THE TEAM

Ally loves cabbage (sautéed in olive oil/butter, braised with white wine and a stock cube) eating it with a selection of roasted veg EVERY lunchtime without fail. Ally was raised in Switzerland, graduated from Glasgow Uni in 2017, moved to Linlithgow and got engaged the same year to Ross and started with Grow Wild shortly afterwards. Ally loves singing with the local choir, playing the piano, entertaining her cats, roller-skating, renovating, and always has a fun project on the go – whether it’s walking the West Highland Way, dyeing and creating, or researching and planning for the next overseas adventures – India and Japan are next on the list. Ally’s spreadsheet obsession is a wonderful thing.  Her labeller does however get out of hand sometimes! Ally’s role at Grow Wild has evolved from office administrator to having a hand in just about everything at the farm and is now relied on for so many things – being the once reluctant IT solution-finder, the in-house researcher, calibrating the seeder, stepping into the shop, and generally keeping the team on their toes with her “spreadsheet of life”.

Donna loves courgettes, sliced into ribbons and sautéed in butter. Simple but delicious. As a lover of food, she enjoys the eating rather than the creating. Donna is a local lass being brought up in Bo’ness and is married with three lovely sons. In her previous life, Donna worked at Hewlett Packard where she met her husband. Happy days! Now retired, Donna enjoys going to gigs, taking care of her dogs, and looking after her grandchildren who clearly adore her! They love going up to Beecraigs with the bug boxes, fishing around in the ponds for beasties and having adventures. She enjoys going out for dinner, a wee glass of wine and cosy evenings on the sofa and is truly looking forward to one of her son’s wedding next year. Donna is a bubbly person and really connects to people being naturally empathetic, joining Grow Wild when she felt the need to do something for herself again. She is an integral part of the team making deliveries two days per week which she does in true style – we always love the hair and clothes! Donna can turn her hand to anything – you will find her in the shop, out making deliveries and packing veg boxes in the warehouse. Donna really enjoyed picking plums in the Bonnytoun orchard this year and loves her team!

Erica loves blackberries, eating them raw or on top of her porridge. She also loves just-picked tomatoes warmed by the sunshine eating them as they arrive or roasting them for soup. Being a local smallholder, Erica happily has every opportunity to do this with her husband Richard and lovely two young children. They are going guns with their smallholding adventures, growing veg & fruit, have a tiny flock of sheep, and now have wayward goats (Richard’s idea)! Erica has done all sorts of things – she has a degree in politics and anthropology, enjoyed exotic travels with her husband, and has a real interest in food and drink and the good life. Along the way she trained as a wine merchant which she continues to do in her parallel life. Erica helps us out in the field & in the warehouse, bringing with her a great sense of humour and lots of funny farming stories!

Joyce and Jim come as a pair! Joyce loves leeks and feels they are underrated, cheesy leeks being a favourite. Jim loves chard and its versatility throwing it into soup or serving with fish. Jim is the soup maker in the house! They love the sheep, enjoy Ally’s whacky clothes, and really love the craic with the team!  Joyce and Jim met in 2015 are both big music lovers, from opera to blues. Jim used to play in a band and was in the engineering world in his previous world, and Joyce a teacher. Now retired, they have veggies growing in their garden, cook and bake, and spend time travelling, big and small trips. Jim has been to China 66 times. They are true adventurers. ‘Every day is fabulous!’! They started off their involvement with Grow Wild by coming into the farm shop weekly, enjoying the genuine welcome and getting to know the team. Now delivering in one of the electric vans, they do a weekly run (you will recognise Joyce by her pink hair streak).

Lindsay is mad about kale – her favourite being steamed then mixed with sautéed garlic, chopped apple, and drizzled with tahini/olive oil/pepper. A proper food-lover, family-juggler, tree-hugger, sheep-carer. In her previous life, Lindsay ran a designer knitwear business for many years, and established a new MSc at Edinburgh Uni where she also taught business. Lindsay loves loves loves to cook (was mentored by Nick Nairn for a food TV programme), plays the flute, silversmiths and loses herself in weaving. Lindsay has a big family with Ben, all with diverse interests making the chat round the kitchen table hilarious! Loves sitting round the table with the whole family, loves the dogs, loves a project. And then loves another project. Raised in London in the swinging sixties by Scottish parents, Lindsay has travelled far and wide, has a degree in physiology, a marketing diploma and a masters in business and established Grow Wild in 1998. She loves music (you will always hear it in the farm shop) and is finding all sorts of way to support the circular world of organic sustainable farming with textiles her next venture running in parallel to farming and Grow Wild. Lindsay really enjoys being on the farm, feeling the seasons, knocking things into shape so that they run well, talking to the sheep and LOVES the team.