April 2025: Local Farming Industry

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I'm Kay McLaughlin and on this edition of the business partner, I'll be finding out more about the local farming industry. I spoke to Rob Warnock, a farmer from Capel Church Farm, Richard Bow from Regeneration Earth, the Claire Redmond from Gingerly Grown Flour Farm in South Stead. Joining me on this edition of the business partner about the local farming industry is Rob, a farm from Capel. Rob, welcome to the business partner on Radio Folkstone. So firstly, are you new to farming or is this a generational business? It's absolutely a generational business. So I'm the sixth generation of dairy farmer in our family. And hopefully my son will be the seventh generation. Has this all been in Kent? No, so my grandfather moved down from Straven in Scotland back in 1955. So this year we would have been at Capel Leferne for 70 years. So it's quite a big thing in my book. How large is your farm and what type of farming do you do there? So we're a mixed farm. So we milk cows, we have a few breeding sheep, and we have a small amount of arable. And we're farm about 600 acres in total. So it's a reasonable size farm by UK standards. And what's the process for your type of farming? I mean, who do you use the plow-a-to, how are the government involved? So we supply ara, so all our milk that we produce on the farm, about five million points a year, goes to ara. And they're a farm-arowned cooperative. Probably your listeners would have seen many ara products throughout the supermarkets within the dairy aisles. They were essentially, I think, a Scandinavian company. And they've now got farmer members in six or seven different countries throughout Europe. And I believe that in the United Kingdom, there's three thousand ara farmer members, so it's a big part of their business. See, I thought that was a private limited company. I didn't realise it was actually owned by the farmers in the UK. Yes, yes, we all have a share. So 13,000 member farmers all have a very small share within the company. And we believe that all the profits that are made go back to the farmers in the milk price that they receive. Does milk prices differ each year? Is there a reason for price differing? The milk prices do fluctuate greatly, actually. And right now, the milk price is very good. But just 12 months ago, it was very poor. So we're used to seeing big fluctuations. And it makes a running a business very, very difficult. And what's the reason for the price differences? Often it's demand and supply. If the market is over-supplied by as much as one or two percent, that can really pull the prices back quite significantly up to 40 or 50%. So it's just getting that demand and supply and balance is the key. And from a farmer's point of view, we really want the market to be slightly short because then that ensures that we'll get a relatively good milk price. Are the government involved in farms in some way? Do they pay you subsidies? We've been paid subsidies for many years, especially when we're in the year as well, all European farmers were paid subsidies, really, to help keep the farmers viable, because the margins are very, very small within most farming businesses. So the governments of different countries would pay subsidies in the hope that the low margins wouldn't necessarily put the farmers out of business. But since we've left the EU, our government are very quickly withdrawing any subsidies that we were receiving. And in the last budget, they really did slash the subsidies by 75%. So we're getting very little in the way of government help now. So how will that affect farms with receiving those subsidies? Will they be low in them over the years? In a poor year, the subsidies was really, that was your profit. So it's going to have a big impact on many farms. Now they are coming up with new schemes, environmental schemes that many farmers are signing up to try and replace the money they've lost through the subsidies. But we just hope that the retailers pay the farmers a bit more for the produce and that we won't miss the subsidies in that way. So lots and lots of changes coming into effect at the moment. Obviously the most heard about one is that the government are going to be changing inheritance tax farmers. What does that mean to you and how does that work? Yeah, no, that's certainly in the news at the moment. And I think it's going to be in the news for quite some time. So agricultural property relief is something that many family farms have been used to receiving over years, so that on the hand over from one generation to the next, you wouldn't have as many other business outside agriculture, you wouldn't have the tax to pay. Now, with their own farming business, on the death of my second parent, because my parents are partners just like myself and my brother, but on the death of a second parent, our own family farm would be liable for 1.2 million pounds, a colossal sum of money. And I know the government say to us, we've got 10 years to pay that. It dwarfs the profit that we make each year. So it would, yeah, it would basically put our business at serious risk of going out of production. So you've got to find an extra 120,000 pounds over 10 years to pay the government. Basically, I mean, I know you're trying to work out if there are reason that I'm hoping to make millions. Well, no, I mean, in the whole scheme of things, really, they're not going to make, I think they're going to make 500 million pounds a year, as I understand it. So in the whole scheme of things, it's not a huge amount of money. But the way we see it, if the farmers are going to carry on farming the land, we feel very strongly that we should be exempt from paying the agricultural property relief. And it's seriously going to put British food production at risk, because it is going to affect many, many farms. Do you think a lot of them would just say it's not worth it? There's no way we're going to be able to function if this happens. Well, that could that could well be the case. But I mean, farming is, you know, when it's in your blood, it's in your blood. And, you know, you do whatever you can to keep going. But many farms won't be able to forward. You know, the tax, the government are going to be trying to claim back. And, you know, I believe it's about three million pounds if, you know, providing you to call the boxes. Well, property has to be worth that to actually have to have this intermittent tax. That's, that's right. But this is on paper, isn't it? Yeah. On paper. Now, most farms will be worth a lot more than three million pounds, because three million pounds would only be probably a two hundred acre farm with a house and some buildings. Right. And most farms wouldn't be viable anyway at that size or smaller. So it's going to, it's going to impact a huge number of farms. And, you know, that's why the farmers have been, been in the press a lot over the last few months, campaigning and protesting. And have they been implemented yet? It's still going through. Yeah. As I understand. It's like a set deal. Yeah, I understand it's still going through. And I don't think the rule changes actually apply until April 26. So, you know, we've got to look at our own partnership agreement and see if we can, you know, change it so that we won't be liable for such a huge amount of tax. So, having to deal with the weather as well, that's something that affects you as a business. And you said you've got sheep and you've got cows, does that affect them as much? The weather is a huge problem now for farming and it's getting more and more difficult in extreme wet weather or extreme droughts. We're noticing that crop yields are reducing because often now when you sow your arable seeds in the autumn time, it's followed very quickly by very intense periods of wet weather where the seeds struggle to grow. And then, often now during the summer, we find we get droughts, so grass production falls particularly for us and our cows and our sheep. So you have to then try and buy in feed if you can get it and that all adds to the cost. Yeah, the weather is definitely having a big impact now on how we produce food. Well, let's talk about Jeremy Clarkson, as you can expect, we talk about him, but we must say his TV show about farming has changed the public's perception of what farmers have to go through. What did you feel like after watches? You think to yourself, oh, he's finally saying something that people need to know about, was it something you're saying? He's done wonders for farming and all my non-farming friends all watch Clarkson's farm and it's really open people's eyes. There's a lot more reality in Clarkson's farm than a lot of the farming shows that are on television. Like we've just been talking about the weather, you know, it shows the problems associated with bad weather. Those are problems associated with keeping livestock, sheep always getting out and the troubles he had with his piglets, sound that avenue. So, yeah, there's a lot of reality with Clarkson's farm, I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but it shows it as it really is. Your non-farming friends, have they spoke to you about this and go, oh, I didn't realize, you know, this is how it fetched us, this is what you do, is this what you get, are they more interested in knowing what you do now or more? Yeah, 100%. 100%. See a lot of mums and dads when they take my son to football weekends and, you know, we're always chatting about, you know, what's going on in the farm and what they've seen and how it relates to our own business at home. So, yeah, it's definitely people's imagination going. What are the local farmers' plans for 2025? Well, I think there will be more protests, now, obviously, we want to keep the consumers on our side because we strongly believe that public are really supporting our cause at the moment. So, there'll be peaceful protests trying to keep this issue of the inheritance tax in the news, trying to persuade the government to back down and change their minds. And we'll keep farming and plugging away and doing the best we can, growing good crops, looking after our animals and producing food to a high standard. Thank you so much for being on the business partner on Radio folks, and it's been a pleasure to find out more about the farming industry and what you do out there. Thank you for having us, Kay. The business partner sponsored by the workshop on Tontine Street, a vibrant business centre within the harbour area of Folkston, offering workspace for freelancers, start-ups and offer space for growing businesses. I'm joined now by Richard Boe from Regeneration Earth, so what do regeneration earth do with the farming industry, and how do you get involved in that? We are there, carbon is a big topic, and soil carbon fluctuates so much, so we advocate first operation is to get baselines, so you understand what your soil is doing. You can go back to that 10, 20 years time and take another test to see how much you put in the soil or how your soil is doing, but what you can't do is look at that in 10 years and go, I wish we'd done a soil test and understand what's actually happening in your soil, what bacteria, what fun will that is happening in that soil. I'm a farmer's son and there was no right of succession on the family farm, so I went into farm management, consultancy and ended up working on a farm and I saw the potential of looking back to move forward. The amount of chemicals and fertilizers that we use, they're all oil-based with a heavy carbon footprint. If we reduce the amount of chemicals and fertilizers and allow the soil to grow again, we can then produce more wholesome nutritional food and more cost-effective for the farming industry. So, how do you then take the next step? We generally get invited along to a farm that is looking to change, to go down a regenerative route and understand how we can affect that. The biggest part of that is looking at their carbon footprint, is looking at their intensive uses, it's not a straightforward cut, it's an addiction, use of fertilizers and pesticides, an addiction, the soil's addiction, it's very much like fast food, it's a quick hit but it does nothing for the soil, so it takes a long time, about seven years to wean that the soil off, all of that pesticides, fertilizers, intensive farming, moving at the soil, going back to moving it a little bit, looking at fallow areas, cover crops and wanting another, so it's not a quick fix but it is worth it in the long run. So, do you go to a farm and do you have to then work out what they're doing and do you have to find out how much chemicals they're putting on their farm? The critical point is actually going to fill them, touch you fully, have a chat with them, sit them with a cup of coffee, see what their ambition is, what they want, where they are, not necessarily down to financials, I don't want to know what's in the bank account or anything else, but it's what their ambition is, if they don't want to do it and you're sat there chewing the cup with them, it doesn't work but if they're interested in how they can reduce it, how they can work with nature, look at the areas that are not economic to farm, what their actual system is and what their ambition is and have a wart round the farm, go and have a look, get your hands dirty, see what's happening in the soil, wart round with them, see their passion, where they want to be, what they want for their children before they're moving on. The ones that contact you are the reasons for contacting you, are they financial, are they the environment? It's very much that they've had a spark, they want to leave the world in a better place as all of us do for our children, and so it's a very much difficult scenario in order to get their head around it and understand it all, if that makes sense, but it's that initial spark, everybody looks at their costs and the first thing that people do is go out and buy a big expensive drill that will cut down the amount of passes and everything else. Well that's not always right, the soils got to play catch up, it's got to start growing again, we're surrounded in the soil with bacteria and fungal and all kinds of little bugs and everything else, it's about getting the balance right, and that's where we need to start. It's all very well-buy and expensive machinery, but you can't cultivate your way out of building the soil. For example, a spoonful of well-structured soil has more organisms in it than there are people in the world, and that still amazes me and I get my hands dirty every day. Do you think that the farmers started using chemicals because there was demand from the supermarkets for quicker production and that the fact that they put the chemicals into the ground is in the long run, not of benefit, but they did it for the financial gain, do you think it was that's more a chemical? Well that's a very interesting point, post-war, we had a lot of arms around us, the principal ingredient in bombs and one thing or another is the manium nitrate, so the government had a glut of this, what can we do with it? So we found that spreading it on the land made an instant three times worth of crop in an instant application, so we were hooked on the addiction. We were on a one, maybe two tons, an acre limit and all of a sudden we can achieve three tons by putting this miracle cure on, and then it was all about the disease pressures are born, so we needed to put chemicals on to control fungal and bacterial diseases and then we had the weed pressures, the grass weeds that we just can't grow crops on some areas because the weed pressures are so high, so then we need chemicals, we need herbicides, we need things that kill everything, so we have a clean fallow swing, so the addiction was born and we fell hooked on a zigger into it. I spoke to another farmer and he was saying you know what a farmer is worth and the assets you know the land on paper, you know a lot of them on the breadline literally, so I suppose you can see why they did this because they're going to make more money, but in the long term is that affected all the land around, if it's constantly being put into the soil, does that mean at one point the soil is like no we're not doing this anymore? Some scientists say that we've got 70 harvest left and that's quite proven, that if we don't start dealing with or doing things using manures of animals and our own species in a positive way, looking at carbon and putting every crop needs carbon, the soil needs carbon and so that's a really good way of storing carbon in our soils, but we've got to look at weening ourselves off, these massive fertiliser, oil based fertilizers, oil based chemicals, it's not going to go away, not every farmer is going to do this, but we need to start taking steps in the right direction. And what sort of things have you initiated with some of these farmers, what sort of projects have been put in place? We've done agro forestry projects where we're instead of just having a massive great big monoculture of fields, we're planting trees through the middle of them, so they can't farm through them, but what that actually does, it brings shade and shelter to the crops and animals, but also brings in insect light, and so my biggest hate is insecticides. And if we're killing off one specific aphid or midge or whatever, we're killing everything, so why not just encourage these, a predatory spider takes six weeks to get from a hedgeray to the middle of a hundred acre field, if we have many hedges or trees or agro forestry across the field, that brings it down and they can actually do some good very, very quickly. And all of this is benefiting the earth and the soil, so is this like the long game then, because we've polluted the earth so much or the land with so many chemicals, is the long game now to get it back to how it was pre-chemicals? Yeah, and I mean the inclusion of organic matters and natural manure is bringing livestock back into the rotation, livestock gets a bad price, but we can't farm without livestock, it's a critical part to it. We as an individual, we can't go out and eat grass, and there's areas of the countryside that can't grow crops, so that's a good way of getting protein, but also the byproducts that is manure, that really start bringing back the health into the soil. And some of the farms that you've consulted on you've gone to see, can they actually make money from what they're doing? Because you're bringing down the costs over a seven, eight year period, the costs do come down and the farmers can earn more money by boxing clever, thinking clever, reducing their machinery overheads, and eventually they have more time on their hands because it's not a lot more time, they're not working the bank, they're farming clever, not harder. Folkston's radio station 105.9 Radio Folkston. Joining me on the business partner on Radio Folkston today is Claire from Gingerly Green Flower Farm, have you been involved in the farming industry before? Yeah, so I grew up on farm, my dad's a farmer, where I currently doing my version of farming is our family farm, but basically I grew up with arable and sheep farming, which is what my dad did, saw it happening, loved it, I then dispeared off and did all sorts of other things, but when I ended up back home, I had a huge garden and I love growing flowers and I always want to fill my house with cut flowers, and the more I was following people online and looking into it, the more I thought, all right, there's something here, I could do this, and the job that I was in at the time, I wasn't happy and it wasn't a nice place to be, and I just thought to myself, I'm not sure, I was too short, and I thought about it and I spoke to dad and I said I'd love to do an actual flower farm, because I had been selling a few flowers at the farm gate just because I had extras, and he'd said to me, "Absolutely not, this is a ridiculous idea, why would you do that, you've got a well-paid job, just keep your hobby, that's basically what you're doing," and I was a little bit put out, "I'm onto something here, dad, I've got a feeling," so I wrote him a basic business plan, I'm not talking dragons down, but I did put something together and I presented it to him, and then I took him to a place, not that far away, that does something similar, because I wanted him to actively see it, and I just thought to myself, "Well, I don't know about you, but trying to change the mind of a seventy plus solid farmer is not always the easiest thing to do, and to visualize something that your daughter is rabbating on about might not be the easiest thing, so just to show him, and it was so funny, me, mum and dad went, and he was like, "Oh, okay, yeah, no, I've got it," and then I turned around and he'd gone, "Mom, where's that thing I shouldn't do, don't ask, I said, what should I do, don't ask, I looked over, should know your father," he was basically doing this weird frog marching, sort of like basil-forty style pacing up and down the middle of this flower field while other people were cutting flowers, and I'm going, "Dad, what are you doing?" and he went, "Pacing." And I was like, "What?" He said, "I'm trying to work out how big this pot is," and off he went, just marching off and down, and so he was measuring how much land he felt he would need. I thought, "Oh, interesting." And after we got back from that farm, and he was talking to me and mum in the car, and we were throwing back and forth all sorts of things, and he's a bit of a soft touch when it comes to me usually, but he was so against this, so I had my work cut out for me, and he was throwing up all sorts of obstacles and saying, "You can't do that," and I was trying to sort of bat him back and think about what I could answer with. And then we've gone from absolutely not to about maybe a three-week sort of mulling over everything he's seen and read to, "I bought a plow, and a cultivator, and have you thought of opening a coffee shop?" I was like, "Oh, so we're on board then." And since then, he's been probably, I wouldn't say my biggest fan, because that's always my mum, but he's been absolutely like biggest fan going for it, supporting me, really behind it all. Now, the business is relatively new, though we went from talking to your dad, showing me a busy plan, giving an example, him agreeing to it, him buying equipment to help start you out. When was all this happening? Breakground is September 2023, and I officially opened and started in December 23 with Christmas Ruth workshops, and then I was sewing and growing and getting everything ready, so then last summer, just gone, was my first sort of summer of blooming in the field and having flowers for people, so yeah, I'm just into my second year now. And how's it going so far? Have you made a profit or broke even? Yeah, I'm not going to be making my millions any time soon. I'm not retiring to the Caribbean any time soon. Exactly, no. This is lucky, given all the amount of flowers I've just put in the ground. But I worked out month 13, I'd broken even, and then I'm starting to make a profit, and don't get me wrong, like I said, it's not a mega profit, because I am still new, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm blown away, because I do take a small wage, but we are a diversification and it is the family farm, so it's not a totally new business that I've set up from scratch on my, you know, I've diversified, so I've spent all the money from the farm setting it up, and then all the money that's come in has gone straight back into the farm. And I think, for me, I put more pressure on myself, because I'm paranoid that I've essentially elbowed my way into my dad's job and livelihood, and spent money on stuff that he, I know, wasn't keen on in the first place, so I'm determined that it's all got to come back in, and that I don't want him thinking, hmm, I've basically funded your hobby. So at the start, I mean, you were lucky enough that you had land that you could use, because that would be a big outlet to buy that type of land, but you had the land, and you'd have bought the cultivator, and whatever else needed. And to be honest, that was just an excuse, he likes to buy equipment. Then you've had to spend more money, because you've had to buy extras to protect the land. Yeah, so I've put in a rabbit pre-fenced around the section that I'm doing the, the flower farming in, because obviously I'm not spending all that money on essentially rabbit food, so they can stay where they are, thank you very much. And I put in a poly tunnel, so I've got a growing area for, it extends my period, so I can start things earlier, and I have things in there flowering before things that would flower in the field, and I start off all my plants in there, and then also I spent quite a lot of money on rose bushes, perennials, more established plants, foliage, etc, and then every year I have to buy seed, and daily achievers, and bits and pieces. And how big is the area that the flowers are growing on the farm? It's just over an acre, it's probably about maybe an acre and a third, but within that space there is grass and there's path, like the whole thing isn't just flowers, there's space in there as well, and then surrounding the flower farm is about four and a half acres that we've sowed with wildflower meadow mix, which will come up this summer for the first time, so that's not for cutting, but it'll look nice and it's for the environment and our pollinators, and it's sort of giving a bit back as well. Now you're just a coffee shop, but that didn't come about. So what happened with that? With a bride in refreshments and the flowers. Well, I've got a lovely friend who started her own business, and she's actually just opposite me, the other side of the cricket pitch, and she runs the acre kitchen, and she provides for me afternoon teas, picnic plowmins. When I do some of my group visits, she'll do a cream tea for people, and basically if you put in a vance, she does it all, packs it all up in a lovely little lunch box, and then she turns up at first thing on Saturday morning, they're all done and labelled, so I know exactly which person and what time, and then when they come in, I'm just like, "Oh, hello, would you like flowers first or food," and then off they go into the field, they've got picnic tables out there, we've got blankets, benches, etc, and they can have tea and coffee from the studio, and Hannah's food is ready to go. What is the process of how people come along? They come along to your farm on a Saturday, and they can pick their own flowers, and how does that process work? So we're open from June through till mid to late October depending on the weather. You can either just turn up, but I would like people to book in advance, so I've got a rough idea of how many people are coming, but basically you go onto our website, you pick your day, you book, you pay, you then rock up on the Saturday, I give you a very brief safety talk, hand you your bucket and your snips, and then you're sent out into the field, you cut the flowers that you'd like, when you're done you bring them back in, and I wrap them up in paper. It's £25 for the bucket, and it's interesting for me, because some people come in and they're like, "Oh, I'm so pretty, I don't really want to cut them, I have to send them again." I say, "No, no, it's not a garden, please cut the flowers, and other people are just going absolutely to town, but it all bounces out in the end." And they regularly come back in, "I can't believe it, I've been out there for an hour and a half, I haven't thought of anything, I've just been looking at the flowers, watching the bees, and it's lovely." I think what I find really entertaining is, no one is ever rude to me, if other or very polite when they come in, but some of them are a little bit sort of, I wouldn't say cold, but some people are a bit sort of curt, and they're not doing, they're off and they're, "Yes, yes, no one's fine." And they're coming there, almost a different person, and they all say, "I can't believe how quickly that time has gone, because all they are doing is thinking about flowers as in, do I like this one, do I like that one, not sure about that one, or I don't know, and they look and they check and they think about it, time flies." So this is the original part of the business, the created the flower farm, that's going well, people can come and pick their own, but then you've decided that you're going to have other off-shoots of this. Yeah, because obviously I'm not busy enough. There's so many things to talk about here, now you do weddings, and also the thing I find fascinating is that people can come along, bridesmaids can come along and pick the flowers for the bouquet, but also you do a workshop. Yeah, so I was thinking about this, my first ever job was in a florist, I love flowers, I grew up with a big garden, flowers have always been part of my life, I appreciate that they're a luxury, and not everyone can have them, but I feel strongly that people should have an option, so therefore my wedding style is much more affordable, and you could in a perfect world start your whole journey with me, you could come to one of my workshops where I teach you how to do all of your own wedding flowers, then you could come back and you could actually book a session for pick your own wedding flowers, which is more expensive, but you get a bigger bucket and you get the feel to yourself and you can have as many buckets as you want. You cut your own flowers, and then you take them away with you and you use the knowledge that I've already given you at one of my workshops to make your own flowers, and I had one lady tell me last summer that she thinks she'd saved about £700, because of what she wanted and what she chose to cut and how she put it all together versus what a florist might charge. Now I'm not knocking florists their skills, that's obviously why you go to them, but if you don't have the money for that, but you still want some beautiful seasonal flowers, why shouldn't you have some kind of option, so that's how we set that up, and then I also do click and collect wedding flowers, so I will do the flowers for you. I'm very honest, I say to people, you know, it will be a seasonal mix, I will cut what I think looks best in the field of the day, if you've got a particular favourite colour or a style or a theme of course I'll work to that, but if you're going to say to me I must have 15 cerebellum heart peonies in March, I will say that's wonderful, I can't do that for you, you'll have to look elsewhere, because they have to be imported I guess. Correct, they've all come from abroad, they've all flown in, their miles, perhaps that's not strictly true for every single one, but the vast majority of them, but here you're picking homegrown. Correct, and I can't say that I'm organic because I'm part of the wider farm, you have to have all sorts of years of clean health and status and soil, etc, but I follow organic principles, so I don't use chemicals or pesticides and it's all just, you know, I'm a bit of a hard grower, it's got two chances that can either live or die and at the end of the day it is a business, so if something needs that much care and that much time, it's not worth it for me, so it's out. You're wasting money aren't you if you spend time on certain products as well, and I suppose it's trial and error? Absolutely, and I'm currently looking at certain things in the field which I put in last year and I thought, oh they're going to be great last year, they didn't do much this year, they're on borrowed time, if they're not going to be good doers, as my mum would say, that's it, they're coming out. So we've got the workshops, we've got the pick your own flowers, we've also got flower club. Yes, so from April through to October on a Friday I deliver flowers in the local area to people, and the way it works is it's a £25 cost per delivery, some people have it monthly, fortnightly, weekly, and the way that I try and sell it to people is because I do everything in one go, I cut all the flowers on the Thursday, I do all the arrangement on the Friday morning and I deliver everything on the Friday, it all happens once, so you get the best value for money, I'm only delivering once, so it's more sustainable, I'm not tazing here there and everywhere, it's one route off they go, I of course will deliver flowers to people on the say Tuesday, if it's their birthday, but I do say to people, is there any chance that you would be happy to have the delivery on the Friday because you get a better value for money from me, you probably get a slightly bigger bouquet for the same cost, or you might have more variety perhaps because I've cut so much stuff on that Thursday and I've got everything in there and I can absolutely pick, whereas if I'm just cutting the one bouquet on a Tuesday you might not get perhaps exactly the same, I mean I'm biased of course, I think they're all great, but a lot of people like that sustainable element. And delivery is on one day? Yeah, carbon footprint is lower, my time is not me running around here there and everywhere every single day, I can focus my energies on doing what I need in the farm and then on that one delivery day, I know, well I've put aside that much time, I whiz out, I get it all down and I look at the route, plan where I'm going and it's all sorted. So all the outlays that was paid out originally, actually in the fence which you had to do, and with me on the polytano, that was worth it, worth the investment for a long term gain. I mean the fact that you already make a profit after 13 months shows, I mean I was pretty blame away, I didn't expect it myself, but I also think that it shows there's a market there. Like people are interested in having locally homegrown flowers that are seasonal, that have scent, that have movement, that you know aren't kicking out MRs and chemicals into our water system etc, and I've just been so surprised and grateful at the support I've had from people. I feel like this is the time for players that influencers would love, have you had any come and visit yet and what's the reaction being? I don't know that I've had any like a bona fide influences but also let's be honest, what is an influence of these days, I guess it depends on who finds it. But it's just the power to share it to a lot of people, to promote your business to a lot of people. I definitely had one girl come along who was living her best life. I looked outside and I caught her just like running up and down the path, running her hands through the flowers, like looking over her shoulder laughing as she's going and her poor boyfriend was just plotting along behind her filming and she had the greatest day of her life. When she came back in she had about four flowers in her bucket saying do you want to go back out there like you don't really, I feel like you haven't had your money's worth, no it's been the greatest day ever, I've loved it, look at this, look at that, I'm still not really sure, yeah mate that's fine, I'm still okay, fine and it just goes to show that everyone gets different things out of it and then she did put a lot of stuff on her age which was lovely and I was very grateful for it but also for me what I love is just seeing people enjoy it because like I said I grew up with a larger than average garden I lived on a farm my whole life pretty much and for me sometimes I have to take a step back and realise that not everybody has had that experience and so for me seeing some lovely flowers I'm like yeah they're gorgeous but for other people it's such a real change and I just love sharing that with people. So flower farm, pick your own is going amazingly, doing well with that, you've got the workshops as well, also you've involved another local business with the food and refreshments that are provided there as well. I've got to say her food is epic as well, I've got to say her food is epic as well. So people go along and they can have a full day out, they can go along to pick flowers, they can have a little picnic lunch and sit around and join the views of the Kentish countryside as well. You've also got the weddings about where brides or brides made can come along or someone can come along and pick the flowers to make their own bouquet, you've got the workshops as well. What's next, what's the plan next for the gingerly green flower farm? I mean at the risk of taking on even more things, running myself completely ragged, I had a really interesting meeting quite literally yesterday actually with another local independent business woman, she's great, her name's Amy and she runs therapy on the farm which is in Bishop's Born, it's a little bit further out of town, but she and I were looking into the possibility of doing a retreat day on the flower farm on a Sunday in the summer and having been on people come along to have some therapies, hopefully my friend Hannah will be providing a lunch and then I will give them a little bit of a talk and a demonstration on flower arranging and then they're going to go out and cut their own flowers and that's like a full summer's day out and I just think that's a really interesting dynamic because that takes that wellness side of things and the mindful side of it all into one place and your outside in nature, why not? Gingerly green flower farm located in Celsted, which is between. Between fakes and in Canterbury, if you go on the A260, go through Hawking and just before you get to like the big bends on the way down before you get to Denton, but we're also on the bus route, bus goes slightly past the flower farm so you can see it from the top deck looks great, get off at the checkers, walk back, it's like a three minute walk, could you get any more sustainable, eco-friendly, like tickety tick supporting everyone locally, love it. Claire's been amazing talking to you to find out more about gingerly green flower farm, thank you for being on the business partner on Radio Folkston. Been my pleasure, thank you. You've been listening to the business partner on Radio Folkston in association with the workshop on Tontine Street, thank you to my guests Rob Ornock, a farmer from Cable Church Farm, Richard Boe from Regeneration Earth and Claire Redmond from Gingerly grown flower farm in Celsted. The business partner sponsored by the workshop on Tontine Street, a vibrant business centre within the Harbour area of Folkston, offering workspace for freelancers, startups and office space for growing businesses.