Love Letter From a Farm

The Carse of Stirling valley has been confronted by escalating flooding events affecting livestock, crop production, soil quality and soil saturation. In conjunction with the insecure economics of modern farming and the ecological toll of conventional agricultural practices, this is placing the landscape and local farming communities under immense pressure. Forcing many farmers to adapt their practices or contemplate abandoning farming as their livelihood. Simultaneously, the Carse has been gaining popularity as a tourist destination for urban residents in search of “nature”. Without infrastructure to support this influx, tensions between rural inhabitants and visitors are rising.

A number of land management strategies have been developed for the valley to address these pressures. However, they often culminate in dense reports that are commissioned, produced and used by specialists and policy makers, engaging a limited or selected number of relevant stakeholders in their development. This is emblematic of a broader issue in landscape management: the discordance between scientific and technical knowledge remotely generated by specialists and decision-makers, and traditional knowledge developed and held by local communities which is often under-appreciated in mainstream approaches. ’Love Letter From a Farm’ proposes a departure from conventional, technocratic methods of landscape management, instead advocating for a more holistic, place-specific and tangible approach to managing agricultural landscapes, grounded in co-creation and practices of care.

The project proposes the transformation of Gartentruach Farm, where I grew up, into a dynamic research landscape for agricultural, scientific and artistic exploration. The farm will serve as a site to test decentralized flood management strategies, innovative agroforestry practices, and revive lost plaudiculture (wet farming) techniques on saturated land. As one of the farms most affected by flooding in the valley, the site is well-placed to trial and demonstrate strategies that can be used across the territory.

To further enhance engagement with the landscape, the project proposes a series of artistic interventions - or ‘landscape trinkets’ - throughout the farm. Drawing from both the personal experiences and memories of my family and the sites heritage, these adornments collectively begin to form a sort of micro-historical record of the landscape. They invite people to interact with and reflect on the ways landscapes are and are seen, challenging conventional ways in which we perceive and manage landscapes both personally and collectively. As a residence for artists and researchers, the farm will also invite them to create new interventions that bring personal ways of seeing landscapes into the Carse of Stirling; creating a platform for conscious co-creation across disciplines and actors.

A suite of on-site, natural flood alleviation interventions are proposed, organized around two landscape situations: the floodplain and catchment.

In the floodplain, swales are introduced along the drainage lines of the historic peat clearances, to remove and purify excess water from the fields. Riparian vegetation is introduced along water ways to increase infiltration, capture sediments and debris in flood events, and prevent bank erosion. Small pools capture surface water, providing ecological stepping stones for wildlife and drinking water for grazing livestock. Soil from the excavated ponds and riverbank is used to form islands for livestock and wildlife to take refuge in the event of maximum flooding levels, and can be used recreationally for camping, play and picnicking.

Adjacent to Flanders Moss, a wetland with offline storage ponds in the area most at risk of flooding functions to collect, clean and store water in case of drought, at the same time creating a vibrant habitat for wildlife. The Forth river bank is expanded to provide more space for flood water. In the catchment areas, riparian vegetation and woodland agroforestry as contour buffer strips work to increase infiltration, slowing the movement of water into the flood plain, and improve biodiversity. In-stream obstructions - such as leaky dams - also slow the movement of water into the floodplain and provide habitats for aquatic species.

The forms of the islands, pools and vegetation play with the tension between the geometry of the historic peat drains, and the ‘organic’ forms derived from the movement of flood waters, terrain and waterways, as well as enhancing the patch and corridor character evident in the wider landscape.

Contact

Taylor Steel / taylorsteel@live.com