Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
There are mass-produced ciders on the market, usually packed full of added sugar and additives, but we were only interested in the artisanal drink — made with love and care, a great deal of back-breaking work and no small amount of skill.
The assumptions that sit behind this are that: consumption drives growth; that cheaper food is good for growth; that markets are the best way to provide cheaper food; that changing diets is not the job of government; and that food safety nets are not needed—or need only to be minimal.
And so now I’m home again, back to the farm, back to the book publication, back to a million things to do, back to trying to grow some produce and grow some politics that’s not far-left or far-right but equal to the present moment by dispensing with those figments of modernism and doing my bit to articulate more vital political traditions like Romanticism and distributism.
There’s an old saying that I won’t spell out completely, but which most readers will certainly have heard at least once in their lives, to wit: “Don’t sh– where you eat.”
For at least the last century or so, the time around the autumn equinox has been called Harvest Home. It is a time of thanksgiving and gathering together.
It’s all so small, given everything we face, that it’s almost not worth mentioning. Still, that drying pond bed is at least a little cleaner, my community a little friendlier, and I am at least witnessing (and trying to alleviate) the suffering in Palestine. Shouldn’t that matter at least a little?
Facing habitat loss, climate change, and shifting livelihoods, Maasai women are leading a transformative program that links sustainable dairy farming with the preservation of the Serengeti’s iconic migrations and the resilience of local communities.
The Rural Resilience project brings together a small but highly committed team working to connect the dots – between farmers and funders, researchers and regional leaders. In the face of centralised decision-making and extractive business models, our work aims to ensure local realities inform European decisions.
A Wisconsin appeals court has ruled that the state’s Department of Natural Resources has the authority to regulate large-scale animal farms, a blow to big farm groups amid their decades-long fight to scale back environmental oversight.
Against this backdrop, the case of Marburg reminds us how local communities are building sustainable food systems for their regions, despite the obstacles. If EU agriculture and rural policies are mishandled in the next cycle, those obstacles will likely intensify – but the changemakers will keep moving.
When we begin to act with deep time in mind, perhaps future generations will remember us not for what we took, but for what we tended, protected, and passed on.
The gratitude I feel for the Earth and its endless wonders of regeneration returns to me and extends to people who are using whatever means they have to engage with the preservation of farmland and wild habitat, even in the face of the all-consuming, capitalist machine.
