The Oxford Real Farming Conference is coming to London!
Join us on 4 – 5 April 2025 at the pioneering growers’ cooperative OrganicLea, which has built a hugely successful peri-urban growing business in the Lea Valley over more than two decades.
We’ll be gathering at OrganicLea to explore a variety of unique practical skills from horticultural tips and combining fungi and ferments to what it means to make a successful growing project grounded in community and cooperative ownership.
We’ll also be discussing ways to make a career in growing work for you, exploring routes to market and local network building, finding out how to build a thriving workers’ cooperative. With a flourishing network of radical grassroots community food projects in North London, we’ll be looking at ways to nourish all forms of life within the city through building relationships with the land we work.
Join us amongst the spring flowers and young vegetables, where we’ll be getting our hands into the soil, meeting like-minded and passionate individuals, and sharing hearty seasonal feasts from OrganicLea and Pea Shoot Feasts in what promises to be an amazing start to the new season. For everyone interested in radical urban growing projects and a good food future in our cities, this isn’t one to miss!
For more information and to book your place, visit the website here.
Workshops
Horticultural Tools: Selecting the Right Equipment for Your Needs with Hannah Claxton
Hannah Claxton is an experienced market gardener and organic horticultural skills teacher from Eves Hill Veg Co. community market garden in Norfolk. From bed preparation to harvesting and crop storage, knowing which tools are best can be challenging. This session will demonstrate selecting the right equipment for the right situation, as well as looking at budget appropriate choices.
Mushrooms and Beer: Generating Income from Small Spaces with Rod Sazio
At Hawkwood’s Fungi World you’ll find out how to make diverse production streams work in small spaces, using small-scale techniques and equipment, and successfully generating income. Though fungi and ferments don’t always come hand in hand, at OrganicLea we’ve been producing both beer and mushrooms for a few years, providing a formative test bed for what is possible and how this might benefit us and our natural environment. We’re excited to show you how we make it work!
Hawkwood Site Tour with OrganicLea Workers’ Cooperative
Hawkwood is the name of the land that is home to OrganicLea Workers’ Cooperative. It comes from the Old English for “nook or enclosure in the forest”. Meet the amazing OrganicLea team and explore how they care for a diverse twelve acres of vegetable fields, flower beds, an orchard, biodiversity areas and more. Along the way, you’ll get to explore the history of the land, and of the Lea Valley, once London’s Bread Basket, and discuss how to (re)connect people with land on the edge of the city.
Healing with the Land with Sandra Salazar
Discover the profound connection between the land and inner growth with Sandra Salazar, farmer and founder of GoGrowWithLove C.I.C in North London. This workshop offers space to honor the wisdom of the land while deepening your connection with what lies beneath our feet. Through guided exploration, we will delve into the rich diversity of soils and their profound significance. Each layer of soil tells a story of growth and transformation, inviting us to cultivate balance, grounding and a renewed sense of interconnectedness within.
Plus lots more! We’ll also be welcoming sessions on topics including:
- Routes to Market: Growing Communities, Black Farmers’ Market CIC, and OrganicLea, suppliers to Ottolenghi
- From Soil to Spreadsheets: Viewing the Field with Finances in Mind with Clare Joy
- Proud to Be a Coop: Making a Workers’ Cooperative Work Long Term with Marlene Barrett
- Migrant Solidarity and Community Food Projects with The Gleaners’ Cafe
