In 2016, Karen and Jon Hack, with their young family, moved to a 100-acre farm in the village of East Garston, West Berkshire. “Birds and insects flocked to our pond and flowers,” Karen recalls, when she thinks back to the consequence of the simplest of intentions of planting wildflowers.

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Thus began their journey into regenerative farming: changing the inherited mono crop arable system into a bio diverse chemical-free farm, supported by various government schemes. This involved taking the fields out of their farming contract and sowing herbal leys and wildflowers. They soon purchased a number of Wiltshire Horn sheep, key to regenerating the soil with their deposits of pee and poo and non-stop churning of the ground. They also began to incorporate large-scale tree and hedge planting. This was initially to stop the prevailing winds and increase biodiversity but it soon developed into growing trees and hedges from seed in greater scale and Asgar Trees was born. Asgar’s Ton is the Medieval name for East Garston.

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Asgar Trees has recently received the Plant Healthy certification and they are very proud to be one of the very few nurseries to be bringing quality, native UK-grown trees and hedges to the marketplace, grown using organic principles. The trees and shrubs will be sold as one- and two-year-old whips in the planting window October through to March. 

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In addition to Asgar Trees, the farm has added a number of Suffolk X Mules to their Wiltshire Horn flock, managing them using organic principles with the intention of selling nutritious and delicious lamb. They are also breeding quality, organic, native chickens for meat (and some eggs for the neighbours), have one hive of bees and there are plans for a market garden business. 

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Central to all these developments has been the understanding of the importance of soil quality. Asgar Trees and the Hack family believe that soil health should be their main point of focus. Loving and regenerating the soil will lead to more nutritious food production and a sustainable method of farming.  Karen is studying soil and agroforestry to understand what they can do to further regenerate the soil and the ecosystem on Manor Farm. The future is exciting.