Farmerama

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.

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.

Episode 4 is hosted by Hester Russell and Zoe Miles, who are both from Out on the Land (OOTL), and also involved in an emerging grower’s union. In this episode, we hear more of Jass Butt and Hari Byles’s music made from recordings inside a wormery and a compost heap in East London. We also hear another clip from a a performance by artist Sin Wai Kin, commissioned by the Queer Ecologies collective. Our chorus of voices returns, reflecting on the relationships and congruences between plants and queerness.

We also hear from Natalie Tamburrini, who talks about her experience of working on a farm as an autistic person as part of a project called Eco Talent, and shares her ideas on how to make farms – and workplaces in general – more just, accessible and inclusive. She shares part of an open letter she has written to neurotypical society.

Then, we chat with Maggie Cheney of Rock Steady Farm in upstate New York. They discuss how they are centering care in their work on the farm, and consider how this could be a way of queering our approach to landwork.

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 Natalie Tamburini and Maggie Cheney; reflections from our chorus of voices – Tinisha Williams, Sasha, a.k.a. MindYourOwnPlants, Dani Foster, Dav Singh, Anna Barrett, and Nancy Winfield; clips from a performance by Sin Wai Ki mixed for the Microbe Disco and a piece from Jass Butt and Hari Byles.

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.

Hester and Zoe referenced an emerging growers’ union they are involved. Here Hester has shared a bit more information about it and links to get in touch if you are interested: “A union of landbased employees has been forming since the start of 2022. New name tbc! Together we aim to provide support for grievances, counter isolation, increase the accountability of employers, fight for better standards and to build power and solidarity across the landworking and other union movements. See our full aims here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RiJO5UekAXOeGPxKBnhGyjaACnWq8HeWM_-K5uBfyiU/edit?usp=drivesdk

This union is still very young and welcomes any landbased worker who is not an employer or a manager to join our conversations. At the moment we are conducting a workers enquiry as well as forming and strengthening our group processes.

Join us on discord to say hi and find out more https://discord.gg/FH9QAS42WD“

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.

Episode 3 is hosted by LION’s Sam Siva and Farmerama’s Dora Taylor. In this episode, we dig into the practices and meanings around callaloo, a plant that’s commonly used in Caribbean food, and can also be grown in the UK.

Glenda Trew is a workshop facilitator, community grower and gardener who lives in London. She talks to us about: teaching callaloo growing to growers from Lewisham’s Ital Garden; her personal history and connection to the plant; and the importance of being able to access culturally appropriate crops.

We also join Sam and Dora in Sam’s kitchen as they cook some callaloo dishes together. As they cook, eat and swap recipes, they chat about the links between food, growing, history and their own identities.

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 Glenda Trew, Dora Talyor and Sam Siva and banjo music by Bianca Wilson aka Island Girl. 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.

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.

Episode 2 is hosted by Assistant Producer Nadia Mehdi and Farmerama’s Abby Rose. Woven throughout we are taken to the fields, pots and allotments of the chorus of land-based practitioners. We hear from Maymana Arefin, a community gardener, spoken-word poet, and artist. They talk to us about their cultural connections to growing, as well as speaking about a series of foraging walks that they help run with Misery Party - a mental health and harm reduction collective - called “Misery Medicine, Plant Magic”, which focus on healing for Black people, and people of colour.

We dip into a clip from a performance by Turner Prize nominated artist Sin Wai Kin (this is the first of a few clips we will hear from them across the series). It was commissioned by the Queer Ecologies collective as part of their Microbe Disco. The piece mixes Sin Wai Kin's original sounds and poetry with music from the Butterfly Lovers violin concerto, and recordings from oceans and compost piles. We also hear a field recording by Amu Gibbo, taken by a canal in London.

Sam Siva of Land In Our Names (LION) digs into the experiences and wisdom of community gardener, beekeeper and proud South Londoner Carole Wright. We tune into their conversation at Carole’s community garden where they chat about liberation through healing, building resilient communities, and the ways that access to land and the living world are key to this.

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 Maymana Arefin and Carole Wright; reflections from our chorus of voices – Tinisha Williams, Sasha, a.k.a. MindYourOwnPlants, Dani Foster, Dav Singh, Anna Barrett, and Nancy Winfield, along with Maymana Arefin; clips from a performance by Sin Wai Kin mixed for the Microbe Disco and field recordings by Amu Gibbo. Our series music is by Taha Hassan.

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.

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.

Episode 1 is hosted by OOTL’s Hester Russell and LION’s Sam Siva. Woven throughout we are taken to the fields, pots and allotments of a chorus of land-based practitioners. We are treated to a sound piece ‘Eating your castings’ by Jas Butt and Hari Byles, made up of sounds that were recorded inside a wormery and a compost heap in an urban nature reserve in East London.

We hear from Paula Gioia about the organising work happening in Europe on issues relevant to LGBTQIA+ landworkers, as well as the roots of European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC)’s gender and sexuality articulation, and their Embracing Rural Diversity report.

We drop in on a conversation between Sam Siva and Professor Corinne Fowler, recorded shortly after their keynote session at the ORFC22 on Land, Race and Empire. They discuss how systems of oppression are rooted in land ownership, issues around access to rural spaces for BPOC and people living in cities, and how to truly decolonise regenerative agriculture.

The Cultivating Justice podcast series is made by Hester Russell, Abby Rose, Dora Taylor, Katie Revell, Nadia Mehdi and Sam Siva. This episode featured conversations with Paula Gioia and Corinne Fowler. Reflections from Sasha aka MindYourOwnPlants, Dani Foster, Dav Singh, Tinisha Williams, Nancy Winfield, Srikanth Narayanan and Philomena de Lima and music by Jas Butt – a.k.a. Guest and Hari Byles, as well as Bianca Wilson, a.k.a. Island Girl. Our series music is by Taha Hassan.

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

This month, our first stop is UK Grain Lab, a gathering in Nottingham of farmers, millers, bakers and scientists who are building a new grain system for the UK. We speak to baker Kate Hamblin and miller David Howell about their close working relationship

Next, we head to Aotearoa New Zealand, and hear from Jake Clarke, the head farmer at Organic Market Garden - or OMG - a model farm set up by For the Love of Bees in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

Finally, we share a preview from our upcoming series, Cultivating Justice. We've been working on the series in partnership with Land in Our Names and the Landworkers' Alliance's Out on the Land Group, with the first episode due to be launched next month. In this snippet, Abby speaks to Farmerama's own Dora Taylor about her Masters research on the experiences of Black farmers in the UK.

This month we hear from three practitioners about what it takes to transform minds and hearts. Firstly we hear from Bea Alvarez, Climate Resilience Projects & Outreach Coordinator at Carbon Sink Farms and Foodshed in San Diego County, California abouut how collaborations between multiple farmers and indigenous landholders have built a new vision for the food and farming system there. Clare Hill at FAI Farms tells us about her journey, moving towards a regenerative farming system and we hear from Nicole Masters about the CREATE program and what it takes to train people so they can coach others on a regenerative journey.

We’re very grateful to those of you that support us and allow us to bring you these stories every month. Even the smallest contribution makes a big difference to us. If you'd like to become a supporter, visit patreon.com/Farmerama