1. home and garden

A Land Conference
How can we grow a proper relationship
between
people and place?
21 March 2015
Totnes Civic Hall
Report and Resources
Author: Inez Aponte
Table of Contents

Introduction
pg 3

Themes that arose during the day
pg 5

Dreams and Wishes
pg 14

Other Voices
pg 16

Toni’s poems
pg 17

Growing a broad-based land movement
pg 21

Acknowledgements
pg 22
~~~
2
Introduction
“Behold, my friends, the spring has come; the earth has received the embraces of the sun and
we shall soon see the results of that love! Every seed has awakened and so has all animal life.
It is through this mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our
neighbours, even our animal neighbours, the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land.”
Chief Sitting Bull
It was the first day of spring 2015. It was also the day a number of us had been working towards for the
last six months or so. Inspired by our friend Tal Leshem we got it into our heads that we wanted to organise a land conference, bring people together to discuss issues around land ownership and rights and
find ways to answer the question ‘How can we grow a proper relationship between people and place?’ We
knew it was important not only because it mattered to us as a team, but because there was no getting
away from the different crises around housing, food, climate change, inequality that were upon us in this
country and worldwide. We believe that if we are to solve any of these issues we have to start thinking
about our relationship with the land. So we posed a question and on that very first spring day 130 people
piled into Totnes Civic Hall to try to answer it.
To get the conversation going we invited a number of speakers to offer their perspective.*)
Tal Leshem compared our current system of land ownership to the ownership of slaves during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. If someone owns the land upon which your life depends, are you not in fact enslaved
to that person? He argued that we have become so accustomed to this notion of ownership that we don’t
question it, but the time has come to reform this dysfunctional system, the way people in the past had
the courage to challenge and reform the slave system.
*) Please click on a speaker’s name to hear a
podcast by Lucy Lepchani for Soundart Radio
3
Some of this reform may start by transforming our actual physical
and visceral relationship with the land, the soil and the creatures
that live within and upon her, by learning how to tend to the
Earth. Jonty Williams co-founder of the Husbandry school in Bickington, spoke about his mentor Walter, who he described as both
a rough man - tending to his teeth and his finances just once a
week on Sunday - and a noble man, who tended the whole community of the land he cared for with all his considerable strength,
every moment of every day. For Jonty learning husbandry is a long
slow process and he believes we must take care not to rush into
change, but be willing to go slow, be considered in our actions and
build something solid and lasting.
A system that shares the wealth of the land with everyone was the case put forward by Julian Pratt. Julian
described a new form of property rights to land in which proprietors would have the responsibility to care
for the land, enshrined in a husbandry clause, and the duty to compensate others for excluding them
from their land by paying annual dues equal to the market rent of the land. This concept is also known as
Land Value Tax, Location Fees or Stewardship Dues.
But how do we get access to the land in our current ownership system? Simon Fairlie is editor of the Land Magazine and advises small
farmers and low income people on planning through Chapter 7. The
planning system is necessary, he stated, but flawed: it favours the
wealthy, the conventional and the profitable. Not many of us have
the stamina to wait many years (17 was his record) to get planning
permission for a simple dwelling on a piece of agricultural land.
What we need is more affordable land available in areas near to
towns that would not put extra pressure on existing infrastructure.
Are upgraded caravans the answer? What can we get away with? His talk sparked many people’s imaginations, but also made it clear that the issue of land rights goes very deep.
It is an issue that is not restricted to the UK - far from it. Elsewhere on the globe in places like India and
many parts of Africa land grabs are taking place which remove people from their ancestral lands to make
way for corporations – all under the guise of development. Our final speaker Jyoti Fernandes campaigns
for The Landworkers Alliance and La Via Campesina. She highlighted the plight of rural families who lose
not only their homes and means of subsistence through these land grabs, but who are robbed of centuries long connections with the land where - alongside homes and
crops - stories, songs, rituals and customs have been grown. This
decimation of identity is as big a crime as their forced enslavement
into the global neoliberal economy.
At a time when most of us in the West have become accustomed
to our relationship with the land being limited and mediated by
systems of ownership, Jyoti’s plea was a powerful reminder that
there is a different way of being with the land that is still practised
by many rural people around the globe.
4
Many people present recognised that the connection to land that
Jyoti described was once our own and it is time to rebuild it. Part
of this rebuilding needs to incorporate the voices of those often
ignored in our anthropocentric worldview: the land and all its other
-than-human inhabitants.
Artist Toni Spencer created a space to ‘listen to the land’ and those
other voices. Which voices do we need to hear and represent if we
are to build a land reform movement that is truly just for all living
beings? Can we find ways to incorporate the needs of other than
human lives into our plans of action?
So what to do?
When we set out to organise this conference we knew we wanted to come away with some practical actions to move us towards this proper relationship. Having had the morning to share and reflect we devoted the afternoon to creative conversations based on topics generated by participants – a bit like an
action focused open space. The room buzzed, creative juices flowed, new ideas emerged. In the following
pages we have collated and summarised those ideas.
~~~
Themes that arose on the day
People contributed a wide range of ideas about how we could grow a proper relationship between people
and place. Completely new groups of people got together to discuss the things that they were passionate
about, and all the feedback has been that these creative conversations were really satisfying. Some were
completed on the day while many others have led to new initiatives or to new people being drawn in to
existing initiatives and providing them with new energy.
We report the themes that arose on the day here under the following headings:
1.
2.
3.
Groups that are actively taking something forward
Ways to get access to land for housing, agriculture or horticulture at prices people can afford
Other interesting conversations that took place
Many of the groups have identified a contact person, and these are included below along with their email
address. If there is a group that you would like to contact but no individual is named, please initially contact Julian Pratt julian @ stewardship.ac (no spaces)
1 - Groups that are actively taking something forward
A Land Gathering was discussed on the day, planning is gathering momentum and it will take place at
the end of August (possibly the 29th) on a Saturday and into the night. The gathering's themes are earth
sharing and supporting local youth to stay in the area to create livelihoods and empower themselves.
5
The location is The Living Project near Dartington. The ideas for the festival so far are:







Music: lots of it, folk and mainly local but also the 3 Acres and a Cow performance
Arts and crafts
Communal work during the festival led by a team of permaculturists
Communal cooking on the day
Building green structures in the run up for the festival that will be used as communal shelters during
and after the festival
Earth sharing/Land rights workshops
Games: lots of games for children and adults.
They need: artists, musicians, permaculturists, green builders, computer tech, cooks, land rights activists,
play and games experts and general help.
The group also discussed possible involvement in the UK Food Sovereignty gathering on 23rd to 26th October 2015 at Hebden Bridge.
If anyone wants to get involved please contact Tal Leshem taleshem @ yahoo.com (no spaces)
The Land Ownership Mapping group had an energised and interesting discussion and has been making substantial progress since the Land Conference, largely because it brought together several people
who have a great deal of experience and expertise in this area, and discussions have continued in person
and by email.
They felt that more should be done to make information on land ownership freely available, and that they
did not want the land registry (HMLR) to be privatised. The latter does not seem to be a live issue at present, but the former certainly is. They talked about having a land ownership map (a cadastre) available
online, with the information made secure using the same blockchain technology as Bitcoin.
With regard to land ownership information, Kate Swade reported that Shared Assets is waiting to hear
whether it has funding for a feasibility study into cross referencing Land Registry ownership data with
other land information to create an accessible map-based tool for those looking for land.
This does leave the question of unregistered land, which comprises perhaps 32% of the total, much of
which is in large parcels under single ownership and may have been held by the same family for many
generations.
6
The group is refining a brief for a scoping study, has built links with the Land magazine and will seek
funding for a scoping stage.
If anyone would like to become involved in the project, or be kept informed as it develops, please contact
Andrew Shadrake andrew @ climatepositive.eu (no spaces)
A musicians' session to share land-related songs is an idea, floated at the conference and developed by a small group since then, to hold a session for musicians to share land-related songs - and
maybe to develop some to a performance standard for events. Robin Grey of Three Acres and a Cow said
that he is keen to be involved after hearing about it at his performance at Embercombe on the evening of
the Land Conference, and he produces booklets containing the words to land songs. We have a provisional first date of Thursday July 9th at an Exeter venue that can accommodate acoustic performance –
perhaps they will perform together at the land gathering in August.
If anyone wants to participate please contact Gill Westcott
gillwestcott @ gmail.com (no spaces).
The Community Garden Project group explored the challenges of setting up and maintaining community gardens – including permissions, resources, council attitudes, tools, planters etc. They also discussed
the importance of consulting with local tenants, for example by questionnaire; and of discussing plans
with the council and the Housing Trust.
The group was convened by Brenda Johns, who has been trained and has a Federation of City Farms certificate to set up a community garden. Her local group is getting on slowly with their Community Garden
Project around the tower blocks at Mount Wise, Devonport, Plymouth and starting at Tavy House, Duke
Street. They are putting in a bid to the Money Tree Fund for a starting scheme of under £500. Brenda will
be getting together a group of friends from the Stonehouse Time Bank volunteers and other friends.
If anyone wants to get in touch with this group, particularly if you know about gardening, please contact
Brenda Johns brendajohns24 @ gmail.com (no spaces)
The Children in Common Spaces group discussed their belief that children and young people have the
right to be in our common spaces, enjoy them, take risks, experiment. Some children currently feel
frightened or alienated in these spaces, or choose to withdraw – for example to electronic devices at
home. The group wants to see young people looking after each other and to see more mixing of people
from all age groups.
The first step of their plan is to bring into being a play park in Totnes. They heard about an existing project to use council land and
build a play park for everyone which might include a barbecue and
pizza over. The project has already raised £5,000 but needs more
support – to lobby Totnes council to make land available, to raise
more funds and to supply building materials such as wood.
Please contact Mike Jones on mike @ earthwrights.co.uk (no
spaces) or 01803 865919
7
Another group identified the value of working outside in nature
and working with animals as a way of promoting health and
wellbeing and as an alternative to medication - Mother Nature
as a Healer. Their plan is to link with existing land-based projects (e.g. the Squash Co-operative, Totnes gardening for
health) and make links with GPs, consultants, psychiatrists,
mental health organisations, MIND, RETHINK, PALS (patient liaison) to inform them of the local opportunities. They plan to
produce weekly lists of possible activities that could be put on
notice boards and taken to staff meetings.
Listen to the Voice of the Land A group discussed how to listen to the voice of the land and achieve
direct communication with the land. The approaches include doing what you love, being in nature,
Goethean science, artistic interaction, synchronicity (the meeting of your inner vision with the outer
world). Sean Ferris offered to set up a few days of Goethean observation and other approaches to making direct communication with the land.
The group is looking for:

people wanting to attend

people who would like this to happen on their land (they already have two)

help with organisation
The How to tie money and land together group discussed the benefits of a local currency that could
be the required currency for payment for local goods and utilities, which they believe could become more
affordable. They discussed the possible benefits of dated money which has a half-life and encourages the
circulation of the money and discourages the hoarding of capital, and the benefits of a flexible exchange
rate to buffer the local community or administrative district against global financial speculation. Other
participants flagged up the 'land coin' (a local level medium of exchange linked to land use) and the free
online course on Money and Society offered by IFLAS.
International solidarity Jyoti Fernandes surely inspired many of us to find ways to demonstrate our
solidarity with land movements worldwide, including the Land Workers Alliance with its links to Via Campesina.
2 - Ways to get access to the land for housing, agriculture or horticulture at prices
people can afford
Many people at the Land Conference were interested in finding ways to get access to the land at a cost
that they could afford (not the same as the government's definition of affordable housing as no more than
80% of the local market rent). The solutions that people came up with are listed below, along with contact details for organisations with special knowledge, or the group that discussed it. These approaches
include New forms of ownership; Community Land Trusts; land-gift; land-lend; gaining planning permission for low-impact homes on agricultural or forest land that can support the inhabitants; challenging the
ownership of land or the planning system; and a tax on land values.
8
New Forms of Ownership
The Housing: Dwelling or Asset group discussed how to turn housing from a financial asset into a
dwelling. They recognised the lack of provision of social housing and the lack of security of tenure in private rental housing. They discussed Community Land Trusts (see below) but also other housing models
such as 'Mutual Home Ownership' (e.g. LILAC) and the Garden City model of leasehold plots. They would
like to see:

community-led development

new development companies with new and better priorities

neighbourhood planning

convergence between current market values and the cost of rebuilding (i.e. driving the value of land
down to zero)
Another group also explored a number of existing models (such as the ELC model, LILAC, Hockaton community farm), and wanted to imagine and create new legal structures.
Community Land Trusts
There is growing experience in Devon of Community Land Trusts (CLTs). One of the great ethical
strengths of Community Land Trusts is that, at least in their original form, they are based on the underlying principle that people can own buildings but cannot own the land.
Robert Swann, the founding president of the E. F. Schumacher Society, was a co-founder in 1967 of the
first Community Land Trust which leased land to African-American farmers in Georgia. He was inspired by
the work of Vinoba Bhave in the Gramdan movement, which encouraged landowners to gift land to villages that, in turn, granted leases to those who could use it. Swann explored what had happened to a
range of communities that had started out holding land in common; and found that after a few generations the residents usually voted to change the rules, claiming private ownership of the land and reaping
the financial benefits. He therefore devised a legal structure for Community Land Trusts in which only a
minority of the board is elected by the residents. There are hundreds of CLTs in the USA using this legal
form; in the UK, Community Land Trusts have been particularly successful in the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland.
Community Land Trusts acquire land either by purchase or
as a gift from individuals, charities or the state. They retain
ownership of the land and grant leases. Houses are owned
by individuals or, as in the New Economics Foundation
model described in Common Ground – for Mutual Home
Ownership, by housing co-operatives. When a home is
sold, the transaction involves only the building, not the
land. The sale price may be set at the current replacement
cost adjusted for deterioration of the buildings (Depreciated
Replacement Cost).
9
The advantage of a Community Land Trust for its members is that homes cost much less than in the open
market for ownership, because members do not have to pay the land costs. The disadvantage is that,
when they sell their home, the building will have risen in value at less than the rate of consumer price inflation rather than at the rate of rise of land prices, which can be a lot higher.
The advantage for those who gift or subsidise the purchase of the land is that they know that this will
make housing affordable to the occupants in perpetuity, that it is not just a gift to the first occupant.
Community Land Trusts provide housing that people can afford and, when the plots of land are not contiguous, can generate mixed communities.
A group that discussed Land Trusts for low impact permaculture communities is planning to make
contact with local networks; to contact CLT UK, the Ecological Land Co-op, the Land Society, Transition
Homes (TTT) and other CLTs for support; and to set up an email list to share ideas an learning.
For anybody wanting to pursue their interest in Community Land Trusts, there are several Community
Land Trusts coming in to existence in Devon. A good point of contact is the Land Society Community Interest Company (www.landsociety.org) which supports people in housing need, in towns and villages, to
self-build their own affordable home. They provide all the technical and professional input to enable people to get together as a community in a Community Land Trust (CLT) to buy suitable land and build energy efficient, affordable, sustainable homes. At the moment they are mainly working in Teignbridge,
Buckfastleigh and Plymouth in South Devon. Over the next two or three years they expect to also start
working in adjacent areas in the South West of England.
Land-gift
The Giving Land Away (how?) group discussed ways of establishing a Land Gift movement to encourage owners to transfer their property rights to organisations like Community Land Trusts to provide land
that people can afford in perpetuity. They identified that this requires the development of legal models to
enable co-operation between land owners and land users.
Land-lend
The Setting up an Earth Sharing Devon network
group wanted to see a network that connects owners and
managers of land with people who want access. They
explored creative approaches to land sharing such as taking beehives to orchards and flashmob grazing. They
decided to work with existing groups like the Land Projects Network (LPN) Devon which links offers of unused
or under-used agricultural land with volunteers who want
to work on the land. The project enables under-used land
to be brought into production and brings people back to
the land. As the result of contacts made at the conference, the LPN has put in a bid to an EU Innovation Fund.
10
Gaining planning permission for low-impact homes on agricultural or forest land
As Simon Fairlie pointed out, the key to this approach is to have enough land to support its inhabitants
who do not use it as a base for commuting to work elsewhere.
The Creating a Trust to enable caravans (etc) within a collective space for food production
group discussed the need for simple small scale dwellings with access to land, and another group discussed how to enable people to build low impact 'hobbit' homes surrounded by forage areas.
People identified two sources of expertise in this field. One is Simon Fairlie, who leads the campaigning
and organisation organisation Chapter 7 which provides free planning advice and publishes the DIY Planning Handbook. The other is the Ecological Land Co-operative, which purchases degraded agricultural
land and applies for planning permission for low-impact smallholdings with temporary residences. They
provide a renewable energy source, water supply, road access, and a shared barn made of natural and
local materials. Then then sell long-term leasehold agreements for the smallholdings at an affordable rate.
Challenging the ownership of land or the planning system
The group discussing living in caravans, no doubt inspired by Simon Fairlie's talk, identified the strengths
of caravans as a home that allows its owner to move on. They also discussed the ways that fear and control stop people living, thriving, surviving and making a safe place for themselves. They discussed the
possibilities of buying land and turning it into a traveller site; or challenging the ownership of land by
moving onto crown estate land an demanding land rights for all.
They plan to form a local group for people who want to live on the land in caravans – a meeting for action. They would like to create a physical space in town where there is information about planning, permission, updates etc. And to build a relationship between secure land projects and political struggles for
land rights.
Land Value Tax (Location Fees, Stewardship Dues)
Several groups discussed a Land Value Tax as a possible approach to the allocation of land and reduction
of inequalities.
The Looking at the connection between inequality, land and location group questioned whether
we ever own land and wondered how we can divide up land for use as partitioned plots without introducing inequality. They discussed whether a location fee (Land Value Tax) could achieve this.
One resource for anybody in Devon interested in Land Value
Taxation is the Henry George Society of Devon which meets
every quarter and provides speakers to other groups on request (including schools) as well as informing MPs and writing.
In addition they can put you in touch with Gareth Whelan,
who offered to lead a conversation about location fees (Land
Value Taxation) in a small group of half a dozen in the home
of anybody who would like to bring a few friends together
for a couple of hours.
11
3 - Other interesting conversations that took place
One group discussed the possibilities of setting up an Eco experimental 'site' for education. They
discussed the kind of house, linking skill sets, how to structure the organisation and the importance of
engaging the authorities positively.
A group explored What are we prepared to give up in order to get richer (in the true sense)?
They would like to explore the emotional edges we encounter when giving things up or things that we feel
that we should or would like to give up. Things that they identified as difficult to give up are tea, cars,
quantity of food, aspirations, life (i.e facing death), guilt and shame. They would like to experiment with
these issues, perhaps in an Encounters lab; to pray; and to establish a rota to host communal meals.
Making land ownership a political issue This group wanted to get these 'radical' ideas on the agenda
and discussed the pros and cons of a Land Value Tax and to what extent it is possible to separate land
issues from macroeconomics. They identified some issues for a group to pursue:

define land use / husbandry

investigate the power of money in land ownership
They also identified a number of possible steps for people to take individually including:

becoming a local councillor (Graham Burgess offered advice on standing for election)

lobbying councillors and MPs

work to influence the Green Party to put land issues onto the agenda and to argue for more localism
The Land rights / Human rights group want to improve access to land, particularly for housing and
leisure. They believe that political and legal rights are valueless if none of the economic rights that inhere
in land are granted. Their plans include:

challenging existing land rights and considering alternatives

connecting with other like-minded groups

lobbying MPs

standing for local election

song lines – walking the land, remembering, connecting, opening
Bringing together the songs, stories and culture of Devon land. The Indigenous Devon land / people
culture group identified that indigenous culture is fixed to place and that there are oral traditions which
inform how to relate to that place that are important for incomers to familiarise themselves with. There is
a challenge around the issue of hospitality – how to manage the flow of people in and out of a place.
Other participants identified resources that document and promote rural skills, particularly the Devon Rural Skills Trust. Inez Aponte is interested in exploring the stories and songs of Devon.
The Language of the Commons - The language that we use is important, and this group discussed
whether the concept of the 'commons' is useful or confusing. The term is loose – is this a virtue or too
vague? How does it relate to the digital commons (peer2peer)? What is the difference between stewardship and commoning? Do we need different sorts of commons? Do we need new commons rights in the
21st century?
12
After a lively discussion this group decided that they want to continue to use the word 'commons'. They
feel the need for structures to protect the commons. They believe that one way to do this is to create
coherent new models using storytelling and clear narratives.
Urban access to land & place in the context of cities - A vision for a different form of urban land
use. This group discussed the future of the urban environment including rooftop gardens, parks on
bridges, using vertical space, city composting, recycling, cycle paths. They recognised the need to learn
more (particularly to use current mechanisms, ideas, technologies, visions to drive policy change), to seek
inspiration and connections. They talked about ways to embed this in the community, using education
and outreach as a tool.
The Satyagraha – truth force – grassroots resistance group want to recognise the many and diverse forms of colonialism and its inherent exploitations that separate us from LAND – globally, locally,
personally, economically, food security etc. Satyagraha for decolonisation. The group is seeking platforms to continue the conversations about how to achieve this by fast media, slow roots, grassroots,
meditation, poetry, protest, activism, conversation, education, strong resistance.
Land, Community, Holism, Gift Economy - This group explored the idea of setting up a Trust developed in three stages:

Holistic centre (profit making)

Profit ploughed into conservation, creating forest gardens etc (charity)

Eco village hamlet experimenting with a gift economy alongside the local money economy
~~~
13
When dealing with urgent issues such as housing and food it is easy to forget that there are other dreams
we hold for our connection with the land and that we share the land with other beings. Toni Spencer of
Encounters Arts held a space for participants to share their memories and dreams of the land and to incorporate the ‘other voices’ that need to be heard.
Dreams and Wishes
“To put our bare hands and feet in the Earth without a price tag”
That we let ourselves love
To be in right relationship
and that we set ourselves and
with living and non-living
consequently the land and
things.
all people and animals free.
To see more land being utilized for growing crops and
vegetables
To feel all other living
beings as family, especially those nearby.
For humanity to realise the importance of
living in harmony with nature and to create
a sustainable society.
I dream of a sky burial where the buzzards,
That we walk more. Alone.
crows and magpies can pick my bones
Together. Short distances
clean and I can feed their flight.
and long. That we walk.
14
I dream that all voices are considered
To put our bare hands and bare feet
in respect to the needs of others.
in the Earth without a price tag.
More intercultural com-
Be silent. Hang out there.
munity gardens. Seeds
and plants from all over.
More space and ex-
Forest gardens, city orchards, town
change with migrants
flowerbeds, rooftop beehives, bird-
through gardening.
I want my children
to feel that they
song everywhere.
really belong with
the land.
My dream is that we
remember our place
in the land and cre-
That we all have
ate a thriving place
time, peace and
with the bees and
space to listen to the
birds, the rivers and
land and her beings.
streams, the forest
and trees and we find
our way home.
Musical artistic community: landFor everyone to feel the joy and heal-
based open to welcome, especially for
ing that comes from being in nature.
intercultural connections.
A home in community to
live, laugh, give, share and
rest my bones awhile.
Johnkirby@yahoo.co.uk
That we all remember in every cell of our
bodies that the land, the water, the air and
fire is sacred and we live accordingly with
deep connection and celebration.
Restructure political systems. Less party politics. Towards public voting to endorse
policies. Restructure financial system. Birth right to build your own home. Profit
removed from housing.
15
Other Voices
(a compilation of the voices we wanted to incorporate)
Listen deeply to…
The voice of the river...the rustle of little creatures in the leaf litter...all those creepy
crawly, buzzy wuzzy, stingy, itchy things!!!!!
...birds, bees, flowers, trees, water...human chatter and laughter.. the stories of the travelling worms...the skylark in the morning
We need to hear…
the Descendents of all living beings...the animals (including humans) and plants not yet
born...the animals who live in factory farms
Children…The child within us that is screaming out and crying
And the parents who want to feed their children
Let’s give a voice to…
The immigrants and refugees who have been uprooted - roots for all!
The families in Kenya being removed from the land - their ancestral land - for carbon
offsetting for us.
The person who grows the green beans, flown over oceans to Tescos. When you go local
don’t forget them.
The people who don’t like coming to conferences
The homeless
Let’s lend our ears to…
the edges of reason...the wild life...the wild parts of me...Dragons!
Land, the source of all life…
16
Poems by Toni Spencer for and from ‘A Land Conference’
Sometimes it’s easy to miss the land
Sometimes it’s easy to miss the land.
Get up, get dressed
Catch the bus, do the work
Wind down of an evening on Facebook
Reading poems about wild places
And signing my name to save
‘The Environment’
And all day
I managed to miss this land
Completely.
Sometimes it’s so easy to miss the land
Walk on by, drive on through
Gaze out and over
But never quite say hello.
Never quite feel the pull of gravity,
Holding me in close intimate contact with
Here.
Never quite leaning in to the scents of this land
The sense that is made when this body
Meets this body.
Sometimes I realize just how much
I miss the land
Sometimes I realize
Just how much I miss the land
As one who was never taught
In word or deed
That this is my home,
I find I can miss
What is right under my feet.
~~~
Will we?
Will we get to a time
when landscapes need Prozac?
17
Whose Land?
This bit of land, this bit – right here,
between the road and the pavement.
Who owns this? This bit, where the soil has found its way home
through the cracks,
where the wind has carried seeds, rain and enough community to begin
To collonise, re-claim, this little patch of ground
So who owns this Shepherds purse?
This dand-e-lion?
Is it the worker bees?
The spoil? Mycelliae?
Is it South Hams Council?
Who is ready set up camp and Occupy
This space in between road and pavement?
This micro-corridor of wild reclaiming
This abandoned place, quietly
Thriving.
Who gets to say yes
To the high-rise, low-spec, the shopping mall or hog farm?
Who will stop the Tarmac? Or chose the seedlings?
Take this land
This bit right here
She’d like views
He likes pink houses
And she’d like somewhere for the kids to play
(And is a little worried about strangers)
They’d like some wild space
And they would like things tidy
He would like healthy soil to live in
And she’d like a safe pile of leaves to nest and raise her young
They want enough mice to feed on
And they’d like their home safe from vermin
Take this land
This bit right here
What do you want with this patch of land
That nobody owns
And everybody wants a piece of?
~~~
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Husbandry
Handle your shit with care
Behold the sacred stuff of life
Gets on your clothes
And up your nose
Treat with passion
As a wife.
Therm-a-rests and thermal vests
/ Alone in Patagonia © / Barriers to entry
Thank God for therm-a-rests and thermal vests
To mediate my moments at the great wild mother’s breast.
All the kit to keep me comfy on this sweet and fecund earth
Keep my skin away from her’s, keep me distant from the birth
Of life
In every moment.
Timberlands on tender ground – keeping space between our soles
Timberlands on tender….
Ewww… !! There’s a spider!
Yes.
Time to sit down beside her
And take a while in deep discussion
Of the solemn repercussions of
Detaching every part of us
From the rich and complex heart of us
From our ecological,
Mythological,
Far from logical….
Selves.
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The time has come to galvanize
The time has come to….
Galvanize those
Heaving sighs
From fraught days and spiritual malaise
From Miles and miles spent in
Supermarket aisles
Overwhelmed by choices to the point where
We lose our voices
And so silently we loosen our ties
To life.
“Oh my loves what magic we could make – if we galvanized,
Realized beyond fantasized futures, the power of our presence”
Yes – the time has come to
Get together
To claim the prize of a collective awakening.
Get off our arses
Realize our vastness
And put it to work
Stopping the shopping and stepping out in the streets
Fields
Battlefronts
Shop fronts
Boardrooms
Classrooms
Living rooms
It’s time to galvanize
To claim our prize
Of a fullness of voice
Of a radical choice
To speak up for what we know
To be true.
~~~
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Growing a broad-based land movement
“For years I thought I was alone with my fears and frustrations. I have so many ideas of how we can
make things better but I can’t do them on my own. Today I realised lots of people feel the same as I do
and I am hopeful that we can make something happen together.”
Young woman who attended the conference
A one day conference is not enough time to speak about all the issues concerning the land and the relationship between people and place that we need to grow. It’s not enough time to connect with everyone,
but it is enough time perhaps to sow some seeds. As the day drew to a close with a rendition of Leon
Rosselson’s ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ and the beautiful acapella harmonies of Glorious Chorus
there was a sense that this may just be the tiny beginning of something powerful. When we first conceived the idea for a conference it was always our aim to create something that would not only bring people together for the day, but would provide ways to stay connected and join our efforts up to create a
wider land reform movement. There are so many amazing initiatives happening - if we had a way to join
our voices together would we stand more chance of being heard?
We hope that by sharing this document there is a possibility of that happening, but we would like to offer
something more. While we feel its important that we meet face to face, we also have the opportunity to
build an online platform where we can continue our conversations, keep up to date with the activities of
the different groups, share ideas and materials and plan other live events. We are hoping to create this as
a free online networking platform. We would welcome any support to make this happen (please contact
Inez on Inez_aponte @ hotmail.com).
We hope that together we can build out of our many complementary activities and campaigns a broadbased land movement that can take root in Devon and connect with those across the globe who are working to grow a proper relationship between people and place.
~~~
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Simon Fairlie and Jyoti Fernandes for taking time out of their busy land-based activities to share their insights with us. Toni Spencer for her poetry and the creative space she offered with
her team. Dee Cunnison, Sky and Callum Williams, Eleanor Jubb and Rosemary Field for arranging the hall
and looking after participants. Emilio Mula and Craig Whyte for filming the day’s unfolding. Thanks also to
the staff at Totnes Civic Hall, Glorious Chorus and The Water Pilots for the musical finale, Lucy Lepchani
for the audio recordings and Sima and Hannah of The Kitchen Table for their wonderful soup.
Special thanks to the Network of Wellbeing for their generous support.
And finally a big thank you to our wider community of friends. It would not have been possible without
you.
~~~
The Land Conference was organised by Inez Aponte of Growing Good Lives, Roland Hague, Tal Leshem,
Kamran Malik, Julian Pratt and Jonty Williams.
It was supported by the Network of Wellbeing's Wellbeing Fund
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