My Biome Box

The general population in the UK continue to experience an increase in chronic disease, even amongst our children. We are also witnessing the devastating loss of biodiversity that sees even the humble bee facing extinction. There is clearly something very wrong - life is not thriving and we are all to blame - through the choices we make and the systems we use. We have to accept that we have played a part in this, because if we choose to be the hapless victims to some greedy, bad person ‘out there’, then we will never see what power we actually hold to create change.  

The systems we rely on today are far from ideal, particularly the ones we rely on for producing our food. From ploughing up the soil and applying destructive chemicals, to feeding animals unnatural diets.

I have come across many farmers, who want to get back to doing things right, showcasing how we can produce enough food from our own land and take much better care of our livestock and wildlife. They are without doubt the most hardworking, caring and dedicated people I have ever met. I have seen that they are helping to create change, producing food in greater harmony with nature and sowing the seeds for greater human health in the process. I personally want to see these farmers thrive, because the good that they are doing is the best example of what we could be doing to restore and regenerate nature, including ourselves. 

There are increasing numbers of farmers raising livestock in ways that regenerate our soils, as shown by farms supplying The Ethical Butcher, but there’s still little public awareness of the great work happening in the regenerative plant based world.

Small scale produce growers often work from dawn to dusk, braving all weathers and dealing with the trials and challenges of working out for themselves, alongside untold educational courses and books, how to work with nature and embrace the uniqueness of the land that they grow upon. These growers often offer veg box schemes to locals, always having to compete with supermarket prices and often earning less than £1 an hour!!

These growers don’t grow for profit, but for love. They love being out in nature, producing healthy nourishing food and getting their hands in the dirt. They are in love with the wonder of nature and the miracle of life and know that however small their contribution might seem, it is in fact a giant step in the right direction. It’s these growers that Biome Box works with and it’s Biome Boxes mission to see that they not only thrive, but that more of them can be created.

We want to help the public to recognise the real value in small scale, regenerative veg growing methods. We supply from chemical free, no dig market gardens, forest gardens, wild meadows, medicinal herb gardens and from wild corners of private land or abundant coastal areas.

All our growers or suppliers deeply care for nature, including humanity and have been showing that there is a better way forward for years and often decades. 

Offering a small scale regenerative plant based box alongside regeneratively raised livestock, shows people the full spectrum of what can be achieved in the UK. If we don’t begin to recognise what is truly valuable then it will be lost and we want to see small scale regenerative farms thrive, whether they offer dairy, meat, veg or grain. 
We believe that there is no singular answer to solving our planetary woes and in the same way there is no ‘one size fits all’ diet that suits everyone either - some people thrive on a vegan or vegetarian diet, whilst others don’t, for a plethora of reasons. Something that we do know for sure, however, is that we urgently need a better way to produce food in harmony with nature and we need as diverse an array of growers and methods as possible. 

The world is in crisis and the only way forward is to embrace the gift of life, whilst accepting that in nature, every life is unique and has their own unique path to follow. In the same way that the roots of a tree travel in slightly different directions to perform the functions required of ‘roots’ and the leaves must all spread out in different ways to capture as much sunlight as possible, human beings must all discover who they are and what they are for as a unique individual. We all have the capacity to live a life of purpose and it is up to each individual to create their own - because if they don’t then all life suffers as a result. 

Supporting the Biome Box, means we can help to create more diverse small scale fresh produce farms and support them to thrive. We hope that offering the Biome Box in collaboration with others will showcase the range of options that we need to be exploring. 

Because there is not one way forward for humanity - but billions. 

Teri Clayton