How to get to us . . .
We are HERE!
you can also find us by putting GL17 9PA into googlemaps. If you are using SatNav to get to us - please look at where the arrow is pointing so that you find the right road into the farm. SatNav users usually take the wrong turning at the last minute . . .
If you are using public transport (well done)
Bus from Gloucester
The bus station is next to the train station. Travel from Gloucester Station to Ruardean Square. Click here for a list of bus timetables.
By Car
By car from the M4 come over the old severn bridge (M48) and take the Chepstow turn off. Go into Chepstow, over the bridge on the A48, and turn left onto the B4228 signposted to Coleford and the Forest of Dean. Follow the signs to Cinderford out of Coleford. Join the A4136 then take a left turning to Lydbrook. Drive through Lydbrook until you reach the River Wye and turn right. After half a mile there is a sharp right hand turn to Ruardean. We are the first right up this road.
By car from Gloucester and M40 Take the A40 from Glos as far as Huntley, then turn left onto A4136. Follow this until you reach Nailbridge (after Mithcheldean). Turn right to Ruardean. Go through Ruardean and come down the hill towards the river Wye. Go past Little Marstow Farm (left) and Great Marstow Farm (right). We are the next left after that.
By car from the M5 Come down the M5, turn onto the M50 and go to Junc 4. Take the ring road (A40) round the top of Ross. Turn left to Goodrich after 3 miles TAKE CARE it comes up fast! Drive past the post office and school, and turn left at the T Junction under the stone bridge, then over Kerne bridge crossing the river Wye. Turn right at T junc at Kerne Bridge onto the B4234 (signed to Lydbrook) then past a garage on your right. The second left fork after the garage is signposted to Ruardean. We are the first right on this road.
Useful telephone numbers:-
Stage Coach Buses (Gloucester) - 01452 783540 click here for website
National Rail Enquiries - 03457 484950 click here for website
National Express Coaches - 0871 781 8181 click here for website
Local Taxi Companies (near the farm) - CDS Taxis 01594 834834 / Crystal Travel 01594 832288 / K&T Taxis 01594 845913 / Road Runner 07778 277752
If you are attending a course or event that finishes on Sunday or late at night please consider arranging your travel home in advance.
Contact your course/event tutor to see if they can arrange a lift share for you.
If you need to get a bus or a train please consider booking a taxi to the bus/train station in advance. Rural bus services are scant in the evenings and on Sunday, and getting a taxi at short notice in this area can be difficult.
Our Approach to Soil Fertility and System Health ~ by Matt Dunwell
February 15th 2017 POSTED BY: Ragmans Farm
Ragmans Farm is a 60 acre organic farm
in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. We use farming practices that
regenerate the land, using
permaculture as a guiding design principle. Between the three
main enterprises at the farm – Ragmans Lane Farm, the Willow Bank and Ragmans
Market Garden, we provide employment for about 8 people.
Ragmans Lane Farm has eight acres of
organic apples and we make our own brand of apple juice. We also host a series of courses throughout the year on land related
issues.
A course led by Jairo Restrepo in 2015 introduced us to a new philosophy of system health, based on building
healthy soils. This had a profound
effect on the farm, and led us to set up a full time research post to develop
these principles for temperate climate agriculture. Our research manager, Juanfran Lopez, is half way into a three year programme and this blog is predominantly about his
work here at Ragmans.
Our research goal is to gain expertise in making soil
amendment preparations. We will then measure the effectiveness of these
biological techniques on system biology and mineral balance on plant-soil
health and growth. Over the last twelve months we have put in place a series of
soil and plant tests and taken baseline data.
We are testing for pH, salinity, conductivity, a wide
range of trace elements and also available nitrogen. In addition to this, we
are developing a high quality range of preparations and techniques such as
biofertilisers, aerobic teas, mineral chelations, mychorriza, chromatography,
lactic acid bacteria, and native microorganism reproduction among other
methods….
The objective of this practice is to reproduce the local
microbiology, as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae and protozoa working in
a complete harmony in a healthy environmental system (forest, farm or even animal
and human system).
Whilst it is tempting to
try to produce a range of products for sale, we are wary of claims that certain
microbe mixes are ‘silver bullets’ to be used in the same way as chemical
fertilisers or herbicides.
We believe it is more important
to get a good understanding of the science behind this approach, and then for
farmers to tweak them into individual requirements or situations, thereby
having a positive impact on the farmer´s autonomy and viability and hopefully reaching
a broader scale.
An example of how we can work
through these preparations can be seen at Ragmans currently. We have in the past sampled our soils and
found them lacking in certain trace elements.
A conversation with any good soil lab will furnish you with the trace
elements needed, normally in the form of salts – magnesium sulphate etc. These
are supplied and put out onto the land with a spreader.
The addition of trace elements
in this way can be ineffective as both the soil and plant are looking for
elements in a bioactive form – ie easily digestible. For this reason sometimes
the addition of trace elements can be disruptive and almost always there is
waste.
When we make biofertiliser on
the farm we build a biologically active system using fresh cow manure that has
the gut flora and fauna of a ruminant. To this we add various ingredients –
including molasses, yeast, native microbes from the forest soil. A ferment takes place into which we can
place trace elements in minute quantities over a period of three or four
months. These minerals are cycled
through countless generations of microbes becoming more and more biologically
available.
When the preparation is ready
we spray onto the leaves and soil thereby feeding the system through the plants
that in turn will feed soil microbes with essential micro nutrients.
This is a basic example of our
approach as taught by Jairo Restrepo. We are only beginning to understand the
potential of natural agriculture, and there is very little knowledge at all of
this work in temperate systems.
We are also running a six day
course with Jairo at Ragmans from June 29
th to July 4
th 2017. Jairo's book 'The ABC of Organic Agriculture' is now available in English from our
on-line shop.
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.
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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…
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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
- Microcosmos - Lynn Margulis & Dorion Sagan
- Teaming with microbes - Jeff Lowenfels
- ABC de la agricultura organica - Jairo Restrepo
- Microbiotica - Various Authors
- What is life? - Lynn Margulis & Dorion Sagan
- The compost tea brewing manual - Elaine Ingham
An interview with Jairo Restrepo
June 23rd 2015 POSTED BY: Ragmans Farm
Columbian champion of Organic Farming and
for the rights of small holder farmers.
"my dream is to construct a being, an
ideal state of a being, so that I shall not be the ideal being of the
State".
Jairo Restrepo is a passionate
educator and activist in the field of sustainable agriculture and food
sovereignty. He campaigns for a return of self determination, knowledge and
autonomy to the farmer away from the power of agribusiness. He offers
education, agronomy and consultancy around the world. His background is in
Latin America and recently he has been touring in Europe and Australia. Jairo
used to be consultant to the UN, Unesco, and the International Labour
Organisation.
As an advocate for Agroecology and
regenerative farming, he is unique in that he not only argues passionately for
the rights of farmers, but he also offers an array of practical technologies
and preparations to increase soil fertility and transform cropping. He offers
tools and inspiration for farmers, smallholders and activists. An agronomist
with a rebellious character, he has a passionate belief in people power, in
local rural culture, food sovereignty, and the desire to transmit the
indigenous knowledge and experience gathered from over 20 years work across all
continents.
In this interview he speaks of
organic farming although he is mistrustful of certified organic farming in the
context of South America. His brand of organic farming is closer to Regenerative
agriculture.
In an interview with Jairo last month in
Spain, Juan Fran from Ragmans Lane Farm asked the following questions –
JF – Tell us a little about your background
and how you came to work in organic agriculture?
Jairo – I worked at the Federal University
of Rio Grande de Sul in Brazil for many years. My main work was in the analysis
and development of agricultural pesticides. For instance I was researching how
to eradicate the smell of rotten eggs from a phosphoric poison called Malatol
used in corn and wheat storage. However, in 1979 I happened to hear a talk
given by a professor working in the poison residues lab on the Ministry of
Agriculture. His name was Sebastián Pinheiro
and in 45 minutes he was able to describe how agricultural poisons were used
not only in the environment, but also how the industry was born out of the
second world war, and that it was now bribing the entire structure of the
Brazilian Dictatorship. This was a turning point for me. I became very self
critical and aligned myself with Pinheiro. Working with him, I trained in
chemical residue analysis, and then I started speaking out to defend and
protect life. My mission now is to defend life.
This is my purpose, my instinct, but also to protect the conditions that
encourage perpetual and healthy life.
JF – how did your work have impact in South
America?
It is hard to quantify it – many things in
Latin America happened due to the crisis or terror and rising social tension. So there is resistance and re-existence. When
I speak of re-existence I speak of people who have always found a way without
industrial agriculture. Some farmers have access to industrial technology,
other have not. But the changes are huge. 75% of farmers in Latin America are now
using organic fertilizer in one way or another and they produce 67% of food in
Latin America, mostly in the small farmer sector.
When we started
promoting the proposal of organic agriculture in Cuba, in 10 years we were
linked with 87,500 promoters of organic agriculture. From 1997 up to 2007 where
a 10 year programme was concluded and assessment in Havana was performed, we
recognised that this movement grew due to the interest of many farmers, so we
did have a huge impact. I participated in forming the founding of the movement
in Cuba and made several consecutive volunteer trips from place to place
throughout the country. One of my trips lasted 78 days, and we were in contact
with 3,000 Cuban technicians - this
practically became policy.
Ideas are shared through farmer to farmer
learning. But organic agriculture is not a small farmer unit, it is not even a
broader political proposal; it is broader than that. Organic agriculture goes
from being an instrument of technological transformation to an instrument for
transforming society.
Society does not have
to be detached from technology. Technology is an expression of society and this
is what we want. We don’t want to change technology; we want to transform
society, thereby changing the technological proposal. Today the opposite
occurs, the dominant type of technology proposes a society subjugated to
industry, and we want the opposite and here I use one sentence quite a lot... "my dream is to construct a being, an
ideal state of a being, so that I shall not be the ideal being of the State".
I want to fight for this ideal state of being so that I won’t be the ideal of
the State; that is not to be slavish.
Industrial agriculture is no longer able to
respond to the crisis of societal change. On the contrary it is causing the
crisis, because agriculture and the food system wants to enslave society, concentrating
economic revenues. This hungry
proposal of accumulating capital by all means causes a crisis, and farmers see
that this is not a technological issue but an economic crisis that in turn is a
political crisis. Capitalism is its own gravedigger in
this respect.
JF - What are the obstacles facing organic
agriculture?
There are three obstacles. The first is the
State. It has little societal commitment and no desire to change. Industry is
where the power lies, and politicians are temporary. In Latin America industry
is power and politicians are temporarily there as its representatives.
The second obstacle is the monolithic
approach of Universities. The term University
is derived from "universities", the universal set of knowledge
possible to dream up, construct, and propose a thesis. Today Universities don’t
propose theses, they propose ‘research’ but already know the results. This is adjusted research. Industry does not
need universities for knowledge, as they conduct more research themselves, what
they need is legitimacy. People have an idea that university is "free,
public and serves the people". That’s a lie, the university doesn’t
represent the citizenry, more so, if universities were to close farmers
wouldn’t even notice, the social impact of universities is negligible as
compared to farmers. People think that Universities are prestigious; this is
still the image that is maintained, like a veil. The truth is that the University
is a brothel, where knowledge and technology are prostituted.
The third obstacle is rural outreach, the
system for disseminating information to farmers. It has been created on a lie.
It assumes farmers as a technological consumer unit rather than as a cultural
entity. The agricultural supply industry can sell products through operatives
that need very little training – you don’t need to be an agronomist, to be a
mugger you don’t need to go to college.
Organic agriculture is about rural
communication, where discussion and dialogue is held, where the farmer is
recognized as having something to give, as they know the territory. The farmer
provides the context and the background, and then others coming in can see the
potential or possibilities. This is the basis for developing organic
agriculture where both parties can grow together.
JF – Can you tell me about the impact of
your work on climate change?
Jairo - Its very simple. The more we can
build life in the soil, the less carbon will be in the atmosphere. So for
example the herbicide industry should pay for carbon emissions, not only for
killing life but also in the embodied oil within the product itself. Fungicides greatly modify the climate, why?
Because they are selective and modify the food networks connecting microbiology
and decomposition. When decomposition of organic matter is paralysed and
modified this releases more carbon. On the other hand the proposal of organic
agriculture is to increase soil life and to trap carbon within productive
systems.
JF – You have worked for the United Nations. They
have proclaimed this year the year of the
Soil. What do you think of this?
Jairo – They have a
year for everything. Saying it’s the year
of the Soil is like saying its International Life Year! Every single day
humanity is related to soil. Our stomach does not exist without being tied to
the soil – without soil there is no life, so why have one year that is for
soil? Its madness.
Jairo Restrepo Rivera has published 40 scientific papers and 14
books on organic agriculture. He has participated in more than 500 conferences
on the subject of organic agriculture and worked with 37 universities. He has
worked as a consultant for governments and parliaments and is the founder of
various NGO’s, foundations, programs, and international initiatives. He has
taught over 400 courses in 52 countries, is a consultant to the UN, UNESCO and
Panama and FAO in Chile and Brazil. –
Jairo will be in the UK in July 2015 teaching
three courses at Ragmans Lane Farm in Gloucestershire. For details on the courses see
www.ragmans.co.uk/home/news
March 23rd 2015 POSTED BY: Ragmans Farm
A Wonderful Time at Ragmans by Yanthe Oosthoek - Student Summer 2014
Being back in Holland made me realise how amazing my time at Ragmans had been. While cycling through the Dutch landscape (which is not very impressive compared to the beautiful Wye Valley Ragmans is surrounded by) I notice myself pointing out different weeds growing in the fields. This is something I did not even look at before I started working on the farm. Not only the weeds are keeping me busy; realising the importance and purity of nature was something I just took for granted before.
As a second year student of International Development Management I had to learn more about farming. So I spent weeks and weeks trying to find the right placement place or WWOOF farm. There were two things I knew before I started searching: I wanted to learn more about permaculture and I wanted to go to the UK. I Googled ‘permaculture farm in UK’ and found Ragmans. I knew immediately that this was the place where I wanted to go.
In the first week on the farm it became clear this was exactly what I needed.
In the time between my first working day on the farm, which was the 14th of July, and the last one, 10 weeks later, each and every day was different. The weather, jobs, and people all made my days interesting and worthwhile. Freya, Pete, Matt, and Juan Fran supported me along the way and gave me many opportunities. They gave me space to learn as much as possible about each and every aspect of the farm. From scything the orchard to compost-tea’ing the apple trees, stacking wood, preparing the Yurt, to organising a Gathering of Centres on the farm. Their trust in me made me feel so much more confident. Whenever I had a difficult permaculture question they were always willing to give me an answer and tell me even more about it. It felt like I had been there for ages already. They all create such a warm and welcoming atmosphere within the farm!
As part of an individual placement assignment I was involved in organising a Gathering of Centres. A two day meet up to exchange experiences between 9 other educational farms in the UK. It was amazing to see how people with the same interests and concerns had the opportunity to share knowledge.
I had never thought an event like this could be so supportive and helpful. This gathering was a great opportunity for me to meet other inspiring people and become more involved in ‘interesting sustainable things’ going on in the UK. Something Holland can learn a lot from!
It is hard for me to draw up a list of all the things I learnt during my time at the farm because it is endless. Working with the Growers proved a very valuable experience as well. The alternation of working on Ragmans for 4 days a week and one day in the Growers garden was perfect. Nat, Danny, Ben, and Jon taught me so many things about veggies, soil, equipment, seeds during the days I worked with them. I never knew I would develop a serious interest and see the importance and value of growing local food and flowers.
Even though Ragmans is quite isolated, having warm, helpful, and lovely people around me made me feel at home. Thank you Freya, Matt, Pete, Angie, Ann, Steve, Carine, Juan Fran, Nat, Jon, Danny, and Ben. The work you all do is amazing and you are all amazing! You know what they say about people visiting Ragmans once, don’t you? They all return in due time. Well, don’t worry, I will be back for sure!
October 2014
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