A big “thank you” to Suffolk ACRE Local Foods who have generously given The Oak Tree Farm a grant of £181 for our training plans… CSA members will enjoy a WIld Food Harvest Skillshare on 11th May, and a Preserving the Harvest Skillshare 12th September where we’ll share our knowledge and experience in these key skills for living well with the seasons. Both these events are open to CSA members only, and are free of charge.
Wild food Salad we enjoyed on a wild food walk in 2011…
We will also be running a Nose to Tail Cookery Course, open to all, with a special rate for CSA members on how to make delicious meals from all the parts of our livestock, not just the bits you see shrink-wrapped in the supermarket! Check back here on The Oak Tree website for more details soon!
From this (pig pluck, lunghs heart and liver)….
… to this: Faggots. A traditional English dish – delicious, nutritious and cheap.
The Oxford Real Farming conference was set up about four years ago by two writers, Colin Tudge and Graham Harvey, as a sort of “protest” about, or at least an alternative to, The Oxford Farming Conference. The Oxford Farming Conference is a great gathering of Industrial Agriculture, known these days as “Conventional Farming” which is odd, as it is all really very recent.
This event had rather more suited chaps than the ORFC
Aparantly GM is the future…
Back to the “Real” conference. I was really very over-excited about going, and I sat at the front of the top deck of the bus into the city centre with a big grin on my face. And I wasn’t disappointed.
Here are the highlights of day 1 (of two days) for me. Colin Tudge on the new “College for Enlightened Agriculture”
Colin Tudge is a pretty amazing chap. I am reading his book “Feeding People is Easy” at the moment, and his training as a biologist, his experience of researching and writing about farming and related topics, and his passion for addressing the many deep and fundamental problems of contemporary agriculture is inspiring. He is also a friend of the marvellous Prof. Martin Wolfe of Wakelyns Farm, which automatically endears him to me!
Colin Tudge explaining the College for Enlightened Agriculture
If you’d like to read more of his ideas from the man himself, why not start with his reflections on the ORFC here? http://www.campaignforrealfarming.org/2013/01/the-oxford-real-farming-conference-2013/
The room was packed, so I sat next to the great man himself, in a fireplace at the Turl Street Kitchen venue. He graciously pulled a piece of tinsel off my head when it fell off the mantelpiece.
Standing room only at the Colin Tudge talk
Colin’s plan is to set up a proper educational establishment to teach proper agriculture, that is agriculture that will feed people forever. He sorting out the details of launching the college at Schumacher College near Totnes in Devon, and is in talks with a local farmer about setting up a demonstration farm not far away. Sounds like an excellent idea. I introduced myself to Colin at the end of the session and he mentioned he would like to visit The Oak Tree when he is in the area to visit Martin Wolfe. It would be fantastic to talk with him about our plans for the farm, and his ideas on the wider picture of agriculture. Steve Merritt of the Welsh Poultry Centre Attending a session with Steve was another of the highlights of the conference for me. I had only encountered his website the week before, and had almost immediately bought his e-book, “The Free-Range and Organic Poultry Handbook”. I’m not parted from my cash online readily, but Steve’s book was well worth the money, answering many, many questions I had been asking about raising meat chickens for sale in the UK.
Steve Merritt launching a dual purpose chcken breeding network (Steve’s the chap looking out from the right hand side of the picture.
Steve’s conference session was to look into setting up a network of people breeding traditional dual purpose chickens (like our Light Sussexes, Rhode Island Reds and Buff Sussexes, but also including other breeds such as Buff Orpingtons – which look very interesting) for their original purpose of being both meat and egg laying breeds. Apparently they have often been bred for showing rather than utility in the past few decades, and have lost some of the characteristics that made them so useful, ie laying a good number of eggs and being good meat birds.
Steve explains in more detail here: http://www.welshpoultrycentre.co.uk/Production/Poultry-breeds-and-their-future.html
It is easy to send fertile eggs by post these days, indeed many of our chickens were delivered in egg form! I signed up straight away and I’m really looking forward to working with others around the country on developing better utility strains of the dual purpose birds.
A modern meat chicken reaches maturity in 40 days (that’s less than six weeks) whereas a traditional bird takes 20 –25 weeks. The increases in the cost of feed means that the price of chicken is set to rise, and Steve spoke about the benefits of cover crops (which are often used to attract game birds) for chickens – a particular benefit is that they attract insects which chickens love.
Another interesting gentleman I spoke to over a coffee was Richard Higgins. Richard runs the Well End micro farm in London and has developed and published details of Sir Albert Howard’s original composting techniques. Sir Albert Howard was one of the founders of the Soil Association, a real organic pioneer. Richard had sold out of books by the time I met him, so I’ve just emailed him to see if he has any more!
As far as I am concerned, as soon as the days start to lengthen, following the shortest day (this year: December 21st 2012, it does move a little some years) it is the New Year. This isn’t some deep-seated pagan belief on my part; I’m not affiliated to any particular religion, though I have much respect for all major religions. Rather is it the feeling, and it really is a feeling in the most literal sense, particularly after being outdoors harvesting in the recent days of rain, cold and wind, of nature turning a corner and the promise of things coming back to life.
There was an ancient belief that the wheel of the year stops, briefly, at the time of the winter solstice.
Plants have all but stopped growing now, and they won’t really get going again until the trigger point around Valentine’s Day when the day length reaches ten hours. It isn’t just the cold slowing things down, indeed it has been very mild lately. It is the short days..
The time around the solstice is, for me, a time to slow down, celebrate what has been, and just begin to look ahead at the year to come. Who could fail to be optimistic about new year on The Oak Tree Farm knowing that Tom Wilmot will begin work in January? And as I look back over 2012, I am left amazed, and humbled, by the dedication of CSA members to our innovative vision of fun, sustainable, healthy and viable food production. Thank you to you all.
The stakes could hardly be higher. The economy is faltering. I have had many conversations with CSA members over the past year who are very, very concerned about the future with all the problems of a disintegrating economy. I don’t fool myself that The Oak Tree, right now, offers a solution to rising food prices, falling incomes and insecure work patterns.
I was shocked when I first saw one of these signs in Ipswich
Our aim is, over the whole year, to provide excellent food at a reasonable price. The weather this year has seriously hampered that goal. However, next year, if we work hard, and the weather is reasonable, we can all improve the yields of our crops thanks to our efforts. The limiting factor isn’t the area we grow on, rather it is the amount of work we all put in. As our soil improves, as we all gain skill in our gardening, and as the prices of food elsewhere goes up, there is the real possibility of producing very good value food at The Oak Tree Farm. That is my aim, and sincere hope, for the years to come. The other side of this is, for the farm to be viable in the long run, Tom and I need to earn a reasonable living for the work we do, which is not the case at the moment. This (producing good value, good food in a sustainable, fun way while earning a decent living) is a puzzle I haven’t yet solved, but this year I shall be working on it!
Watching the year’s extreme weather events, including our dreadful vegetable harvest (in large part caused by the crap weather), not to mention a hurricane in New York, and endless flooding around the UK brings climate change into sharp focus. One of my main objectives in setting up The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm was to combine producing good food with reducing environmental impact. At the time I wasn’t fully familiar with the possibility of sequestering carbon in the soil with good husbandry techniques, but now this is one of the main aims on the farm. By enormous good fortune this is also the way to improve our harvests without using artificial chemicals. Chemical fertiliser require enormous amounts of energy to manufacture and does terrible damage to the soil with years of use, rendering it a sterile “blotting paper” medium for more chemical fertiliser. None of us wants to douse our food in ill understood chemicals produced by big business.
A picture posted by an old schoolfriend of mine who now lives in New York. We lost contact with her briefly during the hurricane – very frightening.
Soil can, with careful management, absorb enormous quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere. We only have 12 acres, as yet, so the best we can do now is to demonstrate the principle while having only a small impact. But the farm was always intended to be an experimental site, and a demonstration farm. We named the new not for profit social enterprise “The South Suffolk Low Carbon Food Community Interest Company” for a reason. My future plans are not limited to our current 12 acres…
Also, there is the issue of the quality of our food, and the associated health issues. I watched the film Food Inc for the first time this year.
I’d seen images of industrial chicken production before, but not since I’d kept chickens myself. This time I burst into tears at the sight of such misterable, unhealthy creatures. The film features one of my all time heroes, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm. He may be coming to the UK in April. If he does, Eric, Tom and myself want to go see him! If you get a call for help harvesting while we’re away, please know that it is for a very good reason! I have put in a request to the Ipswich Film Theatre for a showing of the related film (also featuring Joel Salatin!) Fresh:
If you are tempted by this film, why not get in touch with the IFT to request a showing too?
The production of meat is a dangerous subject to discuss, and I when the Transition Ipswich Food Group (the group that helped to create our CSA) was created I recommended we adapt a policy of diet diversity and tolerance. There is nothing more futile than a committed vegan trying to persuade me to give up eating meat. This isn’t just because I am a crazed red meat eating nutcase, indeed I spent a year as a pretty strict vegetarian. I happen to believe it that a small quantity of meat, or at least high quality dairy, is essential for good health, and also that a low density of animals are essential in our northern climate to good husbandry of the land. Yes, I have heard of vegan organic, and it can work. But it isn’t as productive IMHO. Equally there is nothing more futile that my trying to persuade a committed vegetarian to eat meat. I would also consider it very impolite for me to even think about it!
I respect both vegans and vegetarians for the food choices they make. I know that other people have views and values diametrically opposed to mine. It is like religion. No point arguing. I would prefer to search for common ground. And there is enough common ground between us all to come to a wider consensus about food, IMHO. To produce good food you need:
Good soil, which means you need to avoid harmful chemicals.
Food needs to be fresh and to taste good.
There should be no cruelty to animals involved.
Most people, possibly not all, would agree that a fair bit of our diet, if not all, should be plant based.
I’d better stop there, otherwise I may get into hot water. But these are principles that are respected at The Oak Tree to the very best of our abilities. And by doing so, I believe we are all taking steps to care for our heath, and that of our families.
I am a huge fan of Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University. He is the chap that came up with the concept of food miles, among many other things.
I wrote the above before I watched this video of Tim Lang speaking earlier this year:
If it looks a bit long and you are busy, start at minute 28
He has been a source of inspiration for The Oak Tree since the beginning, and when I was once cheeky enough to invite him to come and see us, he politely declined, but he did say this about what we are doing. I printed it, laminated it and pinned it above the packing table. When I am cold and wet, it helps.
“…. what you are doing looks and sounds great. Keep going. These kinds of initiatives and ‘dares to experiment’ are both vital and inspiring. Don’t give up.”
So what are our plans for 2013?
To be perfectly honest I don’t know exactly, and one of my first jobs for the New Year is to give the question “how to we square the circle of earning a decent living while adhering to our values” some serious thought. I have plenty of ideas, including, but absolutely not limited to:
Poulty CSAs
Courses on the farm
Offering mentoring and farm visits to startup CSAs (I have just been accepted as a mentor with the Plunkett Foundation’s “Making Local Food Work” programme)
Low carbon cut flowers
Tom, Eric and I (directors of the social enterprise) have decided notto expand the CSA membership in 2013. We had originally planned to expand from 36 members to 54. We have decided to consolidate our existing vegetable beds and really concentrate both on improving the veg harvest in 2013 and also on developing new activities and low carbon produce from the farm. Importantly, each veg CSA share will still have the same area of land allocated as before, there will simply be fewer members.
As a result of this decision, the veg CSA is now fully subscribed from June 2013 – May 2014. If you haven’t completed your membership form for next year, feel free to contact me to join the waiting list for new members. It is important that members who havesigned up for June 2013 – May 2014 continue to commit to the CSA for this period (at least!) as people dropping out of the CSA once they have signed up (ie filled in the membership form and signed it) is very disruptive and causes us a great deal of extra work, stress, and financial problems. If there is a really good reason for leaving the CSA before the end of a CSA year (June – May) after having signed the form, ie moving away from the area, then please come and talk to me about your plans. All members signed up for next year will have first refusal on places for the following CSA year (June 2014- May 2015).
Beyond The Oak Tree Farm (having just talked about consolidation!) I have had some intriguing discussions about the possibly of expanding our low carbon farming beyond the limits of The Oak Tree. I had the pleasure of contributing as a guest on of the panel deciding the future policy concerning Suffolk County Council’s farms – there was an open question about whether or not the Council should sell off their considerable acreage. Myself and Doeke Dobma of Clinks Care Farm presented our alternative approaches to farming, pointing out that there are potential environmental, health and social benefits of farming too.
When they asked me, “If we were to offer you a farm to rent, would you accept?” I swallowed hard and said, “Depends where it is, and how much, but if those were right, then ‘yes’”. Through various circuitous routes another two pieces of land have been mentioned to me as possible sites for low carbon farming. Suffolk is home to one of the really great pioneers of farming, Prof Martin Wolfe of Wakelyn’s Farm. I would dearly love to be involved in applying his ideas to a plot of land larger than The Oak Tree.
But I’ll come back down to earth again! We have nottaken on any additional land, and do not plan to do so in the immediate future! For now, we are concentrating of getting our CSA working well, making it more productive for everyone involved. Once that is safely in hand would I be happy to expand our horizons.
Happy New Year, everyone. Here is to a productive, enjoyable and exciting 2013 at The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm!
Many, many thanks to the many people who helped to make last Sunday’s Participatory Building Design Workshop, in particular Fraser for organising it, Imogen and Ed for their architectural expertise and enthusiasm, and Joy for welcoming us to her lovely home at the last minute when the weather turned wet!
Fraser, Ed and Imogen will be drawing up some initial plans in the next couple of weeks. We’ll be presenting our ideas to our neighbours on Playford Lane on the evening of Wednesday November 14th from 7pm at the Baptist Church Hall at the entrance to Playford Lane (all welcome!) and I’ll update the web page to let you know more when I do.
Group 1 hard at work!
group 2 start to wonder if this might all be a lot more tricky than first anticipated!…
Well done to the bicycle powered grain mill team, including Mark D, Steve M, Fraser F and Tom W!
At Saturday’s working party we milled local bread wheat using Joanne’s hand grain mill which is now pedal powered – far easier than the original hand turned option! (With thanks to Sybil Holbrook of Kesgrave for kindly donating the exercise bike!)
Our chickens’ pens, inspired by Polyface Farm, are moved every single day to give them fresh grass, fresh ground to scratch and somewhere new to poo. They have automatic drinkers (fed from a diesel fuel can – but it does contain water! The black plastic just excludes the light to stop it going green) and a hanging pellet feeder, both of which come with them when it is move time.
Our ladies and gents also enjoy spent brewers mash from the lovely people at The Dove Street Inn, along with comfrey and vegetable trimmings from the farm – they just love aged sweetcorn that is too tired to go in the veg boxes!
Many thanks to the many CSA members who have helped to build the pens, including Steve, Tom, Sue and Mark, not to mention friends of the farm Dave & Peter.
The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm has been short listed for a Suffolk Country Council Creating the Greenest County Award in the category of Community: Local Food!
Many thanks & congratulations to Dan, Lucy and the other CSA members who put our application together!
Many thanks to Lucy for this wonderful picture of Ray’s Marvellous Manure Mover – new CSA member Ray arrived with this fantastic bike & trailer and proceeded to move lots of muck from next door’s stable yard!
Joanne’s email to Alaisdair Ross, Labour Councillor for Rushmere Ward…
Dear Alasdair,
Many thanks for your leaflet about the planning application for a Tesco store on the Golden Key pub site on the Woodbridge Road.
I am opposed to this application because:
1) There are truly excellent shops close by, particularly Chris’s Veg and Mickleson’s Butchers that offer local, quality produce at very reasonable prices.
2) The local coop convenience stores offer an excellent selection of products, including many local products, for people who need to shop in the evening.
3) We really do not need any more nationally supplied food stores here in Ipswich. At a time of rising fuel prices we should be focussing on helping local food producers to stay in business, and, dare I say it, to thrive. We’re going to need them in the future.
I run Suffolk’s first vegetable growing Community Supported Agriculture scheme at The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm www.the-oak-tree.co.uk in Rushmere-St-Andrew. We have been awarded the Suffolk Carbon Charter, and were short listed for a “Creating the Greenest County” award by Suffolk County Council in our first year. We have had no public funding whatsoever in setting up our project.
I am not concerned that a Tesco store on the site of the Golden Key pub would affect our veg-growing community a great deal as our members are committed to supporting local, sustainable food producers. However, were the planning application to be approved I believe it would send Ipswich residents the message that creating a truly sustainable, local supply of fresh food at a reasonable price for the residents of Ipswich and surrounding area is a low priority for Ipswich Borough Council. I’m counting on you to send us just the opposite message!
I’m very fortunate to have the help of Steve Marsden from Carbon Step Change in setting up a policy for reducing carbon emissions at The Oak Tree. It might sound a bit over the top for one woman and a field to need an environmental policy, but as we set up more and more projects on the farm, including the Community Supported Agriculture Scheme and the Permaculture Forest Garden, it is good to keep an eye on one of the main aims of the farm, namely keeping carbon emissions low. Steve is pragmatic and ambitious which works really well!
I’m very fortunate to have the help of Steve Marsden from