Food Union

Coventry’s Food Union

Food Union grows food for the vegan cafe, the Pod with values of connecting for good.

Food Union was founded in 2014 and is one of the Pod’s citywide social activism programs that exists to create conversation and action around food.

24 GoodGymers have supported Food Union with 8 tasks.


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Previous sessions
CoventryGroup run
Laura DenhamGraeme Papa Strumpf MulvaneyJames
Dale VernonLaura P

James and the giant plums

Tuesday 20th August

Written by Laura Denham

No running this eve as it was more convenient for everyone to meet at the task.

We enjoyed a lovely sunny evening taming the wild jungle of overgrown nettles, brambles and bindweed. As usual, everyone dove right in and we were on a mission to get this area cleared. We filled wheelbarrows to the brim and added it to the huge pile of weeds just outside the allotments.

To top it off we treated ourselves to some apples from the plot and James generously shared his giant plums - picked fresh from his garden :)

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CoventryGroup run
+6
Basma Darouich
Dale VernonLilianKyle JonesChloe Smith

Stinging for our supper

Tuesday 11th June

Written by Laura P (she/her)

11 Goodgymers went to the Food Union allotment.

Our task for the evening was to clear weeds, grass and nettles that had started to take over one of the corners of the allotment. Food Union feels like an oasis of calm not far from the city centre, and we had a good catch up chat whilst tidying up the beds. Trying (and sometimes failing) to avoid the mega nettles at full strength, we cleared lots of bindweed tangled around the fence, played with galium and newbie Kyle demonstrated his musical skills with only a blade of grass (well done for completing your first task with GG!). We posed for a few photos around the fire circle and found out about the summer solstice event next week.

Great to see you all, see you again next week for some more goodgym fun!

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CoventryCommunity mission
Graeme Papa Strumpf MulvaneyJill

Full of beans

Saturday 20th April

Written by Laura Denham

Message from Graeme about the day - I dished out 'magic' beans to little kids and had a great conversation about potato breeding :)

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CoventryGroup run
+7
Jackie DinesMaddie LeeStuart ColesNatasha FrazerMegan GourlayChloe Smith

There were 14 in the beds and the little one said...

Tuesday 16th April

Written by Laura Denham

Tonight was amazing with 14 GoodGymers turning up, we love it at the Food Union allotments don't we gang?! We also welcomed back Jill for her second good deed, yey!

Jackie, James, Nigel and Stuart had arranged to meet us at the allotments, Megan and Tasha took a nice walk and the rest of the group enjoyed a sunny run to the task. Great to be out enjoying the nice weather and lighter nights!

We hit the allotments, facing 5 unruly beds crying out for attention. In 45 minutes we very nearly aced the job that would have taken them several hours. With weeding and composting we made a huge improvement and Marc was very happy with what we got done. Team GG Cov, smashing it!

Next Tuesday we will be at Harmony Haven which is a family hub in Hillfields https://www.goodgym.org/v3/sessions/harmony-haven-garden-revival

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CoventryGroup run
+3
Dale VernonLilianGeorgia KnightsChloe SmithMohammadDani Shmait

We plumming smashed it!

Tuesday 12th September 2023

Written by Laura Denham

9 Goodgymers braved the rain this eve to help out at the Food Union allotments. After it had chucked it down all day we were actually quite lucky and only really had to put up with a light drizzle for some of the session.

We welcomed Mohammad tonight and had the pleasure of Dale, Chloe and Dani returning to join in on another good deed :)

With us all running tonight we ran as a group to the allotments, looping back as and when we needed to and we met Jackie and Mohammed at the task. Greg let us in and explained the job in hand, he was a bit unsure if we were going to get it done in the time but we were well up for giving it a good go. Tools at the ready, everyone got cracking and with the help of Greg and Mark we got it cleared in no time. It was a fairly tight space for 11 of us to be working with sharp tools but you all managed it really well, fab work you lot! At the end, we enjoyed the fruits of our labour by trying out the plums on the plum tree above the space we cleared, loving all the free food recently.

The space can now be used for storage and to add logs for another little area for wildlife to thrive.

Hope you approve of the before and after photo's 😉 Dani

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CoventryGroup run
+5
LilianGeorgia KnightsLaura PJamesIzzie Grove

Supermarket sweep

Tuesday 15th August 2023

Written by Laura Denham

It was a glorious sunny evening tonight and 8 GoodGymers enjoyed a 2.5 km run and cycle over to Sherbourne Valley allotments. Greg was there to welcome us and it was great to see everything in full bloom with giant sunflowers and pumpkins covering the area we prepared on our last visit.

There was a few jobs to get stuck into, Deb, Laura and Lil tackling the bind weed, which has wrapped itself tightly around some of the plants. Graham, James and Meera were on the weeding in between the paving slabs whilst Georgia, Laura and Greg prepared a soiled area under some trees ready for wildflower seeds to go down. With this being one of the furthest runs we only had around half an hour for the task but we worked fast to get a much done as possible. Time had had flown and we managed a quick group shot in front of a sunflower stem which towered above us.

As our second good deed for the day Lil kindly suggested that we return a supermarket trolley that Food Union had used to transport some plants. We ran via Morrison's to put the trolley back in its rightful place and then took a different route back down a narrow footpath which took us out by the arches at Spon End.

Fab work everyone, well done!

There are a few events happening at Food Union in the next couple of months so check out their facebook/instagram page for more info.

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