(peaceful uplifting music)
- I'm in deepest South Dorset,
which is about an hour and a half southeast
from Homeacres, almost on the South Coast of England.
And I'm with Kate Forrester, who worked with me and for me
at Homeacres for a couple of years before coming here.
And she's going to tell us a bit of her story
and how she got into gardening and why.
(both chuckling)
- Yeah, well so basically I was a chef
in London for 10 years, a private chef,
and I just started to find out more about
what's going on with food production
and I wanted to connect with that,
so I started growing a bit myself
when I moved down to Dorset.
That was about four years ago.
And then I had this idea that I wanted to have
a space that was for young adults and children,
families to come and see how food is grown,
but then learn how to cook,
because I feel like that's something
that's been lost and it's not
being taught properly anywhere.
So as I started to grow vegetables,
I realised I didn't know anything.
And then I found, I also dug one bed in my garden,
realised it was really hard work,
so I found out, googled how to do it without digging,
and then found you.
And then yeah, contacted you,
and very luckily I was able to come and volunteer
and learn properly. - That first morning
you turned up, and you weren't quite the normal profile
of volunteer, and clearly you're a very capable woman.
You're a professional chef, aren't you?
You're a good worker. - Yeah.
- You're used to running a business and that kind of thing.
- Yeah, I'm used to a lot of hours.
So that's handy for here. Yeah
- Yeah, yeah.
But in London
- Yes. So yeah, it was all about sort of getting
out of London and reconnecting with the land as well.
And that's where going to beautiful Homeacres
was such an amazing eyeopening experience.
- Well, what I noticed actually,
how well you applied yourself and how interested you were
in everything going on there.
So you were picking it up, weren't you,
how to grow the food. - Oh, definitely, yes.
- So I mean at what point did you think (laughs)
you might maybe do it yourself?
- Well, I guess, 'cause I already had this,
I dunno where the idea came from, to have a space to do it.
That was always going to be a direction I hoped to go in.
And then it was sort of a leap of faith really.
I didn't really anticipate
and know how much work it would be to do it on a big scale.
It's very different from having an allotment
or your own garden, or helping at Homeacres.
Like it's a whole different ballgame
because there are so many different factors
that have to be considered
and applied when you're taking on a strip of field like-
- So you just got this land,
you were putting out ideas about the local farmers?
- Yeah, well, it was to a local man called Colin Andrews
who knew, yeah, who has Tiyeni the charity.
And yeah, I met him through other people in the area,
and he really wanted this to happen.
Like he remembers there being lots of market gardens
in the Ringwood area,
so he was very keen to help me find a bit of land.
And he knows a lot of landowners around here,
so he's the one that sort of negotiated it.
And we are leasing, so we don't own it
it's 15-year lease and we've got four acres
off a strip of yeah,
the rest of another farmer's conventionally-farmed land.
- [Charles] Four acres,
yeah, that's 16,000 square metres in metric.
It's a big block of land, isn't it?
- (giggles) Yeah. - Like you're saying
it's not the same as gardening.
- [Kate] No. So we are cropping, it's under an acre.
The market garden area is supposed to be an acre,
we've got a lot of flowers. - That's already huge.
- It is already huge. - Now at Homeacres,
I'm cropping a third of an acre.
- Yeah, it's a lot.
And I want to do more because it's been really well received
and lots of people are interested.
They want to buy local food.
That is the major thing we're getting through.
Like it might not be, they might not understand the no dig,
the soil health or the organic principles
of not using any chemical fertilisers, pesticides.
But they do get local, they understand that bit,
and they want to support that.
- You were saying you get the lifestyle bit coming,
people visiting you 'cause they, you are giving an example.
- Yeah, exactly.
I think most people haven't seen this,
they haven't been able to walk into a market garden.
There aren't that many market gardens around
especially ones that are open,
'cause we're a community interest company
so the whole thing is that we do want to involve
the community rather than it just being
a normal limited company business
where you are just running it to sell,
you know, there is the community aspect to it.
- But it is still you running it.
- Yeah, I mean it still has to be a business
because it has to sustain itself.
Like you can't just rely on volunteers.
Not at the moment, you know, it's just not viable,
it wouldn't continue.
Yeah. So I have to do it. (chuckles)
Yeah. - Okay.
- And it's a lot of work.
- Yes, Kate.
(both laughing)
(light inspirational music)
Coming here, I've been impressed
because I've heard a bit about what Kate's doing.
I'm super busy at Homeacres,
she's been super busy here,
we've had the odd email message.
I haven't really known exactly what's going on.
And driving in, yeah, it's impressive,
you know, I can see that you've been really hard at work.
Really hard at work.
- [Kate] Yeah, yeah. It's been a lot of hours.
- You're okay. - Yeah, I'm all right.
I'm still doing it, yeah.
But the reality of it is very different.
Like I said, it's like, there's so many other factors
that you have to think about, about, you know
where your water supply is, your entry even,
are you fencing it?
What are you going to put in infrastructure-wise?
And that is something that we're still building on.
That's not something that can just happen
if you don't have lots of money,
which is where we're coming from.
We did do a crowdfunder, which helped with the poly tunnel
and various bits, but it's taking a lot more time
just to even, when you're building no dig beds by hand,
that takes a lot of time, you getting your materials
and sourcing your compost, sourcing your wood chip
getting reliable sources, all of those factors.
And then yeah, obviously there's tonnes of things
that we really want to be able to do
for it to be- - Like a nice
composting operation.
- Like a really good composting operation.
Not the nonsense that we've got going on at the minute
which is incredibly temporary and kind of embarrassing
after obviously seeing a wonderful display of what,
yeah, composting bay can look like.
So that is something that we are addressing this autumn.
We're also going to be using the shipping container to build
off it a washing and packing area,
so that is sort of weathertight at the minute.
We've just been lent a gazebo that's flapping
in the wind, and we get a lot of wind.
- So we is?
- We is me and Mollie, so, and Lisa
Lisa's now involved as well.
So me and Mollie are friends,
that we both wanted to take a piece of land
and sort of revive it, revive the soil,
and Mollie's doing the wildflower area.
- [Charles] Because this soil was dead
wasn't it when you came?
- Yeah, it's been ploughed for decades
and it's been heavily fertilised-
- And weed killers. - And weed killers.
Yeah, it's sad
and you can see it like, and it's going to be a-
- [Charles] Yeah, but look (laughs).
- I mean yeah, but this is, you know
this is what happens when you do no dig as well.
But you know, it's thick, but you can see
you can see when you're looking around
you can see the quality of the crops
and certain things are struggling,
or, you know they can get hit by aphids.
That this whole food web is not working,
it's not functioning in it properly.
- But you are still in a very, very base level,
I mean it's not an easy soil for gardening, you know
this is no way,
this is market garden land originally,
and sand and gravel isn't it?
Pretty much. - Yeah.
- The free draining I suppose can work two ways
(both laughing)
but in the summer like we've had, it's just been
an extra worry.
- Yeah. I mean this has been
a really super dry summer hasn't it?
You really need to get a rain gauge
it'll be so fascinating-
- We need to get a rain gauge and we also need to get some
another massive thing is,
we have to get a proper irrigation system.
That wasn't something that we've worked-
- And you're watering everything in here by hand?
- Hm-hmm, yeah.
- Is it mostly you personally?
- Yeah, it's ridiculous.
Yeah. We shouldn't be doing that and it's time-consuming.
But I've learned so much, you know,
it's all these sorts of things that you are going
onto new land and you haven't done it before.
You don't always factor in absolutely everything (laughs).
- 'Cause you found a really good source horse manure,
old horse manure. - Yes
- And tonnes and tonnes.
- Tonnes and tonnes. Hundreds of tonnes.
- That's what's made it possible.
- Absolutely. - At least.
And that's the main source of fertility.
- It is, yeah.
And we've used seaweed, yeah.
- Oh, what you go down to the sea?
- No we've, I've got seaweed, organic seaweed feed.
Yeah, we've used that on in here, basically.
- And the wood chip you can get a hold of-
- Yeah, wood chip,
there's various different suppliers around here,
the Tree Management Company,
and there's Tree Menders up the road as well,
so there is, yeah, we're right by the new forest.
And obviously yeah, there's lots of-
- And no perennial weeds, so that's easy.
- No perennial weeds, that's something.
But we've had our fair share of annuals (laughs).
- [Charles] I've seen a quite a few.
You've got groundsel. - Got groundsel.
- Fat hen. - Fat hen,
mayweed. - Oh mayweed.
- [Kate] Mayweed, which yeah, took over a lot
of the sort of wildflower and the orchard.
So we've put in a brand new orchard
mixed fruit orchard that's over 140 trees.
We also put in a new hedgerow, which is a-
- [Charles] And nearly all of those trees have survived?
- [Kate] Nearly all of them have survived.
- Yeah, I mean that's a credit.
- Yes. - And it's a dry
spring and summer. - Yeah.
I mean there's some sort of magic going on.
I don't really know how-
- And you've got a hedge here,
you've planed a hedge. - You've got a hedge.
13 different species native mixed hedgerow.
Yeah. And most of that's survived as well.
- That's all extra time, you know
once you've get into your second year
at least that's one less job, isn't it?
- Yeah.
- So you've, that's why I'm saying, you've done so much
you put out this polytunnel.
- Yes. - In windy conditions even.
- Oh yeah. It took a long time.
It took about a month for it to actually get,
we had the frame but then we couldn't get the plastic on
for a long time because of the wind.
Yeah. It was a lot of different things,
like getting even the fencing put in
which is obviously necessary, we've got a lot of deer here.
- [Charles] Oh wow, this is deer proof then.
- Yeah, it's deer proof and rabbit proof, apparently.
There was a gap, rabbits have got in a couple of times
but generally we we're all right.
The only problem now is birds.
So yeah, partridge.
- Oh partridge. (laughs)
- Partridge like to just pull things up it seems for fun.
Just have a look.
- And that's partridge put down by gamekeepers
for (indistinct) shooting.
- Yeah, yeah.
Unfortunately they can fly over and then, so yeah,
and then pigeons, but we haven't had too much,
but pigeons like the young brassicas.
So yeah, that's another thing like we had to,
is getting, is on this scale getting enough netting
found this scaffold netting is like the cheapest alternative
to Enviromesh.
We we had a bit of a nightmare with the fleece
that was wasn't UV stable?
- Yeah, non-UV treated fleece, really unlucky-
- It all broke apart and flew everywhere in the wind,
to that was another factor.
And then, yeah, and even just getting enough hoops,
we've been given some of the like
water pipe stuff now as well.
But that's expensive, you know
all these things really add up.
- You going to do another crowdfunder?
- Yeah, I think we probably will. (laughs)
We kind of need to, we want to build more beds,
and we want to expand the actual growing area
because there is a real demand for it here.
We could be growing so much more.
(light uplifting music)
- So Kate, how are you selling,
is it easy?
- Yeah, it's been a lot easier than I anticipated, actually.
It was a bit slow to start with,
so we're doing CSA share veg boxes.
We've got about 25 now, which is enough for me
'cause I'm basically doing it on my own,
and anymore in the first year. - You pick everything.
- Picking everything- - Takes time.
- Yeah, exactly.
And it takes time, a lot more time than I realised.
That's a massive learning curve.
And we're also selling in a local farm shop
to a restaurant who's got a green Michelin Star,
and they're brilliant,
and to a local private chef as well,
and then to the bakery.
So lots of little bits going to different places.
- Do they come and collect or?
- Yeah, mainly come and collect.
Mollie does a couple of deliveries to a different area
where she lives.
But yeah, it's been, there's more of a demand
than I thought there would be, which is fantastic.
Hence why we, kind of, want to do more so that we can-
- Yeah, but I mean do you ever work it out, you know,
picking and the price you're selling
is pounds per hour, is it?
- Yeah, I mean I haven't - You're okay.
- But this is, no it's not,
and that's the reality of it, isn't it?
And that is a big conversation because there is a whole,
yeah, what do we value?
What do we see as important?
And it's even quite funny from selling some flowers,
how much more people value a bunch of flowers.
- Oh I see, mad hey. - Then a bunch of carrots
that's going to sustain you and fuel your life.
It's, yeah, it's very different and eyeopening.
But what we are noticing is
a huge amount of people coming here who are interested
in having this conversation
and want to know where food's coming from,
they want to know about the food system,
they see that it's broken, they see that people
are getting sick from it, that supermarket food
doesn't have the nutritional value that it should
and that they want to get back to nature
and back to grounding again
and thinking about our lifestyle.
- But you just from your lifestyle here
it is working out how you can make that pay.
- Yes. - So that you can carry on
and inspire these other people.
- Absolutely. - And is there a way
you could maybe run some courses or something.
- Yeah, that's it.
I think that's the other thing we're learning as well,
we already had plans for that initially was,
we hadn't been able to this year
'cause obviously we're setting up,
but next year to be able to host courses
about how the food has grown, but then how to cook with it.
Like, you know, that that deep connection
that everybody needs.
It's all well and good being able to grow great veg
but if you dunno how to cook it or what to do with all this,
when you have a glut then you know you need that that skill.
- Oh, I've got great memories of the food you cooked at
Homeacres, thank you. (Kate laughing)
And you want to have children involved as well.
- Yeah, that's it.
I've noticed that when friends have come
with their children, how excited the kids get
about seeing something growing in the ground
that they've never seen before,
and that's really like inspiring.
And so I've mentioned-
- [Charles] And they vandalise the garden (laughs).
- Well this is it.
So we're talking about having a separate area
that's just sort of kid-friendly picking zone
so they can come and experience it and it doesn't matter,
like, you know if they, they wreck it a little bit
'cause it's not the stuff that we have to sell.
- I like what you said,
something about pulling out the carrots
and the mother said, "You never eat a carrot at home."
- Exactly. You know they're so excited
because it's completely novel.
- And you could develop that line
about the nutrition from the soil microbes.
- Exactly. So that's another thing that people coming here,
you know, they're wanting to know
how things grow and then soil definitely has to come
into that because the soil health is everything.
That's how we get nutritionally, like, dense food.
So yeah, it's all about education.
- So we're getting into quite positive territory here.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- I mean, can you see yourself, you know,
have you've got a good vision of the future?
- I do.
- You've talked a lot about the difficulties.
- Yeah, I do.
I definitely see, I keep imagining, you know
each year and how it grows.
Especially, you know, with the orchard as well
and the improving soil.
Hopefully that's just,
we're just going to notice the difference in the crop quality.
And also we just,
I definitely want to see this project through.
As I said, we've got this 15-year lease
and we are already getting so much positive feedback
in so many different ways and that is really rewarding
and it's carrying me through,
and sure it's not financially really successful yet
but we know that there's loads
of different things that we can do on site.
Mollie doing courses, having harvesting days
with the apples, preserving days, all sorts
of different things that you can do to add value
instead of just seeing the land as one thing,
there's many different things you can do with it.
- Fantastic. Well I congratulate you
from the bottom of my heart.
- [Kate] Oh, thank you.
- [Charles] It's been a pleasure to share
this conversation. - Yeah, thank you. (laughs)
(light outro music)