Our palm tree on the news.

Waterside Clothes Swaps Autumn Swap BBC South Today Lunchtime News 11 November 2022

Radio 5 live (again) talking about washkers made from conkers

Radio Oxford interview talking about washkers made from conkers

Radio Berkshire talking washkers from conkers

Radios 5 live 11th October talking about washing your clothes with conkers

Washkers on South Today BBC

Ofgem raises energy price cap to eye-watering £3,549

Giant palm tree grown with just fish poo and water is seeking new home

Working and living regenerative culture via New Forest Aquaponics cic leading community projects around the world connecting plastic, growing our food and how we use the worlds resources. 
The home of Washkers for natural clothes washing. 


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Lucie Mann

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<h2>Six years ago, New Forest-based David Green was in the Southampton branch of B&amp;Q when he spotted a tiny, bone-dry Washingtonia palm tree that looked to be on its last legs. It was no more than 13 inches tall.</h2>Six years on and David, through the power of water and fish poo alone, and in total defiance of the generally miserable UK weather, has turned the palm tree into a 13' giant, and that's before you add the leaves.To put it into context, that's two Michael Jordans high. Add in the fact that the Washingtonia palm's preferred climate is northwest Mexico rather than the New Forest, and it's no small achievement.But then David is an aquaponic farmer, who runs &nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://newforestaquaponics.com/#home">New Forest Aquaponics&nbsp;CIC</a> with his partner Lucie Mann and two sons, Robbie and James.Few people have heard of it, but aquaponics is a type of farming where you grow plants in water, feeding them solely on fish poo, rather than in a conventional soil environment. Essentially, the fish and plants work together in complete harmony to provide the best environment for both.Any plant can be grown aquaponically, though it is a method mostly applied to food plants such as salad leaves. The system works by making the fish poo available for the plants to feed on, and with no restrictions from the soil the nutrients are easier for the plants to up take and use. David says:<blockquote>It is rare to see such a beautiful palm of this size in the UK, and it's currently looking for a new home. If we can sell the palm, it will provide much needed space for our fish and help us fund our journey to becoming a community-owned and run aquaponics farm. We believe this will be the first such farm in the UK."</blockquote>If anyone is interested in buying the now giant Washingtonia palm, they're being urged to contact Lucie or David at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://newforestaquaponics.com">New Forest Aquaponics</a>.Note: Aquaponics is not to be confused with hydroponics, which is another soil-less growing method, albeit one that adds artificial nutrients to the system to grow the plants. This automatically increases the carbon footprint of the food produced. Hydroponics is a huge industry around the world with much of our supermarket salad produce being grown this way.<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/newspage.com-staging/company/1032/files/804ee3d41e14af6426ac269ec0b7cb642969edcdce36a125102daf5dbd33b10590b2bc2c9f1572a3107c2cdaea32301440b332e926914ab8bcd25a8afb2e7797.jpeg"><figcaption>The tallest of the 3 stems of the Washingtonia palm grown in the New Forest (not northwest Mexico).&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>

Giant palm tree grown with just fish poo and water seeking new home 

Washing your clothes is being talked about right now. Use the information from the UK's leading expert on using conkers to wash your clothes. &nbsp;5 October 2023&nbsp;New Forest Regen Culture expert launches a new way to do your washing.&nbsp; Lucie Mann know as The Watercress Queen online, has been teaching people for the last four years how to wash their clothes using conkers.&nbsp;Although everyone loved the idea, many people found it too difficult to be able to prepare the conkers themselves, and if they did many did not prepare enough to last the whole year till the next conker season.&nbsp;Many , many people asked if they could buy some ready to use, it seemed sensible to see if it could be turned in to a saleable product, without moving away from her core principles.&nbsp;Working out how to chop and dry conkers in bulk, took a few experiments to get right. Now Lucie and her son Robbie have perfected their method, and love working together intensively during 6 weeks of autumn to ‘gather the harvest’ and prepare them for sale.&nbsp; New Forest Aquaponics cic has now launched Washkers - conkers for washing your clothes.&nbsp;How do you use them?&nbsp;It takes just 40 grams of the chopped and dried conkers soaked in 500 ml of hot water for 30 minutes to provide two washes worth of liquid to go directly in the drum of your washing machine. That same 40 grams can be&nbsp;soaked &nbsp;a further 2 times - the 2nd soaking using all the water, the 3rd for a lightly soiled wash.&nbsp;What amazing value is that - 40 grams providing 4 washes! A kilo bag lasts a very long time, and is good for the planet.&nbsp;The packaging of course is upcycled cotton bags, giving abandoned textiles a 2nd use, and when you have finished using the bag for as many things as you can think of it can be composted at home.&nbsp; Available direct from the New Forest Aquaponics website, not only do you get detailed instructions but the product assessment report which shows the positive and negative CO2 and plastic impacts from the manufacture of the washers.&nbsp; Every year Lucie personally grows 30 &nbsp;new &nbsp;horse chestnut trees , to make sure future generations can use them and will care for&nbsp;them in the long term., eventually growing a forest of horse chestnut trees. &nbsp;&nbsp; Find them on https://newforestaquaponics.com/rengerative-shopping-support/#!/Washkers-conkers-for-washing-your-clothes/p/421141597/category=154863771 &nbsp;<blockquote>With climate change on every ones lips we need to look at the way we use the worlds resources - here is a UK grown alternative for washing your clothes.&nbsp;</blockquote>

Can you regenerate your laundry to save the planet?

Working and living regenerative culture via New Forest Aquaponics cic leading community projects around the world connecting plastic, growing our food and how we use the worlds resources. The home of Washkers for natural clothes washing.

Regenerative culture lead

New Forest Aquaponics CIC

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Lucie Mann

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Our palm tree on the news.

Waterside Clothes Swaps Autumn Swap BBC South Today Lunchtime News 11 November 2022

Radio 5 live (again) talking about washkers made from conkers

Radio Oxford interview talking about washkers made from conkers

Radio Berkshire talking washkers from conkers

Radios 5 live 11th October talking about washing your clothes with conkers

Washkers on South Today BBC

Ofgem raises energy price cap to eye-watering £3,549

Our palm tree on the news.

Giant palm tree grown with just fish poo and water is seeking new home

Giant palm tree grown with just fish poo and water is seeking new home