EARTHLY CONCERN

Weeds, slugs, birds and mice - all are welcome on Birch Farm in Devon, where Joshua Sparkes seeks to respect the local ecosystem and mimic nature in his innovative approach to growing

My natural farming story began while I was serving in the military.

It was my return from Afghanistan that was the catalyst for the journey I am currently on. Returning home made me question a lot about myself and made me nostalgic for my childhood, which was spent mostly playing in the woods and meadows around my family home. It was often a place I retreated to in my mind during hard times.

After seeing so much destruction and injustice, I really wanted to nurture and protect the environment I was familiar with as a boy. At the time, I naturally presumed that gardening would protect and defend nature, so I enrolled on a horticulture diploma.

I learned the basics I needed, which then led to great opportunities to work and learn in some of the greatest gardens around the world.

I developed the skills and knowledge I needed to care for these gardens, but it always felt that anything too 'wild' or 'messy' was strictly removed, no matter the habitat it created. Chemical management was common, from fungicides to herbicides. Self-sufficiency was seen as impossible and when I questioned any method, the response was, usually, "That's the way it's always been done a phrase I would argue is the most damaging to nature in our society.

I could also sense an underlying sickness. Soil seemed poor even with copious amounts of added compost. Roses still got sick even with the cocktail of sprays, and plants and lawns never seemed fully happy, not to mention the rapid changes in our climate challenging their resilience each year. The desire for this unattainable perfection' shared by many gardens, charities and owners was destroying the idea I had of horticulture as a way to protect biodiversity.