Bricolage Gardening

My time at Grace Gardens continues to fly by – now seven weeks in I am continuing to love my time on the farm and it has been awesome to welcome back students and begin to get them involved with jobs on the land. The vegetable growth has slowed down, not helped by the period of drought, however the arrival of apple juicing has kept us more than busy with 45 trees on site that need the apples to be harvested, washed, cut, scratted, pressed, bottled &pasteurised. On Friday we had the official opening ceremony from the school which gave us the opportunity to share the liquid gold with parents, staff, volunteers and other supporters of the Grace Gardens project. We’ve barely scratched the surface with our juicing and it is set to be a big project over the coming month to get as much apple juice bottled as possible.

It has been a rather hectic last two weeks both on and off the farm and as a consequence I have not managed to get enough writing time in my schedule to finish my next bolog post. For this reason, I thought I would share an article I wrote two years ago for The Food Forest Project which is a based in Shepton Mallet. The FFP is an educational organisation doing awesome work to educate it’s community about ecology and sustainable ways of farming – if you are ever in the area, I would recommend checking their site out.

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I still hold a relatively similar environmental stance to the one I express in this post and so feel happy sharing it again now. (*Craig Bennet has now moved on from Friends of the Earth to work as CEO for the Wildlife Trust).

Here we go:

Recently I attended the first lecture of a series titled ‘The future is in our lands’, hosted by Bath University’s Institute for Policy Research. It was part of their program of continuing progress towards a more sustainable future through direct policy changes and continuing research on climate change mitigation. To kick things off was Craig Bennet Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth. Friends of the Earth is an international environmental organisation using a variety of approaches including campaigning to conquer our ongoing climate and ecological crisis.

The key message? Plant more trees. Not especially shocking for the majority of the packed lecture hall, but nonetheless an issue which we all know continues to be overlooked by the powers that be when it comes to tackling our natural nightmare. As Craig importantly asked us to consider why it is that we are so desperately looking for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology which is both economically expensive and energy-demanding. The same function can be fulfilled by planting trees. Furthermore, the benefits of trees go far beyond absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, woodlands are a vital native ecosystem. No doubt the sobering data from the State-of-Nature report, outlining that 15% of UK species are in danger of extinction is strongly linked with our lack of woodlands. Along with reinstating woodlands, Friends of the Earth also stresses the value of restoring our other carbon-storing ecosystems such as peatlands, marshes, flood plains, and wild meadows. The recent national devastations caused by flooding are a poignant reflection of the desperate need for more of these depleted ecosystems; our natural flood mitigators. Finally, the cultural services that a wild area can provide to us are beyond compare. I am sure most will agree that the idea of a dog walk through an ancient woodland is much more appealing than a visit to an industrial CCS plant, which is a proposed alternative.

For me (and seemingly a large proportion of the audience) the take-home statistic was that 28% of land in the UK is currently used for pasture to farm predominantly beef and lamb. This statistic went along with a great video made by Daniel Raven-Ellison showing The UK in 100 Seconds. The 28% figure is a key reason why Friends of the Earth have recommended that the public consume less meat and that of higher quality, in doing so more land can be freed up for growing crops that can be directly consumed by humans. Part of the plan that Craig described was that a key area to be targeted for increasing tree cover is Grade 4 poor quality farmland often used for pasture. Agroforestry is mentioned by Friends of the Earth as an option that benefits both farmers and the environment; planting trees alongside crops, as a shelter for animals or on pasture land which is still being grazed. All these options provide a level of economic viability for farmers. Similarly, the Food Forest Project is an example of land use with minimal management that can still yield food, imagine the reductions of food miles and improvement to biodiversity if projects like this were introduced all over the country?

For me, the best part of the evening was the Q&A, which provided a great platform to gauge some of the crowd’s opinions on the topics discussed. Amongst us included farmers who were quick to defend their corner, arguing that all the blame was often put on them for letting the ecological crisis slip to where it is now. As one gentleman argued, the ball is in the court of consumers to choose the course of our lands. I think it was an important point; sustainable practices, keeping less livestock, organic crops and reforesting only become economically viable to farmers if there is a large demand by consumers, willing to pay more for the associated quality. That means breaking the habit of going for the cheap imported goods to selecting the more seasonal and local produce. 

It has been interesting to see the topic of tree planting come up this week in our latest UK election race; 30 million a year pledged by the Conservatives and 60 million a year by the Liberal Democrats. A seemingly positive message, but no doubt a close eye must be kept on the successful party to make sure claims like these do not disappear into the shadows. 

“The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those that have not viewed the world’

Alexander Von Humboldt