From annuals to perennials- becoming forage farmers

For six years, our main on farm enterprise was producing naturally grown veggies for our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) veg box business. From our quarter acre market garden we provided weekly veg boxes, full of diverse and super healthy vegetables, for up to 50 families within a 15 mile radius of the farm.

We love being local producers and knowing the produce we grow makes its way onto the dinner tables of our local community is one of the main motivations to grow crops 280m above sea-level in such challenging conditions. We also strive to always work with nature’s natural patterns and progressions and knew that the sun loving annuals, that we have been growing and selling, were just the first step in working with natural succession and, to be a truly regenerative model and really work with nature rather than against her, it was necessary to assist succession and encourage a move to a more perennial based farm system. This meant planting fruiting trees and shrubs that we knew would ultimately supersede our vegetable enterprise.

We still grow vegetables, to feed our family and have a little surplus to sometimes sell but, from a farming point of view, we are moving towards focussing on perennial tree crop based agriculture model.

While some mixed, multi-strata orchards were planted some years ago and are now baring fruit, other areas are still young and we have some time to wait before we can really implement our vision of a ‘fruit farm on the wild side’ where members of our local community can roam our forgeable landscape picking fruit, berries, nuts and herbs as they go or for us to sell high quality fruits and value added products to local restaurants and shops. Until then we can enjoy looking out over the farm and see a canopy of different aged trees slowly expanding with our goats, sheep, geese, hens and vegetable gardens all integrated into the mixed areas of woodland.
We are beginning to bend and blur the line between farming and gardening by designing a landscape with the detail and diversity of a garden but on the scale of a small farm.