Our vision: Regenerative cities for regenerative agriculture
The cities are where all of our surplus organic matter ends up. Instead of shipping it out of the city to be treated as waste and turned into low life compost with a terrible footprint, we need to be making compost with native people and native micro-organisms!
With a network of compost hubs that directly feed community gardens and land regeneration projects and with more people composting we can make a compost revolution in our cities power the regenerative farming revolution in our fields.
Values
We connect people to land, place and each other through the love of soil and a shared purpose of ecosystem restoration.
Human-scale. Low technology is needed to make meaningful and fulfilfilling livelhoods restoring our earth and communities.
Earth Care. We care for life and work to partner with its intelligence and cycles as opposed to dominating and controlling them.
Reciprocity.
The story so far
From saving the world
When our founder Tom first started Old Tree Brewery, he wanted to save the world. He soon realised that this mindset was destined to cause further division between humans and the natural world and that to make a meaningful difference to people and the planet, the world’s soils needed to be restored.
The power of fermentation
Our composting journey began at Old Tree Brewery where the production of fermented living drinks from foraged ingredients created a need for living soil. At the brewery, we organised ecosystem restoration projects, harvest celebrations and foraging adventures that reconnected people to land and place.
From gut to garden
In 2015, we planted a forest garden in Brighton which provided many of the ingredients used at Old Tree Brewery. The food waste from the brewery was made into compost and used to feed the soil, creating a closed-loop production system. From 2017 to 2019, we planted a permanent forest garden at Rock Farm, West Sussex.
Our Footprint
We work hard to keep our environmental footprint to a minimum. Here are some of the things we do to put our ideas into action:
We use electric cargo bikes and rickshaws to get about.
We process 1.5 tons of food waste every month locally.
We use local carbon sources, that would otherwise be wasted, in our composting process.
All our bespoke composting infrastructure is built using reclaimed wood – we have reclaimed up to 3.5 tons of discarded wood since we started building these compost stations in 2020.
We turn waste wood into biochar — saving 50% of the carbon the tree sequestered and returning it to the soil to be stored. All our compost contains 10% biochar.
Our Team
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FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
Tom is the founder of Old Tree Brewery and Old Tree Soil. He is currently training to do the certified Lab-Tec programme so we can test soils. Tom carries out most of the organisation’s work and has 13 years of experience in community gardening and woodland management.
“Live as if you’ll die tomorrow, farm as though you’ll live forever,” – John Marsden
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COMPOST OPERATIONS MANAGER
Kwame processes the biological degradation of organic materials under controlled moist and aerobic conditions to obtain a healing material that can be used as organic fertiliser. He also builds our bespoke compost stations. Kwame loves sharing with people how important soil is to deliver the nourishment our body needs and the earth needs to regenerate.
“Save Soil. Let us make it happen” - Sadhguru
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ORGANISATION SECRETARY
Hana began volunteering and working for Old Tree Brewery right at the beginning of our journey. Now, she works for Old Tree Soil and lives and travels in a van she converted with her partner and cat. She loves exploring European cities, going on long walks in the woods and is passionate about what our connection to nature can do for our wellness, mental health, creativity and community.
“To forget how to dig the earth and tend to the soil is to forget ourselves.” - Mahatma Gandhi
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HEAD GARDENER
Freya grew up hating fruit and vegetables and felt concerned for the planet but stumbled upon organic vegetables growing by chance and it turned her life upside down. She is now driven to help others find their connection to food through farming and land-based work. She started her first solo project in 2021, Old Tree Market Garden; a not for profit, small scale, regenerative garden, aimed at helping provide food, education and resilience to the local community.
"if you can't see your place in the living world, then you're standing too far back"
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