On El Pozuelo farm for more than 40 years we have been working for a more natural and ecological world.

When we started to get our Ecological Walnut project going, back in 1980, we never knew that it would have such an important meaning one day. It makes us proud year after year to offer up our products to a market that is opening up to the world, competing against French or American producers. However what we did know, was that those who did buy our walnuts would be conscientious people who are in favour of a more rural world, where the labour of the farmer is valued and although the cost may be higher, the result is a walnut with a texture and flavour that can not be compared to those produced using products to speed up production and alter the life cycle of the trees.

Altho there have been only a few years in which we’ve had deseases affecting our trees, many headaches and sleepless nights have been caused trying to find ways to treat them without fertilisers or pesticides: pruning, plowing, watering… are pricey and dangerous jobs to a tree as sensitive as a walnut but if it is all done with patience and good timing and with the necessary investments we can finally help the tree regain its full strength and optimum conditions.

As well as the walnut trees , we decided to expand our market and, after buying El Castillo farm, we invested in giving life back to its forgotten chestnut groves, its more than 12 hectors where covered in brambles, gorse and other unwanted shrubs. We are the sort of people who think if we own something we have to look after it. Therefore we started by plowing the land to oxygenate the soil, we divided the land into parcels so that the sheep “nature’s strimmers” could do their job. We then pruned the trees where needed and burnt the removed branches.

Due to the sturdiness of chestnut wood we saved some of the branches for future use as fence posts and some for use as “Jurgas” (a tool used for removing the bark of cork oaks) “Horquillas” (used for stirring embers in a fire) or “garabatos” (used to pull brambles from fences and trees).

Once we managed to finish cleaning the land we decided to graft the wild chestnut trees (Bravos) that produce smaller chestnuts with varieties such as Alajar, Helechal or Vázquez that all produce bigger chestnuts that are better for humans to eat. It has been 5 years since the first graft were done and many of those once forgotten trees are back to prefect condition and are producing delicious high quality nuts without using any fertiliser or products that could, like the walnuts, alter their life cycle.

We have mentioned in passing the we have livestock on the farm, in our case, sheep. Throughout the year we have roughly 50 sheep and two rams, the sheep’s primary function is keeping the farm tidy by eating shrubs before they get too big as they are dangerous spreaders of forest fires. In the hotter parts of the year we can get as high as 40ºC (104º F) and any uneaten shrub becomes a tinderbox waiting to start a fire. We keep the sheep rotating from parcel to parcel according to the amount of food available. We only ever enclose the sheep when they are about to begin lambing as they become vulnerable to predators such as foxes and mongooses, sometimes even eagles attack the lambs or their mothers durning birthing.

I also want to dedicate a bit of time to our chickens, currently we have 12 laying hens, who from 12 mid day till night time will be scratching and pecking around the farm, mainly around the walnut trees where they find worms and other insects, a bit of ground up corn is the perfect addition to their diet all that is needed to produce the best eggs that are incomparable with tose found in the supermarket that are mostly produced in industrial warehouse farms.

Lastly but by no means any less important I’d like to mention our organic vegetable garden. We take advantage of the manure our chickens and sheep produce to fertilise the soil. Depending on wether we want a winter garden of a summer garden we use a different part of the farm so that the soil has time to recover and breath and therefore the vegetables have more space and nutrients to grow. In winter we plant garlic, cabbages, spinach, lettuces… once spring arrives we plant our potatoes and in the summer we plant our tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, pumpkins, onions, aubergines, and cucumbers. Many of our customers have enjoyed the taste these homegrown products whilst staying in one of our cottages.

A life surrounded by nature isn’t only full of joy. Those of us who work in farms rely heavily on external factors, a year of too much rain or one of drought can be hard to overcome, however, overcoming it gives one a sense of achievement that is very satisfying.