300 pledges to keep on BREWING FOR BIODIVERSITY 🥹❤️🔥
We raised £8000 over our initial target 🎯
60 people have signed up for the DRINK THE SEASONS box 📦 ! 🥂🍾🌸🐝
Over 300 people believed in us enough to make a donation of their hard earned cash 💸
We are properly a community supported brewery now! This means the world to us and gives us so much motivation. Nothing about the human scale and networked based regenerative botanical brewery we’ve been building is easy in this economy - despite how valuable it is. It needs a groundswell of support to succeed and now it has it 😊
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE involved in this campaign, from the team in the brewery that came up with it all, to @lukeflegg and @slacketyslackslack@hanski_grows and @compost.tom that have all worked so hard on the communication of it all…. To everyone that has supported us in the past @betheearth.foundation@realfarmingtrust and everyone that has just chipped in for an Old Tree future 🙌 and all of our incredible customers and clients from @seasonswholefoods to @rye_bakery and the community behind @oldtreeevents
Couldn’t have done it and wouldn’t still here without every single one of you!!
You all give us so much hope and inspiration.
Thank you from bottoms our hearts 🥰
Can’t wait to get all these rewards produced and packed now!! And to UP THE REVOLUTION 💫 TO FERMENT A FOREST GARDEN FUTURE
🥹
Tears of joy and gratitude..
It’s so incredible to look through everyone’s comments and see all of this support… TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE SUPPORTERS and counting!!!
There couldn’t be a greater motivation to keep doing this and as our friend Tom Morris says - get Old Tree into ‘dream territory’.
We are brewing the change we want to see in this world and every one of these donations means so much. It’s a vote 🗳️ for the kind of future you all want to see and we are so honoured to be empowered to continue organising, foraging for and fermenting this!
THANK YOU to the genius film maker @lukeflegg of @passionworksproductions for putting together this masterpiece that does justice to this crowd who have supported us on @crowdfunderuk with @avivauk match funding. You are a wizard Luke! And so are you @slacketyslackslack for all the story telling and communication support throughout this campaign we have been working on since November 2025!! Wha a journey it’s been… 😌
Can we get to 300 supporters for Drink the Seasons by the end of tomorrow!?!
Last 24 hours is GO! 🍻✨🍻✨
🔗in🌳
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#drinktheseasons #kombucha #brewery #testimonial #oldtreebrewery
Today, at about 4pm 🕓 Tai opened the door of the brewery and shouted ‘WE MADE IT’
This was a huge moment for us that we will never forget.
We needed to raise this money to give our social enterprise the economic capacity and resilience to adapt to these incredibly challenging times. We’re so inspired by our idea to DRINK THE SEASONS, but the truth is, the success of this @crowdfunderuk campaign was also a a survival necessity for our small business.
We are so relived to have made it !!
We are officially a COMMUNITY SUPPORTED BREWERY !! 🤗✨🍻😁🥂🫶🌸🐝
Thanks to all our supporters. Just over 3 days left now! Every donation is still doubled by @avivauk and amplifies our impact 🌍💚
Now we have the 75K stretch goal - this is when the possibilities spiral!! 🌀🙌💫
Our Spring Social reminded us that The Soil Factory is not just about composting 🌱
It’s also about community.
About gathering round a fire.
And children peering into a maturation bin with fascination.
It’s about people feeling living compost in their hands.
About the stories, curiosity, and felt sense that soil connects far more than we usually remember.
This all feels especially alive now that spring is here.
We’re building a local compost system, yes, but also something else: a space for learning, connection, practical action and shared stewardship.
Membership is a core part of making that possible.
When you join, you’re not just signing up to drop off scraps. You’re helping build the infrastructure, relationships and rhythm of a living local project, and getting biochar-enhanced Living Soil and other benefits back in return.
We’ve still got a handful of early bird membership places for people who join before the end of March.
Join or find the community WhatsApp link via the link in bio.
More soon on ways to gather, learn and contribute together this spring and summer.
📸 @christylowphotography
“I feel we’ve achieved peak Forest Row.” 🪱😅
That was one of the comments yesterday as about 25 of us gathered round the fire at the Soil Factory station for our first Spring Social.
Together we welcomed worms into the first maturation bin of members’ winter scraps.
In a slightly spontaneous ceremony, each person received a worm, offered a blessing with a little birch sap from Windyridge, and returned it to the compost to begin its work.
It was simple and rather beautiful 😍
There’s also a magnificent birch tree standing right beside the station — “one of the biggest I’ve ever seen,” said Tom from Old Tree — quietly watching over the whole thing like a kind of guardian.
Huge gratitude to everyone who came, brought worms, stories, food, curiosity, and warmth.
And special thanks to Bob Kennedy @bob_the_wandering_wizard for the fire, Tom from @oldtreesoil for the fresh birch sap and living compost, and Hans-Gunther @wholisticlivin for your ongoing support and wisdom 🫶🏼
A few are preparing to join now as members, which feels like a lovely sign that this little compost system of ours is becoming something real.
If you’ve been curious about being part of it, it is a great moment to jump in!
🔗 Links in bio 😉
More soon 💚
WORM ARRIVALS 🪱🔥
& SPRING SOCIAL!
This Saturday, 1pm to 4pm, we’re gathering for The Soil Factory’s first Spring Social.
The firepit is confirmed, the songs & stories are lining up, and the first maturation bin is now full of members’ Jora-composted winter scraps, ready for worms.
And you!
We’ll gather round the fire to welcome our wriggly friends into the next stage of the journey.
And because we do love a good ceremony in Forest Row, we’ll be marking the moment properly.
Bring a story or song about worms or soil, bring something for the shared table, or just bring yourself.
If you’d like to bring worms, compost or manure heap worms are best. Garden soil worms, not so much.
We’ll also have fresh compost from @OldTreeSoil for sale on the day.
Find us at The Soil Factory Station, at the rear of the Forest Row Community Centre car park.
Free to RSVP (link in bio)
If you’re curious about membership and want your scraps to be part of the journey, go ahead and check out our JOIN link (also in bio 🌳)
IT’S LIVE!! You can now view our crowdfunder page and the whole host of amazing new drinks, merch, experiences and botanical drink subscriptions available, via the link in our bio!
We’re so grateful to @avivauk for approving us for match funding up to £25,000. Your donations and their match funding will help us:
- deliver expanded hedgerow planting and nature restoration at Ragmans Lane Farm and locally in Glynde
- pay our core team for a year; Harry and Iside our brewers, Tai and Emma on coordination and comms, and Tom leading foraging
- help with partnerships and restoration
- allow us to get our SALSA food safety certification secured
- enable us to deliver 6-8 foraging education events per year
- fund planting at Ragmans and Glynde
- enable us to hold composting workshops and community harvest gatherings.
Whilst your one-off purchases are very much appreciated, it’s really the kombucha and (new) Drink The Seasons subscription boxes that will keep us afloat (and hopefully thrive!) long-term, so we are immensely thankful to every single subscriber, current and new!
If you’re not able to participate in the crowdfunder, it’s will be just as valuable to us if you could share this campaign far and wide in your dms, stories, emails or whatsapp groups! 💚
Help us grow from an exposed tree to a sheltered forest. As the saying goes, the best time to plant a forest was 25 years ago. The second best time is now.
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#microbrewery #kombuchabrewery #foraging #botanicaldrinks #communitybrewery
Today I am a year older and more grateful than ever for the simple, precious and unrepeatable moments.
This happened just now, as I was walking along the beach and wondering what to do with myself. It’s been an intense and rich weekend of celebrating with friends, dancing and sharing meals.
I find there is a lot that can stress me out in this world but I’m getting better at noticing the good things too.
May you find joy wherever you are today.
🐾✨
They Next Decade of Old Tree 📣
DRINK THE SEASONS - crowdfunder launch 🚀
Goes live on Tuesday the 10th of March 💫
Our brewery is about to change and your invited to our free online event starting at 7pm that evening 🙏
If you believe in us and would be able to spare some time helping us promote this campaign - you can also join our new OT ‘Street Team’ WhatsApp group 😇 🔗 in 🌳
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Look forward to connecting 🫶
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#microbrewery #kombucha #kombuchabrewery #communitybrewery #oldtree
🪱 WORM ARRIVALS
& SPRING SOCIAL ☀️
On Saturday the 14th of March The Soil Factory in Forest Row is rolling out the welcome mat for a fresh crew of compost worms… and you’re invited!
Gather round the fire. 🔥
Raise a mug &
Come celebrate the arrival of our new underground workforce 🥳
We’re so excited to welcome you to the station and share the quiet magic unfolding there.
As more members gift their food scraps to the tumblers, something magic is happening within.
This week four chambers worth of material, over 500 litres, will be transferred into our next-stage maturation bin, where our hungry worms will begin their work alongside microbes, turning it all into lush Living Soil.
And in a few months’ time, that soil will come back to you ✨
It’s our first proper social as a growing community and we’d love to have you there 🥳
Let’s gather, celebrate, and witness what we’re building together.
Totally free! BYO food & drink and get in touch if you have a song or story or something else you’d like to offer 😍
RSVP via link in bio.
#TheSoilFactory #ForestRow #CommunityComposting #LivingSoil WasteLessGrowMore
It’s time to gather!
Saturday 14 March · 1–4pm
Community Centre Station, Forest Row
We’ll be by the station with fire, food, and - because we love a good ceremony in Forest Row — a proper welcome for the worms as our first batch of winter compost enters its next stage.
If you’ve already seen the station, this is the moment it shifts gear. And if you haven’t, this is a perfect time to see it in action ;)
It’s free. It’s relaxed. All very much BYO.
If you’ve been hovering around membership, this is the day you’ll see exactly what you’re stepping into.
RSVP or join as a member — link in bio.
ps Membership is super easy and turns your food scraps into scrumptious Living Soil you can use to boost your pots, garden or allotment. All for just £6/month!
