THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Ken Thompson, Botanist
We are big fans of the botanist and author Ken Thompson, who was a Senior Research Fellow at the University …
I Am A Genius vs I Have A Genius
This video is a Ted talk by author Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything She asks how are you supposed to create something if you fear the paralysis that comes from knowing you will be judged on it? In the days of the Renaissance the individual became the supreme artist/creator – and so began to rise the idea of the tortured writer and the artistic ego. But before that the Greeks believed ‘daemons’ helped them in the creative act. This disembodied figure released the trepidation felt at producing something and being criticised (or lauded) for it… no tormented genius needed, …
Lauriston Farm, A Biodynamic Farm in Essex
A few weeks ago Modern Mint took a trip to Goldhanger in Essex, to see Spencer Christie who farms Lauriston Farm. Lauriston Farm is run biodynamically – which in simple terms (in incredibly simple terms!) means the gardener or farmer takes account of an intricate web of relationships that can influence life on earth and tries to work with or guide it in a beneficial way. Beneficial for the soil, the animals, the plants and ourselves. We have come across biodynamic growers before, most notably Beatrice Krehl the head gardener at Waltham Place, began to tend the vegetable garden biodynamically for Strilli …
9 Ideas for a Cut Flower Business
Cut flower business? Flower farmer? Is it for me? Here are 9 ideas for a cut flower business – because we love freshly cut flowers. The office here at Modern Mint still has leftovers from Valentine’s day sat in vases – dogwood, cymbidium stems, rosemary (a lovely plant for topiary), sarcococca… one stem of the dogwood is even beginning to flower, cheeky thing… A small side to our business had been growing flowers for florists like Jay Archer and, had we stayed in Hampshire, we would have expanded this side of the business. Why? Because it was heartwarming to see flowers …