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.
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