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Winter/Spring 2017 No 38 £2

In this issue

Tolhurst Organic marks 40th anniversaryIntegrating animal rescue with vegan organicsHumanure – yes or no?Horticulture therapyPermaculture – the survey stage

Stockfree organic growing: without animal inputs or chemicals www.veganorganic.net

Tolly’s 40th anniversary celebration and book launch

by John Read

Iain Tolhurst (Tolly) of TolhurstOrganic Partnership CIC, Hardwick,near Pangbourne in the ThamesValley, has been an organic growerholding the Soil Association (SA)symbol for 40 years, 28 of them atHardwick. However, in the 1990s heand a small group of other growerscame to realise, for various reasons,that the next step in organichorticulture needed to be a systemwhich did not rely on animal by-products for fertility building andmaintenance. VON was founded in 1996, andfrom its earliest days established aclose relationship with Tolly and theother growers who were, betweenthem, steadily developing thehorticultural systems and practicesnow known as vegan organic orstockfree. This enabled VON to publish the Stockfree Organic Standards and symbol, which are now used to extend the existing SA Organic Standards when inspectionsare carried out to support award of the SA symbol. In 2004 Hardwick became the first farm to be certified stockfree organic and thus entitled to use the symbol, and has had nograzing animals and no animal inputs on any part of the farm for more than 25 years. In 2006 Tolly, and Jenny Hall of Fir Tree Farm in Lancashire, co-authored the book Growing Green – Organic Techniques for a Sustainable Future (see page 16),which has become established as the definitive guide to the stockfree standards and techniques and their application tohorticulture. Sharing knowledge and experience has always been Tolly’s way, and many have benefitted from his open days and farm walks and talks. Education and consultancy is now a significant part of his work, with requests for advice

Limpopo Groove performed on the day

Iain Tolhurst (second from right) with some of his fans

locally, nationally and now internationally, both from commercial organisations and from governmental bodies. Tolly seeks to develop and maintain productive links withhis customers, some of whom have been involved with helping to operate his distribution network from the early days. A serve-yourself ‘Vegetable Shed’ is a successful recent introduction too. Apple Days, Strawberry Fayres andSquash & Pumpkin Festivals have also become highlights ofthe year for the local community. To mark his 40 years as an organic grower, and to help share his experience more widely, various people had suggested to Tolly that he should write something describing his story so far, and the result is the book Back to Earth – UK Organic Horticulture through the Lifetime of a Grower (reviewed on page 8). Tolly has always

Poster for last September’s anniversary event

GGI 38 Winter/Spring 2017 www.veganorganic.net

written prolifically for many publications, not least Growing Green International, and his book - a compilationof many of his writings during the period - has been well received. Forty years called for a proper celebration, so the launch of the book became the focal point of a splendid party at Hardwick on Saturday 24th September 2016 for the numerous people with whom Tolly has been associated during that time. VON was represented by Graham Cole, and myself & Helen Read. The weather was kind, food and drink was abundant and excellent, and the relaxed atmosphere was enhanced by an amazing multicultural andmany-talented band from Reading – Limpopo Groove. During a break in the music Back to Earth was formally launched, and several people paid tribute to Tolly and his many achievements over the years, notable among them being Lawrence Woodward OBE of The Organic Research Centre (Elm Farm), who spoke affectionately of Tolly’s independence of thought and spirit and the major contribution he had made to the organic movement. Tolly replied with words of clearly heartfelt thanks to all who hadbeen with him over the years. I brought greetings from VON’s David Graham who had written: “Yours will be a wonderful and historic event. I wish you all the recognition and appreciation that is due foryour work over so many years that demonstrates how we can feed the people and live in harmony with nature without destruction. Kindest regards and our sincere thanks for your support over the last 20 years.” An excellent day indeed!

Books and produce

The three photos above are from last July whenTolhurst Organic marked the opening of their newfacilities – improved production kitchen, toilets,

shower room, staff kitchen and volunteer bedroom. VON funded these new facilities, and David Graham

(top) unveiled a plaque in recognition of this.

The middle photo shows David holding a ‘certificate ofpartnership’, with Tamara Schiopu and Iain Tolhurst

standing alongside. This was for VON’s support for lastyear’s Vegan Show in Moldova, organised by Tamara.

Bottom photo: On the same day Iain Tolhurst was presented with a certificate for being the runner up in the 2016 Soil Farmer of the Year.

GGI 38 Winter/Spring 2017 www.veganorganic.net

Back to Earth UK organic horticulture

through the lifetime of a grower

by Iain Tolhurst

reviewed by John Curtis

Celebrating 40 years of Tolhurst Organic, this book brings together Iain's articles from various sources (including the Tolhurst Organic newsletter The Onion Oracle) from 1980 to 2016. The illustrations are lovely, and there is a list of people who sponsored them. Iain had previously worked on a large conventional dairy farm, which made him decide to go vegetarian and to pursue organic horticulture instead, starting in 1976. It's not always been an easy ride for Iain - desperation and nearfinancial ruin occasionally feature. The first article is ‘Strawberry success’ from November 1981. Iain had just moved to Moor View Farm, a 5.5 acre plot of land in Cornwall, 800 feet above sea level and exposed to winds, with 70" of rain per annum and very acidic soil. Early articles are strawberry-based, the farm being mostly devoted to organic strawberry growing, although other veg crops were grown too, eg carrots, potatoes and brassicas, to provide a crop rotation.

The move to stockfreeIn a 1987 article, ‘stockless’ is mentioned for the first time, when Iain describes his five-day tour of stockless farms in Germany. Stockless means a farm with no livestock although, unlike stockfree, it doesn't preclude the use of animal manures and animal by-products sourced from outside the farm. Tolhurst Organic’s gradual switch to stockfree is fully explained in the August 1999 edition of The Onion Oracle: "We do not use any manure from conventional farms or

organic farms. We operate a livestock-free system relying on green manures for fertility building ... We have recently discovered that the potting compost (approved by the Organic Standards bodies) which we use to raise some of our plants in contains some slaughterhouse waste for nutrients. This waste would probably come from animals that would have been fed some GMO ration; all conventionally reared animals are fed a mixture of cereals, some being soya and maize, which is now all mixed with GMO soya and maize. We shall have to cease using this compost as will every other compost user (all the growers in the UK are affected by this). At present there are no potting composts available that are organically approved and free of animal products. This is a big problem to all growers. We shall be experimenting with alternative materials which will be costly and time consuming. It will certainly mean that our production of some crops will be difficult and possibly impossible until we can develop suitable compost. We do use around six tons of horse manure that we compost." In 2003 Iain's article ‘Organic and vegetarian?’ appeared in The Organic Grower magazine, and was reproduced in Growing Green International in 2004. The pace accelerates, with The Onion Oracle of June 2005 discussingVON's stockfree standards. In 2006, there's a ‘Going stockfree’ article in the Soil Association's Organic Farming magazine. Then in 2008, the Centre for Alternative Technology's Clean Slate magazine has an article ‘Box schemes and beetle banks’, where Iain mentions stockfree and "stolen acres", the latter referring to some organic growers who effectively steal fertility by using non-organic manures from farms that often buy in cereals to feed their livestock.

An abundance of fairly bad weatherThe weather, mostly bad weather, often features, and Iain describes himself as "the ultimate weather bore", which is very understandable given the number of different crops grown, most of them outdoors. Tolhurst Organic started their business in 1976, which was the year of the great drought in the UK, where Iain tells us that there was no rain from 25th April to 15th September. 1987 is a prominent year too, where a hurricane hit the south of England and destroyed some of their crops and a brand new polytunnel. 2007 was a bad year with a very wet summer, the worst year so far, but 2012 capped this when both spring and summer were very wet and cloudy, causing a large loss in yields, great difficulty harvesting crops, and for the first time slugs became a problem. Iain makes the point that he prefers droughts to flooding - you can easily add water if it doesn't rain, but you can't take if off if it floods. The book starts with strawberry growing, but this was stopped abruptly in the 1990s when they had serious problems with verticillium wilt, a fungal disease. Things turn full circle in 2014 when Iain decides to re-introduce strawberry growing, helped by a recently developed green manure - Caliente Mustard. Iain makes it clear throughout that rotation and green manures are the key to fertility management. There's a thorough discussion of this in ‘Planning your rotation to enhance quality’ in a Soil Association horticulture

GGI 38 Winter/Spring 2017 www.veganorganic.net

symposium in 2005. Organic horticulture farmers will find the book of great interest, and gardeners too I think. For instance, there's detailed advice on asparagus growing, netting against birds and insects, growing squash, growing strawberries, growingrunner beans, and making your own compost for potting onseedlings. There are detailed articles on what earthworms actually do for your soil, implementing beetle banks, and coping with wireworm and leatherjackets. The level of detail, and Iain's practical experience with these, is something you would struggle to find elsewhere. A few of the articles are taken from VON's Growing Green International magazine, but the vast majority are from other sources which aren't available for free, so by buying this book VON members will have access to information not already available to them. Growing fruit and veg often involves getting things wrongto begin with until you've refined your ideas. The same is true for the naming of Tolhurst Organic's newsletter from which a large amount of the book material is taken from. The first newsletter that appears in the book is called The first newsletter published by Tolhurst Organic, the second The Broccoli Bugle, then it's The Parsnip Post before they finally settle on The Onion Oracle from 1996 until the present. After a few false starts, I think they ended up with the right name choice.

Back to Earth is a compilation of Iain Tolhurst’s articleswritten for various magazines, websites and media. In essence, the book reflects the processes and developmentsof organic horticulture in the UK during the last four decades (1980-2016). This is the time when conventional agriculture in the UK turned, gradually, to organic farming (hence “back to earth”) and, more recently, when stockfree organic farming secured its place among innovative resilient farming methods. The aim of the book is to share with professional growers and agricultural students, as well as the wide public, the wonderful but hard experiences of a full-time grower, a member of the organic farming movement, and an inspiring teacher. The contents portray developments in the marketplace, organic growing techniques, regulations and standards, allintertwined with political circumstances and internationalmarket trends - plus a wealth of practical advice for growers. The book ends with a story, in which Iain Tolhurst reflects on his lifetime experiences, lessons learned, and gives his thoughts for the future. David Graham, Chair of the Vegan Organic Network who part-funded the book, confirms Back to Earth is “an account that celebrates successes and learns from less successful experiments in sustaining life in the soil, without which there would be no life on earth.” For Iain Tolhurst himself, the book is a profound account of personal achievements, not without a fair shareof struggle (desperate at times), but overall positive. In hardcover, the book is beautifully illustrated by Irish artist Isobel Baldwin, using images from the farm. To order your copy for £24.99 plus postage, visitthe Tolhurst website: www.tolhurstorganic.co.uk/back-to-earth

Photos below (and our front cover too) are from the

4th Squash & Pumpkin Festival at Tolhurst Organic last October

GGI 38 Winter/Spring 2017 www.veganorganic.net