VALLIS VEG – CHRIS SMAJE
Vallis Veg is based around our eighteen-acre site in Vallis Vale on the outskirts of Frome, which we have been developing as an agro-ecological site using the principles of permaculture design.
To date, we have:
- created a market garden site – the heart of Vallis Veg
- delivered over 11,000 boxes of fresh, locally-grown vegetables to Frome residents
- planted over seven acres of woodland – including long- and short-rotation coppice
- established fruit and nut orchards
- begun creating a rainwater irrigation system
- established small-scale livestock systems that are integrated with the larger farm design
- published the results of our ongoing research in small scale agro-ecology
- made the site available for community activities, such as the weekly Forest School run by Shared Earth Learning
We set up Vallis Veg for two reasons. The first is that we love growing vegetables! The second is that we’re concerned about the environmental impact of conventional farming and retail systems, and we want to work towards a more sustainable and locally-based agriculture. We don’t use synthetic fertilisers or pesticides in our farming, and use very little fossil fuel. You can learn more about what we’re doing by looking at our environmental report or clicking on the menu to the left. If you still have a question or if you’d like to arrange a visit to the land, feel free to contact us.
We want our land as far as possible to be available for the use of the wider community in Frome. As well as our regular open days for customers, we have held a variety of events on the site: a Woodcraft Folk camp; tree-planting events for children and adults; a scything workshop; permaculture training events; the ‘Dig With Des’ gardening lessons with local gardener, Des Harris; and even on one occasion an eco-friendly wedding. Please contact us if you have an idea for an event that you’d like to discuss with us.
Review by Ed Dowding of the great project Sustaination
Vallis Veg was started by Chris Smaje, a former sociologist. He started Vallis because he felt it was important that it should be possible to be a primary producer here in the UK, and wanted to find a way of making it work. Being of an inquisitive disposition he set about studying the efficiency of different farm types, from small to large, industrial to organic, and compared different yields (PDF download – well worth a read, but perhaps just its eloquent conclusion if you’re pushed for time) and found that for potatoes at least, small scale organic had an efficiency ratio 17x greater than industrial farming. That’s not bad at all, and he didn’t even include the beneficial effects of biodiversity or employment.
Chris was also brilliantly candid about the troubles of running a veg-box scheme as a single farm, and how tough it’s been with the weather this year. Customers, it turns out, only have a limited compassion. This is, of course, fair enough, and I couldn’t help but wonder if greater collaboration with other farms to provide more resilience in the veg box contents would help that.