Treflach Community Growing Hub

The environment

The garden is evolving, you can see the changes in the soil and soil structure as we add the compost and biochar mixture. It is visited by many more birds, who love digging into the footpath mulch seeking out the plentiful worms. We are using the garden as a teaching resource and the core ideas we hope to communicate, no dig, organic, etc, are clear in the progress of the garden. We have added a wildlife pond recently, it is exciting to see that fill up and t anticipate future visitors. We have had the whole core area under cultivation this year, progress on the past, and this has allowed us to establish many new plants, fruit trees and shrubs, we had an excellent berry crop this summer. At this stage, the progress is in the soil, its structure, the rising carbon content and the plants growing in it. We also know we are contributing to a farm wide ecosystem, with many solitary bees visiting the garden for example, along with owls and other top predators. We have developed and are now implementing an on farm compost management system, this links the garden to the pigs and chickens, who process garden waste and return it to us as compost. Furthermore, we use wood chip and biochar to soak up the nitrogen and this really helps with the composting process.

The local economy

The farm is home to a series of inter related businesses. They have a farm shop of their own produce, a yoga studio and classroom for visiting groups, and offer events and other activities. The visitors to the garden and the events we have staged have all become aware of the wider attractions of the farm, and this has led to many more interactions with the farm businesses. We see a longer term potential to become a hub for activities and training and all of what our garden project is doing is in line with the farms other objectives. All of this is a stimulus to the wider local economy.

Volunteering, jobs & education

We offer two volunteer sessions each week, these have been regularly attended. We have 4 new regular volunteers plus an evolving pool of less regular volunteers. We have not created any full time jobs, but we are holding regular educational sessions in permaculture design and are currently holding our first professional course, in partnership with another group based at the farm. This has been a significant achievement for us.

Arts, culture & heritage

This is not our key area, but i would argue that we are contributors to ecological heritage, and also in communicating to the public about the farm, farming and the many challenges facing the industry. Farming is very much part of the local heritage.

Activity, health and leisure

We use hand tools only, organic methods and work in a relaxed fashion. Many of the volunteers report that they find this therapeutic. We also find that there is a lot of supportive conversation between volunteers when working in the garden. This is also very much an important' part of the overall experience.