It was Ghandi that said ‘be the change you wish to see’ which you’ll see liberally shared all over social media. But does anyone really understand exactly what that means? To you, personally? And how exactly do you put that into practice? What change are we talking about? How big a change? And how can you incorporate change into your life AND make a significant difference?

If you’re feeling helpless then all the more reason why you need to take action. But not alone. Together we are stronger than we are in isolation. We can achieve more than you can imagine by learning to work together for a common goal and in the process learn to do something really useful and purposeful that creates health and wellbeing for all those involved.

This is where Get Diggin’ It comes into the picture. My name’s Jenny Lynn and I founded Get Diggin’ It in 2016 on returning from war torn Kashmir on a permaculture trip. I witnessed first hand the devastation of social unrest caused by oppressive government forces and marvelled at the resilience and tenacity of the Kashmiri people and the neighbourly support among their community, many of whom grew their own food.

Returning home to my cosy home in Dunmow I realised profoundly, like a shock to the system, we have been disconnected from nature, from the real meaning of our lives, and hooked up to an economic grid, devoid of life, meaning and purpose. It was one of those truly aha moments. I saw that people are struggling alone to survive with all the economic demands of living in an increasingly expensive country while austerity was causing us to lose access to good food and community. In addition, as a therapist, I’d seen literally hundreds if not thousands, of people over the years addicted to prescription meds, trying to medicate away the pain and fear of being isolated and lost. This sharp convergence of factors caused the activist in me to be activated!

I got into my neighbour’s garden the day after returning from Kashmir and – with his permission – took a derelict garden and transformed it, with my first couple of volunteers, into a food oasis in the middle of sleepy Dunmow. I realised I had to be the change I wanted to see in the world and it started for me, with food. Having grown my own veg for the previous 7 or 8 years, I imagined we could come together in community with food as our common denominator. I knew if we could grow food together, we could pretty much eat for free, and not only that, eat healthy, home grown near organic veg.

And that’s where you come in. My first volunteers appeared through an article I’d written in the Dunmow Broadcast – our local free newspaper. And what a fantastic bunch of people they were. Now the project is really expanding and if you’re wanting to take some kind of action that would change not only your own health and wellbeing, but would also contribute to the health and wellbeing of others, then you need to get involved. If you want to:

*get healthy,
*eat better,
*learn to cook,
*learn to grow food,
*meet people who feel like you,
*maybe reduce your dependency on meds, *
*get fit,
*lose weight
*change the world!

and do it together with us so that you’re not alone, then you will love to join us at Get Diggin’ It. I have a dream! It is that you and I can be the change we wish to see in the world; to become resourceful and learn that food is free if you know how to grow it.

Our goal is to feed ourselves, feed our home owners, and sell the rest to fund our project. And you could be an important part of that vision if you got yourself out of the house this spring. Join us in Barnston in March , April and May, learn to grow food and feed yourself AND contribute to helping us realise our collective dreams.

Imagine being able to come out to the peace and quiet of the countryside, even after work in the warmth of spring and summer and kick off your shoes and help us sow seeds, transplant seedlings and grow food. I guarantee when you’re outside in nature, nothing seems to be so important any more. And what’s more, everyone who joins in takes home something that we have grown for free.

Jump onto our story of the Barnston Polytunnels below and sign up to join us this spring.