This episode my guest is Alan Heeks, former corporate world inhabitant, organic farmer, coach and author of the book ‘Natural Happiness’. After his transition into organic farming, Alan realised that “a cultivated organic ecosystem is a profound guide to tending human nature, and that organic growth methods have parallels for people: such as composting your stress, and using crop rotation to avoid burnout.” We explore the idea further…

About Alan Heeks

Alan Heeks had a baptism by mud at age 42, when he dropped out of a successful business career and followed a wild impulse to start an organic farm as an education centre where young people could find their roots and direction as they entered adult life.

Despite Alan's lack of any relevant experience, the project succeeded, and gave him a huge education too. He explains, "I realised that a cultivated organic ecosystem is a profound guide to tending human nature, and that organic growth methods have parallels for people: such as composting your stress, and using crop rotation to avoid burnout."

Alan's new book about this approach, Natural Happiness, also draws on the workshops he has led for hundreds of people sharing his insights, from troubled teenagers to super-stressed NHS doctors. Alan and his wife Linda live in Hay-on-Wye, and grow many of their own vegetables.

Links

www.naturalhappiness.net
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Facebook
LinkedIn
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Other episodes if you liked this one:

Forest Bathing - Forest Bathing, or Shinrin Yoku, is the practice of immersing yourself in nature as therapy. It’s the perfect antidote for those who feel disconnected from the land and unattached from nature, which is increasingly likely to happen in a world where 55% of us live in urban areas. In this episode, I speak to Stefan Batorijs who founded Nature and Therapy UK in 2017, as a response to a growing need to foster a spiritual and psychological connection to the land. If you’ve always wondered what Forest Bathing, or Shinrin Yoku, entails, this is the episode for you!


Gardening for Your Senses - This week I’m chatting with writer Kendra Wilson. Kendra has written a vast amount about gardening but I was particularly interested in speaking to her about her book Garden for the Senses. Engaging all your senses can lead to a deeper connection with the landscape and it can be an unusual and transformative experience. I wanted to find out how we can all learn to better use our senses and firstly, what prompted Kendra to write the book.

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Hello and welcome to this week’s episode where my guest is Mark Schofield, Plantlife’s Road Verge Advisor for the UK. Mark has a huge amount of experience when it comes to green space conservation and is currently involved in a number of projects across the country to manage road verges better for wildlife involving biomass harvesting trials and the use of AI in surveys. He’s also one of Plantlife’s representatives for the #NoMowMay campaign, and in this interview, he talks about how we can maintain both private and public green spaces more sympathetically for wildflowers and the wildlife they support.

About Mark Schofield

Mark used to work for the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust before he joined Plantlife as their Road Verge Advisor for the UK. He has 15 years of experience of road verge and urban green space conservation and has organised extensive citizen science surveys. He is currently involved in a number of projects across the country to manage road verges better for wildlife involving biomass harvesting trials and the use of AI in surveys.

Mark is also one of Plantlife’s representatives for the #NoMowMay campaign, and has written much of the guidance on the Plantlife website for how we can maintain our lawns and public green spaces more sympathetically for wildflowers and the wildlife they support.

Links

No Mow May and lawn management guidance:
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay/
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/advice-learning/managing-grassland/

Trends in green space management:

Report from APSE with good news from local authorities for meadows and biodiversity priorities

Other episodes if you liked this one:

Tapestry Lawns - This episode, I’m talking to Dr Lionel Smith, horticulture lecturer and author of the book Tapestry Lawns: Freed from Grass and Full of Flowers. As the title suggests, a tapestry lawn replaces grass with flowering dicots, increasing biodiversity, lowering maintenance needs and seriously upping the aesthetic value of a lawn. Living with a tapestry lawns involves a little bit of self-education around how you treat plants and I start by asking how to overcome one of my own biggest worries about having one…


Gardening for Your Senses - This week I’m chatting with writer Kendra Wilson. Kendra has written a vast amount about gardening but I was particularly interested in speaking to her about her book Garden for the Senses. Engaging all your senses can lead to a deeper connection with the landscape and it can be an unusual and transformative experience. I wanted to find out how we can all learn to better use our senses and firstly, what prompted Kendra to write the book.

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This episode, my guest is Sam Frings who founded The Organic Plant Nursery. Sam explains in his own words how he got started and how things have been along the way. It’s not easy being a pioneer, but listen on to find out how Sam and his family have battled against the odds to do it right.

Links

www.organicplantnursery.co.uk

Other episodes if you liked this one:

Running a Green Nursery with Chris Williams of Edible Culture - This week I’m speaking to Chris Williams, co-founder of Edibleculture, an inspirational nursery based in Faversham in Kent. From the day the nursery was established 5 years ago, ethically and ecologically sounds principles have been employed to create the brilliant business that exists today. We talk about how the nursery succeeds where so many others are failing to make changes; using peat-free compost, gardening organically without chemicals, eliminating single use plastics from their sales output and many other initiatives that make this nursery truly revolutionary.


School Gardening - This episode I’m joined by 3 guests; Louise Moreton who heads up the horticultural programme at Wicor Primary School and 2 of the MiniHorts themselves, Rebecca and Kieran. Louise set up a horticultural programme at the school 11 years ago, initially in a voluntary capacity. The programme became such a success she’s now employed by the school and works 4 days a week to deliver what has become a vital part of the curriculum. Rebecca and Kieran are Year 6 pupils who are members of the after school gardening club and leads in the MiniHorts programme, passing on their knowledge and enthusiasm to younger pupils. The MiniHorts have been in the media quite a bit, including featuring in an episode of Gardeners’ World in 2017, so they’re seasoned pros at this sort of thing! If you don’t have children or children of school age, I think you’ll still find this episode interesting and inspiring, it’s well worth a listen.

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