veg comes to us through our wholesale arm, the Better Food Shed, and lands straight in your GC bag. Or you can find him at our farmers’ market every Saturday. What makes it work for him: direct contact with the people eating his food, no heavy competition, and it’s all traceable back to his farm. Just people working together, helping ensure Metske earns a fair wage for his hard work.

Want to try Metske’s veg? New members get 25% off their first month with code TAKEOFF25 at checkout (while spots last). Bags start from £11 a week, with flexible click-and-collect at 60+ points across North, East and South London.

👉 Tap the link in bio to grab your bag.

Organic Málaga mangoes and watermelon in this week’s fruit bags 🥭Málaga’s subtropical Mediterranean climate makes it one...
09/09/2026

Organic Málaga mangoes and watermelon in this week’s fruit bags 🥭

Málaga’s subtropical Mediterranean climate makes it one of the best spots in Europe to grow mangoes – sea breezes keep the heat manageable, and the surrounding mountains block cold winds from inland.

This week’s variety is Osteen – purple skin with green tones, and a lovely balance of sweetness and aroma.

Want to try our fruit bags? Get 25% off fruit and veg bag orders with code TAKEOFF25

Mentorships can go both ways, with the teacher learning as much from the experience as the student. This was certainly t...
04/09/2026

Mentorships can go both ways, with the teacher learning as much from the experience as the student.

This was certainly the case with Kwame’s son Anokye and Eric, the honey man.

For the past four years, Anokye has been a fixture at the farmers’ market, working alongside Eric at the honey stall. In that time, he has risen from trainee hive maker to experienced beekeeper, while building strong sales skills into the bargain and expanding his knowledge of jazz, film and art.

Now he is spreading his wings, heading to Falmouth University to pursue a degree in Games Design. This Saturday 5 September will be his last market for a while.

We work hard at the farmers’ market to offer young people a chance to gain expertise in sustainable food and learn new skills and this partnership worked was a particularly successful example.

Read Eric’s moving tribute to his apprentice and sidekick. Link in bio.

🍅Choose food that’s better for your health, your farmers and your planet!🌈With a weekly GC veg box, you’ll eat a wider r...
31/08/2026

🍅Choose food that’s better for your health, your farmers and your planet!

🌈With a weekly GC veg box, you’ll eat a wider range of fresh, colourful fruit and veg, helping you get the nutrients your body needs – and nothing you don’t. This supports energy levels, immunity and overall wellbeing.

😋 Because produce is grown locally and picked close to when you receive it, it arrives full of flavour and goodness. You’ll discover varieties chosen for taste rather than long shelf life.

💚 By eating what’s naturally ready to harvest, you avoid the need for energy-intensive growing methods like heated greenhouses or long-distance imports.

🐝 Your food is grown using organic methods that protect the environment – healthier soils, richer biodiversity and a more resilient food system. You reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals while lowering your environmental impact.

♻️ You’re helping reduce food waste by committing to eating whatever the farmers have ripe and ready in the fields and by embracing “wonky” fruit and veg that would otherwise be discarded. There’s a lot less packaging too.

🧑‍🌾 You can buy with confidence knowing the people who grow your food are paid fairly. Your money supports a food system that works for people and the planet, not against them.

🍲With a regular supply of fresh produce, it becomes easier to cook at home, try new recipes and build healthier habits, without having to plan every detail yourself.

To join, see link in bio. Remember the code TAKEOFF25

17/08/2026

Bethnal Green! We’ve just opened an organic fruit and veg box collection point at .margarets.house — tell your friends 💚

Why choose us?

Say goodbye to bland, imported produce and hello to fresh, local, sustainable food! We support organic farmers who prioritise biodiversity, all the while being 100% non-profit.

✊We make food fairer, ensuring farmers are paid what they deserve.

🌿We make farming less dependent on fossil fuels and toxic pesticides.

🌍We make our food system more resilient, and our planet more biodiverse.

🧒We make space for a generation of children to learn where their food comes from.

Every week, we make up over 1,800 bags of local, seasonal organic fruit and veg 🥦🥕🍎 so our community can make something delicious with it. 🍽️

It’s an honour to be part of St.Margaret’s House, an incredible community space home to .gallery.cafe — a vegan cafe with a lovely outdoor space, and great food.

Currently on there is its Summer Open Call Exhibition, where more than 50 artists present their take on this year’s theme, The Space Between, across painting, photography, mixed media and conceptual work. Free to visit, running until 31 August.

Sign up at the link in bio

Address

The Old Fire Station, 61 Leswin Road
London
N167NX

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 7:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+442075027588

Website

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