Meeting the Experts
Last week ten of us went to the Meet the Experts event at River Cottage. The day comprised a packed programme of talks with a buffet lunch included. There were back-to-back speakers in three indoor venues and an hourly farm tour. With so much going on we dashed from lecture to lecture, depending on which expert we wanted to see, sometimes joining up with or bumping into others from our group.
After a wet morning, the weather picked up and we all got a look around the farm and the kitchen garden. Being early April, there wasn’t much growing, although the sheltered position meant the Broad Beans were far in advance of ours here. However, there were plenty of baby farm animals to coo over, the piglets being particular favourites. A tipi equipped with a wood burner and hot drinks was a welcome retreat from the outdoors.
Everyone agreed that the main experts were very inspiring. We all particularly liked garden writer Sally Nex, who talked about self-sufficiency; no-dig expert Charles Dowding; and Stephanie Hafferty who discussed the use of herbal potions for home and health. River Cottage’s Will Livingstone (Head Gardener) and Dan Powell (Farm Manager) were also well-liked and informative.
We even got to eat in some of the sessions. Ash Wheeler from Trill Farm brought along a range of beautiful salad and herb leaves to sample (Anise Hyssop was a revelation), inspiring us to grow more winter salads, and Josiah Meldrum from Hodmedod’s got us excited about growing a bigger range of beans and peas - green lentils, czar beans and marrowfat peas next year!
The main message from all the gardeners was to grow organically and concentrate on improving soil fertility. In fertile soil plants will grow well and thrive and are more likely to resist attacks by pests. We learned that patience during an initial plague by pests is needed in order to allow time for the pest predators to be attracted to the feast and move in and restore balance. Growing plants to attract the predator bugs and companion planting were also suggested.
We also found the advice given about which varieties to grow very helpful. Perennial vegetables such as nine-star broccoli were recommended, as well as growing both early and late varieties of the same crop to extend the season. The Kuri squash was given a thumbs up for its reliability.
Another idea we liked was to try to become self-sufficient - not in everything at once, but in just one aspect of feeding ourselves: to grow all our own herbs or chilli peppers for example. If we are successful and have excess we can then barter in return for other foodstuffs such as eggs or potatoes.
Most of the experts were lovely people, passionate, inspiring and eloquent. Big thanks especially to Charles and Steph who generously posed for a photo with a few of us (see below).
After a wet morning, the weather picked up and we all got a look around the farm and the kitchen garden. Being early April, there wasn’t much growing, although the sheltered position meant the Broad Beans were far in advance of ours here. However, there were plenty of baby farm animals to coo over, the piglets being particular favourites. A tipi equipped with a wood burner and hot drinks was a welcome retreat from the outdoors.
Everyone agreed that the main experts were very inspiring. We all particularly liked garden writer Sally Nex, who talked about self-sufficiency; no-dig expert Charles Dowding; and Stephanie Hafferty who discussed the use of herbal potions for home and health. River Cottage’s Will Livingstone (Head Gardener) and Dan Powell (Farm Manager) were also well-liked and informative.
We even got to eat in some of the sessions. Ash Wheeler from Trill Farm brought along a range of beautiful salad and herb leaves to sample (Anise Hyssop was a revelation), inspiring us to grow more winter salads, and Josiah Meldrum from Hodmedod’s got us excited about growing a bigger range of beans and peas - green lentils, czar beans and marrowfat peas next year!
The main message from all the gardeners was to grow organically and concentrate on improving soil fertility. In fertile soil plants will grow well and thrive and are more likely to resist attacks by pests. We learned that patience during an initial plague by pests is needed in order to allow time for the pest predators to be attracted to the feast and move in and restore balance. Growing plants to attract the predator bugs and companion planting were also suggested.
We also found the advice given about which varieties to grow very helpful. Perennial vegetables such as nine-star broccoli were recommended, as well as growing both early and late varieties of the same crop to extend the season. The Kuri squash was given a thumbs up for its reliability.
Another idea we liked was to try to become self-sufficient - not in everything at once, but in just one aspect of feeding ourselves: to grow all our own herbs or chilli peppers for example. If we are successful and have excess we can then barter in return for other foodstuffs such as eggs or potatoes.
Most of the experts were lovely people, passionate, inspiring and eloquent. Big thanks especially to Charles and Steph who generously posed for a photo with a few of us (see below).
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