Good Earth Growers / The Mound
What do we do at Good Earth Growers? We Grow the Earth, Good.
This flower and vegetable farm is a cultivated space where things are grown for a reason. Drive down the beaten and battered old track, filled by pheasants supplied by Pentillie Estate you will find twenty two acres surrounded by woodland and the A388. My time growing here has not only been occupied with an all hands on deck harvest followed by a surprisingly stressed and worn out winter - but the complete antithesis of this. An area nestled within that needs no attention in order to thrive.
The Mound, no bigger than a terraced house, are the remnants of an excavated pond that's a force of its own, sitting in perfect bloom over summer.
But how did what happened next come to be? Well the simple answer is, seeds.
Seed’s are the foundation for all life and without them, there is no us. But how did they get to that specific patch of bare soil in Cornwall?
Be it that in 1381 roses were occasionally required in lieu of rent or that in World War II, nettles were gathered and used as a dye plant for camouflage suits. All of these plants have a story, their own lineage that can be traced back by the means of culture, science, medicine and folklore.
Forgotten stories about overlooked plants?
Or a connectedness through culture to our natural world.
Wild Anjelica (Angelica sylvestris) has been cultivated as an ornamental plant since the sixteenth century. In ancient Greece it was used to relieve pre-menstrual pain along with yarrow, fennel seed, thistle and motherwort. It has also been known to make a black dye. Only five miles away from the Tamar in Devon, Wild angelica was known as Scab flower and all the way up north, Smooth kesh.
In Devon, gypsies used to hang Scab flower over their doors to warn off dark spirits. The hollow stems were used as flutes centuries ago and everytime I find a dried stem I try to play a tune.
Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii) is a beautiful plant. A native to China, is now one of the most common ‘wild’ flowers you’ll see all summer, no matter where you are in the UK. I can see ten buddleia plants within fifty meters if I'm in London or at work.
It has a high population in the urban area and still manages to make its way out to the country as passing trains cast their seed for miles at high speed. If you've been on a train before then you’ve seen it, Buddleja can grow anywhere that would be on a train line, so anywhere, especially gravel. Thats why after WWII it was known as Bombsite Bush, as it emerged from the rubble of destroyed buildings.
In Robert Burns’ Address To the Deli he describes witches traveling on ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) stalks.
‘Tell how wi’ you on ragweed nags
They skim the muirs an’ dizzy crags.’
In this country ragweed is known for being poisonous to horses and cattle, so a plant to be known as a weed, hence ragweed. In 1746 after the Battle of Culloden the English named ragwort Sweet William after their leader Prince William, whilst the retreating Scottish named it Stinking William. The Weeds Act of 1959 states ragwort as one of five plants that as a landowner you would have to prevent their spread to further agricultural land or you could be served with a notice.
But we shouldn’t pay attention to this list because other members are edibles and a sources of nutrition. Just google ‘ragwort’ and the first hit is the RHS’s plant profile, scroll down only briefly and you will find that the recommended control is glyphosate. Defra and the powers that be don’t see this plant as serving a purpose in the current day, all the more reason to celebrate it.
Did you know that Herb robert (Geranium robertianum) was named after Puck (Robin Goodfellow) from Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night’s Dream? Tales say that in Cornwall it was named Jack By The Hedge and where I was born, Redshank.
Herb Robert along with most species of plants on The Mound aren't part of the governments ‘game plan’ as to how nature should act. The rural areas are breeding grounds, they take time to build their resilience and accompaniment seed bank. However the leaves are edible and can be used to make tea that relieves pain of the kidneys and stomach.
The heritage of Pentillie Estate, the roots of ownership and what the grounds are used for today all play a part in how these plants got here.
That in the seventeenth century this land was bequeathed to a high ranking military figure in the South West and taken out of the commons, or that the buildings were used as a maternity ward during WWII and even now this estate is a shooting ground for the rich.
The battle, the nurture and the fearful pheasants all play a role towards the topography of The Mound.
I cast my eye over once more and I see red clover, chickweed, vetch, plantain, ryegrasses of all kinds and many more I can't identify. The Himalayan honeysuckle have made their way from Tibet whilst the nasturtium have made their way from the compost.
Just take a look around, you might be surprised as to what you find.