Soil Squad: Nurturing living soil

For many years, Vicky Gutteridge worked alongside individuals and communities navigating mental health crises. It was work she cared deeply about, but it also revealed a powerful truth: healing rarely happens in isolation. People need connection, connection to others, to meaningful activity, and to the natural world around them.

In 2021, Vicky helped establish a small community garden for a charity, designed as a space to support wellbeing. What began as a simple place to gather soon became something more. She noticed how time spent outdoors changed people. Conversations flowed more easily. Anxiety softened. Hope began to take root in unexpected ways.

Along the way, Vicky became fascinated, not just with growing food, but with the soil itself. The deeper she looked, the clearer the connections became. Healthy soil supports healthy plants. Healthy plants nourish healthy people. And our own wellbeing, including the health of our gut, is closely linked to the rich microbial life that begins in the soil beneath our feet.

This growing understanding reshaped her path.

In 2024, Vicky made the decision to step away from her role in the charity to focus fully on building something new: Soil Squad CIC. Her vision was simple but powerful, to create a place where communities could thrive by embracing regenerative and sustainable composting practices. By nurturing living soil and supporting flourishing plant life, Soil Squad aims to cultivate resilient communities and contribute to a healthier planet for generations to come.

With support from St Albans District Council’s Greener Together Net Zero funding, Soil Squad officially launched its community composting service in March 2025. With the help of a donated e-cargo bike, the Squad collected buckets of Bokashi food waste from residents, businesses, and schools, composting it in a Ridan hot composter at a community hub based on an allotment in the city. The e-cargo bike was later replaced by a dedicated team of volunteers who now bring food waste to the hub throughout the week.

In 2025 alone, Soil Squad diverted 2.5 tonnes of food waste. Combined with woodchips from local tree surgeons, this has been transformed into living compost, donated back to volunteers, schools, and community gardens. Vicky’s passion for soil health has continued to grow, and she now delivers soil health education workshops while supporting practical composting solutions for residents, schools, and local businesses.

Soil Squad is about more than compost. It is about restoring cycles that modern life has broken, turning waste into living soil, reconnecting people to nature, and rebuilding communities around shared purpose.

If you would like to find out more about compost with Soil Squad or join a soil health or practical composting event, please visit www.soilsquad.uk

You can visit By Arrangement from 4 May to 17 July for groups of between 5 and 10.
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