Beenleigh Meadows Farm : Blog

First Weekend of Glampers on the Farm!

beenleigh.meadows@googlemail.com — 2011-04-19T12:58:10+01:00

First weekend of glamping campers at Beenleigh Meadows Farm, or more precisely, Haven Meadows Yurt Camp at Beenleigh Meadows Farm (what a mouthful).... WOW! It felt like the build up to a show, and let me tell ya we premièred very very well if I may say so myself. Only a couple of hiccoughs..... one being we forgot to put teaspoons in the Hobbit yurt (big punishment awaits Monica) and, more crucially, we mistimed the firing up of the hot tub - so a 6 o'clock start became a 9 o'clock start – fine for those who booked the later session but not so for the first hot-tubbers.....

...who had to make do and mend!

Not really, look what they really got.....

Atmosphere.. attention to detail..... just a bit delayed! However we now know how long we need to stoke the fire for.

The first weekend of glampers was indeed an unqualified success, and for me a real breakthrough; boy was I nervous about having people on the farm, but the reality was very very surprising – it was a pleasure!

Now our next hurdle, apart from being 3 single parents starting a business, is the planning department. It seems we might have to go for full planning permission for the camp site, as it does not fall within the 28-day Permitted Development Framework Directive 211 Development Policy Amendment no 3.34. This is a deeply exciting development as it will cost us loads of money and time – which of course as single working parents we have loads of!

It's about time the English followed the Welsh and get a devolved parliament so that we too can usher in a new development guidance that encompasses LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT. You see the planning law sees us (3 off grid yurts using sustainable principles) in the same light as Barrett Homes or Midas – no legal/planning distinction. No wonder this country is full of supermarkets and crappy homes.... who has the clout? Not low-impact developers that is for sure....

However there is hope – maybe we will see more farm shops and Earthships in the countryside soon? The Land Is Ours (TLIO) is a campaign group which looks at land rights and their Chapter 7 section offers support for low-impact developers...... so that's the next stop........ they produce a fantastically put together and very aesthetically pleasing publication called The Land..... highly recommended.....
So until the next time, keep on keeping on pioneers x x x x

Winter Busy-ness – and watch out, the yurts are landing!

beenleigh.meadows@googlemail.com — 2011-01-18T12:28:05+00:00

Today I noticed a real peak of creativity; amongst my friends, certainly in me and in the wider world – a feeling of a surge of energy..

We have been busy on the farm over the Winter – gone are the people and that heady mix of relaxation and harvest and abundance, in with the mud, the horizontal rain and the numerous winter jobs to be done. The ewes are now back on Dartmoor to lamb and their young will return once the grass has rested a bit.

This season we've done a load of hedge work, I say we, rather, a contractor.. the hedge lines badly needed attending to, they probably hadn't been touched in 50-odd years. Nevertheless the effect was... arresting. It looked so drastic, and perhaps it was... it put us all in a bit of a lather about issues of cost/sustainability/conservation as we swam the slippery scale of these factors. For my part, I do my best with the given resources, and sometimes some are scant and others are plenty – resources, that is.

I look forward to planting some whips into the gaps and to the gradual fluffing out of the landscape as we head into Spring, which provides much welcome return on the grey and soggy days of a Devon winter.

Preview Prices

Battling through the mud has been one thing, but battling through the mud trying also to continue on with the infrastructure that the Haven Meadows Yurt Camping venture requires come Spring is another thing. Now, by mid January, we are turning our heads toward the April opening with increased ardour, it's a stirring seed still but the shoot and flower won't take long. Time to prepare! As well as the practicalities of it we have been busy marketing and administrating.

We have made a decision to take a good third off our first year's prices as a gesture of invitation and goodwill, these are our preview prices for 2011 so take a look on our website and check out our 'introductory offers'! (Couldn't resist a flashing graphic).

This business will have at its core a real dedication to a long term vision as well as an offering of service to those who come to stay. The intention continues to be to do everything in the spirit of love, dedication and abundance, both within our business dealings as partners and toward the wider circle of customers.

So, in amongst the festivities, the pounds gained, familial bliss, stolen purses, life changes, muddy paths, fragile hearts and horizontal rain we wish you a joy filled Imbolc (February 2nd) and the blessings of mother earth's bounty to all. May we flourish in our own way and look forward to this first Spring festival.

If you wish to subscribe to the Haven Meadows Yurt Camp newsletter please click here.

Love, Steph

with Monica and Rina

x x x

Meaningful Work

beenleigh.meadows@googlemail.com — 2010-11-17T13:02:04+00:00

This new year (which it is) I have made a decision to separate, at least part of the time, my earning need from certain tasks I do on the farm.

If I were to consider all the economic pros and cons of everything I do, and only consider the economics, then I would indeed jack it all in.

The life of a typical contemporary farmer involves 12+ hour days, few (if any) holidays, a solitary existence and work driven & fuelled by fossil power – machines, tractors, quads and pick-ups, all for an average minimum wage, to produce the food we can obtain from global markets for a ¼ of the price. Unless you have at least 200 acres, subsidies to match and the credit to buy £60k tractors, that's how it is.....

This season your hobby farmer, me, myself & I will be processing a lot of the wood from the hedges by hand. The wood isn't even worth that effort. Winter days spent shaving and stacking and cutting and splitting the logs would make my logs worth thousands of pounds! Especially at the speed and rate I work,! Is it worth it? Like shearing the sheep, the current economics of the task lie in getting rid of the product (wood, wool) and not in using it. How crazy and counter-intuitive is that? And all because of the current economic model, the global market in which the true costs of things are skewed in an almost Orwellian paradox, and the disconnection between the product and the consumer is felt most keenly by people poorer and browner than us...

Bureaucracy is the enemy of Freedom..

However, I like to look behind things, and words, and there are two things have recently jumped out at me which I'd like to share. Firstly, the idea that some psychologists have posited, that work without tangible end-product renders us unconnected, dissatisfied and depressed, and in this society which rewards best those who work without this direct correlation of work and product/effect, who deal in virtual numbers and balances, ledgers, notions and the chimera of appearance, we are indeed feeling more disconnected, separate and depressed. We need to consider what is meaningful work. Is our work evident, is it tangible, is it something of use? Bureaucracy deals with this chimera of appearance, the work farmers do in that arena rewards ideas and notions; saying what funders/the EU/'the public' want to hear, and doing what they require them to do, infused with excessive and unending paper trails and mostly unrelated to the job the farmer should be doing; producing food - again the indirectness is at odds with a truly satisfying, productive life.

I forget the second point that jumped out at me, but it had something to do with the etymology of economy, it being related to home and family. Language has the power to uncover our blind spots, and changing language enables the blind spots to be exposed; this is what feminists were on about in the '70s and '80s; no, I'm not going to be defined in terms of my relationship to a man (Mrs. Hisname) (and yes I'm guilty of falling into that trap, look where it got me!), no, I'm not a he and I don't want to be lumped in with he with the assumption that of course we all know it could mean she! Woodsman, actor, farmer, all blokes aren't they? Housekeeper, nanny, nurse, are they blokes too? So don't tell me he is generic, and consequently don't tell me language is neutral. Back to economy = the natural law of family and home. Economy with its current implications needs to be seriously revised.

I would like to produce food myself, properly, one day. OK so there are limited markets for organic, non-fossil fuel subsidised food production that demands physical work not HP machines, but I still want to do it. Is this economical? To do with home and family (or community) YES! Is this economic in the current topsy turvy usage of the term? NO!

I'd like to produce my own fuel, OK I'll spend this season cutting and hacking, and resist that nice truck load of delivered seasoned logs, so that I have wood. Is this economical? Yes and no.... you get my drift? (Of course that nice truck load of delivered logs will serve me well too while I hone my wooding skills and get a babysitter to look after William so I can do the work!) That adds another dimension to the paradigm! YES!

So I can now say, if I were to consider all the economic pros and cons of everything I do, and only consider the economics, then I would indeed KEEP CALM & CARRY ON!

Over and out, written in haste, excuse any typos or flimsy reasoning ;-)

What Do We Produce at Beenleigh? How Do We / Should We Farm?

beenleigh.meadows@googlemail.com — 2010-10-26T10:52:32+01:00

Apart from the conservation / environmental activity, the open days and courses, and the yurt camping that makes up much of what we do here at Beenleigh Meadows Farm (BMF) you may also have noticed that at we have a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme running. It is quite new and I'm quite excited about it.

I'd like to see more local food producers truly supported for what they do, and in the post-oil / Transition age it is going to be essential that we begin to engage more fully with our local food production. Much of the Transition movement is motived (as I see it) by activists who hold global perspectives on global problems – which is truly inspiring. Many argue that the focus should be on vegetable cropping and horticulture. But as I see it, although livestock production can be detrimental on an industrial, global scale (think Amazon, soya, cattle, McDonalds, etc.), I cannot see us a) living without domesticated animals and animal husbandry, and b) South Devon's permanent pasture and common land being turned over to horticulture.

It's not just vegetables we need to be able to produce ourselves – much of the land in Devon is suited only to pasture and therefore maintaining the ecology in Devon is utterly dependent on supporting local livestock farmers. I suppose I'm biased, my farm really is only suited for grazing and what a stunning place those animals have shaped.... not to mention Dartmoor.... perhaps I'm stirring up a hornet's nest, but these are my ideas anyway..

As you may or may not know, BMF has joined forces with Oliver Parsons who's a 'young farmer' from Dartmoor.* The sheep and lambs grazing at BMF originate from Oliver's family farm, Higher Michelcombe Farm, near Holne on Dartmoor. The stock come to BMF to enjoy some lowland pasture.

Oliver normally sells his lambs at market as store lambs – to be fattened and sold by other farmers to the supermarkets. Oliver had other ideas – to fatten the animals himself and sell them locally, keeping the returns within a small, local radius, connecting the community with the farming and ensuring that food miles are limited. But he felt that the (almost) guaranteed income and ease of process that livestock markets provide (as he said to me today, 'farming is hard enough') is by far the most sensible option for him. And administrating such a scheme would only add to his workload.

His ideal would be to sell his produce through a CSA scheme which would operate as follows: people express an interest in obtaining local lamb direct from him; you pay up front, or pledge to pay on receipt, for a half lamb (i.e., make a commitment to buy half a lamb). Then those lambs which have been 'sold' (pledged) we continue to fatten at BMF instead of selling them at market. They remain within the community and Oliver has a guaranteed market which is local and engaged.

And this is where I come in – I decided this was just the ticket for BMF and that I would like to support the set up and running of this scheme. I'd like to because I feel I would like to continue to learn about animal husbandry, but also because I feel there is a big breach between the alternative / Transition movement and local producers.

Look, I'm an urbanite, with an arts/media background, what do I know? Perhaps not much but I am interested in community, and unity post-Transition, in local resilience and in supporting this community that has a long and rich history, and my small farm has its role to play in that. As an incomer it seems only polite to do so.

Nuts & Bolts

You can buy a half lamb for £85.00, delivered free within ten miles of Totnes. Half a lamb takes up about two drawers in your freezer and consists of a leg (2 roasts), shoulder (boned and rolled), 6 chops, 6 cutlets, 6 chump chops and lamb mince - approximately 8kg of meat. If you live within 10 miles of Totnes you get it delivered free. You can sign up HERE. You also have the opportunity to obtain the sheepskin for an additional sum.

If you want to get further involved you can join the CSA. For an annual fee of £24.00 you can obtain your half lamb share for £75.00. As a member you can also attend 4 social/seasonal events per year on the farm – Spring lambing, Summer shearing, a harvest festival and a Christmas/New Year 'do'. You and your family can attend these socials for free. You get a connection with the land at BMF, with the food you've bought into and with the people who are producing it. They have always been fun and entertaining events – we've had between 15 and 50 people at our events and they are much fun (take a look at our online photo album) They're also fantastic for kids – who, in-between playing in the stream and enjoying the wonderland that is the meadows, somehow will get an insight into where their food comes from and how it is produced.

To join the scheme, or to find out more, click HERE.

So please consider our scheme. If you have enough spasce in your freezer you'll be getting a great deal – and deepening your involvement with your food and the people who produce it.

A Few Facts:

The proportion of farmers under 35 has halved between 1990 and 2005 with only 3.1% of farm holders aged under 35. The average (median) age of farmers in the UK was 58 (Eurostat, 2005). Source: http://www.ecifm.rdg.ac.uk/maclab3.htm
Agricultural earnings are consistently about 20% lower than other industrial counterparts. Source: http://www.ecifm.rdg.ac.uk/maclab3.htm
Is British agriculture so incapable of standing on its own two feet that it needs to be treated like a lame duck; and if it is lame, does it need a pair of crutches or a surgical operation. Body (1982). Source: http://www.ecifm.rdg.ac.uk/maclab3.htm
How grazing can sequester carbon, a nice 5 minute filmlet. Click here to watch http://www.theecologist.org/investigations/food_and_farming/320656/can_cows_help_stop_climate_change.html

And if you have 10 minutes, this is utterly inspiring! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xShCEKL-mQ8

The first of an occasional blog – what is a blog? And more importantly, why?

beenleigh.meadows@googlemail.com — 2010-10-13T11:11:05+01:00

Well apparently it helps in raising your profile. That's good. I'm proud of my profile. But perhaps also to express myself, my story, the twists and turns and certainly the comedy of my life. Well, the events around my life as a landowner and... project manager of sorts. I've been thinking that I have very little creative outlet, writing has always been a passion, why not do a course or a writing retreat? Well, no need – and little money for a course anyway (certainly not much time). No, a blog will do. Thanks Matt for the reminder. Time to get creative – and share!

It all started with my becoming a vegetarian. What started? My quest to right wrongs. To point out my rebellion. I then danced to Amnesty's beat a bit – still I do, so much suffering. Then, in my late teens, I had the chance to be repetitively inspired – inspired perhaps by the repetitive beats of 1988/9! Acid house shook my world and lead me on to beat poetry and Frazer Clarke and '60s music and ideals, and travelling. I was well on course for something else. I dropped out of Goldsmiths where I'd been studying Anthropology , disappointed and impatient with college. I went travelling. I went to India, twice, for a total of 14 months. I WWOOFed (i.e., volunteered on organic farms and smallholdings), I went to festivals and Rainbow Gatherings throughout Europe, I was a real itinerant with a deep yearning for home... and my dream developed. To live in community, with nature, honouring the seasons and cycles and fostering an inner and outer resilience that would see us through the turbulence and tribulation bound to come..

About ten years, another degree and a kid later I chanced to pass an estate agent, and in the window was an advert, for 20 acres of land. I literally double-took. I asked my mum, who was child minding for me at the time, to hang on another hour or so, there was something important I had to see.

The rest is almost a blur, of suited and booted estate agency staff staggering on with me to this staggeringly beautiful patch of land in various states of ill appropriate attire, it's all a long story but look. Eight years on, here I am, still hanging in there. Well , not hanging in there looking! I bought it, and I'm still here.

When I bought the land I had no idea about anything – here's me, born in a city, raised in another two cities with a small (and unpleasant) patch of rural living in the middle. No, I was a city girl. Sure I'd learnt, on the road, how to make a fire, how to cook on a fire, a bit about herbs; I could chop wood, shit in a hole and piss in the freeze of dawn.... but land? Stock? Grazing? DEFRA? Neighbours? Planning laws? Hunting? Nada, no sabia nada!

But eight years on I'm still here and I'd like to share my journey with you. I hope that's a good enough intro and that you'll visit again.