About us

Diss Community Farm is, effectively, a shared allotment where members come to work and take home a box of whatever is harvested that day. We grow to share our crops amongst ourselves and not to sell them. We value highly good, local and organically grown vegetables (and some fruit).

Recently, our principal work day has been Thursday, from about 10 am until about 1 pm. When we have needed to put in more work, some of us come on Monday mornings too. Some members cannot make these times and come at other times, such as Saturday mornings.

We use a field in Winfarthing, a few miles north of Diss, behind the Fighting Cocks pub. It is owned by a local farmer, David Mitchell, who is part of the group, and is extremely helpful.

We are very informal, with most decision-making taking place during the coffee break during our work days. These are usually quite lively, with really good coffee and cakes most weeks.  We do have one Annual General Meeting in the year, where we make plans for the year.

We  expect members to commit to come regularly, most weeks if possible, but this is not rigid. If you don’t turn up one week, you miss out on that day’s vegetable share.

We obviously welcome experienced gardeners, but novices are equally welcome, as there are always tasks for every level of experience and strength, and people with experience to show you what is needed. The work ranges from heavy digging to light picking.

Very little money is involved. We all contribute annually, once we have estimated the costs for the year. For 2017 that will be £75, or roughly £1.50 per week, for which you get wonderful, fresh, organically grown vegetables every week, wheelbarrow loads at peak harvest times, but not much during the spring. If there are extra expenses, we ask all members to contribute as needed.

For a more detailed description, with lots of photos, there is a 10-minute talk by Gary Alexander linked from a post on 15 April 2021.

How to join

We are actively seeking a few new members, who share our vision, and are willing to commit to work with us regularly, and share good coffee cake and our weekly chat about the things we need to do.

If you think you want to join, contact Gary Alexander, on 07766-711999, or garyalex[at]fair-green.net for more details. We would invite you to join us on a trial basis for a few weeks to see if we like each other, before making a commitment and paying the annual subscription. The subscription runs from our AGM, each October, and if you join part way through the year then you need only pay a proportion for the remaining part of the year.