Our Market Garden, located in the heart of our organic farm in Devon, was launched in the summer of 2020 to complement our closed loop sustainability ethos on our organic farm and provide the freshest organic vegetables to our farm shops and restaurants.
Our aim to grow some of the more unusual organic fruit and vegetables, with a focus on heritage and heirloom varieties. Growing in a market garden system and on a much smaller scale allows for us to have more varieties and choose these based on taste and nutrition. Other large-scale farmers often choose crops based on success rates and profit margins. We also benefit from being able to speak directly to our shops, cafes and restaurants to grow with more knowledge of what our customers, staff and chefs would like. Our market garden is always looking for new and exciting produce, with a Market Garden Fruit & Veg Box on the horizon for 2022.
Taking lessons from all manner of growing techniques, we aim to not only grow amazingly tasty produce but also to give something back to the land that is the soul of our business. Across the farm and beyond, we operate a closed loop system where possible. The intention is nothing from outside the farm aids the productivity on the farm. Be this nourishment for our herd (they only graze on grass) to fertiliser for our market garden (we feed our plants with naturally occurring nutrients), making use of what the land provides us. Our herd is fed on our luscious grass, wildflowers and hay all year round, and at the Market Garden we utilise waste as compost and nurture the soil as well as growing food.
A large majority of compost for our predominantly ‘no-dig’ organic market garden comes from our own food waste, with the addition of waste created by our herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle. This mixed with coffee from our Farm Shops and green waste from the Garden allows for us to create the healthiest of starts in life for our veggies.
To find out more about our Market Garden, click here.
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