Fresh, organic produce is accessible to those in need
Our eco-farm will allow us to grow more produce locally, ensuring a steady supply of fresh, organic vegetables for the Food For All kitchen and the community.
Cows live peacefully without harm
We’ll expand the Ahimsa dairy model, ensuring cows are protected. This means they are never slaughtered, are milked by hand and calves stay with their mums.
Wellbeing before profit!
The environment thrives
We use regenerative farming techniques free from harmful chemicals. This promotes soil health, a thriving ecosystem, and produces food that’s healthy for both people and planet.
Communities are educated on sustainable living practices
Our farm will host a community kitchen and garden, providing a space for learning and practicing sustainable living through traditional farming methods.
Our goal is to upscale our farming project and start a small eco-farm in Berkshire. This will enable us to establish a base for Food For All Reading, equipped with a community kitchen, kitchen garden and Ahimsa Dairy farm. Farmland means more produce being generated for the Food For All kitchen, a safe space for cows to live peacefully, and a place for the community to come and learn how to establish a more sustainable lifestyle.
Food For All
Food For All is a charity that provides hot, nutritious, vegetarian meals to those in need, both in the UK and around the world. They also deliver aid in the form of hot meals in countries that are struck by disaster. Food For All Reading is a branch of Food For All operating in Berkshire, it is an entirely volunteer run organisation, fuelled by food donations and vegetables from our allotment.
With the cost of living and food poverty rising in the UK, there are more and more vulnerable people who are in need of these services, and so we are looking to upscale our efforts and create a headquarters for Food For All Reading on a farm, so the produce can go straight from the ground to the kitchen. What better way to serve the community than hot vegetarian meals made from local, organic vegetables.
Free meals distributed to the vulnerable in Reading each month
Meals distributed in the past decade across the Thames Valley
Ahimsa Dairy Foundation
We have close connections to Ahimsa Dairy Foundation and hope to expand the Ahimsa Dairy model by starting a farm in Reading. “Ahimsa” farming is the traditional, ancient Indian method of farming. “Ahimsa” means “non-violent”, and so Ahimsa farming does not entail any harm to the animals or land. Some would call it ‘Yoga farming’, or working in natural harmony with the land.
Here are some key principles inherent in this self-sustaining and cow protecting method.
- Cows are never killed
- Calves suckle from their mothers until weaned
- Cows are milked by hand
- Oxen are given meaningful work
Regenerative Farming
We currently follow regenerative farming methods on our allotment plots and will continue to do so. We use a “no-dig” method of farming, which means that we feed the soil with organic matter from the surface, rather than digging excessively. The benefits of this method include better moisture retention, healthier plants and fewer weeds. No-dig soil means that the complex system of microorganisms which keep the soil healthy are undisturbed, the soil quite literally stays alive, which is beneficial for the earth, for crops, and for us! Our veg is organic, locally grown and free from herbicides, pesticides and insecticides. We believe we can work with nature in a gentle way, to sustain ourselves without destroying the environment, taking only what we need, and causing minimal disturbance.
We are seeking to bring together Food For All Reading and Ahimsa Dairy Foundation to create a collaborative, sustainable farm in Berkshire where both operations can be maintained by the community.
