MeddwlCoed – Forest Garden Farm
meddwl am goed – coed sy'n meddwl
We had an exciting day yesterday. It was the first time Roz and I had been up to Nant-y-Meillion since we exchanged and completed, and we were there for an Environmental Impact Assessment from the Welsh government to make sure we were safe to do what we wanted to do and we weren't going to... Continue Reading →
I promised you I'd come back today with the big reveal and some more information about our brand-new holding which is ours and belongs to us (still buzzing!) The farm is just off the A483 outside the village of Llandybie (pronounced Thlan-di-bee-ay, approximately), about three miles north of Ammanford. It's at the very top of... Continue Reading →
An interesting article about small-scale sustainable horticulture in Wales…
By Alicia Miller
When my husband, Nathan Richards, and I started our farm, Troed y Rhiw in West Wales, growing a wide range of organic vegetables and soft fruit, many of our local farming neighbours were surprised and even openly sceptical. Were we mad growing horticulture crops on what was thought of as livestock land, with 6–8” of poorly drained topsoil? The farm was not in good heart to start with, having been neglected for more than 30 years – the challenge to bring the land back to health perhaps seemed foolhardy to them. The east of the UK was much better for vegetable production – why should we bother way out here in the west to grow food?
Remarkably, just .08% of agricultural land in Wales is currently used for horticulture production and the sector is in long term decline in terms of land use. While this…
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Great news, everyone! We have officially signed the contracts for our land purchase, and we exchanged and completed on Friday. WE HAVE A FARM NOW! *leaps around excitedly* *loses a large chunk of toast to one of the Ungardeners* And our farm has a name - come back tomorrow for the big naming reveal!
Ever since Chris and I did an intensive three-day mushroom cultivation course at Feed Bristol we've been determined to grow some mushrooms of our own. Particularly winecaps, which grow well on most substrates (the substrate is the substance you grow mushrooms on, so coffee grounds, an old log, a pile of goat poo etc) and... Continue Reading →
There is a track up to the land we're buying (any week now, solicitors and estate agents have shut down for Christmas but we hope to have a confirmation by mid-January, fingers crossed). It's sloped but not steep, and it's very wet. You might be able to get a 4x4 up it, but Bessie and... Continue Reading →
We had a lot of pears all at once in the Meddwl Coed house, so I stewed most of them and stashed them in the freezer. This is a recipe that uses up those stewed pears - all the recipes I found seemed to be quite complicated and involved stem ginger and fresh sliced pears,... Continue Reading →
What to do with four large pumpkins after you've made pumpkin pie? One of our challenges at MeddwlCoed is to come up with new recipes for the things we grow so we don't just eat the same old meals with whatever happens to be in season. Soups are good because you can experiment, and experimenting... Continue Reading →
It's been a while since I blogged here, sorry. We have now had the allotment for 11 months, and as the year has just turned to autumn, with the pears over and the apples ripening, I thought I'd let you know how it was going. There have been a few non-starters (leeks, sprouts), but there... Continue Reading →
