Mandala Garden Project

08/05/2026

Biodynamic means treating the farm as a living organism where soil, plants, animals and people work in balance.

Mandala Garden was recently featured in the Biodynamic Association's Star & Furrow magazine. Article or not, it really means a lot to me to be part of the Biodynamic movement. Therefore the Biodynamic Certification was one of the first things that was important to me when starting Mandala Garden. We are fully certified for 4 years now.

I would like to highlight a few details of what this means. Biodynamic Certification includes Organic Certification. We get inspected every year and I have to declare all inputs that are used for growing our produce to be of organic standard or as close to it as possible and GM free - from every seed package to potting mix to manure. And of course a full schedule of all Biodynamic preparations used timely and correctly to illustrate that we have a good grasp of Biodynamic methods to support overall balance and vitality in soil and plants.

In other words:
- no synthetic inputs
- zero pesticides
- only using natural preparations to stimulate soil life
- a minimum of 10% of the land dedicated to biodiversity
- cosmic and seasonal rhythms guide sowing and harvesting
- self-sufficiency - limited external inputs

We are proud to grow Demeter produce for you and hope you will enjoy this season's produce - all growing while I'm writing.

17/04/2026

Celebration of the Additional Polytunnel on May 13th

Thank you again for your generous support which made an additional polytunnel at Mandala Garden possible. We have now (re)built the polytunnel we're reusing from Bruntlands, prepared the ground and planted the first plants!

We would like to invite you to our celebration of the new polytunnel and season on Wednesday, May 13th at noon. We will mark the occasion with a short fire ceremony as part of our usual Wednesday volunteer morning (10am-lunch). Do join us if you can!

The new year is off to a bright start at Mandala Garden! We're very delighted to share that The Pebble Trust has given us the remaining funding needed to erect the additional tunnel! Many Thanks!!!!🙂

We are now ready to spring to action and start putting up the second hand tunnel we got from Clare and Sam at Bruntlands (https://www.bruntlands.co.uk/)! All this is only possible with the help of our generous community support! What a blessing!

Established in 2014, the Pebble Trust has a vision for a more sustainable, fair, and low-carbon society, where constraints on fossil fuels lead to a more localised economy with stronger, more resilient communities. (https://www.thepebbletrust.org/)

13/03/2026

Apple Tree Planting on April 1st - An opportunity to see the garden in spring!

We'll kick-off the season's Wednesday volunteer mornings at Mandala Garden with a day of apple tree planting in the Community Orchard on Wednesday, April 1st, 10am-4pm. Feel free to come for the whole day, a couple of hours or just drop by to take a look.

We'll break for lunch from 12:30-1:30pm; please bring a packed lunch.

04/03/2026

We have apple trees which are surplus to the needs at Mandala Garden.

They're bareroot, most of them grafted last spring - so still quite small and easy to plant. On M106 rootstock (medium) unless stated otherwise. £25 each.

varieties available:
Charles Ross x2
Fiesta x1
Spartan x1
Grenadier x1
Elstar x2 (in pots)
Brambley on M25 large - vigorous rootstock x1

First come, first served - best to plant them as soon as possible!

03/03/2026

More vegetables to be grown locally! 🤩

The market garden will grow fruit and vegetables for the Nairn community.  Running as a social enterprise and prioritising organic and eco-friendly practices, the garden will sell weekly vegetable crop share boxes to families in Nairn and to local cafes and restaurants. By subscribing to our boxes,...

27/02/2026

Mandala Garden is looking for committed volunteers to join the core team!

In addition to the usual Wednesday volunteer mornings April-October, we are also welcoming regular committed volunteers to come join the core team at the Mandala Garden. The commitment would be a full day (9am-4pm) or two half-days every week in exchange for learning how to grow, a box of vegetables and lively team lunches.

The Park Connected Nairn Rocks!!

23/02/2026

The weekend of March 7th and 8th there's a great opportunity locally (at Wester Lawrenceton Farm) to learn how to prune mature fruit trees.

Not to be missed!

18/02/2026

The Mandala Garden Project is looking for an apprentice!

We have been accepted by the Biodynamic Agricultural College to offer biodynamic work-based training placements. This is a two year course in biodynamic farming, accredited through the Crossfields Institute. It is hands-on learning at Mandala Garden with all its varied tasks of crop cultivation, biodynamics as well as sales and planning. The program is well rounded with regular courses held for the group of trainees at other biodynamic farms, on specific learning topics.

We've already received some enquiries and would be delighted for the first placement to start in March 2026. Please do share this opportunity with anyone you might know who may be interested!

Please contact us for any details about the work-based training at Mandala Garden ([email protected]) or [email protected] or look at the BA College for inspiration!

https://bdacollege.org.uk/work-based-training/

https://crossfieldsinstitute.com/crossfields-institute-level-3-diploma-in-biodynamic-farming-growing/

Biodynamic Association Forres Friends of Woods and Fields The Park Connected Seeds of Scotland Highland Good Food Partnership

28/01/2026

The new year is off to a bright start at Mandala Garden! We're very delighted to share that The Pebble Trust has given us the remaining funding needed to erect the additional tunnel! Many Thanks!!!!🙂

We are now ready to spring to action and start putting up the second hand tunnel we got from Clare and Sam at Bruntlands (https://www.bruntlands.co.uk/)! All this is only possible with the help of our generous community support! What a blessing!

Established in 2014, the Pebble Trust has a vision for a more sustainable, fair, and low-carbon society, where constraints on fossil fuels lead to a more localised economy with stronger, more resilient communities. (https://www.thepebbletrust.org/)

01/01/2026

Happy winter time and blessings for the New Year to you all!🌲❄️✨
The pigs enjoy their new home.