We have some big news to share with you today.
At the end of the current growing season we will be moving on to a new adventure.
We know this news might disappoint or worry some of you, who have come to rely on our produce and might wonder what will happen next.
First of all, let us ensure you that everything will be running as usual until Christmas 2022: CSA boxes, custom orders, courses and everything else will be totally unaffected. As for 2023, please be reassured that we are working very hard behind the scenes to guarantee that Living Soil Garden will carry on operating exactly in the way you’ve known it (if not better!) without interruption. Both John and us are currently looking for somebody who will take over the operation and keep it running with the same values and following the same regenerative principles. We have already received the interest of some great regenerative growers. At this time your support is more needed than ever, to show how keen the community of Exeter is on ethically-grown, nutrient-dense food and ecosystem regeneration.
If you know of anybody who might be interested in this opportunity, feel free to point them to this link.
Some of you will be wondering why we are moving on to pastures new and what we will be doing. We will be starting, setting up and running a new and larger market garden in Florence, Italy. Our hope and aim is that this will be a state-of-the art no-dig regenerative garden, including innovative elements of syntropic agroforestry, education and research collaborations with the amazing OrtoBioattivo to evaluate the nutrient-density of regeneratively produced vegetables. Going back to Italy will allow us to be closer to our families. We will also have to engage with the challenges that Mediterranean ecosystems face and are already greatly affecting food production.
Although we are obviously very excited about this new project, we are equally sad to be leaving Goffin Land, Exeter and its lovely community, and the UK too. We have learned an immense amount from the land, the plants, the soil, nearby growers, and from you all - and we are deeply grateful for the love and support you’ve been showing us.
We are also greatly indebted to John, the custodian of Goffin Land, for believing in us and giving us this great opportunity to learn and grow in the magic place he has been working hard to create.
We have been giving all we have to Living Soil Garden and have tried our best to leave not only the land, but the natural and social ecosystems we interacted with better than we found them when we first started. We don’t know whether, by the end of 2022, we will have succeeded in this ambitious task, but hopefully we will have managed to “inoculate” something new, which we hope will carry on nourishing this community long into the future.
Please note that we still have places available on our courses, and that there will be sessions in September and October. So, if you would like to fetch one last opportunity to get a bit of inspiration directly from us, please visit the course section on our website.