From our blog…

Welcome to Capland Acre’s first blog post. Where to start?!

We are Jarrad and Debbie Hearman and we live on a single acre just outside the village of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset, south west U.K. We arrived on the property only five months ago (the end of May 2022) moving away from the city life that had been our norm for the previous decade. Having both grown up in the countryside, the call to return was something we could no longer ignore, with escapes to rural England highlighting to us how much we value being out in nature and fresh air. We found ourselves regularly dreaming of a small pocket of the world that we could call our own, one that would allow us to be surrounded by what made us most happy each and every day.

Our initial idea was to just get our hands dirty, to know where our food came from by growing it ourselves. But this idea evolved; why only feed ourselves when we can also feed our community? Fast forward, and here we are now, committed to the idea that small is indeed beautiful, and that our one acre pocket of the world and the happiness it brings us can also be a source of joy for others.

The way we grow is simple. We disturb the soil as little as possible, eliminating the need for any of the large destructive machinery that is a fixture of industrial agriculture. Our practices are human-scale - any tools we use are light and capable of being moved around the growing space by a single person, and none require more than body movements to use - no engines need starting, no fossil fuels need burning. Our days are soundtracked by only the rustle of the wind in the nearby trees and the chirping of birds.

We do not use pesticides or herbicides. Nothing is put on our fresh salads or vegetables that started life in a laboratory. We want our food to be as good for you as it is tasty, so we prioritise creating an ecosystem that allows our plants to prosper, harnessing the mighty power of photosynthesis and healthy soil, rather than diminishing our land with poisons. Nature is already perfect. Growing this way results in delicious fresh food and also the assured good health of our acreage for the generations who will tend it in the future. So why would we contemplate growing any other way?

We’d love for you to be the judge. We are customer certified. Anyone is welcome to stop in and see how we grow; come and visit us any time. And as to the taste and flavours, we let our weekly fresh salad and vegetable bags do all the talking.