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Growing our own

Update from the field

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2019 created a revolution in our plans for growing sea buckthorn. The decision to harvest the berries by cutting branches and then freezing them so the fruit can be easily shaken off meant creating our own processing machinery, but it also meant managing the plants differently.

In countries where this practice is common, the plants have a single stem, approximately one metre high. Branches grow from the top of this stem which are then harvested every three years.

Our intent up until 2017, was to hand pick our berries. So we allowed our plants to become multi-stemmed with multiple side shoots. Now all these have to go.

To do this too suddenly would potentially kill the plants, so we will remove the lower branches over a three year period allowing the plants to adapt to this new form.  It is a risk and some plants, or some varieties might not adapt to the process, but that is the nature of developing the sea buckthorn crop.

Pruning off these branches would normally be done when the plants are fully dormant. Our sea buckthorn, both the Siberian and Latvian have had to adapt to our local climate. By the end of January out of 14 varieties , 12 will be showing their first leaves. Pruning off larger branches is undesirable once the plants are out of dormancy, so this hard pruning process will stop in February.

The next major undertaking will be to start planting the 4000 one year old cuttings that we imported from Siberia in October. This will start a new organic plantation taking on all the knowledge we have gained over the past ten years. It is a commitment for the farm as we move further into the era of climate change and the need to adapt to potentially more challenging conditions.

Managing adaption is an interesting concept in an era of climate change. Milder weather will change the way plants behave. If their growing cycle starts earlier in the year, will they continue on to grow viable crops, particularly if the key development stages in the growing cycle are vulnerable to the uncertainties of late winter/early spring weather.

This is a problem if one grows crops in an open, soil based field environment. Growing food in soilless controlled environments may become the solution to all these issues. Technologically feasible these methods can be energy intensive. However we produce food it will have to be sustainable. There are many politically motivating concepts being promoted globally as to how we are going to feed the world. For us now however we have the reality of considering how we respond to reducing our carbon footprint; our energy use; our resource use; our waste. This will be a primary plan for 2020. We may be organic, 50% of our farm may be devoted to wildlife habitat, but the devil is in the detail. Responding to climate change is the responsibility of each and every one of us – neither money nor technology can buy another planet.

nutrition

British Sea Buckthorn – Natural Antioxidants to boost your every-day detox – a simple solution to staying healthy this winter

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2020 sees the start of our new blog series by our registered Nutritionist Dr Lucy Williamson. Here Lucy talks about the important role of antioxidants in combating the stress of busy lives and how using British Sea Buckthorn can provide an answer.

The British Sea Buckthorn Company are starting 2020 fully organically certified and with hopes of a juiced berry product to add to those already available here.  Having enjoyed frozen berries directly from the British Sea Buckthorn Company in Essex this winter, my family have so far had the healthiest winter on record! Juicing the berry will produce a concentrated source of all its nutrients – read on to find out why its antioxidants are a fabulous and natural way to boost your health this winter…

‘Detox’ – a familiar word in January!

After a little over-indulgence over the festive season there’s often a desire for a ‘detox’ to get the year off to a healthy start…  In fact, our everyday metabolism, in using oxygen, is constantly producing potentially toxic by-products known as free radicals, unstable compounds which if not removed from the body, lead to cell damage, a process known as Oxidative Stress. External stressors such as lack of sleep, illness, medications, poor diet and lifestyle and even hard workouts at the gym are also known to increase oxidative stress.  Research is now showing this potential cell damage, which is basically the ageing process, to be both a cause and a consequence of chronic illness – oxidation of cholesterol ‘packages’ within the blood stream causing damage to blood vessel walls leading to heart disease and oxidation of cell DNA being a precursor to Cancer. Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and Cancer also result in a higher level of oxidative stress in the body. Detoxification is the process by which antioxidants remove these potential toxins from the body and so optimise our long-term health.1, 2

The Good News?

Our body is actually detoxifying all the time! This is a key role of our liver and kidneys with our skin, digestive system and lungs also playing their part. It’s essential that we eat foods that provide our bodies with the nutrients it needs to manufacture antioxidants for this process, such as Vitamins E (tocopherols) and A (Carotenoids). Unlike other nutrients, we can’t store antioxidants, so continuous manufacture is really important. Many foods, mainly of plant origin, also supply ‘ready-made’ antioxidants (also known as phytonutrients or bioactives). British Sea Buckthorn may be a small berry but it’s packed full of polyphenols and many other types of antioxidants!

How do Antioxidants protect against cell damage?

Many of the antioxidants in Sea Buckthorn produce their effect at the cellular level by altering how genes within the cell’s DNA are expressed, favouring the production of proteins required to make antioxidant enzymes. This process by which our gene expression can be altered by nutrition or other external environmental factors is known as Epigenetics and is currently the subject of exciting and rapidly growing research.

Generally, our body produces enough antioxidants to keep Oxidative Stress under control but if we’re exposed to stressors for a longer period of time which can happen for example during illness, with prolonged medicines, during intense physical exercise or from a lack of sleep, our antioxidant need is higher, therefore additional antioxidants from our food are beneficial. Boosting our antioxidants at this time of year especially, with antioxidant-rich food, is a great idea.

From a strong Immune system to help against ageing, Type 2 Diabetes and other chronic disease and a healthy glow, why not detox the natural way!

There are many types of antioxidants in our food, coming mainly from plants, giving them their colour to attract insects for pollination and protect them from stressors like UV light and disease. Berries, citrus fruit, brightly coloured vegetables, cocoa, coffee, tea, chocolate and red wine are all well-known (and rather tasty!) sources.

Sea Buckthorn antioxidants include Flavanoid polyphenols, Carotenoids (used to make Vitamin A) including Lycopene (also in tomatoes and thought to be key to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet), exceptionally high levels of Tocopherols (Vitamin E) and Superoxide Dismutase. Vitamins E, A and C in sea buckthorn are also used by our body cells to make our own antioxidants as well as their own roles as Vitamins. In preventing cell damage from oxidative stress mentioned above, these antioxidants ensure the many cells that make up our different body systems, function correctly. Of particular importance are the cells which line our blood vessels known as endothelial cells. These have an essential role in keeping blood pressure down and maintaining healthy blood vessel membranes; cell damage here increasing the risk of blood clots, heart disease and stroke in later life. Vitamin E is particularly important in the correct functioning of these cells and also our skin cells. The cells of our immune system have many different functions in fighting infection and controlling inflammation. Exposure to oxidative stress greatly reduces their ability to do this; antioxidants however ensure cell damage here is kept to a minimum and therefore promote best possible functioning of our immune system.  Superoxide Dismutase is a powerful enzyme antioxidant required and made by nearly by all living cells to protect them against cell damage from superoxide, a toxic, free radical produced in many metabolic reactions. British Sea Buckthorn provides a fabulous source to boost our supplies!

Sea Buckthorn vs Supplements?    

 

Research shows us that nutrients often work together to benefit each other. British Sea Buckthorn is a fabulous example with its multitude of nutrients all working together to enhance their overall effect. Vitamins E and A in particular are well known to work in synergy with each other increasing their protective function. Bioactives in whole food containing Polyphenol antioxidants are currently thought to increase the polyphenol antioxidant ability. Taking these nutrients out of their natural food and using as supplements may not be how nature intended. Research in mice has shown that too high a dose of a single antioxidant can lead to heart muscle damage.3

Polyphenol Antioxidants – Gut Health, Obesity and beyond

Our gut microbes – beneficial bacteria present in our large intestine, are known to be essential in the activation and absorption of polyphenol antioxidants. Current research is studying the products of this microbial polyphenol digestion (fermentation), which appear to promote further beneficial bacteria in our gut. A healthy gut microbiome is now known to have many long-term health benefits including reducing the risk of inflammatory disease, allergy, some types of cancer including bowel cancer, Type 2 Diabetes, overweight and obesity. Epidemiology, the study of population groups over a period of time, shows us that those with a higher intake of polyphenols have a reduced risk of obesity. Of course this may in part be due to a diet rich in polyphenol antioxidants being healthier overall, but some types of polyphenol antioxidants are known to reduce our ability to absorb sugars and store fat.4

Nutrient-rich and protecting biodiversity too…

The best food choices not only nurture human health but support the biodiversity of our ecosystems, from healthy soils to thriving flora and fauna with essential roles to play in maintaining nature as it should be. The British Seabuckthorn company nurture these principles and over the next few months we’ll be sharing with you all the need-to knows about this fabulous novel food. Busy, active lifestyles require nutrient-rich foods – there may be little spare time in the day to discover new natural, sustainable & functional food. As a registered Nutritionist, I’m happy to be on this journey working with the British Sea buckthorn Company to share the good news on this nutrient-rich crop with all its potential health benefits, responsibly farmed in Essex! Add these bright orange berries of happiness into your breakfast bowl, as dried berries into your nutty mix, drizzle rays of golden sea buckthorn oil over winter salads or with yogurt as a warm porridge topper and enjoy a cup of sea buckthorn tea too!

References:

  1. Williamson G (2017) The role of polyphenols in modern nutrition. Nutr Bulletin 42: 226-235
  2. Croy C et al (2018) The Role of Polyphenols in Human Health and Food Systems: A Mini-Review Frontiers in Nutrition 5, 87
  3. Rajasekaran NS et al. (2007) Human aB-Crystallin Mutation Causes Oxido-Reductive Stress and Protein Aggregation Cariomyopathy in Mice Cell; 130:427–439
  4. Williamson G (2013) Possible effects of dietary polyphenols on sugar absorption and digestion. Mol Nutr and Food Research 57: 48-57
Growing our own

Update from the Field

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David, who is in charge of managing our sea buckthorn field at Devereux Farm gives his update on what has been a difficult year in the field.

 

The New Year is a time for reflection and positive planning. I have to admit that it feels good to see 2019 behind us. The year started well with the building of our prototype harvesting system; purchase of a sprayer for applying foliar feeds; and the end of three years of transition to becoming fully organic certified. It was marred however by strong winds in March 2018 which created poor pollination resulting in a small, patchy crop of Siberian berries. This is the second year this has happened and it is a direct consequence of moving a plant from the cold climate of Siberia to our mild coastal weather. In effect it is an example of climate change but critically it is one that we can influence and the fact that we have seen good harvests from these plants in previous years shows that it was just one of those years.

Our harvesting method is now cutting branches, then freezing them in a cold store to -25 deg C. The branches are then put through our prototype berry separator. This removes the berries from the branches but some varieties, such as the Siberian Klaudia and Latvian plants carry a lot of leaf resulting in not all leaf being removed from the berries. So one project for 2020 is to modify the separator to refine the clearing process.

Choosing to harvest by branch cutting means that we need to prune our plants so they will be cut on a three or four year cycle. If plants are only going to be harvested once in three or four years it means we need to triple the size of our orchard. It was for that reason that we imported 4000 new plants from Siberia this autumn. This might sound simple but importing plants is a highly controlled process. Procedures are in place to prevent importing dangerous plant diseases into the country. It took 18 months to ensure the plants came from a certified disease free source – but better safe than sorry.

2019 has been a year of odd weather. By the end of September there had been no rain and the ground was baked hard. Since then it has not stopped and the soil is sodden. The unpredictability of weather was almost as trying as the activities of our politicians throughout the year. Brexit became a painful distraction through 2019 and at last it feels that we can now move on.

So for 2020 – again the Siberian variety Klaudia started to open its buds this week. By mid-February all varieties will be showing enough leaf to have their first spray feed. The ladurner cultivator will start to control the weeds under the plants as soon as the soil is dry enough. We will be extending our audio system to keep the jackdaws away, and trialling wind breaks to improve pollination. The focus for so long has been on growing sea buckthorn, but this year we will start product trials, juicing berries from which to offer British grown, organic sea buckthorn products, which we hope will be good news to those of you looking for a British product!

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year.

 

 

nutrition

British Seabuckthorn – a small berry with a big story to tell for Millennials!

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To explain all about the benefits of our sea buckthorn, we’ve teamed up with Registered Nutritionist Dr Lucy Williamson –

Busy, active lifestyles require nutrient-rich foods especially when combined with the stress of professional careers and demands of family life. There may be little spare time in the day to discover new natural, sustainable & functional food, planetary-health values which are becoming key in making great food choices. As a registered Nutritionist, I’m happy to be on this journey working with the British Seabuckthorn Company to share the good news on this nutrient-rich crop with all its potential health benefits, responsibly farmed in Essex!

Add these bright orange berries of happiness into your breakfast bowl, as dried berries into your nutty mix, drizzle rays of golden sea buckthorn oil over winter salads or with yoghurt as a warm porridge topper and enjoy a cup of seabuckthorn tea too!oxygen

Nutrient-rich and protecting biodiversity too…

The best food choices not only nurture human health but support the biodiversity of our ecosystems, from healthy soils to thriving flora and fauna with essential roles to play in maintaining nature as it should be. The British Seabuckthorn company nurture these principles and over the next few months we’ll be sharing with you all the need-to knows about this fabulous novel food.

The berries of sea buckthorn are a powerhouse of more than 190 nutrients, packed with antioxidants, vitamins & minerals, Omega oils, plant sterols and there’s plenty of fibre too. These nutrients all work in synergy with each other ensuring we get the maximum benefit to our health from this functional, natural food. And there’s potential for little waste in farming sea buckthorn – these nutrients are found in the berry, peel, pulp and seed – take a look here to search the different products available from different parts of the plant.

Top 5 Nutrients to talk about…

We want to share the good news on 5 sea buckthorn nutrients not only essential for every-day health and wellbeing & busy lifestyles but great for sports and longer-term health too. Stay tuned to this blog series over the coming months for further details on each.

Antioxidants

A brief bit of science! Our body is detoxifying all the time; our every-day metabolism involves each body system using Oxygen to function. This constantly produces a by-product called Reactive Oxygen Species, or ROS – toxic, unstable chemicals which have the potential to cause cell damage if not removed or detoxified. Cleverly we make our own antioxidants to do this but stress, lack of sleep, exercising muscles, pollutants, medications and many more factors often increase our demand for antioxidants. Cell damage is the start of the ageing process and the forerunner to many types of chronic disease so making sure we have plenty of antioxidants in our food is a priority! Sea buckthorn is packed with a wide range of antioxidants including flavanoids and beta carotene, a type of Vitamin A. On top of this, its exceptionally high levels of Vitamin E and C ensure we can make enough of our own antioxidants, like superoxide dismutase, great for healthy skin and hair but vital in protecting us from longer term health risks like heart disease. Sea buckthorn contains high levels of this antioxidant too – one of the reasons why it’s not only fabulous for our own health but is widely used for racehorses to counter the negative effects of strenuous racing. They develop a fabulous shiny coat too; the Greeks noticing this effect in horses grazing ancient sea buckthorn, named it Hippophae Rhamnoides, or ‘shiny horse’.

Vitamin C

When life is busy & active (with the added sleepless nights of parenting perhaps!) we use a lot of Vitamin C in our food to make antioxidants which can mean there’s less available for a strong immune system. Going into winter especially, we need a Vitamin C boost – 100g of sea buckthorn berries have 10 times the Vitamin C of an orange! Plenty of Vitamin C in our diet also ensures Iron in plants is bioavailable for us – without Vitamin C we can’t absorb plant-based Iron; unlike ‘haem’ iron from animals which is readily absorbed. A great, natural way to help protect against iron deficiency in teenage years, and beyond into pregnancy.

Omega 3

Sea buckthorn is a fabulous source of several Omegas; finding a good source of plant Omega 3, ALA, is always a winner as it’s generally low in our UK diet and we need a lot of it from plants to begin to get near the health benefits that come from the types of Omega 3 in fish, DHA and EPA. More on this in 2020…

What about Gut Health?

Don’t forget being a source of fibre, sea buckthorn helps nurture our microbiome to optimise Gut Health. These beneficial bacteria have many other longer-term benefits for our health too!

British Seabuckthorn is an exciting story of a nutrient-rich, sustainable food, and the British Seabuckthorn team are more than a little excited to share this with you! Follow us to find out more over the next few months, try our recipes and products and please fire feedback, ideas and questions our way!

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Sea Buckthorn – a rich source of antioxidants

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Thoughts from our registered nutritionist, Lucy Williamson DVM BVM&S MSc

It’s almost a year since I began working with British Seabuckthorn – as a Registered Nutritionist with a particular interest in sustainable foods, healthy for people and planet, this journey is an exciting one… British Seabuckthorn (BSB), responsibly farmed in Essex, contains an abundance of nutrients vital for long-term health and wellbeing. Packed with antioxidants, natural prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, unsaturated oils and many other beneficial phytonutrients, it’s a berry with fabulous potential.

The best food choices not only nurture human health but support the biodiversity of our ecosystems too, from healthy soils to thriving flora and fauna with essential roles to play in maintaining nature as it should be. So, as the British Sea Buckthorn Company nurture these principles in continuing to work hard to develop a crop adapted to our rather unpredictable British climate, here are a few ‘need-to-knows’ about British Sea Buckthorn!

A rich source of antioxidants 

Our everyday metabolism uses oxygen. By-products of this process are known as free radicals, which can cause damage to cells in a process known as Oxidative Stress – a key factor in ageing and chronic illness such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. We produce antioxidants all the time in our body cells which, by removing these radicals, keep our cells healthy. Many of the antioxidants we make require Vitamins C and E and British Sea Buckthorn is an excellent source of both. Our recommended daily intake of Vitamin C is 45mg; British Sea Buckthorn often contains more than 400mg/ 100g so it’s a very rich source! (current regulations concerning nutrient claims state a food must contain more than 24mg/ 100g to be ‘high in’ Vitamin C, EU Regulation No 1047/2012) Oxidative stress is higher in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes so antioxidant need increases here too as it does after endurance or high intensity sport. BSB also contains other, powerful antioxidants including Superoxide Dismutase and Flavanoid polyphenols which have an important role in nurturing our all-important gut bacteria too.

As well as eating a more plant-based diet, we’re encouraged to eat fish at least twice weekly in order to benefit from its Omega 3 unsaturated oils. Many years of firm evidence now show the links between a good intake of Omega 3 and protection against heart disease and stroke in particular due to its anti-inflammatory role. Fish contains particularly beneficial types of Omega 3, DHA and EPA. These aren’t present in plants but a good intake of plant

Omega 3 (ALA)

Omega 3 can be used by the body to make EPA and DHA. Too much Omega 6 in the diet can restrict this process but as sea buckthorn contains far more Omega 3 than Omega 6, it has real potential here too.

Seabuckthorn as a natural Prebiotic: Fibre

FIBRE is a type of carbohydrate that can’t be digested in the small intestine. Instead, it passes to the colon (large intestine) where it’s fermented by billions of gut bacteria to produce many compounds essential for our metabolism. Collectively, the genetic make-up of these bacteria is known as our ‘Microbiome’. With 150x our own genetic makeup, our microbiome is to be nurtured; in fact, our ratio of human cells to bacterial cells is 1:1 so we’re just as much bacteria as we are human! We now know these gut bacteria have key roles in our long-term health, from optimising our immune system to protection against certain types of cancer and weight control. In addition, fibre maintains our ‘digestive health’, helping food to pass more quickly through the gut. In 2016, Public Health England, advised increasing the recommended intake of fibre for children (18g/day) and adults (30g/day), as a result of firm evidence for its health benefits, collected over several years. Sea buckthorn, along with other fruit and veg (diversity is the key to good microbes!) is a great source of fibre and also flavanoid antioxidants mentioned earlier, both of which are an important energy source for our microbiome and our gut health.

With an abundance of nutrients, too many to mention here, I’m excited to be involved with the British Sea Buckthorn story as we work together towards a sustainable food choice with so many potential benefits to our longer-term health.

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The Reality of Progress

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2006 sounds a long time ago but this was the starting point for the concept of growing sea buckthorn at Devereux farm. The idea generated from a meeting at the World Crop Centre, based at that time at Writtle Agricultural College. Sea buckthorn appeared from an assessment of crops that might be viable as alternatives to the commodity crops we grew – wheat, barley, and rape. The choice was made quite simple as the assessment flagged up the wide market interest in sea buckthorn. It could be used in food, drinks, natural cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and animal supplements. So the decision was made based on potential market diversity. This feels particularly relevant as we finally approach our first commercial harvest in July. 13 years is a long time to incubate a project and potentially we are now starting the most crucial part of the project.

With a crop in the orchard the first challenge comes with harvesting technique. Hand picking proved to be slow and uneconomical which is why we decided to adopt the German harvesting concept of branch cutting. We have since invested in a cold store in which to freeze the branches and commissioned the design/build of a berry separation and grading machine. As two separate machines, it is then planned to see how this prototype system works over harvest and upgrade the system into a single machine in 2020. Branch cutting has been developed using German varieties, with some innovative work also in Latvia. It is untried with Siberian. Branch cutting requires the plants to regenerate new branches. We will be looking for plants to produce berry bearing branches on a three or four year cycle. This means either cutting whole plants or cutting a third/quarter of the plantation every three or four years. Alternatively we only cut a third or quarter of each plant each year.

The secondary issue is that our ten Siberian varieties may react differently to being cut at harvest time. The system is a form of pruning but one normally prunes in winter when the plants are dormant. Summer pruning leaves plants open to disease. What we need is to encourage rapid regrowth. So our cutting procedure this harvest needs to trial different approaches with different varieties and then monitor over the next three to five years which varieties react best to different cutting regimes.

It was said that it takes 20 years to establish a new crop. It is becoming clear as to the reality of this statement. Harvesting is an on-going project, the next focus is marketing. It feels really good that to promote this year’s crop we have gone back to Writtle University College to find the person who will join us to drive the marketing of the sea buckthorn crop. Launching any new product requires patience, resources, risk management and will require new skills to ensure success. If growing sea buckthorn has taken time then developing the market will as well. All products are gauged on their qualities.

Assessing quality is another area that we need to develop over this year. We know that berry quality alters as the berries ripen. Starting this year we will begin to monitor individual vitamins to start to understand this process. This will start with a single varieties this year. After harvest we will then start to analyse other berry nutrient qualities. Sea buckthorn is renowned for its nutritional quality, but each of the six species of sea buckthorn (and 12 subspecies) grow in different climates and soils creating different nutrient concentrations. Nutritional quality is not just about what phytochemicals exist in a food ingredient, but how many, what they are and how they interact to provide dietary or health benefit. The sum total of the 190 phtyochemicals in sea buckthorn berries defines what sea buckthorn is. It is a natural vitamin/nutrient supplement, and as such, that is what made it attractive back in 2006 and is how we will see it as we start to sell it this year.

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The Tree

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First thing in the morning I take our dog for a walk before breakfast. The route is always the same but it is always very special. The path cuts through a group of silver birch trees that we planted about ten years ago. It then passes what has become an old friend – a small turkey oak. This tree was a sucker off the root of its 350 year old “parent” that crashed to the ground on December 31st 2000 – a millennium moment. This little tree is growing in shape and character just like the old tree that we had grown to love as a massive feature in our landscape. It is amazing to think it could live until 2300.

These trees are personal. They are almost family. At this time of year particularly, as the leaves are so fresh they add a vibrancy of life to my walk. I should not have been surprised when I heard the news this week that one of the ideas to control climate change was to create forests of artificial trees. Trees to suck the CO2 out of the air. The reporter said they would do this just like trees “but better”. It is a great technological idea, but it is not a tree.  It will not provide a natural living landscape.

Alternatively, it could be one solution to global warming – and the capability to do that is impressive. It is an indication that there are great minds at work to mend our world. We have grown to rely on technology. For me, springtime has a vibrancy as the farm’s crops start to mature. In the sea buckthorn field, the area between the plants are thick with grass, thistles, docks, nettles and other broad leaved weeds. They are weeds but they are also full of insects that potentially are controlling insect aphids that could devastate my crop.

The last few weeks have been incredibly dry and we are all becoming aware that climate change brings with it long hot summers. Summers that slow plant growth, create poor crops and can kill the plants we care for.

So the weeds are a problem because they compete for precious water in the soil. If I cut them down the insects I also look to help in controlling others will lose their habitat. The fact we grow the sea buckthorn organically is a choice, but it is a choice that makes you think holistically about the environment you work in.

The area between the rows of sea buckthorn provide a similar haven to the area under the plants providing a refuge for beneficial insects. So the weeds can go and I have started to remove them. In the past this has been done by hand, then by strimmer. Last year, at a Soil Association seminar at the gardens of the Belmont Manoir aux Quat’saissons in Oxfordshire there was the ultimate solution to weeding – a Karl Ladurna cultivator. It is the boy’s toy for an orchard.

Its capacity to weed is unchallengeable, but all machinery needs handling with respect. Its capacity to rip up weeds is matched by its capacity to pull up everything else in its way.

I have to admit that as I merrily drove up and down the rows of sea buckthorn, seeing the weeds surgically removed I was horrified to find how easy it was rip whole sea buckthorn bushes out of the ground. You soon learn to concentrate and respect the power in your control.

Last week saw the release of the IPBES Global assessment report on biodiversity. Valuing biodiversity is not easy in our technology based lives. I recognise that I could not farm my sea buckthorn organically without the beneficial insects and the complex of species that live in a healthy soil. Every species is reliant on another. One of the commentators on the report said, the problem with biodiversity – even with all our knowledge is that we just do not understand its complexity.  We have not even identified all the species on our planet so how can we understand what they do, how they interrelate to others and help to complete a healthy ecosystem.

We all appreciate biodiversity differently – it never fails to amaze me how much green space there is in London used by millions as natural space to relax. Technology is a modern wonder, but it will not replace the natural world – a natural world that feeds us.

Technology provides our quality of life, but the natural world allows us to live. We just need to respect and enjoy both – in balance.

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Inspiration and reality

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It’s nearly May. Potentially there are 64 days before we start our first sea buckthorn harvest. This is the culmination of ten years work. Ten years of working with like minded others with the passion to deliver a natural crop that encapsulates a power pack of nutritional quality. I too have that passion, but it is not emotion that will deliver the crop.

In 2017 our orchard was laden with berries. The realisation that handpicking was so time-consuming led to abandoning the crop – but it inspired two years of investment in machinery. Designing and developing a harvesting system that reflected on the success of being able to grow a crop.

So here we are. Two months to go and the plants look really healthy. Mid-March was the crucial period for pollination. It will be three weeks before we start to see the berries forming and can assess the size of crop. The memories of the icy storm of March 2018 that rampaged through the plants destroying the viability of pollination are still vivid in our minds. But that is nature and this is another year.

This coming week the design team are testing the harvesting equipment which has been through a development phase of test and modification. Our Landini tractor gets its full service. The Ladurna cultivator – our weed control solution after years of manual strimming will be put to work. Applying foliar feeds has also been a manual job, but two weeks ago the backpack was replaced by a 400lt tractor mounted sprayer. Finally, our sea buckthorn can be managed to an effective and efficient plan.

As we mechanise our sea buckthorn it might be efficient but this comes at a time when Greta Thunberg is showing the leadership that we all must focus on reducing our impact on the environment. It is sad that it takes a 15 year old Swedish school pupil to remind us of the critical nature our environment is in. Mr Gove, at DEFRA has driven the government 25yr Environment plan, but as Greta has highlighted it is not a 25yr policy plan we need but action.

Yesterday, as I walked our dog I thought about the whole issue of sustainability. Plants growing in the wild need the rain, the sun and the soil to grow, thrive and return year after year. Such a simple but totally sustainable system. One of the reasons for growing sea buckthorn was its low need for resources. No sprays, compost to improve the soil that feeds it and a low requirement for water. Hand picking would have been an environmentally low cost way of harvesting. It is fine for foraging wild plants, but not a commercial crop.

Our harvesting system is largely based on needing electricity. It is easy to say that is more efficient than direct use of fossil fuels, but electricity still comes from gas power stations.  As we develop our crop we need to not only be aware of how our actions impact on the wider environment, but take action to minimise those impacts. Whatever we do, we will use resources. The issue is questioning their use. Minimising their use. Compensating and mitigating for their use and ensuring that the process is true to its goal of ensuring we tread lightly in the environment that we need to work in.