Member Feature

Cultivate London

Leah McPherson at Cultivate London

Leah McPherson has always been interested in helping people help themselves. Back in Australia she was a drug and alcohol counsellor and worked with homeless people. Moving to west London, she worked in the public and voluntary sector before launching Cultivate London in March 2011. The innovative urban farm, based across multiple sites, employs 2 and a half staff and two apprentices. This year it aims to take on five more local trainees, aged 16-24 and living in Ealing or Hounslow. Most importantly for Leah, Cultivate London is having a positive impact on the young people involved – and is already generating money through the sale of herbs. It grows herbs which are high value, yield multiple harvests and are suitable for urban growing. The new enterprise quickly established a reputation for quality and freshness, supplies nearly every gastro-pub in Brentford, sells in farmers’ markets, at The People’s Supermarket and through Unpackaged. It is now working towards organic certification and is part of a Soil Association-funded pilot project to help urban farms share good practice and information. www.cultivatelondon.org