My Journey-
Hello there, I am Alexander Standing.
Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated with working with nature and self-sufficiency, particularly with growing food in a natural and simple way. I have always avoided using any pesticide, herbicide or fungicide, (or anything else ending in 'icide for that matter). My journey, started in the glorious Ashdown Forest, where although on heavy clay soil, I still found ways to enjoy growing my own food. (Please excuse the old photos quality and interesting hair styles).
Then, for various personal, micro & macro reasons, which I won't go into here, my journey took me on a vital change of path direction. In 2010, I was fortunate enough to pass out as a Royal Marine Commando, then on specialising in amphibious armour, I served in Afghanistan in 2012 & 2013.
Even in Helmand Province, when resting, my mind was back in the green, Great British Countryside.
On my return to the UK, I enjoyed being based on the beautiful Dorset coast, where I realised that I needed to work with nature. I made the decision to leave the Royal Marines and train in Arboriculture in the ancient orchards and coppiced Chestnut woodlands of Kent and Sussex. I temporarily found myself back in the Ashdown Forest where I enjoyed creating my company; Ashdown Arborists. This provided an eclectic array of Arboricultural and Horticultural services, including pruning fruit trees, dismantling a lot of residential Leyland Cyprus, Agro-forestry and log splitting. I had rediscovered my fondness for food garden landscaping, and started to discover the simplicity of "No-dig food gardens", my first one being a small shared garden for a block of flats, in East Grinstead.
My journey, yet again, took me on another crucial change of direction....
I spent most of a decade working all over Great Britain, in rural private estate management and security. Although I wasn't working for myself, it still gave me a fantastic opportunity to learn and pursue my passion for hands on self-sufficiency gardening, as most private estates had some form of food garden. For example, I have enjoyed working walled gardens, new and old. On one estate, I was able to assist a restaurant & market garden successfully qualify with the Soil association as Organic and with Demeter as Biodynamic. This was particularly rewarding. Even when skills weren't directly related, at the time, to self-sufficiency gardening, I was thinking of a way in which they could be applicable.
Now......
You can find me helping anyone on their food garden journey, probably either in The Norfolk Broads, where I live with my wife, or back in the Ashdown Forest where I am fortunate to still drop in the family home where I discovered my food gardening passion and friends in the Organic gardening and farming community.
Oh, it's important to mention; have a dog, will travel.
