Terms & Conditions

By purchasing goods from Ragmans Lane Farm you are entering into a legally binding agreement with us on the following terms.

Definition of words used in the contract:

TERMS & CONDITIONS: The contract of the sale and purchase of goods between yourselves and Ragman Lane Farm.

DELIVERY AREA: Standard UK

GOODS: Products purchased from our website; such as books, courses, vouchers, comfrey.

THE WEBSITE: Our address: www.ragmans.co.uk   

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SALES

1.        Making a purchase

1.1         A contract is made for us to sell you goods when we accept an order from you made via our website.

1.2         To make a purchase simply browse through the site, adding to the cart any items you may wish to purchase. Once you have finished your order, click on ‘view cart’, agree to the terms and conditions and proceed to checkout.

It is important that these details are filled in correctly and fully for delivery purposes.

1.3         Orders are accepted if goods are available and your credit or debit card is authorised for the transaction.

1.4         All orders and payments are acknowledged by email by Worldpay and within 3 working days from Ragmans Lane Farm, and will normally be despatched within 5 working days from the time the order is processed.

1.5         We will charge your credit or debit card account for payment on receipt of your online order. We accept no liability if a delivery is delayed due to incorrect payment details.

1.6         Our online ordering is via Worldpay; If you do not wish to make an order online, please contact us by email or telephone and we can arrange payment by cheque or remote terminal. Orders will not be despatched until payment has cleared.

1.7         We will take reasonable care to keep all information connected with your order secure but we cannot be held liable for any loss that you may suffer if a third party obtains unauthorised access to any data, including credit and account details you provide when accessing or ordering from this website, unless this is solely due to our negligence.

2.        Payment

2.1     We accept payment for online orders via Worldpay, Paypal, credit and debit cards.

3.        Prices

3.1     We reserve the right to revise prices at any time. International orders may be subject to currency fluctuations.

4.        Delivery UK

4.1         Standard UK: for most of our goods where delivery is required the cost is included in the purchase/checkout price.

4.2         Where additional delivery charges are required, we will contact you to inform you of additional charges before processing your order.   

For some orders outside our main UK delivery area ie, to Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Remote Scottish Mainland, Scottish Highlands and Islands, some Postcodes beginning with: BT,PO,IM,AB,DD,EH,FK,KA,KY,ML,PA,PH,IV,KW,DG,TD,KT, please call us to confirm the delivery cost.

4.3         We will deliver the goods to the address you specify for delivery in your order. It is important this address is accurate. Please note most book purchases require a signature on delivery.

4.4         Please allow up to 10 working days for your goods to be delivered. If delivery is delayed due to causes beyond our control we will extend delivery time by a reasonable period and contact you with the new arrangements.

4.5         We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage to the goods once they have been delivered.

5.        Delivery Outside of the UK

5.1     Orders for delivery outside of the UK will incur additional delivery costs.

5.2     Where this is available on the website (selected book titles only) please purchase the product for Europe delivery.

5.3     Where other products require additional delivery charges, we will contact you by email to inform you of the additional charges before processing your order. You will have the option of a full refund if the additional delivery charges are more than you would like to pay.

5.4         We will deliver the goods to the address you specify for delivery in your order. It is important this address is accurate. Please note most book purchases require a signature on dlivery.

5.5         Please allow a reasonable amount of time for your delivery. We will inform you when your order is despatched and can provide a tracking number if available.

5.6         We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage to the goods once they have been delivered.

6.        Complaints

6.1     It is our aim to acknowledge complaints within 5 working days, and keep you advised of likely timescales and progress.

6.2     On receipt the goods should be unpacked and inspected. If the goods are damaged or unacceptable please notify us within 48 hours. We will endeavour to resolve the complaint as soon as possible; in most cases we will ask for photographic evidence of the damage and/or the return of the goods. We will then offer a refund or a replacement if possible.

6.3     We offer no guarantee for products that have been damaged due to adverse weather conditions or neglect.

7.        Cancellation

7.1     You have a 14 day cooling off cancellation period (which ends 14 days from the day you receive your goods) in which to cancel your order if you change your mind.

7.2     If you should cancel your order, this must be done in writing. You will be responsible for the return of the goods, within 14 days, to us in the condition that they were sent. We will not pay for the goods to be returned to us. For your protection we recommend a recorded delivery service/courier to return the goods. To receive a full refund, goods must be returned in their original condition, undamaged and unused. We reserve the right to cancel any order.

7.3     Comfrey orders cannot be cancelled and returned as the goods will deteriorate during this period and cannot be returned to stock.

8.        Privacy & Data Protection

8.1     We are committed to protecting your privacy. We will only use the information that we collect about you lawfully (in accordance with GDPR 2018). We will collect information about you for two reasons: firstly, to process your order, and second, to provide you with the best possible service. We will give you the chance to opt in to receiving marketing material from us.

8.2     In some cases information is provided to couriers for the purpose of delivery of products ordered online. Such information includes home, delivery address and phone number where provided.

8.3     No information of any kind is forwarded to any other company, except to the couriers.

8.4     Information relating to your order will be kept as part of our financial records for up to 8 years.

9.        Courses

9.1     If you book a Ragmans course online, through the Ragmans website we will send you an additional confirmation booking email and details for the course.

9.2     If you book a course online you have a 14 day cooling off cancellation period from the time of placing your order.

9.3     If you book within 14 days of the course date, the cancellation period is up until the day before the course.

9.4     If you wish to cancel your order after 14 days we are unable to offer a refund.

9.5     If we have to cancel the course you have booked, we will endeavour to provide you with a full refund.

9.6     Please note many of our course listings will redirect you to other websites. If you book on another website your booking is subject to the terms and conditions of that website and course organiser.

 

May 13th 2016 POSTED BY: Ragmans Farm

Aerobic or Anaerobic?

By Juanfran Lopez

Microbes  - Drawn by Miriam, age 4
 
I would like to introduce this thought with a simple and easy question comparing two different well known similar tools, but with different final purposes, just to put this article in context... it would be something like this: What is the right choice If we have to choose between digging a trench or making a swale?

I can think a set of possible answers straight away...but the most important and relevant in here would be: it depends... we can say that both are similar in terms of how to do it, similar shape and both are linked to water; but in the end, the purpose, also the results are quite different; but both are quite important depending on several key factors (climate, landform, purpose,...) and also they are quite opposite.

Therefore, if we follow on with the same philosophy and perspective in the field of brews when we are dealing with microbes, and also the processes to multiply them (here we can mention the most well known ones, such as aerobic and anaerobic processes); which one do you suppose would be the right one to develop and use on our land?
We could think about the answer from the following perspective: what is the final product like and what´s going on in either process.

I think we will understand it better after considering the few points below.

Right!! It is well known that a trench conducts water and a swale stores water, so we are dealing with a kind of “equation” where we already know what we want to achieve for our land and what the effect of doing one or the other will have on the land. We understand the process and the results; but, using again the example of  making brews, what does each process (aerobic/anaerobic) satisfy in the end? What parameters in this equation we will have to think about (cause-ingredients- process-product-effect)?

As a general concept in both processes, aerobic and anaerobic brews, we can say that the main goal of both methods is to extract and multiply a set of beneficial microorganisms into a liquid brew to use on the plant tissues and soil to encourage fertility on/in the system (soil-plant-human beings).
I would like to stop here and look in depth into the concept just exposed: what do we mean by beneficial microorganisms? At this point we have to be humble and think how much we know currently about these little friends who are living everywhere, even inside us!! (In a ratio between 90-99: 10-1 (microbes: cells)).

Here there is a possible paradigm within our simplistic way of seeing how nature works. But, do we really know how accurate microbe classification and behaviours are under our limited knowledge and understanding??

At this point if I make a brief overall description about “microbe behaviours” to date, we can split it into innumerable groups depending on several factors beyond aerobic/anaerobic. Some of them would be: nutritional carbons uptake (autotrophs, heterotrophs), energy resource requirements (photoautotrophs, chemoheterotrophs), ways of acting (syntropic, anthropic), also range of temperature (psycrophiles, mesophile, thermophilic), range of pH... among many other groups; we can even identify them by functional group or their niches in nature. Then, so far we can see a classification beyond just aerobic-anaerobic or “beneficial-pathogens”.
I think it is important to add another group to this huge classification; the FACULTATIVE ones. To me this is the most relevant one, and the most important aspect would be how this group is linked with all the groups mentioned above.

Diverse Microbes Growing on a Rice Trap - Ragmans Lane Farm

The facultative group (it could be the most predominant or relevant one playing a key role in our equation) means that they perform their functions depending on what group, behavior, etc (e.g. above) are predominant at that time, conditions, etc., and then are supported by the facultative group. (We can compare this group with the behavior of human beings and we can see similarities between them, which prove again that we are almost made up of a diversity of microbes! And not just structurally speaking, but also regarding our behaviour).

So, after all the points previously mentioned I think we are a bit more ready to discuss brews, processes, final products and their purposes without going into detail or highlighting one or another process.

There are lots of discussions going on about the uses of AACT (Aerated Activated Compost Teas) or biofertilisers (fermented brews), regarding one or another, but well beyond  this debate and looking at their own aspects, to me the right question would be: When, for what purpose, why and how should we use one or the other??

Only If we recognize the proper use and understanding between one or the other, depending on situations, goals, or needs at a specific time, we will be able to reach the proper state of wisdom to choose the right process and product (This exercise will help us to expand the way we think, philosophically speaking.)

How can we dismiss the importance of fermented processes in life? Are we denying the importance and goodness of some microbial fermented processes in the soil? Even its importance in metabolism within the human body or in some products such as wine, yoghurt and cheese or different types of food in our daily diet?

Why do we have to choose between multiple millions of microbes in one way or another? Even knowing that aerated microbes often can replace oxygen in anaerobic conditions and use other nutrients instead; or that anaerated microbes can hide between water molecules?

Just to finish and to show how complex the equation is, we could add a few factors to make it more interesting, like the vitamin  or protein content, or the quality of the ingredients; available minerals, organic acids, salt content, stabilization and pH of the final product; or talking about the energy or different metabolisms taking place in both processes…

Therefore I can simply say that how, why, and which one to choose will depend on several factors, such as origin and quality of ingredients, soil and plant conditions or the goals that we wish to obtain in our system, dealing with the wide range of factors in our equation.

To finish this piece of paper I would like to say that Life was created by the Symbiosis between different types of beings (microorganisms), different behaviour, thoughts and beliefs. So life is just life how it is by itself, self regulating until reaching a state of harmony without excluding any metabolic process or living being in nature. So, why don’t we imitate these patterns of symbiosis, not just to manage the fertility in the land, but also to reach harmony in our minds and society…

Working Together to Reproduce Microbes
“In planet earth there are not good or bad living beings. Each one has his function, which is necessary and has the same value. This is my base to regenerate the landscapes all over the world”
Masanobu Fukuoka, “Sowing seeds in the desert”

Resources

Back to main blog page