Stonelynk Organics Workshop Fundraiser

We're raising funds for a new eco-friendly building on an organic market-garden in East Sussex, growing wholesome produce for our local community.

We are Stephen Atkinson and Hélène Maerschalck. We set up Stonelynk Organics in 2018 in Fairlight, East Sussex. Stonelynk Organics is a small-scale market-garden, growing organic fruit and vegetables for sale in our local community. We farm in a way that is gentle to the local ecosystem and respectful of natural processes, preserving and enhancing the beauty and biodiversity of our environment.

Now in our fifth year, we have expanded our site of production from 1 acre to 2 acres, and have started hosting volunteer days in the garden. Business is growing as the demand for local organic produce increases. However, this has meant that our small timber shed has quickly become insufficient for our needs. The time has come for us to build a workshop.

THE WORKSHOP

We have worked with Edward Dale-Harris of SAWA Architecture to design a beautiful and sustainably built workshop, which will sit next to our current shed. The workshop will be built by Roundwood Design, using sustainably sourced UK Larch and Douglas fir logs. The plans have been approved by Rother District Council, and now all we need are the funds to build it!

THE NEED

Currently, we store all of our tools, our picking crates, our veg boxes, and a few pieces of machinery in a small timber shed. During the summer, we happily take our lunch and tea breaks out in the sunshine, but in the winter we shelter in the shed, without much comfort and no heating. Recently we have started to host volunteer days, and so our stock of tools has increased. Also our veg box run has grown in size and so we desperately need more space to pack boxes. For all these reasons, our shed is too small and we need a larger space for storage, work, and rest.

THE VISION

Our workshop is needed not only for increased storage and work space – we have an even greater vision. Our hope is for Stonelynk Organics to develop into a space for connection; where neighbours can connect with each other through community events, and locals can connect to nature through open days and educational activities. During the COVID pandemic the interest in growing vegetables at home has boomed and we have a great opportunity to help people gain the skills and experience to grow their own in their gardens. Our workshop will allow us to host events and training courses for locals wanting to learn all about sustainable food production and organic farming. It would also allow us to enhance our volunteer opportunities, giving people the chance to get their hands in the soil and meet like-minded others, building confidence and community over the veggie beds. We have benefitted so much in the past through the opportunity to volunteer, and would love to pass this opportunity on to more and more people.

Potential events to be held in the workshop include:

Apple Day - bring your own apples and we'll juice them up for you!

One-day course on organic market-gardening

Workshops on food preservation, fermentation and pickling

Simple sourdough class

Make your own Christmas Wreath

Foraging workshop

Traditional crafts, e.g. basketry

DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT...

Here is some of our recent feedback from our customers:

Rowan from Hastings - "This is a fantastic small farm that provides a valuable service to the local community, producing food of the highest quality at affordable prices and farming in a way that is environmentally beneficial. Supporting this business to grow will be of huge benefit to local; wellbeing, economy and environment."

Lesley from Icklesham - "A young business doing everything right and providing local people with fresh food."

Sharon from Icklesham - "I collect my box of tasty veg every week from Stonelynk and really appreciate the organic wholesome produce with very few food miles. Stephen & Hélène have worked very hard to make Stonelynk a viable business and this larger shed would really help them grow and improve their service to the community in a sustainable way."

Paul from Pett Level - "Stonelynk is a great local asset providing excellent organic produce from an aesthetic environment. This well designed sympathetic workshop seems to me the perfect solution to help this unique business expand."

WHO IS STONELYNK ORGANICS?

HELENE MAERSCHALCK has always been interested in food production, having grown up among the hustle-and-bustle of her family bakery. After studying a Master’s degree in bio-engineering in Belgium, she worked for a food security company in Brussels. In 2017, she spent a year visiting various farms amassing a whole host of new skills, before joining with Stephen to set up Stonelynk Organics.

STEPHEN ATKINSON worked for a food-waste charity before determining to learn more about sustainable food production. Since then he has a growing conviction that the means to greater food security is more and more small-scale local growers producing good food for their neighbours.

HOW TO BUY OUR VEGETABLES

As well as helping us build our workshop, you might also be interested in ordering some of our lovely organic produce for yourself! There are two ways to order our produce:

1 – ‘Click-and-collect’ Buy what you want, when you want, with our Click-and-Collect service. Place your orders online, choose which day you'd like to collect, and pop down to our market-garden in Fairlight.

2 – ‘Veg Box Scheme’ A weekly supply of fresh organic vegetables delivered from our market-garden straight to your door. Delivery to Hastings and St Leonards every Friday.

For more information, and to sign up to either service, follow this link.