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Sharing in the work & the land
January 2008
We wanted to take this opportunity now that the plants have gone to seed or rest in the stillness of their root systems to review some of the amazing happenings of the past year in the Schumacher College garden.
Justin West came to work with the land at Schumacher in September 2006 following his studies on the MSc in Holistic Science and since then has overseen some real steps towards integrating our landscape into our teaching, our learning, and our living.
Justin, course participants, staff and volunteers have collectively engaged in this transformational process over the past 16 months in attempting to act in the best interests of the land, the soil, and the biodiversity (ourselves included). By way of celebration here is a small gallery of pictures from throughout that year
From brambles to tunnels to salad
In the pictures here – pay particular attention to the two very upright Birch trees in the background (barely visible initially) as the land literally is transformed around them, a polytunnel is born, and the corn comes leaping out of the foreground.
You will see here few pictures of what went into the erecting of the polytunnel, which was referred by one participant as the ‘arc of potentiality’. Once up spring was already on the way, and we began sowing seed immediately.
In one photograph Martin Crawford of the Agroforestry Research Trust is helping to stretch the skin onto the frame. Note his own tunnel in the background complete with a solar powered irrigation system and ventilation. We sourced our tunnel used from the Dartington Estate, the wood is locally grown Western Red Cedar, and therefore chemical treatment of it is unnecessary.
So, we started with brambles above our heads, and slowly made our way into them using hand tools and stout leather gloves. Eventually we were able to recover an old concrete building foundation which we used as the platform for the polytunnel. We have planted the areas with a mix of annual veg such as corn and tomatos, as well as some perennial crops such as sweet chestnut, pear, and New Zealand flax.
... and the now internationally known Schumacher College Forest Garden Salad…!
Thanks to all of you who have been a part of this journey over the past year.
Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.