Field Notes 01
The inaugural entry into our informal monthly diary offers observations and inspiration from the Roots and Rhythms project.
Beginning in the dark
As we enter the darkest days of the year, we are thinking about endings and letting go, but also looking ahead to the vibrancy of new beginnings — the start of a new project, an empty field, full of possibilities, questions yet to be asked, and connections yet to be made.
On 14th December we crossed a threshold and the Roots and Rhythms team came together at Lopemede farm to mark the opening of the project and the beginning of our work together. We intended to use this opportunity to create connections: with each other, with the farm and with the vision of the project.
The day balanced the personal and professional, the head and heart, embodied experience and considered questioning, through a variety of activities including:
An opening circle around the fire where foraged hawthorn and rosemary tea and gratitude to the land was offered
Space to understand each other’s stories and hopes for this work together through our connection with nature.
A walking tour of the farm to understand the history of the land and the people stewarding it, see the work in progress to develop ‘natural capital’ and meet some of the inhabitants (red kites, in turn, watching us and Wagu cattle being the noisiest).
Collaborative time to further develop principles that will guide the way we work and shape the moral habitat of the project.
Widening Wood and Wet Lands
It was the last chance for tree planting for 2023 as part of the completion of a phase of wood pasture for shade and shelter for livestock. Trees planted were all selected for their ability to cope with climate change, including, Quercus coccinea, Quercus frainetto, Castanea sativa, Cedrus libani and Ulmus New Horizon (which is resistant to Dutch elm disease).
Eddie was especially pleased to be planting Quercus castaneifolia, the chestnut-leaved oak as it’s been a particular favourite, ever since he visited Kew Gardens to see the enormous specimen in the gardens which is approaching 200 years in age.
There was a rewarding visit from The Wetland Bird Survey last week with 20 golden plover and 12 lapwing in the far field. They also spotted a great white egret in the field with the newly created scrapes (see the top photo). There were also, less surprisingly, loads of gulls about. If you are interested in the work Wild Oxfordshire is doing to support wetland habitat creation see the link to Curlew River below.
Threads and Inspiration
Each month we will share a small selection of words, sounds and things that are resonating with us. What else should we be reading, visiting, listening to?
PODCAST
Good Bread: Part 3: A Common Language by Farmerama Radio
Good Bread is an audio mini-series from the always-inspiring Farmerama Radio, an award-winning podcast sharing the voices behind regenerative farming. This series documents Body Lab, a participatory arts and research project by baker Kimberly Bell and artist Ruth Levene which explores the industrial processes of grain testing.
Episode three connected with us in particular. It questions whether it is possible or productive to organise around a common language to reimagine how we produce grain and bread? Kim and Ruth reflect on their experiences working on the project and share so much insight and wisdom that we hope we can learn from in our own work:
“Diversity exists in the edges. Where two species meet or where a hedge meets a crop, that is where things blossom or new things are created. How do you create something new when you exist in the old?...The more we can crash unusual ideas, people, conversation, species together, the more change we’ve got of create something new and wonderful that might help us break out of this thing.”
FILM
Curlew River by Wild Oxfordshire
A beautiful sounding and looking film about The Curlew Recovery Project, the initiative facilitated by Wild Oxfordshire and funded by Natural England over three years, starting in 2021. The project is focused on action by volunteer fieldworkers working closely with farmers to increase the breeding success of our remaining Curlews, across a network of sites across the Upper Thames.
ARTICLE
How We Make Good Ruins – Part 1 by Dougald Hine
Dougald Hine is an activist, entrepreneur and educator, and prominent and guiding voice on climate change, and the many interconnected crises humans face. He first came to my attention through The Dark Mountain Project but his most recent online writing is looking to where the light is, seeking out spaces of hope and beacons for other ways of bring and doing. This passage from a recent paragraph on our relationships with nature, and the tools we use to know it and measure it, rings very true for us:
“From where I’m sitting, what’s needed is not a better spreadsheet through which to know and act on the world, but a closer involvement with the living world. It’s true that any hopeful path into the worlds to come will involve planting a lot of trees, but not in the fix-it-and-move-on mode that passed for effectiveness within the problem-solution mindset of modernity. If those trees are going to live and flourish, that requires us to show up, to stick around, to get back involved with the land and all the creatures that we share it with.”
If you want to find out more about Roots and Rhythm then you can read an introduction to the project here and sign-up to the email list here.
We would love to hear from you so please get in touch with us if you have questions, feedback, or suggestions.
With care,