Author: Sally Granger
There are many strands to the ORFC programme; Farm Practice, Food and Farm Policy, Justice and Youth, but arguably the most ‘touchy feely’ is Listening to the Land. Advocating a heart-centred approach to developing a reciprocal relationship with nature, this strand could be dismissed at first glance as being just a little bit ‘woo’, but connection to nature is central to the agroecological movement.
For me, our drawknife-wielding speaker, Nick Kary, captures the essence of the Listening to the Land programme when he discusses a talented craftsman who displays ‘a lack of romanticism, but a clear understanding of depth’ in the connection he feels to his woodwork. So, before you dash off to learn more about how you can care for your land, pause with Nick to consider the ways it cares for you in return.
For his talk, Remembering to use our hands to make things, Nick sits atop a shave-horse carving freshly split Field Maple into a stool. He shares a worry that, as technology moves forwards and traditional craftspeople are no longer a necessity, his kind are becoming an economically unviable anachronism ‘floating’ in a digital age. However, there is a depth of knowledge and meaning in skilled craftwork that the agroecologial movement cannot afford to lose. And so, very gently, he encourages us to return to ‘making meaning’ by ‘thinking through our hands’.
Nick’s journey to Master Carpenter began in his early 20’s. He had always worked with his hands and ‘knew that making makes me calm’, so he began training as a furniture maker. After years of training and working with planks of dried, imported wood, he began building his own house and a shift occurred. Local farmers were now dropping off entire trees which needed to be taken to the sawmill to be processed and dried before he could begin his work. As this new way of working unfolded, a new ecosystem also emerged; his work was becoming interconnected with local living materials and other local livelihoods. His business was more resilient and his products imbued with more meaning due to his connection with the community, the trees and the wood he was working with.
Being a maker is about more than external connections though. When we work with our hands, especially with natural materials, we come to recognise the subtle intelligence of our bodies and the physical world around us. We switch off our thinking minds and enter a flow state, which enables us to connect with something deeper and to make meaning of our lives through creativity. However, the rise of the digital age and constant pursuit of efficiency can pull us to sit still at our devices or in our tractors and occupy our thinking minds the majority of the time; distancing us from nature and the innate knowledge we carry in our bodies.
We need our traditional craftspeople to help us to remember that making things with our hands is a route back to meaning and connection in our disconnected world. The topics we discuss in Listening to the Land help build resilience and nature connection in the agroecological movement so our landscapes, landworkers and communities can flourish.
About the Session Facilitator:
Nick Kary has been a furniture maker for the last 40 years in London, Devon and Mexico. For the last 20 years he has also been teaching woodwork and helping diverse people reconnect to their hands. He has been an associate Lecturer at Plymouth University and the Schumacher College. His first book ‘Material: The Art of Handcrafting Beautiful Objects in a Digital Age’ is published by Chelsea Green.
About the Author:
Sally Granger has worked in conservation for more than a decade, leading engagement teams and creating nature based experiences. A grower, birdwatcher and creative doer, she is driven by a passion for nature and a fascination for the ways people connect with land. As a yoga instructor and outdoor facilitator Sally also guides groups in the Peak District and the Scottish Highlands.