In the fifth of a series of articles about authors appearing at Marlborough LitFest who have a local connection, Marlborough.news has been speaking to the ex St John’s Academy student who is now a horticulturalist and writer
Born in London and growing up in Johannesburg, it was a huge culture shock for Poppy Okatcha when she moved to Wiltshire aged 12 and started attending St. John’s Academy, Marlborough. In her book A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow, Poppy explores her sense of home with stories from her English and Nigerian heritage. She also offers practical advice on gardening through the seasons, recipes and how our relationship with the natural world is so important for our health and well-being.
Poppy told Marlborough.news, “The book traces my journey in life and in the garden through the year. I include folklore from Northern Europe and from the Igbu tribe, my Nigerian heritage, that has helped me connect with nature as well as offering practical gardening tips and recipes. The book is like a journal or almanac and the reader gets a head, heart and hands experience.”
Poppy’s interest in gardening began as a teenager. She had always admired her grandmother’s garden in Hungerford and enjoyed working with her family to restore a neglected garden in a rental property where they were living. However, when she left school at 18 she decided to take a gap year to earn some money by modelling. Her modelling career took off very quickly and she was “excited to be immersed among creative minds” and to be working with or for her teenage heroes – Vivienne Westwood and the super model, Alex Wek.
However, after several years she began to get exhausted from the travel and pressure and had feelings of disquiet about the effects of the fashion industry, in particular the effects on climate change. She wanted an alternative life and made the decision to retrain in horticulture and to stop using social media for a year. During this time she was living on a wide beam canal barge in London and she started to grow, first flowers and then vegetables on the roof of the barge. Poppy describes the barge as an “oasis” when she was struggling with “disenchantment with the fashion industry.” The garden on the barge also brought her into connections with people, passers-by who stopped to talk. As a result, Poppy has always been involved in community gardens and sees their benefit.
When Covid hit, Poppy started sharing slow living, seasonal gardening and healthy eating advice on social media. She already had an audience from the fashion world but this audience widened. She also appeared on BBC Gardeners’ World and began writing for various publications.
When she and her partner moved to Devon in 2020, she started creating her own garden. Poppy commented, “Part of my experience of growing up in Marlborough is seeing an industrial monoculture in the surrounding farms and learning about how this impacts people, the land and nature. I have come to horticulture in an ecological way and want to ensure that gardening is always for people, nature and the planet. I want to explore our relationship of care for the land and how it can care for us and help us to care for each other.”
Poppy is speaking at Marlborough LitFest on Saturday September 27th at 1 pm in the Town Hall. To buy tickets click here
LitFest Plus with Tony Robinson
