Josh Sparkes: Start Eating Weeds
Weeds are every farmer’s worst nightmare—or are they? At pioneering Birch Farm, in North Devon, Joshua Sparkes and his team have been shifting their relationship with weeds. We caught up with him to hear what he had to say about them.
So, Josh, tell us about your relationship to weeds at Birch Farm?
Well, the first thing to say is that loads of weeds are absolutely delicious. Whether it’s Nettles turned into miso, Forced Dock Shoots sauteed in butter, or just Fat Hen tops used as a PSB alternative, the chefs here have been using weeds in creative ways.
They’re also usually far more nutritious than a lot of the annuals we grow. Lots of us growers spend so much time and effort—and often burn fossil fuels—to get rid of these plants that are delicious and so good for us, in order to replace them with domesticated versions that are far less nutritious – it doesn’t make a lot of sense really.
So how can chefs help?
Order more weeds! It’s usually a win-win for your farmer – they can monetise something that grows for free and that they’d otherwise have to spend time removing. The trouble is, convincing people to buy weeds can be hard, so if chefs ask for them, that’s really helpful! See below for examples of some weeds we sell and how they are used.
Crucially, different weeds make their home on different farms, so be flexible – ask your farmer what weeds they could supply and when. Many of them, like nettles, have a particular season when they’re best. Most of all, just experiment! There are so many interesting flavours out there for chefs to discover!
Forced Dock leaves - it tastes like a bamboo shoot but with a sorrel flavour. Dock seeds can also be used as a flour.
How does it work growing with weeds?
Well, there are different ways you can grow with weeds. Maintaining a patch of nettles, for instance, is pretty easy – that might be all you do. Here at Birch Farm, we practise Natural Farming; one of the major practices of Natural Farming is leaving weeds.
We do knock back the weeds in a bed once or twice to help certain crops early in their life, but apart from that, we’re a weeding-free farm, and the crops just grow with the weeds. It’s great really, because most growers will tell you that weeding is not top of their list of favourite jobs!
That’s quite a departure from conventional farming wisdom! How does that work for you?
One of the key principles of Natural Farming is that everything has its place in Nature, and that if a plant shows up on your farm, it’s there for a reason. That’s especially true for weeds, so we accept that and try to work with it – rather than just removing the symptom, we try to address the root cause, which is usually what the weed itself is doing anyway!
The fact is, weeds in moderation don’t typically compete with crops. Of course, there are some exceptions, but usually they’re filling gaps where photosynthesis isn’t occurring, and maximising photosynthesis is actually one of the keys to soil health, so they’re really doing us a favour most of the time – all for free!
Nettle cordial - the right nettles create the most amazing colour - this is just nettles, sugar and citric acid!
You mentioned that weeds show up for a reason – could you give us some examples?
Sure! Deep rooted weeds, like docks and creeping thistle, decompact soil, whilst running weeds like chickweed help to cover the soil surface, retaining soil carbon and moisture in the heat of summer.
Others, like fat hen, dandelion, and sow thistle, accumulate and balance specific minerals in the soil, whilst pretty much all weeds contribute valuable and free organic matter to the farm ecosystem! To be honest, most of them perform several functions at the same time!
Sow thistle, chickweed and young deadnettle are a great addition to salads
Have you noticed any other benefits to working with weeds at Birch Farm?
Loads! As well as the extra photosynthesis and organic matter, weeds provide habitat and food for a whole host of invertebrates. That’s essential to having a well balanced farm ecology, which is essential for crop health – it’s a massive biodiversity win in general.
Being able to sell the weeds introduces a significant revenue stream, without any extra work, whilst it also gives our chefs some really exciting and unusual flavours to work with, as well as encouraging a really seasonal approach to the menu. If we could get more chefs using weeds, we’d have farms with more wildlife habitat, menus with more diverse flavours, and dishes with better nutritional profiles – that is why I’m so passionate about getting people to eat more weeds!