The photos on the Meet the Gorringes page start with us looking surprisingly clean.
Please note: this is not our usual condition.
Most days at Lower Blakemere Farm in Herefordshire involve muck, compost, cows, pigs, grain, bird seed, worms, dogs and the general organised chaos of running a working family farm and Wiggly Wigglers at the same time. But we thought it was about time we properly introduced ourselves – clean boots and all.
Lower Blakemere Farm is about 800 acres, with around 100 acres of permanent pasture and wildlife areas, and the rest growing seed and arable crops such as grass seed, barley, wheat, oats and oilseed rape. We run a suckler herd of beef cattle (gradually moving over to Stabilisers), keep pigs, and sell our own Beefy Boxes, Piggy Boxes and Sausage Boxes direct from the farm.
Having had several really poor years and dealing with floods and droughts we read Gabe Browns book Dirt to Soil and have now been accepted onto the Regenified programme run by Herefordshire Hub in liaison with Gabe Browns company - Regenified - you’ll note the photo of Monty and I meeting Gabe - Now our farm practises are inspired by regenerative agriculture – we’re aiming to building living soils, stronger crops and more wildlife by following the six core principles: keeping soil covered, disturbing it less, growing diverse crops, keeping roots in the ground, working with livestock and managing with common sense and observation (and a lot of looking at worms).
We’ve already been busy improving our soils using Bokashi, compost, worms, fungi and beneficial microbes – basically feeding the underground workforce as well as the above-ground one.
This year we’re getting even more excited by:
-
Restoring our pond field for birds, bugs, biodiversity and cows with your help (this is what any tips you give at the checkout go towards)
-
Growing 35 acres of birdseed crops to supply ingredients for Wiggly Wigglers’ own mixes (from our fields to your feeders).
So if you’d like to meet the people behind the worms, the bird food and the compost bins – and see us briefly looking respectable – click through to Meet the Gorringes - keep in touch
Heather Phil and Monty.
