Dig in at new community farm

A brand new community farm is to open up in the middle of Perth.

A group of volunteers from the Fair City have clubbed together to set up Perth Community Farm on a plot of land in the Jeanfield Road cemetery.

The urban farm will be holding an open day on Tuesday, July 10 and members of the public are being invited to help get the farm ready, and find out more information about what will happen once the farm is up and running.

Alexis Brown, one of the volunteers behind the project and the fundraising director, said: “People will be able to come along and do some work at the open day.

“The farm is going to be growing fruit and vegetables and next year it will be up and running for people to come and volunteer their time and they will be paid up to a maximum of four hours in fruit and vegetables.”

The plot of land is behind a gate near the toilets in the cemetery, and Alexis is hoping it will eventually welcome in groups and children to show them how to grow, prepare and cook fruit and vegetables from scratch.

They have even been able to set up some polytunnels thanks to a bit of funding.

She continued: “It was the idea of Craig Burnett from the Bee Flower Shop and we are all volunteers. We got the land in March so in the past two months we have done quite a bit to the land.

“We are hoping people will be able to come down on the open day and get it properly ready. It is open from 9am until 4pm so people can bring their old clothes and get into gardening and digging, but there will also be people needing to paint fences as well. And those who just want to come down and see it and find out more about it can do so as well.”

She added: “I am very excited for it. This will all come together next year and I can’t wait to get children along to it to plant their own seeds. But to get there we need to get everything going this year and get people involved and excited about it.”

The open day at Perth Community Farm will run on Tuesday, July 10 from 9am until 4pm.