Welcome to farming fashion, our three part series co-produced by Southeast and South West England Fibresheds and Farmerama Radio.

In this first episode we speak to farmers who grow and produce yarns from their own flocks and explore what regenerative fibre farming, and adding value to that fibre, really looks like on the ground.

The first voices we hear from are Leila and her mother Ellen from Tamarisk Farm, a Soil Association certified mixed farm on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset.

Then we hear from Katie Allen of Loopy Ewes, a designer and shepherdess who designs and makes her own knitwear collection using the fleece from her flock of native breed sheep in Gloucestershire.

The final voices we hear are Jen Hunter and Andy Wear from Fernhill Farm, Somerset - one of the country’s largest native breed sheep farms which is one of the country’s largest fibre farms and now certified regenerative by A Greener World.

In this episode we have 2 interviews for you. First, Olivia visited a community garden in her homeland, and then Abby chatted with a winemaker in California who walks us through the organic no-till vineyard system he has co-created with his team.

This episode of Farmerama was made by Olivia Oldham, Jo Barratt and Abby Rose. A big thanks to the rest of the Farmerama team Katie Revell, Fran Bailey, Annie Landless, Eliza Jenkins and Dora Taylor. Our theme music is by Owen Barratt

Thank you to everyone who signed up to our Patreon. We appreciate every one of you - your support helps us to keep bringing you the stories of regenerative farming around the world, each month. If you'd like to join our growing Patreon family, please visit patreon.com/farmerama where you can choose your level of support.

This month we are hopping all over the world. Firstly we hear from Andre Miguel of Hortas de Cascais about how community gardens have spread across a whole region in Portugal. Next, we head to Amaqanda Learning Garden in Philippi Village, South Africa where we speak to Yanga Gceya of Captain Fanplastic about how kids are connecting with their ecosystem by becoming plastic pirates. Then, we’re in Bulgaria where we hear from Filip Harmandzhiev, owner of Livadi farm, about an interesting membership model for his farm shop. Finally we’re back in the UK, to Kingsclere Estates, to chat to Tim May about a farming approach that layers and connects many businesses on one farm.

This episode of Farmerama was made by Abby Rose and Jo Barratt. A big thanks to the rest of the farmerama team Olivia Oldham, Katie Revell, Dora Taylor, Fran Bailey, Annie Landless and Eliza Jenkins . Our theme music is by Owen Barratt.

This month we hear how one ranch is managing to build green cover in its 22nd year of drought in California.. And about the vineyard they’ve designed to allow for grazing sheep below the canopy all year round. And we learn about the roots of the Fibershed movement, again in California, ahead of the release of our upcoming mini-series Farming Fashion from Fibreshed UK.

This episode of Farmerama was made by Jo Barratt, Abby Rose and Olivia Oldham. A big thanks to the rest of the Farmerama team - Katie Revell, Annie Landless, Eliza Jenkins, Fran Bailey and Dora Taylor.

This is a bonus Cereal episode featuring an extended interview with Anne Parry, miller at Felin Ganol watermill in Ceredigion, Wales. Anne features in episode 4 of Cereal: “The Miller is Missing”.

In this episode, Anne shares how she and her husband Andy restored and revived their historic watermill, and explains how the Welsh Grain Forum is working to rebuild local grain economies.

If you haven’t listened to our Cereal series yet, we’d really encourage you to check it out. Listen here: www.farmerama.co/about/cereal

Find out more about Felin Ganol, and where to buy their flour, at: www.felinganol.co.uk

‘Cereal’ bonus episode: Scotland the Bread

This is a bonus Cereal episode featuring an extended interview with Connie Hunter, Miller-Manager at Scotland the Bread, “a collaborative project to grow better grain and bake better bread”, based at the Bowhouse in Fife, Scotland. Connie features in episode 4 of Cereal: “The Miller is Missing”.

Connie mills small batches of heritage grain using a cool-running Zentrofan mill. She explains the many benefits of using fresh flour, and tells us a bit about the work Scotland the Bread does with schoolchildren and community groups.

If you haven’t listened to our Cereal series yet, we’d really encourage you to check it out. Listen here: www.farmerama.co/about/cereal

Find out more about Scotland the Bread, and where to buy their flour, at: www.scotlandthebread.org

This is a bonus Cereal episode featuring an extended interview with Fintan Keenan, a regenerative grain farmer, miller and mill designer living in Denmark. Fintan features in episode 4 of Cereal: “The Miller is Missing”. Abby Rose spoke to Fintan at PX+ festival.

Fintan tells us about his innovative hybrid stone/roller mill – which allows millers to produce a huge range of flours while retaining the whole grain – and shares his vision of what it will take to rebuild local grain economies around the world.

If you haven’t listened to our Cereal series yet, we’d really encourage you to check it out. Listen here: www.farmerama.co/about/cereal

You can find Fintan Keenan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fintankeenan

And on Instagram: www.instagram.com/fintankeenan

This is a bonus Cereal episode featuring an extended interview with Angus McDowall and Alison Campbell of Mungoswells Malt and Milling in East Lothian, Scotland. Angus and Alison feature in episode 4 of Cereal: “The Miller is Missing”.

In this episode, Angus explains how he – accidentally! – came to be milling the grain he grows on his 550-acre farm, and Alison gives us a tour of their very unusual Swiss Army flour mill.

If you haven’t listened to our Cereal series yet, we’d really encourage you to check it out. Listen here: www.farmerama.co/about/cereal

Find out more about Mungoswells Malt and Milling, and where to buy their flour, at www.mungoswells.co.uk

Welcome to Cultivating Justice! Our 6-part series in collaboration with Land In Our Names (LION) and Out on the Land (OOTL, part of The Landworker’s Alliance) which weaves together interviews, conversations, music and reflections from Black people, people of colour, trans people, queer people and women, on their relationships with land, growing, and identity.

In the final episode of this series, our producer, Katie Revell, hosts alongside LION’s Sam Siva and OOTL’s Hester Russell, who add their reflections to the pieces throughout the episode. First, psychotherapist and grower Srikanth Narayanan shares their thoughts about the fluid ways in which we can see our relationship with land, other living creatures, plants and the natural environment. They discuss how to reconnect with the natural world as something that is not outside of us, and how trauma can be addressed and healed through our relationships to land.

Next, Farmerama’s Dora Taylor and Abby Rose talk about a dissertation that Dora wrote about Black farmers in the UK. The dissertation explores the relationships between the cultural practices of Black farmers and the mainstream agroecological movement. Abby and Dora unpick themes of racial identity, the use of language around agroecological methods, and the importance of centering joy.

Towards the end of the episode, we hear from our chorus of voices, who reflect on home, belonging and rurality. And finally, Sam Siva shares an emotive visioning piece, inviting us to imagine the world that we are working towards, one that centres queer, anti-racist and reparative frameworks, challenges systems of oppression, and fundamentally changes the structural experiences of marginalised groups.

We also hear a re-worked traditional folk song, and a performance piece by artist Sin Wai Kin.

The first two zines from the Cultivating Justice project, ‘TransPlants’ and ‘Gourds, Banjos and Calalloo’, are available to order now here, on LION’s website.

The Cultivating Justice podcast series is made by Abby Rose, Dora Taylor, Katie Revell, Nadia Mehdi, Sam Siva, and Hester Russell. This episode featured contributions from Srikanth Narayanan, Dora Taylor and Sam Siva; reflections from Philomena de Lima, Maymana Arefin, Sasha, a.k.a. MindYourOwnPlants, Dani Foster, Tinisha Williams, Anna Barrett, and Nancy Winfield; music by Eggclab 7 and Bianca Wilson, a.k.a. Island Girl; along with performance art by Sin Wai Kin.

Our series music is by Taha Hassan, and our artwork is by @Blkmoodyboi.

Thank you to our funders, Farming the Future and the Roddick Foundation. And a massive thank you to everyone who’s contributed in any way!

Visit landworkersalliance.org.uk/cultivating-justice to find out more.

Welcome to Cultivating Justice! Our 6-part series in collaboration with Land In Our Names (LION) and Out on the Land (OOTL, part of The Landworker’s Alliance) which weaves together interviews, conversations, music and reflections from Black people, people of colour, trans people, queer people and women, on their relationships with land, growing, and identity.

Our host for episode 5 is Marcus MacDonald – Land in Our Names member, grower, tour manager and organiser. Marcus takes us on an auditory journey centring on the banjo, and we learn why this instrument is intricately connected to Black culture, food growing and justice.

We sit in on a banjo lesson with Marcus and his friend and teacher Bianca Wilson, aka Island Girl. They play together, chat about country music, and discuss the history of the banjo, including how this instrument from African and Caribbean culture became mainstreamed in white culture throughout Europe and the United States. Marcus talks about how growing gourds to make banjos has become an important part of his cultural identity.

Next, we hear from Hannah Mayree – grower, herbalist and founder of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project, which aims to re-appropriate Black culture by returning banjos, instruments of African origin, to the descendants of their original makers. Hannah talks to us about how the project works, and how growing gourds to build banjos can be an immensely healing practice.

The Cultivating Justice podcast series is made by Sam Siva, Katie Revell, Hester Russell, Dora Taylor, Abby Rose and Nadia Mehdi. This episode featured conversations with Marcus Macdonald, Bianca Wilson and Hannah Mayree.

Our series music is by Taha Hassan. Our artwork is by @Blkmoodyboi.

Thank you to our funders, Farming the Future and the Roddick Foundation. And a big thank you to everyone who’s contributed in any way!

Visit landworkersalliance.org.uk/cultivating-justice/ to find out more.