Huxhams Cross Farm
Short description of your place and practices
The Apricot Centre aims to create and run a sustainable diverse farm, wellbeing service and business. It recognises that there is a fundamental link between the wellbeing of the soil, food and habitat, and the mental and physical health of the people in and around the farm, making for a wonderful environment for a warm and effective mental health/wellbeing service for children and families.
The Apricot centre is a CIC (not for Profit) founded in 2006 and aims to be financially self-sufficient.
To produce Local Sustainable Food
To create a sustainable biodiverse farms that support wildlife
To be net carbon zero
To provide for and support the mental wellbeing of families and children that visit the farm for therapy, education or recreational purposes.
To provide training courses and consultation on how to do this.
To create an economically resilient business
To support the wellbeing and professional development of its staff and team.
To collect data and research on the effectiveness of these models
It needs to be acknowledged that it is an unusual business structure combining; a sustainable farm, and wellbeing service. Historically the Apricot centre was founded in East Anglia and the wellbeing service remains active there as well as in Devon. However this works because of our ethos or underlying principles which are; ( drawn from Permaculture and Process work practice).
Value diversity at all levels of the business
Follow the feedback of the system allowing it to evolve ('Feedback leads the way')
The 'edge' of a system is where it is exciting, creative, and where potential lies.
Where there is a disturbance there is wisdom within the disturbance. This allows us to creatively work with change.
To illustrate this we have found that our two core business activities; farming and therapeutic work are each resilient businesses in their own right. Together they support one another providing a venue, healthy produce for visitors and clients, they both generate income, the therapeutic wellbeing work and the farm share the overheads of the business making both more economically viable. The farm provides resources for the wellbeing work, from a bunch of flowers, bowl of fruit, to stress reduction through walking before therapy sessions. The wellbeing approach offers insights into working effectively with the surrounding community relationships, developing effective teamwork, and supervision around working with children.
We have found when you put these two together there is a rich seam of work where they interface, that we can provide as the funding ebbs and flows over the years making for an interesting and resilient business model that is economically sustainable and is a great place to work.