We are delighted to be taking part in Agroforestry Open Weekend 2023
Our farm
When we took over at Wood Advent farm in early 2022 after working alongside our family for a decade, we were the latest generation in a 300-year-old lineage to work with this land. Our job is to pass on that legacy in the best possible health, even as climate change alters everything. And that requires something radical.
The farm is currently being transformed from a conventional mixed operation into an holistic system comprising 150 acres of agroforestry as well as another 150 acres of new broadleaf woodland creation. Regeneration is the foundation of everything we do here – from the soil up.
There’s no doubt we’ve jumped in at the deep end, determined to prove that a regenerative and organic system with agroforestry at its heart is not just possible, but sustainable in every way – including as a robust, profitable farming model independent of subsidies.
Every decision we make at Wood Advent is now based on improving soil health, fighting climate change, boosting biodiversity and producing the best, nutritionally dense, food we possibly can.
Our agroforestry
150 acres of agroforestry creation is a big project – one that has to be broken down into more manageable chunks. The first 1,000 trees are now a year into establishment – a mix of walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts planted in an alley cropping pattern. This formation will allow us to mob graze a mixed flerd between the trees, leaving an undisturbed six metre pollinator margin in each strip. The pasture can then be rotated into directly drilled arable (with a clover understorey to keep the soil covered – a crucial part of the battle to reduce agricultural carbon emissions, a major contributor to climate change). In fact, our trees are planted 36 metres apart because that’s the width of our combine harvester!
As the final piece of the rotation jigsaw, the space between the trees will then be occupied by trailers mounted with solar panels in a bid to deliver our plan to be an entirely off grid, carbon positive, commercial farming operation.
There’s no doubt it has already been quite a ride, and we’re only just getting started!
Here are some photos of what we do:
how to find us
You will find us at Wood Advent Farm, Roadwater, Watchet, Somerset, TA23 0RR
agroforestry open weekend 2023
Over Agroforestry Open Weekend 2023 we will be open [When you are open over the weekend]
please don’t just turn up/feel free to just turn up
[Whether people need to book/register and if so how]
facilities/refreshments
[Whether you are providing refreshments]
parking/access
[Any special parking/access information]
dogs
Whether people can bring dogs (a common question)]
We are a mixed farm with plenty of livestock so we ask that your dog stays in the car for this visit, even well behaved ones on leads. Thanks!
disability access
[How accessible your site is for people with mobility difficulties (including wheelchair users) in terms of parking and getting round]
more information?
[Contact email/phone for more information]
[Details of your website, instagram, twitter, facebook or similar (if you have one) where there is more information. People love background information.]
[Any other information about your site or agroforestry]