Vegetable Garden
Our vegetable garden is fully organic and managed using a no-dig system. It supplies a significant portion of our vegetable needs and helps us to feed our visitors. Instead of digging and cultivating the ground, we smother weeds with cardboard/newspaper and well-rotted cow manure.
Using this method, we don’t disturb soil life such as worms and fungal threads which provide many benefits to plants. Every year, soil and plant health improve and the need to water and fertilise decreases.
The no-dig garden is producing very tasty, nutritious, biologically active vegetables. We use polyculture – combining vegetables with beneficial plants and with other ‘companion’ vegetables to increase plant health. We are saving seeds and allowing vegetables to self-seed freely.
We have some trees and shrubs mixed into the vegetable garden and are transitioning it to an open canopy forest garden.
Food Forests
Food forests are food producing systems that mimic forest eco-systems in order to
- produce more food per square metre
- …with less maintenance.
- sequester more carbon
- house more biodiversity …than conventional agricultural systems.
We have a small, 400m2 food forest with
- Apple, cherry autumn olive and juneberry (Canopy layer)
- Blackcurrants, chokeberries, raspberries, goji berries, blackberries, oregan grape and pheasant berries (Shrub layer)
- Rose (Climber layer)
- Mallow, lovage, Ishikura onion, daffodil garlic, sorrel and more (Herbaceous layer)
- Strawberry, wild rocket, sage, thyme, mint, rhubarb, catmint and more (Groundcover layer)
- Artichoke and Maximillian sunflower (Root layer)
We have started planting a larger, half acre of food forest and, in conjunction with Ferbane Tidy Towns, St Hilda’s Services and Gallen Community School, we are gradually creating a public food forest in Ferbane Business Park.
Cattle
We have a small herd of about 10 angus beef suckler cattle who graze on 12 acres of diverse meadow. We aim to manage them using a mob grazing system.
Mob grazing aims to mimic grazing animals’ behaviour in the wild. The cattle are rotated to a fresh, small paddock each day. The grass and other plants in each paddock have a chance to grow long and put on a lot of root mass before the cattle graze and trample them.
The high density of cattle manuring the ground, the trampling effect of their hooves and the plants shedding roots stimulates and increases microbial activity and adds organic matter in the soil. Mob grazing sequesters carbon, increases soil fertility, increases biodiversity and produces healthier cattle.
This is happening more slowly than anticipated on our farm as the soil is very depleted and light. We are beginning to gradually convert the meadows into silvopasture, which involves trees being incorporated into the mob grazing system. Research has shown silvopasture to enhance all of the benefits of mob grazing further.
Hens
We have hens which supply us with eggs. They also help us to reduce waste by eating kitchen scraps and help us to cultivate ground for growing vegetables and keep grass down around young trees. We sometimes use a chicken tractor to move them around. Their diet is organic, locally grown, corn free, soy free and GM free.
We hope to expand egg production into a commercial operation.
Native Woodland
We planted 6.5 acres of native woodland in 2015. It is made up of oak, scot’s pine, elder, birch, rowan and alder. We are starting to see early signs of native woodland ground cover plants creeping in.
Education
We offer workshops in permaculture, foraging, horticulture, agroforestry, upcycling, natural textiles, etc.
Coppice Woodland
In 2019, we planted ¼ acre of coppice woodland, comprising of hazel, alder, oak, willow and rowan. This will provide some of our firewood needs.
Hedgerow Management
We are very fortunate to have 100 year+ old hedgerows, some of which can be classed as heritage hedgerows. We do not trim the tops, only the sides to prevent them from obstructing roads. Our hedgerows are rich in plant and animal biodiversity. They provide much needed shelter from the wind, food and medicine and they increase soil fertility on the farm.
We are currently working on closing up gaps in the hedgerows by planting native trees and shrubs and traditional hedge laying.
Syntropic Agroforestry Strips
We three 35-metre-long agroforestry strips containing apple, pear, cherry, hazel, walnut, sweet chestnut and gingko biloba trees, underplanted with a mix of other edibles (including blackcurrants, rosa rugosa, strawberries, sage, oregano, rosemary, fennel, broad beans and wood mallow) and beneficial plants (including willow, hawthorn, wild cherry, elaeagnus, comfrey and phacelia).
Agoroforestry strips are similar to a food forest but have more order, making them easier to manage on a commercial scale. Syntropic agroforestry makes use of the natural connections between communities of plants to maximise yield, water conservation, soil building, biological activity and carbon sequestration.
Bees
We have a hive of honey bees. We are still learning how to best care for them. We have planted a year round supply of nectar for them (e.g, gorse, elaeagnus, comfrey, viburnum) on top of the many wild nectar-rich plants already here (e.g. clover, beaked hawksbeard, ivy).
Salvaging & Upcycling
With help from our wider community/network of helpers and visitors, we are continuously salvaging pallets, building materials and anything else useful we come across. We use pallets as firewood as well as upcycling them into gates, furniture and other things. This summer, we plan to build a shed, a chicken coupe and an outdoor kitchen from mostly salvaged materials. We also salvage cardboard and newspaper for our no-dig gardens.
Humanure
Humans are the only animals who flush their excrement into the sea and other water bodies instead of returning excess nutrients to the earth. We have only been using flush toilets for about 100 years. In the course of that time, our soils have rapidly depleted whilst the ocean has become dangerously nitrified.
At Coole Eco community, we use compost toilets, also known as dry toilets. Sawdust is thrown into the toilet after each use, neutralizing the nitrogen and smell. When composted correctly for 2 years, the end product is guaranteed to be free of all pathogens and cannot be distinguished from any other rich compost.
Coole Eco Community 