SOIL IS THE STRATEGY.
Farmers Guardian, a Podcast, and Us Trying to Explain What We’re Up To
It’s always slightly odd when someone comes to the farm to write about what you’re doing.
Most days here are not at all glamorous.
There’s muck and mess. There are dogs. There’s something that needs fixing. Phil is usually somewhere in a field, Monty’s delivering a Minitruck. And we are all usually trying to do twelve things at once and pretending there is a clear system.
So when Farmers Guardian came to Lower Blakemere, and then we had the chance to talk more on the podcast, it felt like a good moment to stop and explain what we are actually trying to do here.
Not because we’ve cracked it.
We definitely haven’t.
But because we are trying.
We are trying to farm in a way that builds soil, supports wildlife, grows food, keeps a rural business going and makes sense financially. That last bit matters. There is no point having lovely ideas if the farm can’t survive.
Regenerative farming sounds fancy, but on the ground it is much more practical than that.
It is Worms. Roots. Cover crops. Cattle. Compost. Less waste. More life in the soil. Better decisions. Getting things wrong. Trying again.
And that is where Wiggly Wigglers fits in.
For years we have gone on about Bokashi, worm composting, bird food, soil health and turning waste into something useful. Sometimes it has felt like we were slightly ahead of our time, banging on about worms while everyone else wondered what on earth we were doing.
But now people are talking about soil, carbon, biodiversity, gut health, food quality and waste.
And I do think this is our moment in a very practical way.
If you have a kitchen, a garden, a balcony, a school, a smallholding or a farm, you can do something. You can compost better. Feed your soil. Feed the birds. Waste less. Notice more.
That is what really does excite me.
The Farmers Guardian article and the podcast are lovely for us, of course. We are chuffed to bits. But the useful bit is that they help explain the connection between the farm and Wiggly Wigglers. It’s not just an online shop. It is a farm, a family, a small team, a lot of trial and error, and a genuine belief that soil health is one of the most useful places to start.
You can read the Farmers Guardian article here:
And listen to the podcast here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIeDh3AtN
Thank you to Farmers Guardian for taking the time to tell part of our story.
We are grateful, still learning, and still convinced that worms are a lot more important than most people realise.