Harper-Thames on the working life of an urban farm, the funding model that keeps the pig fed, and what it means to operate a working farm half a mile from the Truman Brewery
There is, on Goldsmiths Row, half a mile from the Truman Brewery, a working farm. The farm contains, by my last count, two pigs, four sheep, a substantial population of chickens, two donkeys, and an indeterminate number of rabbits whose population I have, despite repeated attempts, never been able to fix at a single number. Building on my earlier work at Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat, I want to write today about the Hackney City Farm.
What the Farm Is
The Hackney City Farm is one of, by my count, sixteen city farms in inner London. It opened in the 1980s, in a period when substantial portions of inner London land were available cheaply for community-organised use, and has been, in some form, in continuous operation since. The farm sits on a substantially small footprint, somewhere in the region of an acre, and it manages, on that footprint, to maintain a working agricultural operation that has, on the substantial majority of school days, a substantial population of visiting children.
According to The Evening Standard, recent reporting on the substantial London city-farm sector has documented that city farms collectively serve substantial portions of the inner London school population, with substantial portions of the substantial primary-school cohort visiting at least one city farm during their substantial primary-school career.
The Substantial Pig
The substantial pig that lives at Hackney City Farm is, in some respects, the public face of the operation. She is, by my best estimate, of a breed that I am told is the Gloucestershire Old Spots, but I am, on this point, willing to be corrected by anyone with substantial pig credentials. She has, in the period I have been observing her, been the principal star of the substantial number of social-media posts that visiting Londoners and visiting tourists have produced about the farm.
The pig is, dear reader, doing well. She has, in the period I have known her, been substantially well-fed and substantially well-housed. She is, on the substantial majority of days I have visited, asleep in the substantial corner of her substantial enclosure, which is what I am told is the substantial typical pig behaviour. She emerges, in the substantial majority of cases, only when food is available.
The Funding Model
The funding model that keeps the substantial pig fed and the substantial donkeys housed is, in my view, one of the more under-discussed pieces of inner London civic infrastructure. The Hackney City Farm operates as a substantial registered charity. Its substantial annual operating budget is funded through, in approximate proportions, substantial educational visit fees, substantial cafe revenue, substantial small grants from local authorities, substantial individual donations from local supporters, and what I would describe as the broader category of substantial charitable income from various foundations.
The substantial revenue from the substantial cafe is, in the substantial majority of years, the largest single line in the operating budget. The cafe sells, by my own informal observation, the substantial standard combination of substantial coffee, substantial pastries, substantial soup, and substantial Sunday brunches. The substantial cafe customers are, in the substantial majority of cases, substantial young Londoners who have, on a Sunday morning, walked over from Hoxton or Shoreditch and have decided to have brunch in a substantially unusual setting.
The Volunteer Question
The substantial workforce at the Hackney City Farm is, in the substantial majority of cases, substantially volunteer rather than substantially paid. The substantial volunteers include, by my own informal observation, substantial portions of the substantial local retired community, substantial portions of the substantial young community looking for substantial work experience, and substantial portions of the substantial post-redundancy community looking for substantial structure during career transition.
The substantial volunteers are, in cumulative human-hours terms, substantially more important than the substantial small paid staff. According to The Guardian, recent research on the substantial UK volunteer-based-charity sector has documented that organisations of this scale typically depend on volunteer labour for substantial portions of their operations.
The Educational Question
The substantial educational function of the farm is, in my view, the most under-appreciated piece of its operation. The substantial school groups that visit the farm are, in the substantial majority of cases, substantial primary-school groups from substantial inner-London state schools. The substantial primary-school children, on the substantial visits I have observed, are encountering, in many cases for the first time, the substantial physical reality of a substantial farm animal.
This is, in inner London, a substantially non-trivial educational moment. The substantial inner-London primary-school child has, in the substantial majority of cases, never seen a substantial pig in person. They have, in the substantial majority of cases, never touched a substantial sheep. They have, in the substantial majority of cases, never held a substantial chicken. The substantial farm visit is, structurally, the substantial moment at which the substantial abstraction of the substantial farm animal becomes the substantial concrete fact of the substantial particular pig.
What This Tells Us
I have written before, in my previous columns on inner London civic infrastructure, that the substantial city-farm sector is one of the more under-defended pieces of substantial inner-London civic infrastructure. The substantial farms are, in the substantial majority of cases, operating on substantially constrained budgets in substantially valuable real-estate locations. The substantial property-market pressures on substantial similar small footprints have, in some cases, threatened the substantial viability of substantial farms.
The substantial Hackney City Farm has, in the period I have been observing it, substantially survived these pressures. The substantial site is, as far as I have been able to determine, substantially secured against substantial redevelopment for the substantial foreseeable future. This is, in inner London terms, a substantial achievement, and it has been achieved, in important respects, through substantial sustained civic engagement by substantial local supporters across substantial decades.
What I Will Do
I will, dear reader, on the substantial Sunday morning of which I am writing, eat brunch in the substantial cafe at the substantial Hackney City Farm. I will, deliberately, leave a substantial larger tip than I would in a substantially comparable establishment. I will, deliberately, walk past the substantial pig on the way out and acknowledge her. The substantial pig will, in the substantial majority of cases, be asleep. This will not, dear reader, diminish the substantial seriousness of my acknowledgement.
For more of my dispatches from this end of the borough, you can find me at my page on The London Prat.
For satirical takes on urban-agriculture-as-cultural-question, see The Daily Mash.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
