Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, UK – an off-grid community - How to achieve sustainable food production for increased profit and well-being

Making hay by horse and hand
Photo credit: Settlements, David Spero

Tinker’s Bubble is an intentional community located at Norton Covert in Little Norton near Yeovil in south Somerset, England. It was established in 1994 on 40 acres of land consisting of about 20 acres of woodland as well as orchards and pasture.

About Tinkers Bubble

Source: http://www.tinkersbubble.org/

Tinkers Bubble is a small woodland community which uses environmentally sound methods of working the land without fossil fuels.

We have planning permission for self-built houses on the condition that we make a living from the land. We make our monetary incomes mainly through forestry, apple work and gardening. As a result we’re money poor but otherwise rich!

We manage about 28 acres of douglas fir, larch, and mixed broadleaf woodland using horses, two person saws, and a wood-fired steam-powered sawmill.

Our pastures, orchards, and gardens are organically certified, and no-dig methods are commonly used. We press apple juice for sale, grow most of our own vegetables, keep chickens and bees, and sell our produce at farmers markets. We make loads of jam, chutney, pickles, and cider.

We have solar powered 12v electricity, spring water on tap, and use compost toilets. We burn wood for cooking, heating, and for hot water in the bathouse. We sometimes eat meat from our land, and although we try to cater for all diets we do tend to rely on animal products during the hunger gap. Though some of us would consider ourselves to be spiritual, we have no shared spirituality. Most people wash their clothes by hand. Life is lived mostly outdoors, so it’s cold in the winter, but we live on the top of a steep hill, so there’s plenty of chances to get warm! There’s loads of wildlife on site, particularly badgers, deer and ticks! We’re currently a group of 12 adults and 3 children. We are open to new live-in members who are interested in making a living from the land.

Tinkers Bubble. Composite: Photo by crew/The Guardian

Please get in touch by email or post if you would like to volunteer with us, including why you’re interested in visiting, and any relevant experience you’ve got. We don’t expect you to be a professional peasant; It just helps to get an idea of what you’re about.

Please check your spam folder for our response – we answer all emails, usually within a week or so, but some email providers (particularly hotmail) seem to put all emails from riseup.net in the spam folder (please let us know if this is the case).

We have a guest house with a wood burner, but long-johns are still a must in winter. Bring a torch, warm clothes, practical footwear, and any fresh looking roadkill you find en-route.

Special feature:

Eve is the intimate story of a nine-year-old girl living in one of the oldest off-grid communities in the UK, Tinkers Bubble in Somerset. We follow the fledging climate activist as she navigates her way back into traditional schooling and proudly speaks up for her passionate belief in the environment.

Filmmakers Joya Berrow and Lucy Jane talk with us about making a carbon-conscious documentary and what they learned during their time with Eve.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2021/jun/01/eve-the-off-grid-life-of-a-nine-year-old-climate-activist-video

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