It is with a heavy heart that we take our farewells from Marina Brown O’Connell, our co-founder, director and head of the Apricot Centre Farm. She leaves behind a larger-than-life legacy that continues to inspire the thousands of lives she has touched, and her knowledge, grit, humility and sense of humour live on through the many hands that now work the land thanks to her.
Marina studied Horticulture at Bath University and later Ecology at Essex University, alongside Process Oriented Psychology internationally. After travelling the world for inspiration she accepted a place in Dartington Hall’s garden team in 1986, from where she designed and developed School Farm. School Farm CSA continues to feed the people of the area and teach students and volunteers .
The original Apricot Centre was born in Essex on a 4-acre plot of land that she designed and worked on, turning a bramble patch into a vibrant biodynamic market garden and orchard in 10 years. To this day, the land is a productive farm, feeding the people of Hackney thanks to Peach and Pippin.
The 34 acres of Huxham’s Cross Farm were conventionally managed compacted clay when she was invited to help set up a biodynamic farm upon it in 2015. In a mere two years, the ground was healed and transformed, and by 2019, a booming farm was established. Far more than that, she worked with her husband Mark and a dedicated team of people to establish the Apricot Centre as a well-being service, design consultancy and education centre. Through this fourfold work, both land and people’s lives continue to be transformed and their relationship with the land and themselves healed.
She captured the sparks and wisdom of her journey in agroecology and how it connects to all aspects of our world through her book, Designing Regenerative Food Systems, which is one of the cornerstones of the courses held at the farm.
With her blessings, we carry on the torch of a way of working with the land that is regenerative for all, a deep love of the natural world and the firm belief that humans have a powerful, positive place in it.
Read Mark's moving personal tribute to Marina on the Apricot Centre's Facebook page (link is external).
Read Growing Communities’ tribute to Marina and her work on their website (link is external).
If you wish to share a short message or thought about Marina, we would like to invite you to submit it on the wall below, and you can also add a photo or picture if you would like to. The messages are anonymous and moderated. You can also browse all the other messages others have posted.
