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Growing Food

Growing food organically is the ethos of what we do at Sage Green CIC

Food Growing

Growing food organically is the ethos of what we do at Sage Green CIC. Using the permaculture approach we produce good quality food and if your come to pick your own then it doesn’t have a carbon footprint attached to it!

Sage Green CIC grows food organically on the Powderham Estate. We are a local food supplier who wants to encourage zero food miles by asking people to come to the garden to buy our produce. Contact us by email for further information.  We grow for taste and work hard to find fruit and vegetable varieties which provide a tasteful and satisfying piece of food.  In 2022 we are planning to grow more heritage and gourmet veg whilst following the principles of organic gardening as laid out by www.gardenorganic.org.uk: 

  1. We maintain good soil health by only adding natural organic material to the soil.

  2. We encourage bio-diversity by growing/welcoming plants which attract pollinators.

  3. We use resources with attention to its impact on the environment. Our packaging is compostable and water is taken from our  rain – water containers.

  4. Chemicals may clear pests or disease however it does more than just wipe out what you don’t want chemicals also kills insects you do want.  Its because of our care for life in our environment we do  not use chemicals of any sort on or near our fruit or vegetables.

  5. We work hard to keep our soil at a premium healthy condition to ensure quality tasty food.
Hello! My name is Jeanette I am the Founder and Director of Sage Green CIC.  We grow organically in our market garden.  We use peat-free compost and only plant-based fertilisers.  

We are happily situated in the walled garden at Powderham Castle.  The Walled Garden once grew everything for the Castle inhabitants and estate workers.  The Walled Garden is around two centuries old and had an army of people working on it before the First World War.  The area we have is a small portion of the walled garden which is less than an acre but it would have been cultivated over the last couple of centuries but not within the last decade! It has been fascinating labour of love clearing the area. Previous incumbents have cleared and planted the area but then it was deserted for a long period of time and so it has been consumed by nature once again.   We find as we weed and clear that there are plants probably planted within the last couple of decades still surviving in the undergrowth. How exciting!!  

On starting out with Sage Green CIC I read Jean-Martin Fortier’s, French-Canadian, book ‘The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small Scale Organic Farming.  I followed everything that was written page by page and chapter by chapter and emulated it in my market garden. Nowadays there are times when I follow my ‘nose’ and take off in another direction but what I have from Jean-Martin Fortier is the infrastructure which will never change.  

Sage Green CIC ‘moved in January 2019.   Years 2021 and 2022 happened.   We followed the pandemic rules and regulations during those times.  In 2022 we are trying new approaches.  Our strawberry patch produced divine strawberries so we started a pick your own system. I was able to invite people to come and pick their own fruit but there was not enough for everyone so more beds for strawberries next year.  

Volunteers provide so much help even if they come randomly throughout the year.  We are hoping to build our volunteer gang to help them help us.  

Sage & Greens CSA

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Community Supports Agriculture

We are a community supported veg-box scheme. This means our share members (you) support us through an annual subscription paid annually or monthly via the GoCardless direct debit service – in return we supply you with a share of our harvest throughout the seasons. Your subscription gives Sage & Greens CSA continuity of income that our market garden, which is determined to be highly productive, needs to plan for the following growing season.

 

Growing vegetables to an organic standard seasonally through the year and be sustainable also means we contribute towards the mitigation of climate change through reduced food miles and zero use of agrochemicals. Our CSA will be an invaluable part of the UK food system and you, as a member, will benefit from eating healthy, fair priced, local, seasonal healthy food. 

Market gardening to provide a wellbeing, working and learning experience, growing food organically on the Powderham estate.

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