Improving lives through farming, Stepney City Farm

Since starting in the late 70s, the Farm has evolved from a space with mostly animals on site to one that grows food, hosts community events, and a weekly farmers market. What hasn’t changed is their commitment to the local community and their desire to ensure that they are able to live healthy, happy, and sustainable lives.

The Farm in action

As the Farm is free to all visitors, the recent increases to the cost of living have seen more local families visit the Farm as a fun, free activity for the children. Stepney City Farm is more than a Farm, it’s a space for children to learn, for young people to volunteer and give back to their local community. They offer pottery classes, and a place people to grab coffee and a nice lunch. In addition to the people that walk through its door, the Farm reaches 5,000 school children a year through workshops and engages young volunteers for 8,000 hours. The Farm touches all aspects of the community, including sessions for vulnerable adults.

Tackling litter on the Farm and beyond

Litter is a big problem for the Farm and surrounding area, because of the sheer number of people who visit each day. They’re committed to educating people about the impact of litter but cleaning up becomes a big task for the volunteers. It’s important to keep the farm litter-free not only for cleanliness but to also ensure that litter doesn’t make it into the animal’s enclosures causing them serious harm. A commitment to keeping their area litter-free also meant that volunteers extended their own litter-picking parameter to outside the Farm.

“I can’t bear it if the site is littered. It’s so easy to pick it up and it makes such a difference to the overall look and feel of the place. It’s not hard to put it in the bin.”

Partnering with CleanupUK

CleanupUK and Stepney City Farm both have a shared commitment to litter picking and ensuring that more communities get involved.

“Litterpicking should be something that everyone is thinking about on a day-to-day basis”. We know that we need to help educate people and encourage them to be proactive, and this partnership is a great step towards doing that.

Through the partnership, the Farm will host equipment on-site that members of the public can borrow, so they can litter pick whenever suits them.

“We didn’t have the equipment to lend out before partnering with CleanupUK, this relationship will help us empower people locally and help them get involved.”

Get involved 

The farm hosts several volunteering days, in which you can get involved to learn more about the team and what to expect. If you fancy getting stuck in, head to Stepney City Farm and borrow some equipment to get litter picking!