Nature's Prescription to Mental Well Being
Feeling the positive benefits of being outdoors
through sowing and growing vegetables; petting and caring for animals.
through sowing and growing vegetables; petting and caring for animals.
WHO WE ARE:
The Straw Patch Project CIC no: 13397609 is a Community Interest Company aiming to offer a safe outdoor space to nurture wellbeing and positive mental health. It is an idea we had been thinking about for some time which has now come to life! The project is run and managed by Alex Straw and Sarah Pedlar and is based just outside Ilfracombe, North Devon, at a small holding and campsite called Strawfields.
The Primary Objective:
To be a mental health support project that uses nature based activities
to improve mental, social and physical wellbeing.
The Aim of The Straw Patch Project:
To benefit the local community by providing support and small group sessions to promote positive mental health through Ecotherapy. We believe that providing a regular, structured activity outdoors can really make the difference to a positive mental outlook.
The Emphasis:
To focus on providing a physical and social activity such as sowing seeds, weeding, planting, cooking, animal petting and animal care. This will involve spending time with other people in small groups and provide a green space where participants can interact at a level suitable to them.
We can provide a positive outdoor 'Patch to Plate' experience to enable participants to learn how to cook with the fresh ingredients they have grown; using the outdoor pizza oven to make pizzas with home grown vegetables and local ingredients; beetroot and carrot cakes, pea soup and basil pesto/tomato passata with freshly made pasta, are to name a few of the possible activities that can be made at The Straw Patch as part of the group sessions.
Friends of the Straw Patch:
The Straw Patch Project was 'born' at the beginning of March 2021. Prior to this it was an unused sunny corner of Strawfields with an unloved greenhouse. We could only have come as far as we have now in the last few months with the fantastic help and support of local volunteers, One Ilfracombe, Ilfracombe Men's Shed and local business owners who have been kind enough to give up their time and plant/seed donations to get us up and running.
We have a few regular volunteers who have kindly offered to help either with the background work, or to help in practical sessions when needed. We have also so far been awarded generous grants from some of the local councillors, Thomas Carr 1873, Hele Bay Merbabes, Gossip around Ilfracombe, John's Charity, The People's Lottery Community Fund, Lambda UK, Compass Rotary Club Ilfracombe and the TLC Charity Shop. Ilfracombe, and Fullerbrook CIC, towards the renovation of our accessible toilet, the construction of our 'much needed' car park and our outdoor kitchen project 'PATCH TO PLATE' .
We also have a go fund me page:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-straw-patch-project should you wish to donate.
