Sustainably grown foods from the edge of Broadwater Forest

How is our farm sustainable?

 A true sustainable system does not require any external inputs. Farms of the past would have been very close to this model but required a huge workforce and horse force to operate. These days man and horse power has been largely replaced by fossil fuels, in terms of power to drive machinery or to manufacture fertilizers and chemical sprays.

On our farm we try to minimise external inputs as much as possible and are trying to design the farm to maximise the relationships between the crops we grow  livestock we rear and the diversity of the site.

Examples of which are:

1. We do not run a tractor ;the pigs do our ploughing and fertilising for us

2. We do not use chemical sprays or fertilizers on our crops, though we are not Certified Organic as this is an expensive we cannot afford.

3. We grow food for our pigs - any waste vegetables are consumed by the pigs

4. We grow seeds for the chickens to eat.

5. The Forest Garden does not require any external inputs at all

6. Our bees help in the pollination of our crops

7. We grown a lot of perennials which minimise soil disturbance

8. We have utilised pollarded trees as fodder for livestock largely lime and beech trees.

9. Our ducks help us to control pests.

10. We have made fences and gates from the trees we have cleared

11. We save our own seeds

12. We only deliver produce within a 15 mile radius.

Wider responsibilities

All the feed we buy is GM free and locally sourced

We gladly take manure from the local riding stables and this helps to maintain our soil fertility.

We always use  local suppliers

We leave boundary areas to grow and this increases the biodiversity on the site..

We have fitted very many bird boxes