Wimbledon Rooftop Farm: Where Nature Meets Neighbourhood
Nature Meets Neighbourhood
Gabby McKenzie is an Urban Farmer and Food Grower for the Rooftop Farm at Wimbledon Quarter.
Tell us about the Farm.
The Rooftop Farm sits on top of Wimbledon Quarter, right in the heart of the local community. We grow fruit and vegetables, cultivate mushrooms and produce honey.
The farm is about showing what can be done in urban spaces. We try to keep things simple and thoughtful, using low-tech, sustainable methods and take a natural, balanced approach to growing.
Everything we grow goes back into the local area. Our produce is sold at The Fire Station Café on Queen’s Road and we donate to Wimbledon Guild’s HomeFood Café. Local restaurants including The Black Radish, Bingham Riverhouse and Orion by Alex Webb also feature our produce on their menus.
How does it benefit people and the community?
The farm brings growing food and sustainability into the centre of Wimbledon in a very visible way. We work closely with our partners in The Fire Station Café where you can regularly buy our gourmet oyster mushrooms and tasty honey.
As well as supplying local kitchens, we run farm tours and food-related events for the local community, so people can see food growing up close. We hope to show that urban spaces can be useful, productive and inspiring.
How can people find out more or get involved?
The easiest way to follow the farm is on Instagram @rooftopfarmwimbledon, where we post regular updates on what we’re growing, harvesting and working on.
People can also sign up to our newsletter to hear about upcoming tours, events and other ways to get involved.
What are your hopes and plans for the future?
I’m excited about building closer relationships with our restaurant partners and involving them more in what we grow. I’d also like to share more about how we grow, continue to get involved with the local community and hopefully encourage more people to try growing food in their urban spaces.
