KATRINA Palmer had no idea when she took over a weed-infested wilderness she would still be spending her life battling to beat the weeds 13 years later – but now amid them all she grows some of North Yorkshire’s finest organic fruit and veg.

Katrina runs Bluebell Organics, in the historic walled garden of Forcett Hall, a Georgian country house near Richmond. The garden had fallen into serious tangleweed mayhem when she took over but with large amounts of backbreaking effort it has been transformed into something of its former glory.

Now she not only grows and sells the goods through her online shop, she distributes them to companies and individuals within a 50-mile radius. In her spare time she takes the produce to farmers’ markets including Stokesley, Richmond and Barnard Castle. In any one week she can be immersed in 300 to 500 kilos of fruit and veg from brassicas to beetroot, apples and pears, courgettes and cabbages, to name but a few of the many varieties produced on the four-acre site.

Born and brought up in Surrey, and with a degree in history and sociology it wasn’t supposed to be like this, but after working on organic farms during her gap year, in Bristol and New Zealand, she was hooked on horticulture. Katrina had also spent time on organic farms at Camphill Communities working with people with learning disabilities, mental health problems and other special needs. She took over the site at Forcett Hall, with former partner Steve Barker, after answering an advert.

“When we saw it, it was just 30 years of weeds and wilderness, but it’s a fabulous place and there is a cottage on site. So we started off with a small rotavator and bags of enthusiasm,” -she said.

Now Katrina, aged 40, runs it with the help of determined volunteers. She has a small tractor, five polytunnels and lots of vintage machinery to help grow the vast range of veg and look after the orchard of more than 70 fruit trees, some up to 100 years old.

The aim is to produce highquality organic food at a fair price. Organic farming relies on crop rotation, green manure and compost with biological pest control. That means Katrina has to invest a large part of her life battling to keep down the weeds and persuading the wildlife not to eat what’s growing.

“The weather we have had in the past few years has been tricky. Because it has been so random, it hasn’t made growing easy. And the wildlife can make life difficult.

In March we had an invasion of pigeons. Currently we’re inundated by caterpillars on the Brussels sprouts, which we have to pick off.

“But it really is all worth it.

I’ve built up a very strong customer base, getting to know people and their children and that is really rewarding.

The aim is to provide high-quality organic food and the advantage of running the farm is there is no one between the customer and me and the produce we grow.

“I can see I’m never going to be a millionaire doing this, but that’s never been my motivation, there’s just nowhere else I would rather be,” she added.

Katrina said the most popular produce is carrots.

“People love carrots with the dirt on, but they also love the mixed varieties of tomatoes. They can mix them up and go away with a big bag full of all different colours. Also very popular is homemade organic apple juice and any of the fruit like pears and plums from the garden. This year we have got massive crops of fruit, and we also have giant pumpkins to come,” she added.