Gourmet Leaves is a family lettuce farm navigating a new path for their business in response to Covid -19. In the second of her blogs, Kate Monk looks back to 2012 when they decided to take on a neglected vineyard in an idyllic spot of Devon. Life proved to be far from idyllic in the first years, as they battled against the weather living in a dilapidated park home.
Our little patch of Devon is perched on one of the highest hills in the county with absolutely stunning views across to Dartmoor and Exmoor alike. We know we are lucky and that many crave to live an outdoor life in stunning surroundings. Idyllic - that is what we thought when we first set eyes on the neglected vineyard and dilapidated buildings one bitterly cold January morning in 2012. We had the “vision”.
Our first winter living on site in the old park home was pretty grim. Afraid of the unknown cost of oil heating we opted to rough out the winter with hot water bottles shoved up our jumpers and a ready supply of red wine to warm our bellies. It was not one to be repeated and, after we realised we had only spent £120 for the whole year on our hot water and “heating”, subsequent years have been much warmer!
Four long years we spent roughing it in the old, damp buildings on site, moving buckets around whenever it rained. Remember the storm that washed Dawlish railway away? We do. That was the night we evacuated to our lovely neighbours whilst our park home got bounced around with the door tied to the outside bannister due to the wind blowing it open. Amazingly we all survived as did our first polytunnel, but it left us with a bit of a nervous twitch when the winds start to rise above 50mph and a huge desire to build something more substantial.
Thankfully we were able to construct our lovely, solid, warm and dry log cabin in 2016. We started work the day after our son was born and moved in just before he turned one. The winds still blow but we barely notice it these days. We are not living the weather any more, but it has left us with an acute appreciation of a solid house, a non - leaking roof and actual warmth. In these times of lockdown we are forever grateful for having a beautiful home that our children are safe and warm in.
2020 has been a challenge from the off. The huge storms of February rocked our polytunnels and caused plenty of damage. At first light on the day of the first storm, a desperate plea to our neighbours who we will forever be indebted to for jumping to help, saw us literally holding onto the 30 meter long tunnel to prevent it from blowing away. With buckling sides and terrifying ballooning; we thought it was game over. Somehow, willpower and team effort prevailed and we managed to secure all three tunnels. But we are still working on the repairs, ready for the next winter session.
Our location is idyllic and the lifestyle perfect for growing healthy young children and when the sun shines there is absolutely nowhere we would rather be. But it all comes with a price. The beautiful views over Dartmoor equal the highest winds off Dartmoor slamming straight into our tunnels. The isolation which is wonderful now, can be amplified when we are cut off by snow or floods. Our lovely gardens and vineyard represent hundreds if not thousands of hours of hard, physical work. But we love it.
Life is a little more complicated now compared to the early days. With the farm expansion came a huge amount of work to juggle with our children supposedly safely off site in childcare. Initially we were pretty terrified of how we would manage to keep up with the workload with them at home and keep them out of trouble but we have settled into the new normal. We start early in the morning, include the children in nearly every task that we do and then finish the jobs later in the evening. Our eldest (4) is now pretty good with a saw, drill, hammer and moving piles of things! The youngest (18 months) watches with interest and likes to entertain herself. They have developed an amazing bond which I doubt would have been quite as strong without lockdown.
Our new salad box business means I am spending more and more time on my laptop processing orders but the daily tasks of planting, maintaining and picking our lettuce goes on. This week our trusty Honda ride on lawn mower failed us as the front axle snapped with Elaine (mum) on top. Fortunately, You Tube was on hand to teach Jamie how to be a mechanic and we have managed to take the machine apart. The children were very helpful as usual and on the bright side, the eldest discovered an amazing tree which we have now turned into his den. He spends many happy hours in there each day.
With the future still uncertain we are taking comfort in the progress we have made from the past. Hopefully this time of lock down has allowed many to contemplate history and plan for the better times coming.
Gourmet Leaves delivers salad boxes to Crediton and the surrounding villages. www.gourmetleaves.co.uk
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