Vetch Veg
2011 - Present
Located on an iconic former football ground in Swansea, Vetch Veg is a community garden aimed at promoting and encouraging community spirit through gardening, art and social activities.
In 2011, Vetch Veg was developed as a site-specific project as part of Wales’ Cultural Olympiad. After the Vetch Field in the heart of Sandfields was earmarked for development by the council, Owen worked with the local community to develop a temporary garden at the site. Through consultation and dialogue with residents, it became clear that there was an urgent need for more green resources and communal space in the area. The development of the project was organic and guided by the community, working together to create a productive space on derelict land. Vetch Veg aimed to create a useful community resource in the heart of the city, where people could meet, food could be grown and ideas could be exchanged.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Vetch Veg is now home to 110 beds, where community members, families, local organisations, churches, retirement homes and charity groups can grow their own food. The gardeners care for the site, learning skills such as beekeeping and cob oven bulding, keeping chickens and preparing meals together. The 2,500m2 site also contains a kitchen, a pizza oven, two polytunnels and a library, built by the users. The garden is a site for a divided community to work together, exploring cultures and identities through food, accessing and sharing cultural appropriate produce and modeling alternate food systems.
The project was initially granted access to the land for 9 months. Yet, as it has developed, ithe garden has been recognised as a critical resource for the local community and the city, and has been given permanent access by the council. Vetch Veg is now considered a Culural Shift project in Wales, and has informed Arts Council of Wales policy, encouraging the creation of the position of Cabinet Member for Sustainability in Swansea. It has informed the use of local green and civic spaces, and encouraged increased public funding into community green projects in the city. The adjacent green space within the Vetch Field, now referred to as ‘The People’s Park’, has also been saved from development through the planting of a community orchard. Vetch Veg continues to exist as a community green space, now run solely by its members.
“You can make a lot of speeches, but the real thing is when you dig a hole, plant a tree, give it water, and make it survive.”
Sandfields Festival of Ideas
Vetch Veg’s library was salvaged from the Glynn Vivian Home of Rest for the Blind, set up by Richard Glynn Vivian, before it was demolished. The small shed, which sat at the bottom of the Home’s garden, was deconstructed, adapted and rebuilt at the heart of the garden. The shed acts as a meeting space, a library, and recreational space for the gardeners. In it, there are books on a range of disciplines and activities, including gardening, art, architecture, philosophy, cooking, ecology and alternative technologies. This reflects the interdisciplinary approach the underpins the entire project. The library continues to exist as an archival space for the project as an artwork.
To celebrate the building of Vetch Veg’s library, Owen worked with Glynn Vivian Art Gallery to curate a festival where cooking, performances, yoga, lectures, talks and children’s activities were held onsite over a weekend. Contributors included artists Shimabuku, Nina Pope, Peter Finnemore, Rabab Ghazoul, Fern Thomas, Juneau Projects, Nils Norman, Maria Pask, Paul Duerinckx, as well as Deputy Director of Grizedale Arts Alistair Hudson, musicians Sarah Passmore and Joan Jones, and Swansea Ukulele Orchestra. Many of those involved also cooked and shared foods connected to their practice. For example, Shimabuku picked produce from the garden to make tempura. Each day began with a yoga class, while performances, talks and dancing went on late into the evenings.