THE NATURAL VEG MEN
  • Home

9/3/2017

A Restoration Job, Part 1

8 Comments

Read Now
 
The start of March heralds much thought, optimism and work on the farm and with just 10 days till the Spring equinox we know that the never ending job list is about to get a lot bigger. The heated benches of our propagation house are already full to bursting and poly low tunnels are popping up across site as we try to warm the soil and dry it out so we can begin transplanting and direct sowing. 

Despite all the looking forward and planning ahead I was walking around Oakcroft the other day thinking about what we achieved last year and realised that I can hardly recognise the site we took on just 13 months ago. This isn't to say that there is not plenty more work to do, what we achieved last year barely scratched the surface of what need doing here at Oakcoft but there are plenty of positives to look back on. 

Over the next couple of weeks I thought thought I’d share some of the progress we've made. 

Here is part 1;
Picture

Oakcoft Gardens was set up in the early 1960s by Mehr Fardoonji, since its creation it has been grown on organically, making one of the oldest organic sites in the UK. 
​
Picture

​Mehr retired 11 year ago and since that time the site had fallen in to quite poor repair, we could see this on some of our early trips to the farm but it wasn't until we really got going that we understood all the problems that were going to face us in the year to come. 


There was an unbelievable amount of clearing up and clearing out that needed to be done, one of our first tasks was to empty the barn of years and years worth of rubbish, this was quite the task and along with several giant skips there were some seriously big bonfires. The barn is now our packing shed and after the apple harvest we turn it in to a cider making space and a skittle ally. 
​
Picture
Picture

​After the barn was sorted we set to cleaning out other spaces on the site, as you can see from the pictures below there was a lot of crap across all the workshops and greenhouses. 

Picture
Picture

​As we got all Zen about our cleaning and clearing efforts the weather was slowly staring to get better and we began to tackle the greenhouses. We were pretty sure there would be some decent soil in these, however they was some serious work to be done to get to it. 

Picture

​What we discovered was an unbelievable infestation of dock leaves across the greenhouses with some of the roots over a meter long!

But we stuck with it and managed to get down to that sweet soil and had a fairly productive tomato crop last year. This year we hope double our tomato harvest as we won't be quite so behind getting our crops in the ground.

Picture

Tune in next week for a look at how we got on breaking ground on the main growing area and tackling the next mountain of jobs!

Share

8 Comments
Nicki miller link
10/3/2017 09:09:29 am

Fabulous that you've gone to a place with such a history

Reply
Hilary Miller
10/3/2017 05:31:18 pm

Impressive I must say you have made such a great transformation. I thought I had loads to do on my allotment
I remember the place was a mess a few years ago & was amazed anything was grown on the site
Well done to all of you. Looking forward to more if your fab veg.

Hilay Miller

Reply
Chris Copeman
11/3/2017 08:18:51 am

Amazing transformation. When's the open day?

Reply
Tom Whitley
12/3/2017 05:01:40 pm

Good question! Definitely the summer when it's all bursting with life and colour.

Reply
Lynda and Bill Piggin
14/3/2017 08:47:39 pm

We really enjoyed seeing the site. What a fantastic job - you all worked very hard. We look forward to enjoying all the produce which will come from your work for many years to come. Thanks guys

Reply
Tom Whitley
14/3/2017 08:58:45 pm

Thank you very much! Wait for the invitation to the summer open day and you can see it in real life...

Reply
Sadie Platt link
10/1/2018 04:22:56 pm

We are a newly established (18 months ago) organic farm near Northwich and would love to come over and visit your site to learn about what you do and how you got to the point you are at now. We are a 12.5 acre site being developed along permaculture principles.

Reply
Tom Whitley
10/1/2018 04:40:42 pm

Hi Sadie, thanks for getting in touch - we're always happy to talk organic veg! Drop me a line at tom@vegmen.co.uk or call on 07979595250 and we can figure something out.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Field REport

    An eclectic mix of articles from the front line of the war against mass-produced, processed food.


    Categories

    All
    Education
    From The Patch
    Leaf Of The Month
    Picture Of The Month
    Salad Sermon

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home