Target reached!
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Recovery from Storm Eunice and major car crash
Winkleigh, England, United Kingdom
Aim
We are asking our community to help us rebuild a damaged polytunnel and support our team as we all recover from a major car crash.
** FUNDRAISER UPDATE **
Stretching to £8,000!
We have been completely bowled over by the outpourings of love, support and solidarity we have received with this campaign. We could never have predicted that we would hit our £4,000 target in under 24 hours!! We are so grateful for the kindness and generosity of our community - thank you so much to all those who have supported so far.
Because of this, we have decided to push our target to £8,000!
This would cover the complete costs of a new polytunnel and leave us a little extra money to help support someone to cover Liv while she recovers over the next 12 weeks. This is how the money would be spent:
£6,580 to cover costs of polytunnel including VAT and delivery
£1,000 to cover costs of hiring a digger and buying concrete to secure poles
£420 extra to pay someone to support us at the farm!
Thank you so much!
**
We have been dealt with an unprecedented blow to the beginning of our 2022 growing season.
During Storm Eunice 80mph wind gusts ripped through the farm and damaged our double span polytunnel beyond repair. The wind was so strong that it completely bent the frame out of shape and ripped the concrete foundations out of the ground. To reduce further damage we had to take the drastic step of cutting off the plastic to prevent the frame from damaging our other tunnels.
This is a devastating situation to find ourselves in at this time of year. We need to take down and replace the polytunnel as soon as possible to help keep our business afloat. Polytunnels are a crucial part of our growing operation, helping us to extend the season and shelter fragile seedlings during unpredictable winter weather. Our propagation tunnel is already brimming with seedlings that were destined for the damaged tunnel, not to mention the crops inside the tunnel that are now exposed and too fragile to survive outside. In a few months the double span tunnel would have been full of early salads, beetroot, peas, parsley, coriander, kohl rabi, spinach and more.
Just two days after losing our polytunnel we were involved in a serious car accident on the A38. Our car was hit from behind by a vehicle at high speed after we broke down and couldn't move onto the hard shoulder. All four of us were in the car, as well as Liv and Henry's 11 month old son. We were incredibly lucky to survive but unfortunately have sustained injuries with Henry and Josh suffering with whiplash and Liv having to spend two nights in hospital after suffering from a broken collarbone and a brain hemorrhage. It is realistic that Liv will be off work for the next 12 weeks and Henry will need to spend time recovering as well as looking after Liv and his son. This means we are down to two people who can work at the beginning of the busiest time of the year, when our labour is already stretched between harvesting for and attending markets and boxes, sowing and planting tens of thousands of seedlings and preparing the garden for a new season.
What your donation would help us achieve:
We have been quoted £5,500 + VAT to buy a new stronger polytunnel that will be better suited to our windy site and the increased risks of extreme storms. We will need to hire a digger at approximately £500 to build the foundations and pay for concrete at approximately £300 to secure the poles in place. Will we be supporting Ferryman, a local Devon polytunnel manufacturer, with our purchase. They made our other polytunnel that's still standing and survived the storm.
Your kind donations and support would help us to purchase a new tunnel and rebuild the farm as quickly as possible to grow as much food as we can and reduce our income losses.
Any additional donations would enable us to recruit a new member of the team who could provide support for us for at least the next 12 weeks while Liv recovers from her injuries.
We would love to thank all donators by inviting them to celebrate with us at our community barn launch party in the summer (date TBC).
About the farm:
We are an organic market garden and community hub situated just outside of Winkleigh, North Devon. We grow fantastic vegetables, salads, herbs, fruits and flowers using hand tools and minimum tillage. Our aim is to grow produce that benefits us, our wildlife, the soil and our community.
Our food is for our community. All our produce is eaten within a 30 mile radius of the farm, either through our online shop, veg boxes or at local farmers markets in Crediton and Exeter.
In 2022 we welcomed Chloe and Josh into the farm, becoming a growers cooperative and running the business collaboratively.
Read more about us at down-farm.com or follow us on Instagram @downfarmwinkleigh
This project successfully funded on 28th March 2022