Growing on the Llŷn

Sadbh Burke is an organic grower on the Llŷn Peninsula, who lives from the land having taken over a local garden to grow her organic fruit and veg. Read Sadbh's contribution to ‘Stories within Our Isles’, an article on her love for growing her own and how she set up the small-scale organic farm with Urien Dwyfor Davies-Hughes.

Here at Fferm y felin we are growing organic veg and have set up a veg box scheme for locals who want to eat fresh local produce. We took on the garden at the Felin Uchaf Centre this year with little experience but have thrown all of our energy into it and have found it to be something we both love. We are passionate about eating food that is fresh and seasonal so it's been really exciting taking on this project!

We're growing a wide range of veg here in the garden. We love growing vegetable varieties unavailable in the supermarket. There's a beautiful array of colours from the more unusual veg like purple kohlrabi, red kale, yellow courgettes, rainbow chards and multi coloured squash.

Collecting seaweed to use as fertilizer and mulch connects us to the surrounding sea. It’s something that has been done for years and there’s something special about continuing that tradition. The weather conditions here on the Llŷn Peninsula can be quite wet and windy for working outside all day but it’s actually really invigorating being out in the elements; it’s waterproofs and wellington boots galore around here!

The flavour of freshly harvested organic veg really has no comparison. We find ourselves really inspired by cooking with the bright colours and seasonal flavours. The variety of veg changes with the season which means we’re constantly coming up with and sharing recipes and ideas as new crops mature and are harvested.

We’ve delved into learning about different systems of gardening and are particularly interested in biodynamic methods and ‘no-dig’ gardening. ‘No-dig’ seems to be a great approach to best utilizing space on a smaller patch of land whilst taking care of the soil's structure and it's becoming increasingly popular for market gardens. We would highly recommend it for anyone keen on growing some veg at home!

We hope to expand the garden significantly for next year and take on a lot more veg boxes with the experience we have gained. There’s so much that we can't wait to put into practice!

Photographs & Words by Sadbh Burke | @ffermyfelin