Ros speaks of getting funding from the Forestry Commission and bringing in a host of expertise. Whether one is creating a crop of apricots, or a crop of education and biodiversity, in our society one needs input from the top. Both books go into great depth about the ecological and economical arguments behind healthy soil, mass biodiversity and healthy ecosystems.Īnd then there’s us, the humans, with the priorities of Capt. Benyus’ “ Biomimicry” and Tony Juniper’s “ What has nature ever done for us?” – which Rebecca Speight recommended in her interview with this podcast. Bottom up.įor why soil is so essential, let me set you some further reading in the shape of Janine M. But, ultimately, one thing feeds into the other, just like at Apricot Lane, and it all starts with soil health. Their reward (alongside the ecosystem) is the passing on of lessons learnt to the community. (Watch it, it’s great.) Ros and the Woodmeadow Trust aren’t hoping to farm their land, but the route to reaching their goals are the same as those at Apricot Lane Farm. My proof: upon arriving to meet Ros, I was initially greeted by a conservationist returning a wild grass-snake to safety – it had been temporarily sequestered to enthuse a group of youngsters about the wonders of the wild!Ī film I watched recently, “ The Biggest Little Farm”, is a documentary very colourfully highlighting the manner in which soil can be rejuvenated and, after a number of years of toil and a lot of lessons learnt the hard way, manifest a complicated ecosystem that creates a harvest to feed a local population. Get that sorted, and the insects come, then the birds, then the larger predators, and then you have an ecosystem. Regenerate the soil and the earth will easily support the seed stock of grasses and wildflowers. But, then again, who doesn’t enjoy a ramble through a woodmeadow?Īs Ros says, she is very much activating a “bottom up” way of creating her natural paradise. How do things form? What comes first? Does wildlife require impetus from the top, or, shoul it be left to its own devices? Will nature simply find a way? Unsurprisingly, as soon as you attempt to answer these questions, many further queries are raised, so forgive the more rambling blog entry this week. This episode is not simply the story of “one woman growing a woodmeadow as part of a rewilding and education project”, the Woodmeadow Trust is an idea.Īlmost a year since recording, listening back, I’m struck by the themes of order and priority. One can riddle the act of planting and growing with metaphors for life, and indeed there’s much in this episode that seems to imply greater resonance. Don Davidson in “The Word for World is Forest” by Ursula K. We’re here, now and so this world’s going to go our way.”Ĭapt. But I like to see things in perspective, from the top down, and the top, so far, is humans. You worry about deer and trees and fibreweed, fine, that’s your thing. (3) Serena Manteghi: Ophelia and Shakespeare’s floral secrets (2) Rosalind Forbes Adam: The field of dreams at the Woodmeadow Trust
(1) Jennie Martin: Foraging, fungi and forest bathing in lockdown This interview is released as one of three episodes jocularly entitled “The Wildflower Women Triumvirate”, they are:
#Adam john forbes full#
In this episode, full of wonderful words of wisdom, find out how Ros hopes to create a link of habitat meadows between the River Ouse and the River Derwent, why wood meadows are not just beautiful, but ecologically practical, and learn how Ros is inspiring others to turn their fields or lawns into similarly “wild” environmental landscapes. Rather than looking 400 years into the future, the aim now is to address something much more immediate – the catastrophic decline in biodiversity in the UK.
The idea of “raising tomorrow’s ancient woodland” was born from a question all husbands have surely asked their wives at some point – “do you want to make a wood?” The concept of the wood has changed since the idea first emerged. Rosalind Forbes Adam is the founder and project leader of the Woodmeadow Trust in York, formerly the Hagges Woods Trust.