I mentioned Wartime Farm a few days back. The last few days I’ve been enjoying the hell out of Edwardian Farm. Absolutely love these series! I cannot recommend them enough.
Both of these shows, set in about a half century period, say approximately 1900-1905 to 1940-1945, have gotten me thinking about two things.
One is that Edwardian Farm is set in the Tamar Valley. The Tamar River is the dividing line between Devon and Cornwall. If I was to visit England, that area is the one I would go to. Something about that landscape - the rolling hills, with its quilt like expanse of hedged fields, the moorlands - really spark my imagination.
The other thing is that they both have me thinking about how agriculture was at one time carried out. And whether we might not be wise to study how things were done fifty to a hundred years ago, and glean what knowledge we can before it’s too late.
After reading Jeff Rubin’s two books, The End of Growth and Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller, I have been reading about peak oil even more. And specifically how it relates to agriculture.
It caused me to give some thought to this documentary I saw a few years ago. One, because it’s set in the beautiful hills of Devon. But also because it is a sobering look at what is heading down the pipeline. I’m usually a glass half full sort of guy. But this issue has me apprehensive about what we are to face as cheap and plentiful oil starts to disappear. The lifestyle people have grown accustomed to is in for a radical change.
Done in 2009 by Rebecca Hosking and Tim Green for BBC2. Both unsettling and hopeful, it looks at some alternatives to the unsustainable system we have in place now. Whether they will be enough, and whether we have time...that’s something else.
If you find this subject as engrossing as I do, look into the work of Joel Salatin. I was introduced to him in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma (a book I recommend everyone read), and his work on Polyface Farms, is a look into how farming can and should be done.
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Monday, 3 June 2013
Wartime Farm
I mentioned an episode of Time Team recently that dealt with “experimental architecture”. In the same post I mentioned this superb series from the BBC that took the idea of experimental architecture, or perhaps more accurately “living history”, quite a bit further
While I find history fascinating, too often it deals with which king invaded which neighbouring land, and which general won which battle. Interesting in its own way, but to me the more mundane day to day life is far more interesting. What sort of houses did people live in? How did they build them? What did they eat? How did they prepare it? What sort of household goods did they use? What tools and techniques did they use to make them? What sort of clothing did people wear? How did they make them? Were those clothes truly suited to the environment or tasks performed, or defined by the limitations of the materials available and manufacturing techniques possible? Not so much the who and the when, but more the what and the how.
To me this is just superb television. It’s 8 hours of incredibly educational watching. Wearing period garb, and using contemporary equipment, and with many subject matter experts coming on for various segments, this gives a very vivid look at the day to day affairs of a historical period. Love this show. I knew that there was rationing in Britain, and that U-Boats were choking off the supply of many goods. But seeing this gave me a whole new appreciation of what people went through between 1939-1945. Given that the start of the war came off the tail end of the Depression, that must have added a layer of difficulty.
I’ve seen Tales From the Green Valley, and Victorian Farm. Now I’ve watched this series. Then I still need to watch Edwardian Farm. Oh and there is also another variant, Victorian Pharmacy.
And I’m sure there will be critics who claim that a mere year wouldn’t be enough to get a full sense of the difficulties farmers faced, or that they’re just playing at it, or that they have the benefit of hindsight. Don’t care. Those are all just pedantic quibbles. I think this is great educational television.
One thing that struck me is how much things have changed, both in how agriculture is done, and also how life in Britain in general has changed. Technology, social mores, etc. And it really wasn’t so long ago. There are still people alive who remember the era, and I was born a mere quarter century after WW2. Reading about it doesn’t give the same sense of a period as seeing it recreated like this. And I also wonder how todays populace of the UK, or any where in the western world would fare in the face of these sorts of challenges.
Watching this also made me wonder what the effects of Peak Oil might have on our own agricultural system, and if we can learn anything from the challenges faced by farmers in the UK in the mid 20th century.
While I find history fascinating, too often it deals with which king invaded which neighbouring land, and which general won which battle. Interesting in its own way, but to me the more mundane day to day life is far more interesting. What sort of houses did people live in? How did they build them? What did they eat? How did they prepare it? What sort of household goods did they use? What tools and techniques did they use to make them? What sort of clothing did people wear? How did they make them? Were those clothes truly suited to the environment or tasks performed, or defined by the limitations of the materials available and manufacturing techniques possible? Not so much the who and the when, but more the what and the how.
To me this is just superb television. It’s 8 hours of incredibly educational watching. Wearing period garb, and using contemporary equipment, and with many subject matter experts coming on for various segments, this gives a very vivid look at the day to day affairs of a historical period. Love this show. I knew that there was rationing in Britain, and that U-Boats were choking off the supply of many goods. But seeing this gave me a whole new appreciation of what people went through between 1939-1945. Given that the start of the war came off the tail end of the Depression, that must have added a layer of difficulty.
I’ve seen Tales From the Green Valley, and Victorian Farm. Now I’ve watched this series. Then I still need to watch Edwardian Farm. Oh and there is also another variant, Victorian Pharmacy.
And I’m sure there will be critics who claim that a mere year wouldn’t be enough to get a full sense of the difficulties farmers faced, or that they’re just playing at it, or that they have the benefit of hindsight. Don’t care. Those are all just pedantic quibbles. I think this is great educational television.
One thing that struck me is how much things have changed, both in how agriculture is done, and also how life in Britain in general has changed. Technology, social mores, etc. And it really wasn’t so long ago. There are still people alive who remember the era, and I was born a mere quarter century after WW2. Reading about it doesn’t give the same sense of a period as seeing it recreated like this. And I also wonder how todays populace of the UK, or any where in the western world would fare in the face of these sorts of challenges.
Watching this also made me wonder what the effects of Peak Oil might have on our own agricultural system, and if we can learn anything from the challenges faced by farmers in the UK in the mid 20th century.
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Tales From The Green Valley
I thought this was an incredibly engrossing documentary. Essentially a reality show, without all the backstabbing phonies and drama queens. 5 experts in period garb and using tools of the time spend a year showing what life on a farm in the 1620’s would have been like. 12 half hour episodes, each one showing a month in the year.
This series led to later ones, including Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm.
If I had a criticism, well if it can really even be called a criticism, is I would love to see this carried through for more than one year. Three years or five years maybe.
This series led to later ones, including Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm.
If I had a criticism, well if it can really even be called a criticism, is I would love to see this carried through for more than one year. Three years or five years maybe.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
CD3WD
Given my interest in resilient communities, and my worry about how things are going in the world, I wanted to share this incredible resource of information.
I suspect that every conceivable subject pertaining to agriculture in some way or other is to be found here. It appears to be directed mainly towards third world nations, and less technologically developed agriculture. Which...might just be us soon.
The “index page” alone is 100 pages printed. Just to give you an idea of how much is there.
http://www.cd3wd.com/CD3WD_40/
Located in Botswana, CD3WD is a free but high quality collection of practical How-To Technical Development Information - helping the 3rd world to help itself. There are 4000 titles, totalling 13 gigabytes of free high quality technical development information on Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Food Processing, Small Industries, Engineering, Construction, Water and Sanitation, Accountancy, Economics, Education, Health and in fact (almost) everything under the sun. Hosted free online and also - very importantly - made available for free download and onward dissemination via flash ram, CD, DVD, external hard drive etc.
I suspect that every conceivable subject pertaining to agriculture in some way or other is to be found here. It appears to be directed mainly towards third world nations, and less technologically developed agriculture. Which...might just be us soon.
The “index page” alone is 100 pages printed. Just to give you an idea of how much is there.
http://www.cd3wd.com/CD3WD_40/
Located in Botswana, CD3WD is a free but high quality collection of practical How-To Technical Development Information - helping the 3rd world to help itself. There are 4000 titles, totalling 13 gigabytes of free high quality technical development information on Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Food Processing, Small Industries, Engineering, Construction, Water and Sanitation, Accountancy, Economics, Education, Health and in fact (almost) everything under the sun. Hosted free online and also - very importantly - made available for free download and onward dissemination via flash ram, CD, DVD, external hard drive etc.
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