16 GGI No 30 Winter 2012

By Nicole Vosper
Nicole is supporting our Membership
Secretary Jill and helping with adminis-
tration of our websites.
I remember distinctly the rst time
Brook End was described to me by my
excited Mum and Stepdad, "It just
goes on forever. There's a stream all the way round, an orchard
with a most beautiful quince tree, eight greenhouses and a
polytunnel, a cabin, small woodland, so much wildlife"
They could barely contain their excitement about a house they
had found with 4 acres of land in Somerset, in a little village
called Compton Dundon just outside Glastonbury in the UK.
For the previous year I had been gardening at Her Majesty's
pleasure, studying horticulture and completing a permaculture
design course via distance learning to help me make the most
of the time spent inside for animal rights campaigning. Now
with Brook End on the cards I knew it would be a potential
permaculture playground for a lifetime.
Opportunity knocks
I couldn't believe my luck that I had the opportunity to access
land on this scale after years of growing on windowsills. In
December 2010 I joined my family and the design process
began as to how we could: restore this beautiful land, increase
its abundance of food and yields, craft 'right livelihoods' and
provide a space to build community. This column will chart
this journey and some of the challenges we face in a culture
that promotes the opposite.
The rst year was a test of patience as I'd committed to
spending an entire year cycle observing before making any de-
sign decisions. I kept a detailed diary of what I was witnessing:
areas of shade sun, and the way the frost styles on a winter
morning. I especially made notes on how we interacted with
the land, which jobs took longest, where I was walking on
site, access points and so forth. It was also a year focused on
getting our house in order as my Stepdad, Ian, and I, built
our annexe that is now home to his 91-year-old Mum, hence
one of the reasons for moving.
Careful planning
I realised as winter came and we started to really re-design
for the changes we had observed that the year of observations
were not only about the garden, they were about us and
what we craved and desired. My Mum, Michele, a stressed
mental health nurse envisioned a roundhouse as a space for
earth-centred spirituality practices, while I was daydreaming of
permaculture plant nurseries and a centre for veganic land-based
education. The design process bought all of these ideas together
and ensured they were communicated among our family.
'Small and slow solutions' is one of the main principles of
permaculture and this is how we are approaching Brook End:
with thoughtful care before interaction. We know that it is a
project of a lifetime but we feel the urgency of 'Earth Care'
and our community's needs to see real examples of plant-based
permaculture, and that growing food and medicine for our
community without inputs from exploited animals is not only
possible but desirable.
This column will describe that journey: the navigation of
managing land with non-vegans, the personal and practical
design process and implementation of our family's vision and
the learning that we experience through all the ups and downs
of trying to live a heart-centred way of life.
In the meantime keep an eye on our adventures at www.
wildheartpermaculture.co.uk or www.brookend.org.uk
The photo is copyright Wild Heart Permaculture (feel free to
use them for any other publication support of VONs aims).
Introducing Brook End
Herb garden at Brook End. From Wild Heart Permaculture
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