for Llangybi Organics CSA group and pick-your-own fruit

Llangybi Organics is based on a small farm called Mur Crusto, just outside the village of Llangybi. The well-known Ffynnon Cybi (St Cybi's well) is just ten minutes walk away. Our small business started in early 2001 and is based around a big polytunnel, field-grown vegetables, soft fruits and a small orchard which includes apples, pears and plum trees, mostly planted in early 2001. We have (in 2010) set up a Community Supported Agriculture group whose aim is to provide fresh, organically-grown vegetables and fruit to its members. Part of the idea of getting people from the local community involved directly is so people can regain something which has been lost in Britain with industrial agriculture: a sense of belonging - linking - to the land on which we all depend for our food. At the same time, we have converted one of our two veg-growing plots into soft fruit production. The aim here is both to downsize and start a small pick-your-own fruit enterprise, primarily for our CSA group.

A subsidiary aim is to demonstrate that quality vegetables and fruit can be grown in this area which is overwhelmingly dominated by sheep and cattle but could easily be self-sufficient in veg. In fact, old documents show clearly that most of our fields were once arable.

We also are attempting to reduce our use of fossil fuels. For heating, we burn wood from the farm's trees and have built a large conservatory on the front of Mur Crusto farmhouse which effectively captures much heat from the sun, warming the core of the house. We are installing (April 2010) an air source heat pump to replace an oil-fired boiler to supply additional heating and warmth. Later in 2010, we intend to install photovoltaics to generate most of our electricity needs and feed surplus power into the national grid. For more on these projects, take a look at the Mur Crusto eco-farm blog.

Mur Crusto farm has eleven small fields, totalling 5 hectares (13 acres) most of which are grazed by cows and sheep. It is an especially attractive place with its traditional farmhouse, the holiday cottage (formerly a cowshed, but now called Gwyndy) and other outbuildings. We've planted small areas of woodland for coppice. And there's a wonderful large area given over partly to wildlife which includes a lake. This lake teems with small fish and tadpoles (in the spring) and is a magnet to swallows, whitethroats and even the rare grasshopper warbler. We've even seen mergansers there. There's a resident, rather shy, heron and evidence of other larger mammals (perhaps otters). We occasionally come across hedgehogs if we happen to be out when they are - usually before dawn or at night.

The land is flat, mostly well-drained and fertile but very stony. Each field is surrounded by earth-cored clawdd walls, most of which support a good range of hedgerow plants and trees. These offer valuable nesting cover for small and medium-sized birds. The birds help us by picking off pests like caterpillars from the vegetables. That's the theory anyway. So Llangybi Organics is helping actively to protect and encourage wildlife. And in autumn 2002, we joined the Welsh agri-environment scheme Tir Gofal.

Because our land is relatively high up (about 80 metres above sealevel), most of the fields have wonderful views of the Cwm Pennant mountains (Garnedd Goch, Moel yr Ogof, Moel Hebog), Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), Cnicht, Moelwyn, the Rhinog mountains, Cadair Idris and beyond. We can also see Cardigan Bay and St Tudwal's peninsula. Take a virtual tour around the farm by clicking the 'farm photos' link on the left.

Finally, if you (or your kids) want a guide to what's wrong with 'conventional' food, why, and what you can do about it, you can find an excellent one written by an internationally-known penguin (yes, really!) called Tiki. It includes two interactive quizzes.