Today it well and truly feels like autumn is upon, with temperatures heading back down and deluges of rain returning.
While we are hidden away from the gusts of wind and downpours, it feels like a good time to look back to warmer days of our Weaving Farms, Land, People & Planet project.
This project has in the most part been working to connect local schools and farms to build understanding within the local landscape. However, we have also been piloting another, important aspect, which has focused on enabling access to the rural farms for people who would rarely, if ever have an opportunity to explore them.
At Natural Habitat we focus on supporting biodiversity, which by dictionary definition is: the variety of plant and animal life in the world.
Having diverse cultural exchange is very much part of this bigger picture when addressing biodiversity. Our Landscape Connection sessions have provided a platform for rural farmers to break bread with people seeking refuge within the region, to share their land, the bounty within it and share cultural perspectives and skills.
The pilot sessions we have delivered have created opportunities for sharing stories, food, perspectives and skills, which has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for all involved on the whole.
Farmers attending have been buoyant with the opportunity to engage in ways that are rarely available via their farms: ‘Today has been phenomenal, such a joy to meet everyone and I have learnt so much.’,
and those attending have been blown away by the generosity of their hosts: ‘It was a beautiful day and I was honoured to meet you.’
Food is a wonderful connective tool, and one we hope we can expand on in future projects that celebrate the importance of diversity in nature and communities for resilient futures.
We will be joining Suffolk Refugee Support, Chef Lola DeMille and others at the Food Partnership’s first ‘Food Summit’ at Stowmarket’s Food Museum in November, where we will be taking stock of our sessions so far, and progressing plans collectively, for a legacy project in 2025.
