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Transition New Mills

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Transition New Mills

Monthly Archives: January 2019

Reading Group: ‘The Running Hare’

23 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Julian Ashworth in Biodiversity, Discussion, Food, Rewilding, Uncategorized

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Blog post by Sue Cooper, Transition New Mills Reading Group

The New Mills Transition Discussion Group meets monthly in someone’s home to discuss a book or, occasionally, to watch a film/video or host a speaker.

Our book this month was The Running Hare (The secret life of farmland) by John Lewis-Stempel published by Penguin Books. In some ways this followed a theme set last time in our discussions of Wilding by Isabella Tree, looking at what happens when land is managed or farmed differently to the modern methods of intensive agriculture – in this case a field in Herefordshire which the author takes on for a year to grow a crop of wheat, using traditional farming methods, and a wide border of wildflowers.

The results are fascinating and heartening, showing the power of nature to recover from the mono-cultures of agribusiness which create quite ‘dead’ environments, as well as a celebration and appreciation of the skills and cultural history of traditional agricultural workers.

This book was a ‘lighter’ read than our usual fare; as well as being an observant ecologist cataloguing and describing the emerging and changing flora and fauna he includes anecdotes of rural life, poetry, songs, discourses on agricultural history, language and literature, a rich weave of fascinating facts and engaging descriptions. Some of us found his style of writing attractive, enjoying the richness and depth, others were less enthusiastic, but all agreed that is was an interesting read and a welcome reminder of the rhythm of the seasons and a celebration of our connection to the natural world.

It is an open criticism of modern agricultural methods; he writes of the ‘chemical brothers’ in the next field whose use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers together with modern farm machinery delivers high yields but a mono-cultural environment, ‘every time one buys the lie of cheap food a flower or a bird dies’. His field produces an abundance and variety of wild flowers, attracts all kinds of wild life including the hares of the title and also produces a decent crop of wheat but at the cost of some heavy physical work. No easy answers. We had a lively discussion on the book which moved on to include a debate on the Common Agricultural Policy, farming subsidies and Brexit, and the worrying issue of modern disengagement from the natural world.

Our next meeting, on Monday February 18th, will look at the 12 principles of permaculture, through song! Contact us at transition.newmills@gmail.com for details.

New Year, New Thinking

12 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by Julian Ashworth in Discussion, Uncategorized

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Post from Liz Longden:

It doesn’t seem that long since I was writing a blog for last New Year. Looking back at it, I have actually achieved quite a lot of what I said I wanted to do, the biggest one of which was to not let my life be ruled by anxiety any more. I can’t say that I don’t still struggle with this because I do, but the positive is that I have managed to move forward despite anxiety. In terms of the plastics campaign, lots happened last year. We had the One World Festival with plastic as a theme. I have managed to get our local schools involved, and have talked to 2 class loads of children and a hut full of beaver scouts. There is a good chance that we will have an Ecobricks project with the schools in the spring. We have Terracycle boxes for various packaging up and running.( Thank you Penny) We have been in contact with groups in Marple and Macclesfield, and had a stall at Hayfield Apple day. So a fairly productive year.
But this is a new year. Time for some new thinking. Plans are afoot in Transition New Mills, and I want to be fully involved with those plans. The obvious focus for a renewed effort is Climate Change. We have only eleven and a half years as a species to limit the damage to our home planet. It’s not long. So in line with the principle that you can’t talk the talk unless you walk the walk…
I am slowly moving our household towards a low meat diet. I think I could easily be vegetarian, but I am not the only one in the house, so, slowly, slowly. I haven’t quite got my brain around veganism yet, but perhaps I can reduce eggs and cheese slowly.
I am trying to be very disciplined with car journeys, and have been talking about ways to share a car, just informal ways at first, like friends using one car to do all their shopping.
I have been trying to deal with the bits of the house that are not well enough insulated, and will spend a big chunk of a small windfall on this.
I am planning a low consumption year. Not wasting food, or anything else that I can help. No impulse buys. I am trying to shop for locally produced food, and trying not to buy anything from outside Europe. (or wrapped in plastic-haven’t forgotten that.)
These are self imposed limits, and I am happy to accept them. The things that I really value, like the company of my friends and family, like good music, like being in our wonderful landscape, like reading; these are all still available, carbon cheap, and damn near free. These are the things that actually make me happy.

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