History of Oakcroft
Oakcroft was bought 1962 for Mehr Fardoonji and her mother by her brother. It is a 2.5 acre site that now has glasshouses for vegetable production. Mehr initially grew vegetables on her own, but after a year she employed a local 15-year-old boy (called Peter) who stayed working at Oakcroft until 2005. Oakcroft has been certified with the Soil Association as organic since it was founded, and has never lapsed out of its organic certification. It is one of the oldest certified Organic farms with the Soil Association.
Over the 45 years that Mehr ran Oakcroft Organic Market Garden, she produced organic food to feed her local community, selling her vegetables through veg boxes and markets. She produced a large variety of vegetables both outdoors and in her two mobile glasshouses on site.
Alongside producing, Oakcroft has a strong history in educating growers. Oakcroft took many people as volunteers, usually for at least a year, so they could learn about food production and life as a market gardener. Historically, volunteers found and came to Oakcroft either through word-of-mouth, through advertisement in magazines or with organisations such as WWOOF. To this day, Oakcroft continues the tradition and accepts volunteers who are keen to learn about organic farming. Having started as WWOOFers themselves, the current tenants, Valentina and Tristan believe in providing learning opportunities for individuals who want to learn more about organic food production.
Since Mehr retired, tenants have taken on and continued the Oakcroft legacy of growing organic vegetables for market, and box schemes. Mehr lives on site, and still enjoys vegetables produced from Oakcroft to this day. She has committed to donating the site to the Soil Association’s Land Trust, to maximise the likelihood that the site will remain organic and be used to produce food in perpetuity