One: Learn Land Skills

Previous generations carefully handed down the knowledge and skills to care for the land, and to grow and harvest food for the community. Many of us living in the city missed out on this, and it feels great to get it back. By volunteering in the Market Garden you will pick up a lot of information about food growing, and sometimes other land skills, like building a dead hedge for shelter.

Two: Make a Real Difference to Your Community

All the food we grow goes into local bellies. By helping in the Market Garden, you are helping to provide your neighbours with the freshest, most nutritious kinds of food we can grow right here in north Edinburgh.

Three: It’s Fun

We love what we do – if you volunteer, you get to share the joy and hope in growing food.

Four: Experience An Antidote to Overwhelm and Climate Anxiety

It can be overwhelming to connect with the huge scale of suffering and injustice locally and around the world, and the enormous changes that are here and that lie ahead. As individuals, we also get overwhelmed by this, and we find that doing something practical and meaningful at the farm helps us get out of overwhelm and back to taking action. We’d love for you to experience that too.

Five: You’re Joining the Mission to Change the Food System!

The agroecology revolution is happening through countless projects and local initiatives all across the world (see the Soil Association campaign and La Via Campesina  for examples). Lauriston Agroecology Farm is one amongst many interconnected projects – so by lending a hand here, you also contribute to something much bigger.

About Volunteering in the Market Garden

You don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of food growing or farming – this is a good place to learn. You do need a wee bit of stamina and to be fairly steady on your feet (it’s not wheelchair accessible), but you can also choose how much of a ‘workout’ it is. We are familiar with a variety of chronic health conditions and do not ask anyone to go beyond their limits. We encourage you to go at your own pace and take breaks. It’s meant to be fun! If you have any questions about volunteering before you sign up, you can contact us

Sign up here to join us in the Market Garden in September: volunteersignup.org/Y7HTF