Nourish’s near eight acres of land at Stanmer Park not only provides food to its community café, but also vocational and life skills to disadvantaged adults and team building opportunities for local businesses.

The community farm, now over 10 years old, is split into growing fields, woodland, gardens and a sales yard, with each part of the social enterprise acting as a hands-on training ground to help adults facing exclusion or barriers to independent living.

One of the most unique aspects of the venture is that it allows those involved to see their work, and the produce cultivated, through from plot to plate. Much of the food grown at Nourish’s farm is used as ingredients at the 20/20 café at the East Brighton Community Mental Health Centre, providing a rewarding working environment for its members and helping to cut down on food miles.

Work in the cafe, including everything from food preparation and menu planning to customer service, also counts towards vocational qualifications such as NVQs, offering service users a real leg-up for future employment opportunities.

A rightly popular venture, Nourish is well-connected within our local area, counting the Food Partnership Brighton and Hove (B&H), City College B&H and B&H Business Community Partnership among its partners, and seeks to give back to the community wherever possible.

Local businesses, which in the past have included American Express, The Argus and Ink Fish, are encouraged to use the farm for team-building exercises, inspiring better working practices through tasks that range from weeding to installing irrigation systems. And the Nourish team is currently creating a range of platters, sandwiches and snacks for meetings and events from locally grown and prepared food, sourcing as much of the ingredients as possible from within Sussex and the community farm.

www.nourishcic.co.uk