Earth in Common is a charity that focuses on food and its place within the community. It was founded in 2013 and today is based on a 2-acre site on the North-west corner of Leith Links. The location contains a market garden, growing plots, and a new base - a former sports pavilion that the charity had rebuilt, and which opened to the public in 2023.

I come here a lot. As someone relatively new to Leith and trying to lay down roots, I took the plunge and got a plot of my own. I spend hours in the cafe and buy locally grown produce there. I have countless conversations with people who are Leithers or have come from far flung parts of the world who - through circumstance - have had their own lives changed in some way by what goes on at the Croft.

The new building on the Links also opens the area up to the community more widely. If growing vegetables is not your thing (at the moment…), you can still come to the yoga class, join the choir, play chess, take part in a poetry night or the hula-hoop competition, get your bike fixed, find a venue for your kid’s birthday party….. the list of possible activities is long and growing.

In just a few years, the Croft has become an important part of many people’s day to day lives. It has almost become a village of its own within Leith and if you have not heard of it, or passed by and not popped in, I strongly encourage you to do so. It might change your life.

Underpinning it all, is the charity’s commitment to reclaiming common land, producing healthy food and making nature accessible. These aims are a challenge in densely populated Leith, but it has been achieved in a short space of time - however not without difficulty or challenges.

It all began with Evie. Born in Leith, and a mum of four, Evie knew well the darker elements of the community. She was a counsellor who helped those with addiction, particularly during the infamous ‘Trainspotting’ era when heroin addiction reached tragic levels. Many of her acquaintances in Leith succumbed.

Struggling to entertain four children in a small flat, Evie started small. She began growing vegetables on a desolate patch of land behind her flat in Leith. The kids loved it, and Evie could see the mental and physical benefits for them and herself.

Evie began working with other ‘guerrilla gardeners’ to take over other grim public spaces that had fallen between the cracks. It was a grassroots movement - no public funding, activities that led to conflict with landowners, and required determination and self-belief. But something was working and after a while Evie and her guerilla gardeners decided to set up a community group that would help spread the benefits beyond just their immediate circle.

One of the biggest challenges was to find a home. They found an abandoned part of Leith Links Park, at the time overgrown and often littered with used syringes. The guerilla gardeners got consent from the council and transformed the area, and out of nothing created a forest garden and communal plots. In the early days there was a small shed, The Hingabootery, which sold drinks and snacks.

Workshops were created to teach local children about the environment and food, and the market garden was set up to produce tons of fresh produce every year.

Now a charity, Earth in Common began making connections with other communities both in Scotland and further away. One notable collaboration involved working with schools in the Northern Region of Malawi.

The benefits to local people are widespread. For many it is a place just to relax, have lunch, and talk to others. The atmosphere is different, and it can feel like a retreat, hidden away behind the hedges around the site that separate it from neighbouring roads and the rest of the Links.

For many newcomers who work in the cafe, take part in or lead an evening class, or volunteer in the market garden, the charity has become one of the focal points of their lives. If people in the community feel isolated or are looking to connect with others, this is one of the best opportunities you will have in Leith.

There are many other parts of the city where no such opportunities exist so Evie and her team are not just achieving goals relating to food, but also changing the lives of many local people in a way Evie never envisaged when trying to grow potatoes on a derelict concrete plot years ago.

But Earth in Common - like many community groups - faces the daily challenge of finding money to keep going. The charity has received funds from various sources such as the National Lottery and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, but really needs more to stay afloat in the future.

You can help them by becoming a supporter for £15 pounds a year (for an individual). This provides several benefits, including 10% off cafe and farmhouse purchases, workshops and courses, discounts on venue hire for special occasions. That equates to about the cost of about two or three drinks in a local pub, so represents amazing value given the benefits of becoming involved in the Croft.

If you want to try growing your own produce (and if I can do it, you surely will…), you can put your name down for a plot. I have one, and whilst I am still learning, in the first couple of years I have grown potatoes, onions, beetroot, strawberries and peas - something I had never done before.

The impact on local children has also been significant, and over the years hundreds of Leith kids have attended workshops, taken part in Minecroft (a survival skills course), or just hung out with a parent growing vegetables.

What of the future? Evie tells me over the next decade she wants the charity to become more self-sufficient financially and so able to deliver more for the Leith community. Evie wider mission is “a blueprint that can be replicated in urban regeneration across Scotland. To see all communities like Leith with urban crofts, or projects like them, thriving and supporting environmental jobs and businesses”.

If you want to take part in this journey, pop into the cafe or visit earth-in-common.org.

You won’t regret it. ■