We love and respect nature

We are a young family who slowly and unintentionally started up a smallholding on an unlikely patch of unused land, here in the Rossendale Valley. 

This land was mistreated for many years its only use was for local fly tipping, it had low grazing yield and was full of weeds. At the heart of this patch of forgotten hillside lays an Elder tree, covered in moss and leaning over ill from neglect. 

Our family sought a better way of living, a healthier way to grow, rear and eat our own food and produce. 

So we saw our opportunity. This led to leasing the land and starting our learning journey on how best to care for it. We wanted to breath life back into the forgotten soil. 

We started to herd goats here since late 2019. They graze the grass, we harvest the willow and trees from surrounding woodland and they devour the greens that we grow from our vegetable patch. 

They produce the milk that goes into making our cosmetics that is enriched by this environment. 

All the activity from our chicken, ducks, goats and composting added permaculture to the land, so the health of the soil improved vastly. 

Now the Elder tree has bounced back, its provides us with flowers in spring and ample berries in Autumn. Elder is the tree that symbolizes healing and regrowth and that is the story about how Herd & Elder was born.