28/10/2020
It's Wellbeing Wednesday and this week we have
Anna and Ben from Amano.
Hello:) we’re Anna and Ben, together we started Amano five months ago. Our passion for food and desire to live sustainably led us to become horticulturalists and regenerative growers. We’re growing vegetables, salads, herbs and flowers on a small scale, by hand, with a focus on a healthy soil, ecosystem and environment.
A healthy soil, that’s full of life and complexities that we barely understand, is the only way for plants to fully express their flavours and nutrition. We attain a healthy soil by minimally disturbing (not ploughing/tilling) and by feeding (compost) where we take away (harvest). This then is intertwined with a healthy environment, as disturbance of soil results in CO2 release, and adding compost allows more carbon to be stored in the soil. The health of the plants is further encouraged by a flourishing ecosystem, maintaining a natural balance between pests and predators, flowers and pollinators, growth and decay.
We are interested in connecting people to food. Giving faces, a setting and a story to food, and therefore value and appreciation.
We deliver our produce to Penylan Pantry every Wednesday for the shop and the veggie boxes. We’ve been so grateful for the support from Mel and all the team. Mel once told us that the food community of South Wales is like a village, and we’re already really feeling this sense of belonging (Ben is ten years that he wasn’t living in Wales and Anna moved here in May this year - when we started the Amano project). It’s definitely in our mind to get more community active than that, maybe doing classes or have volunteers in the garden next year. It’s going to be more important than ever to be connected with nice people and remind ourselves that we are not alone in this chaos.
When the world first went into lockdown we were in New Zealand interning with permaculture growers there. We had planned to start this project this Winter, but the time felt right to come and start providing fresh, nutritious produce for our local community. We’re hoping that from all this craziness we can all find a renewed sense of what’s important, like supporting our local economies, making sustainable/ethical choices and just being nice to each other!
Self care is a topic that needs so much more space in this late capitalistic society. We could talk hours of our current journey on understanding what is self care for us, and as you put it in the question it’s very personal, and it’s different also for the two of us. But generally our work can be quite physically demanding so doing a mindful movement/yoga/stretching is very important for us, as is resting and a good night’s sleep. We try to live holistically, try to keep our lives balanced, between working and exploring other hobbies/interests. And of course a healthy, fun, delicious diet full of veggies straight from the soil and that special bit of chocolate when needed!
If anyone wants to know more and have a good nosey at what we do, you can find us here...
We are in Instagram and Facebook as .growers
You can write us at amano.grower@gmail.com, we are really keen to be more community oriented ASAP so if you have any ideas or thoughts please please don’t hesitate to get in contact!
And last but not least every last Sunday of the month we are at the The Bone Yard for the fresh and wild market! It’s a very fulfilling atmosphere, if you feel to pass and say hi would be a joy!
“this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as I wept
think of those flowers you plant
In the garden each year
they will teach you
that people too
must wilt
fall
root
rise
in order to bloom“
-rupi kaur
