[Lucas Ashland]

Lucas Ashland

03/12/2020 am 11:15 am #41112

Hello! I have just moved to the UK from the US to live with my wife. We will be moving to somewhere in Somerset or Devon and I am currently looking for market gardening work there for this upcoming season.

I have volunteered at a some farms in the last few years, completed a PDC and internship, and I finally had the opportunity to farm full time last summer while I was applying for my visa to the UK to live with my wife (who is British, I’m from the US).

My family lives on a small farmstead in Iowa with an established garden so I decided to expand that and create my own market garden. I started planning for the garden at the beginning of 2020 and began starting seeds in February. I cultivated over 40 varieties of vegetables and herbs on around a quarter acre, and did everything from seed starting indoors to harvest and distribution. I was planning on selling at the local farmer’s market, but decided to donate the food to the local community kitchen where I was also volunteering. The gardens were all organic using IPM and hand/tool weeding, fertility was taken from the on-site animals and forest, minimal plastic was used, and no tractors were used. I could provide more details about the gardens, but it might make for too long of an email. I’ll keep it general and I can answer any questions and go into more detail when we speak.

Along with farming, I also have a wide ranging interest in food and have been working with cooking, preservation, fermentation, cheesemaking, forestry, orcharding, foraging, fishing, and seed saving. I have been learning as much as I can about the food system and have a good understanding of it’s intricacies and the great need for systemic change.

This summer was an amazing learning experience and I have a much better idea of what it takes to run a garden from beginning to end. It also cemented my motivation to work on a farm. Working alone also made me realize how important (and fun) it is to work with others on a farm. I feel like I’ve learnt all I can on my own so now I want to join a team and hopefully learn from farmers much more experienced than me. I would love the opportunity to work with growers on an integrated, organic, low impact farm.

Please get in touch at ashland44@gmail.com. I can also provide my CV, references, and the planning document I used last season. I look forward to speaking more about my experience!

-Lucas