Tag: riverstourfestival

Growing Barley by Cliff Jordan

April 10, 2021

Plot at Old Hall with Barley crops just beginning to germinate

Many people who want to grow their own food start with herbs, and then vegetables and fruit. Some are ambitious and keep animals for meat and milk. But an enormous part of our diet is made up of cereals – grains such as wheat and oats – virtually all of which are produced by industrial scale monocrop agriculture, with huge fields and huge machines. I became curious – what would it take to grow just enough for a household’s
consumption?

In the UK, we each eat an average of nearly 50kg wheat in a year. Say you want to produce enough for a household of four: that would require maybe a tenth of an acre – a plot 50 yards by 10 yards in size. Way bigger than your usual garden, but miniscule compared to modern arable fields. I live in a community by the River Stour where we collectively farm 70 acres, within which I found a strip of land about half that size to experiment with.

Modern industrial agriculture is amazing; its constant leaps in productivity rely on new and better machines, new techniques and continual improvement of varieties. These are bred repeatedly to provide a crop that the machines can handle well. But unless you have half a million pounds worth of combine harvester, new varieties may not suit you. They tend to be fussier than old varieties, needing the right nutrients and weed control regime to produce optimum results. Partly fuelled by artisan bakers, and many people discovering intolerances to contemporary wheat, there has been a resurgence in interest in recent years in old varieties of wheat, and in landraces – a mix of different varieties grown together, rather than a field full of plants each with an identical genetic makeup.

You might be familiar with pearl barley – this is a barley grown for human consumption (most barley grown in this country is for feeding animals and for brewing beer) that has been through a machine to remove the hulls – a hard outer casing on each and every grain. Pioneers in this country have started in the last three years to grow ‘naked barley’ again. The yield is thought to be lower than modern barley varieties, but it does not require that stage of processing to make it good for human consumption. This is what I decided to experiment with.

I waited until the winter rains had finished, and the ground had dried out enough to work and then cultivated my plot (with a tractor and power harrow, because we have that equipment and it would be purist and perverse not to take advantage of it. That said, I spent as much time attaching the harrow to the tractor, and turning at the end of each row, as I did actually cultivating the plot.) I marked out some lines with sticks and string, and used a manual push- along seed dispenser to sow each row of barley seed. I did this during that magical week in late March when it seemed summer had arrived. It has been cold ever since and no rain has fallen. I look each day to see if the seed has germinated. If I were a subsistence farmer I might be praying by now, or sacrificing to the gods.

My hope is that the soil will warm up and that April showers will cause tiny roots and shoots to burst out of the buried grains, and I will have rows of barley popping up. I imagine having to hoe between the rows once or twice, to hold back the weeds that I know are lurking, but I hope that, once established, the barley will out-compete them. I can already picture a golden summer’s day with scythes, harvesting the barley and gathering it into stooks to dry out, and then bringing it into a barn to thresh and winnow. All being well, we will harvest a hundredweight or two of grain to last us the year. Even if reaping, threshing and winnowing with hand tools prove too difficult for us, we have chickens that will gladly glean the plot for us, so the efforts will not all be wasted.

Fingers crossed.

Cliff Jordan. April 2021

Notes from a riverside garden, January 2021

January 29, 2021

 

There are indications that the autumnal signs in nature of a harsh winter to come might be born out with the current cold spell we are experiencing. I am writing on the 8th January so perhaps by the time you read this it will be milder again! The frost is lingering in sheltered spots with a gloomy, grey sky overhead. Snow is falling in some parts of the country.

In November we were amazed to see two broods of fourteen ducklings appear in the garden! One of the ducks brought her brood up to feed on the spillage from the bird feeders outside our kitchen window. We quickly put duck food out for them and were delighted to watch them during their regular visits, such an unusual sight at this time of year. Sadly, as is normally the case, the brood reduced in number on a daily basis, until only four remained. This was also the case with the family that didn’t come to the house for food. We have watched the remaining ducklings mature and they are now fully fledged and have become part of the large flock of ducks residing in the garden. The ducklings have survived sharp overnight frosts, snow and cold conditions generally. Plus several large floods. The river in flood seemed a major peril but even as small ducklings, faced with the very strong current to cross the river, accomplished the crossing with apparent ease. We feared they must surely be swept away. Amazing how strong small ducklings are!

The floods have been very dramatic with my husband and I raising and lowering the sluice gates several times over the past weeks. Parts of our garden were underwater and the flood plain water meadows opposite us a sea of water as far as one could see. On one occasion a lone canoeist was paddling about on the water meadow and waved as he came past our house. Vast flocks of seagulls and other birds descended creating a scene of true wilderness. The Canada and Greylag geese increased in numbers present too. The sunrise looking particularly fabulous reflected in the expanse of water. The straw protection placed over the Gunnera Manicata was swept away but now we have the replacement straw held in position with a ring of bamboo canes, we hope!

The owner of the water meadow has left a pile of tree trunks close to the river for wildlife. A colony of rabbits has taken over the area and can frequently be seen sitting on the trunks or in the vicinity. We wondered what would happen to the rabbits during the flood as the whole area was underwater. To our amazement we have seen at least four rabbits since the water has subsided, so somehow at least a few have survived! Molehills have appeared on the island where the water was at least three feet deep. How do moles survive a flood? There are many unanswered questions!

Signs of spring are appearing. Snowdrops are out in the shelter of a hedge and bulbs are pushing through. Spring is on its way! SB

Nigel Chapman: Dedham Vale AONB and the River Stour Festival

May 2, 2018

 

I was delighted when Ruth Philo mooted the concept of the River Stour Festival. it seemed to me there has long been a need to link together in some way  the many attractions of the river Stour from its source in Cambridgeshire to the North Sea at Harwich. The Festival aims to do that and  also will integrate themes and ideas of its own. I am so pleased to be part of the Festival team.

Personally, I have enjoyed many aspects of the Vale all my life. From spring visits to Arger Fen to see the bluebells and to Lawford to walk the watercress beds in the fifties; enjoying the many pubs, most of them now gone, in the sixties and seventies and moving to the edge of the AONB in Boxted in the nineties and travelling from there to work at a small business unit in Manningtree for a short time too. So, I am delighted now to be able to do something to ensure this wonderful stretch of countryside will be enjoyed by everyone well into the future. I am proud to have been involved with the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project for fifteen years, the last nine as chair of the Joint Advisory Committee (JAC).  I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked to explain what AONBs are and what does the Project organisation actually do. AONBs are part of a group of nationally protected landscapes that include National Parks and Heritage coasts. Our Project area is around 117 square miles. AONBs are designated to ensure that the natural beauty and special qualities of an area are conserved and enhanced for future generations.

Much of the eastern end of Dedham Vale AONB is associated with the celebrated artist John Constable and many of the views he painted are recognisable today. Further west the area is connected to the nationally recognised artist, Thomas Gainsborough.

The local authorities in the AONB have a statutory duty to produce and review a five-yearly management plan. This is drawn up by a partnership of organisations that have an interest in the area, including the local authorities, and the work is co-ordinated by the project team, who also do similar work in the adjacent Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.

The JAC comprises elected members and officers from the seven local authorities that fund the Project; a none executive board if you like. We also receive funding from the national Government through Defra.

The vision as set out in our current Management Plan is, ‘The AONB and Project area is a distinctive landscape with agriculture and wildlife at its core that retains its natural beauty and special qualities, which is conserved and enhanced by a wide-ranging partnership. It is an area where residents feel a strong sense of belonging, visitors are welcomed to enjoy the countryside and the heritage is understood and appreciated by all’.

Although tourism is not a responsibility of the AONB Project team, we are well aware of the economic impact visitors have on the Stour Valley and that the prime attraction is the very things that we are there to conserve and enhance.

Our visitors come from around the world but we must equally recognise that the population of north Essex and south Suffolk will continue to increase over the next few years and many of these people will want to enjoy, exercise and relax in and around this area. I am encouraged by the number of families, who having moved to the area, have discovered the Stour valley and enthuse to me about all the area has to offer and are as keen, as I am in a ‘Natural ‘ Health Service! I frequently quote Octavia Hill, the 19th century social reformer and one of the founders of the National Trust, who put it so vividly when she wrote, ‘the need for quiet, the need of air and, I believe, the sight of sky and things growing, seem human needs, common to all.’ 

Further information on our work at the AONB can be found on our website www.dedhamvalestourvalley.org

Thoughts on the Stour

January 24, 2018

Stour, Dedham, Flatford, River Stour Festival

John Milne writes…

My wife is a painter and works for the National Trust. It was with her that I started to explore the valley of the Stour river.  I think we are both moved by trees and always have been. That response may be formal – in general landscape goes from side to side and trees go up and down. So for a painter a tree in a landscape is like a mark on a drawing. Our responses may have been to the increased unnaturalness of the post-industrial world we inhabit. We seek out trees in landscape because their scale reflects the human scale and their generally long lifespan appeals to us. Sarah can point to oaks around East Bergholt and Flatford which were there when Constable walked by. It may have been just a colour response – people feel happier, appear handsomer, just look better against a green leafy ground. The effect is doubled if water runs through the scene. The Stour valley is an uplifting place to be.

Stour, Dedham, Flatford, River Stour Festival

Of course on the Essex and Suffolk Stour we have the extra element of John Constable. He dominates the landscape as much as he reflects it. Constable’s childhood is just before the industrial revolution and his adult life takes place during it. He lived in East Bergholt and was schooled in Dedham, across the valley and across the Stour. His paintings often feel to me to be reflections on his walk to school – there’s my father’s mill, there’s Fen Lane, there’s the bargemen on the river, there’s our cart and horses. These images stayed with him even though he was in London. His work is a prism through which we see the landscape which both exists and for us – living long after the Industrial Revolution – is like a dream. If you take photographs in the Stour valley, especially close to Dedham and Flatford, you can’t help but find little glimpses of Constable in your pictures. Much has changed but many of the shapes remain – bends in the river, hand-fired brickwork, calves in a field, sometimes even the very same trees he saw. And this remains true though we are 180 years after Constable’s death.

John Milne

photos by John Milne ©2017

 

John Milne is a novelist, photographer and screenwriter. A version of this post was published at www.johnmilne.photography

Welcome to the River Stour Festival

December 14, 2017

Ruth Philo writes…

I am very pleased to welcome you to the new River Stour Festival and thank you for dropping by on our website. We now have leaflets ready for distribution across the whole of the Stour Valley in Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and will be putting these out in December and January. Further events are being added as the year progresses so please check back on the website from time to time to see the updated programme.

The festival came about through a project The River Runs Through Us that I have been working on with sound artist Stuart Bowditch, which has involved a series of public walks and swims in 2017 as well as research for a short film that we are making about the river, supported by Arts Council England and the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project. It has been a fascinating project to undertake and we have met so many different people involved with the river in a myriad of ways. Stuart has been keeping a blog about the project on the website theriverrunsthroughus.uk where you can read individual stories. The Stour Valley is a rich area in many ways, geologically, historically, artistically and there are layers of connections to be found. There are the obvious ones with major artists John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough but there are many others to be found that not everyone knows about, with artists, writers, swimmers, walkers, historians, musicians, foragers, botanists, wild life people, birders, fishermen and women, archaeologists, sociologists, boating people, landscape and food specialists. In working on the project we visited other rivers including the Waveney and the Thames, both of which have festivals and I thought our river was equally deserving of being celebrated. I found a lot of other local people and organisations thought the same, so together we have formed a steering group to put on a festival that not only includes our own events but those by other organisations in the valley, curated together to make a rich celebration of place in the Stour Valley over the year.

 

 

 

In 2017 we ran public walks and swims on a number of topics, all of which sold out, including a Witchcraft Walk in Manningtree by Professor Alison Rowlands, a Wildlife Walk in Nayland by Darren Tansley of the Essex Wildlife Trust, a Painters Walk out of Constable Country by artist Simon Carter, a Foraging walk in Wrabness by forager and mushroom grower Matthew Rooney, a Wild Writing walk from Wissington to Wormingford with Dr James Canton, an East Country walk by Professor Jules Pretty and a couple of Wild Swims with the Dedham River Swimmers. These were all such rich experiences, where everyone could share their own experiences out in the landscape. The festival will build on these. I hope that you will join us on some of the events in 2018. You might event want to come onboard and help us with the festival organisation, we are currently looking for someone with financial experience who might help with our funding plans, but also other forms of help such as distributing leaflets, helping with events and publicity – if you are interested please get in touch through our contact page.

Ruth is a painter and filmmaker and is both the director of the festival and its originator. See her work at http://www.ruthphilo.co.uk