What You'll be Supporting

As you can see, we have done a lot with our start-up funding over the first eighteen months but there is still more to do to
completely implement our five year business plan.

​Thirty Five Social Farming  Day Placements per week

​To ensure our initial developments are fully utilised by adults with learning disabilities, we require the start-up wages for an additional full time member of staff. The Day Placements Project Manager will host days, process applications, liaise with social
workers, other charities and organisations, manage our Essex County Council contract, ensure our continued regulatory compliance and keep all relevant paperwork updated. We hope this person will have experience with Camphill or a similar setting.

e also require a nine seat people carrier to transport co-workers to and from the farm to local pick up points. We intend to lease hire this vehicle so the funding needed is for the initial down payment and the first few months, after which trading will cover
the costs.

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More Chickens|

Demand for eggs is beyond our current twenty hens so we are looking to set up a second woodland run for a further twenty birds.​

Rainwater Harvesting & Bore-Hole

We need to address the issue of irrigation for the vegetables and can do this through harvesting rainwater from the barn roofs and also sink a bore-hole with an extraction license.

Student & Volunteer
Accommodation

We need at last one extra pair of hands for the vegetable growing over the Spring and Summer and are looking to provide accommodation
in a static caravan for students, long term volunteers or apprentices. We have a secluded pitch in the woods with its own vehicle access waiting for the caravan.

​Natural Bee Guardianship  Support for Other Insects

At least three more Sun Hives will be made to give homes to local swarms.  One acre of grassland will be put into wild flowers for all pollinators and other insects.

​Community Farm Shop

With the increased production, we can now justify a simple farm shop which will initially open once or twice a week and when the farm is hosting events. The shop will link to the veggie store and sell vegetables, beef, lamb, eggs, craft items and knitting yarn. It is adjacent to our car parking area and will further connect us to the local community.

Vegetable Storage

A cool, dark environment with air flow is best and we have this in an old ‘Dutch’ barn. It needs shelving, benches, a small refrigerated
area and a simple canvas dividing wall.

Berkshire Pigs​

One boar, one sow and all the necessary fencing and water supply to develop a ‘strip grazing’ system for these outdoor pigs. We are aiming to feed the pigs from produce grown on the farm.

Multi-Purpose Function Room for Fifty People

​We host a wide variety of groups on the farm and sometimes there can be over forty people present in one day. We currently have to split up to eat and this creates divisions. So, we are planning a large indoor atrium style room which spans the existing kitchen and craft room to provide a practical, multifunctional space for up to fifty people at any one time.

​The room will be available for local groups to hire for their functions and also create a practical workshop space on days when the weather is unfavourable. In the winter we will be able to eat our lunch next to the cows!

Expansion of Vegetable Production

In November 2017 we sub-soiled and
shallow ploughed an extra acre for future vegetable growing. It has been planted to green manures to improve the structure and nutrient levels in the soil. Once we have the student accommodation, veggie storage, water supply and farm shop ready we can then turn our attention to this extra acre. It will have another poly-tunnel and besides producing food for eating it will also grow Demeter certified seed for the Seed Co-Operative in Lincolnshire. The celestial garden is also looking for a new gardener to grow herbs, cut flowers and small scale vegetables.
The idea is to combine a sensory
garden with food growing.