Market Gardening Camp Out

Learn best practices, tools, techniques, and strategies from a range of market gardeners.

Jean Martin Fortier — This is the second time JM has come to the UK to teach at Soul Farm, and we are honored to have him on our small patch of land in Cornwall.

Rob Alderson — Rob grows at Goonown Growers in St. Agnes. His experience growing in Cornwall and Manchester, as well as working for Unicorn Grocery, brings valuable insights.

Andy Dibben — Andy is an expert's expert in all things growing in the UK; he loves cover crops, and we're so excited that he will be sharing with us.

Laurence Jarrett-Kerr and Ian Brydon — MD and Farm Manager respectively from Soul Farm, they are now in their 6th season working together and will share how they took the farm to where it is today.

Spend three days learning, meeting new people, and having a good time. Camping is available on-site - you are welcome to camp for two nights so that you can start bright and early on the first day.

We are a short walk from the beach, so bring your swimming things. In the evening, after we have learned a lot, we will have a chance to unwind with a BBQ and a swim.

We are so delighted to welcome JM, Andy, and Rob to the farm in what will be a best-in-class experience. Many thousands of people have been influenced by JM's teaching and watching his farms across the pond. I (Laurence) consider JM one of my mentors, and it's such a pleasure to meet him in person and get inspired. Not only is JM running courses and online tools, clothing, and tech companies, but he has also always remained in farming, keeping his hands dirty and staying in touch with techniques and tools. This is an event not to be missed.

Andy has recently become a mentor for Soul Farm. He has impacted so many young farmers with his training on his farm. He is an insightful, scientific, and creative market gardener. We will benefit from his sessions and being able to chat with him in social times.

Rob is an expert market gardener, but he is also one of the best out there at strategically working with other farms and with wholesalers to supplement market gardeners' offerings. He has mentored Soul Farm in buying in and also converting to organic, and we're looking forward to him sharing that knowledge with a broader audience.

You will be learning advanced market garden skills out in the field, in the greenhouse, the nursery, and wash pack area. This might not be the course for you unless you have a season or two under your belt.

Soul Farm has an advanced washpack area with bubblers and spinners, a veg box pack line, and a walk-in cooler. We operate out of a 2.5-acre walled garden and a further field with two polytunnels. You can see how we have constructed our caterpillar tunnels and low tunnels in JM's style.

Both ReAg Tools and Tracmaster will be on site to showcase their tools and equipment. JM will be able to demonstrate his raised methods.

Selling produce - we will have a session in the last afternoon where we will hear from the digital veg box platform Ooooby and from Adele and Laurence, who between them have decades of experience in marketing. Laurence worked in advertising and branding in agencies in London, Bristol, and Cornwall and has developed strategies for supermarket brands for Soul Farm.

Loose outline (more to come closer to the time):

• Cover crops with Andy Dibben
• Tools and techniques with ReAg Tools and Soul Farm
• Soul Farm's wash and pack shed tour, including washing salad with a bubbler and spinner
• Creating systems for reduction of complexity with JM Fortier
• Crop planning with JM Fortier & Heirloom
• Selling produce with Laurence Jarrett-Kerr and Ooooby
• Bed preparation JM Style and BCS
• Winter production - Building caterpillar and low tunnels with Soul Farm & JM
• Converting to organic with Goonown Growers
• Buying in produce for market and boxes with Goonown Growers

With your ticket you also get:

• 40% discount on The Market Garden Institute
• 10% off if you join Ooooby
• Further discounts from Reag Tools
• Access to try Heirloom and a month free

All food is provided by the awesome team at 7th Rise. You will be treated to some amazing flavours and culinary delights.

Camping space is provided with toilets but no showers. You can arrive from the night before.

This event is sponsored by:

Oooooby is a software platform for veg boxes. They power Soul Farm's veg boxes and allowed them to scale up while reducing admin time and a beter service for their members.

ReAg Tools brings you the best of Market Gardening tools to the UK. Soul Farm have been using ReAg since they started. They supply all the best toys from Terrateck to Jangs. They will be on site to show you the latest. Check out their range.

Tracmaster who are the UK distributors of BCS. BCS is a popular tool for market gardeners and made popular by JM in his book and beyond. We're delighted that they will on site to show you the lastest impliments.

The Market Gardener Institute. One of the first purchases for the farm was JM's cource. Their goal is to educate and empower growers who change the world through the simple act of growing healthy, nourishing food for their communities. They'll be offering goodies to people who attend the cource.

There will be discounts from all these sponsors.