Our Story
Croeso.
We are Rita and Will of Hooma Hu, a family run business in Gelli Aur, Carmarthenshire.
We are a couple who admire and respect nature and have pursued a life and career in sustainable living and food production. Will has a history of 10 years Organic vegetable production, having completed a 2 year Soil Association apprenticeship, permaculture courses, as well as having lived and worked on over 20 farms and small holdings in the UK. Rita has a real passion for food and foraging and enjoys a nomadic rural way of living, Rita has gained experience working on other vegetable producing and community projects.
We have 2.5 acres of gentle sloping land which is split in to two parcels, the lower field and the top field. We also rent a polytunnel, propagation area and packing shed from the neighboring Organic Certified farm, Werndolau, which is where we do most of our growing currently.
We have been working very hard to get our lower field prepared for this year (2022), this is where we will grow most of our vegetable crops and we are happy to say the first outdoor beds are ready for this coming growing season.
Planning permission has also been granted for us at Hooma Hu to erect two large polytunnels in our lower field so we may further extend our growing space.
We have just had a lovely volunteer day on Mothering Sunday, bringing all generations together.
With this community effort we planted hedgerows in our top field which will create wildlife corridors as well as micro climates for future orchard and soft fruit production.
We take our responsibility as farmers seriously, hence only using Organic certified inputs, no chemicals or pesticides, no peat compost. As well as working with a No Dig system.
Have a look below at our aims below:
Long Term Productivity
We wish our 2.5 acre plot to be a productive, fertile place for generations to come, for this reason we:
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Do not use chemical fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides on the land.
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Grow using a “No dig” method that preserves soil structure, lessens soil erosion and increases biodiversity in the soil.
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Plan an effective crop rotation to maximise production whilst minimising disease build up and replenish nutrients in the soil.
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Work towards making our own compost from waste material to “recycle” nutrients back to the veg plots.
Low Carbon Footprint
We believe it is important to minimise our carbon emissions to create a project not reliant on fossil fuels and one that does not contribute as much to climate change. We:
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Grow efficiently on a small scale with minimal use of powered machinery.
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Reduce transport by selling only locally.
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Buy mainly local, working with other small business and keeping imported veg to a minimum.
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Have an offgrid set up using a borehole for watering as and when is needed.
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Grow using a “No dig” method that helps keeps carbon locked in to the soil and reduces use of fossil fuel powered machinery.
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Are working towards delivering in a very fuel efficient Piaggio Ape 3 wheeler, we are also looking at converting this to electric at some point.
Diversification
A space can be used for much more than one thing, as well as growing Veg and Fruit on the Hooma-Hu plot we want to see the space used for:
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Creating habitats for wildlife and encouraging a rich biodiversity of plants and animals.
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Running educational workshops.
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Providing educational opportunities for children, running forest school classes and permaculture kids sessions.
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Processing Fruit and Veg and making other products from them i.e. Jams, syrups and sauces.
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Tree and Hedgerow planting to create more wildlife corridors.
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Volunteer days; an opportunity to get people together, learning and sharing skills. These interactions can be beneficial for mental health and offer insights and education, plus people get to visit and see where their food comes from. We for one love to engage with our Hooma-Hu community and welcome their enthusiasm!
We really hope you enjoy cooking with and eating the veg we produce and that you can taste the difference!
We would love to see you here on the land and welcome you to come and meet us and get stuck in at some of our future volunteer days.
Cariad Mawr
Rita, Will and Luna xxx
