'Good wholesome exercise' - Guernsey nutrient-rich soil project blending farming with fitness

  • ITV Channel's Kate Prout rolled up her sleeves and got involved


A project in Guernsey is mixing farming with... fitness.

The Soil Farm focuses on creating nutrient-rich and organic soil, but it also runs a "farmer's gym" on Saturdays for people to shovel, drag, dig, and do any other exercises needed to run the site.

It is run by Sasha Marsh, who is passionate about growing her own produce and advising others how to do it.

She said: "Compost is the foundation of all health and nutrition for our food systems and we believe in adding as many diverse ingredients as possible.

"As farmers, we then pass that nutrition onto our livestock, our plants and our customers."

The success of the project is not just down to the humans that help out, it is also a collaborative effort with the farm's animals who play a key role.

The farm assistant, Dougal Button, said: "The pigs dig up the land and turn it over and leave their faeces, then the chickens go in and scarify and do what machinery would do for us.

"We like to keep the farm chemical and machinery free so the animals do it for us."


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