Back in 2018 Simon and I had to make a big decision about our future, Simon was due to leave the army with a full pension and it offered us the opportunity to do what we love, which is growing fruit, veg and flowers whilst also becoming more self sufficient. I was a nurse, managing a busy Cardiac Unit in Southampton and finding it hard to get a good work life balance. We knew we wanted to move to west Wales having fallen in love with it back in 2010 whilst on holiday, we even took our honeymoon here as we think it's the most beautiful place in the world!
The hunt began for the perfect piece of land, which obviously didn't exist! However we fell in love with the side of a hill in North Pembrokeshire and by November 2018 we were the proud owners of 14 Acres of grassland with a small woodland and disused quarry.
We then spent a year monitoring, plotting and planning using Permaculture design principles and the values of 'earth care, people care and fair share' to guide us. We had to consider drainage, prevailing winds, access, water, microclimates and compost to name a few aspects.
Then we could start implementing the design, beginning with planting lots of Willow. This quick growing crop not only provides a wind break, but also material for creating 'fedges', biomass and crafts. We started by planting around a quarter of an acre of biomass willow but have added craft willow since.
The rods were planted into weed supressing membrane, which we have reused multiple times since and within a year had created lots of long straight rods that we could turn into 'fedge'. A 'fedge' is a cross between a fence and a hedge. It's woven together to look very fence like but is alive and develops bushy green growth like a hedge. It creates an instant wind break to protect our plants and trees from the prevailing winds. Long rods are planted into the re-used weed membrane and then woven into a lattice before being snipped off. Before long new shoots begin to emerge and start filtering the wind. We liked it so much we even made an arch!
With wind break complete it was time to begin growing in earnest. We had covered some areas with tarp to kill the grass, so now it was time to start creating the growing beds.
The earth was very compact from decades of hill farming and heavy clay soil, so we experimented with both 'no dig' beds and rotavated beds. Unfortunately for us the no dig beds weren't very successful and Super Simon now rotavates any new beds. He only has to do this once however as we find that the 'no dig' system works perfectly after that. We broad fork to release any compaction of the beds and then add a thick layer of compost. In the photo below, the bed on the right has just been forked and compost added. The bed on the left has just had it's cover taken off and is ready to get the same treatment.
We make large quantities of compost and plant feeds throughout the year to ensure we give the plants enough nutrition and re-use all of our plant waste creating a closed loop system. We also harvest rainwater from the compost systems rooves.
We now have around a quarter of an acre's worth of growing beds and have planted lots and lots of trees for foliage and blossoms. This will provide ample flowers and materials for our floristry work, whilst also ensuring there is plenty to be shared with the local wildlife and is attractive for pollinators and birds. This then creates a symbiotic relationship with the land, the wider environment and ourselves.
Comments