Help Us Build Bristol’s Food Forest Market Garden

Generation Soil are on a mission to provide fresh and nutritious food, regenerate nature, and build resilient community by establishing a two-acre food forest market garden for Bristol. 

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Why are we doing this?

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that to live healthy, nourishing lives, we need to spend more time outside in nature and have access to good nutritious food. People should be able to see where their food was grown and picked with their own eyes, rather than rustling through produce wrapped in plastic and grown with chemicals on supermarket shelves.

Far too many people in Bristol (and the rest of the UK) struggle to bring home good-quality food. In 2024, over 3 million people in the UK needed to use a food bank (compared to just 26,000 in 2009) - that’s a 120x increase, and the government isn’t doing enough to tackle this problem. We don’t need to tell you how much more your food shopping costs, and how supermarket produce is declining in quality, but what we can do is offer Bristol an alternative.

How we'll grow this vision...

To bring our food forest market garden to life, we’re calling on the community to help us raise the £20,000 needed to build the space to drive our mission. 

What is a food forest? Simply a diverse planting of edible trees, bushes and perennial plants, including fruit & vegetables, that mimics the ecosystems and patterns found in nature.

To get our site running, the money will provide the following for the community:

• Compost Bays (£1,000): Expanding our composting facilities will enable us to transform a greater volume of Bristol's food and garden waste into nutrient-rich soil, thereby closing the loop on waste and fertility.

• Planting (£1,000): We’re planting a diverse array of native tree, shrub, and perennial species, including field maple, whitebeam, silver birch, wild service, alder, cherry plum, and Scots pine, which provide shelter and food for local wildlife.

• Watering System (£1,000): We will integrate a water harvesting system to irrigate our crops and minimise our environmental footprint.

• Seedling Nursery (£2,000): A dedicated space to nurture vigorous, healthy plants that will form the backbone of our food forest system.

• Tools and Storage (£2,000): Creating a secure, accessible space for us to store essential gardening tools, keeping our operations efficient and sustainable.

• Polytunnel (£6,000): Constructing a protected growing space will extend our growing season, helping us feed Bristol year-round.

• Utility Vehicle (£8,000): This allows us to navigate the site, transport produce off-site, and distribute it to the community.

With your support, we can create this regenerative space that will restore soil health, support local ecosystems, and provide a secure, resilient food source for our community.

Of course, no chemicals will be used, only natural inputs. 

We’re working to build a future where urban spaces flourish, teeming with life and energy, and where every tree planted and every seedling nurtured contributes to a larger tapestry of life that connects us to nature and one another. That’s why we also need your help.

Together we can...

1. Provide people in and around Bristol access to fresh and nutritious food.

2. Significantly enhance both above- and below-ground biodiversity on our site.

3. Help people better understand the problems we face and provide solutions.

4. Show Bristol that a better quality of life is possible, one which we all deserve.

Once our site in Leigh Woods Meadow becomes more established, we’ll begin hosting workshops here. Generation Soil CIC will teach Bristol’s young, old, and everyone in between how we can make a difference and turn Bristol into a city that benefits people and planet.

At Generation Soil CIC, we are passionate about empowering communities to embrace a circular food system that reduces waste, regenerates soil, and nurtures healthy ecosystems. Our educational workshops are designed to inspire individuals, schools, businesses, and organisations to play an active role in transforming the way we produce, consume, and recycle food.

Our current linear food system sees food as 'waste' and often disposes of it in landfill, where it releases greenhouse gases.

A circular food system doesn't see food 'waste' as waste, but a valuable resource. By carefully controlling the conditions, food waste can be composted into living soil to regenerate soil health.

How will we do this?

We put soil first. Just like our guts, soils have their own microbiome with up to ten billion microorganisms in a single teaspoon. Our composting process utilises beneficial microorganisms that break down Bristol's food waste into living compost. Using this compost will help us transition to a circular food system, benefitting the health of people and planet.

Why your support matters...

In the UK, farming is one of the most challenging industries in which to make a living. British farmers across the country face rising costs, labour shortages, soil degradation, limited land availability, uncertain and poor government policy, pressures from supermarkets, and concerns regarding land ownership and tenancy restrictions. Any of these issues alone significantly affect a farmer's chances of staying afloat, but together they make farming nearly impossible. Your help will make this vision a reality.

Access to land is a huge challenge, but we are incredibly fortunate to have been offered two acres of land by Roots Allotments at their Leigh Woods Meadow site, where, together, we can create a multi-use space that nourishes people, community, and nature. The soils of Leigh Woods Meadow are currently low in nutrients and densely compacted, but we can use this space to showcase how we can mix food cultivation with nature recovery. 

You’ll also be helping us create a fantastic opportunity for the people of Bristol and the surrounding areas to come together, get hands in the soil, and work outside. Generation Soil has already improved the physical and mental well-being of our volunteers, and we aim to extend these benefits to as many people as possible. However, this project can only be sustainable if we get a helping hand to get us set up. Once established, we can support our team to oversee the operation in the long term. 

We’re a group of urban farmers, environmental stewards, and food justice advocates united by our belief that we can transform the way we grow food that benefits people and planet. 

Each member of our team brings unique skills, from the art of composting and landscape design to innovating with food foresting techniques. Together, we’re building a community that grows food, nourishes people, and nurtures the planet.

The Generation Soil ethos is simple. To nurture the health and well-being of both people and our natural environment. We have already been transforming what many consider ‘waste’ into something incredibly valuable… living compost!

Today, that idea has blossomed into a vision for a thriving food forest market garden in Bristol, championing food security and biodiversity in our city.

As pioneers of soil health, we will continually monitor our site to demonstrate how Generation Soil is enhancing biodiversity both below and above ground. This will ensure that this market garden benefits both people and the planet.

our core team

Alex is a doctoral researcher with the UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training, working to highlight the links between soil health and human health. Having worked at Better Food and Windmill Hill City Farm, he has been running food education workshops across the country since 2019.

Sam is a landscape gardener with experience establishing social enterprises. He launched Nottingham's first social supermarket redistributing surplus food sustainably and affordably. He also set up and managed a community garden, hosting social food events and activity weeks teaching young people to grow and cook nutritious food with a play-centred framework. 

Jordy completed an MSc in Environmental Policy and Management, specialising in permaculture ethics and environmental conflicts, and is currently a policy advisor at DEFRA. He has also completed the Grow Leader course at Grow Wilder and volunteered with Bedgebury Pinetum's ecological surveying team.

Investing in Generation Soil is an investment in Bristol’s future, and every donation, no matter how big or small, plants a seed for change. With your support, we promise to build this regenerative infrastructure and create opportunities for local growth, local resilience, and community empowerment. 

Together, we can nourish our soils, nourish our communities, and nourish our futures.