During the first lockdown in 2020, two female farmers emailed me on the same day to say that they were feeling very isolated, so we started an online group on a Friday afternoon called “Ladies with Livestock”. Each week we invited a guest speaker to build our knowledge and encourage conversation. The group has gone from strength to strength – not only do the ladies involved have a great support network, we have also learned such a lot about farming with nature regeneratively.
We now meet once a month in person on a farm, with online meetings in between. The network is now in fact a joint National Trust and Lake District national park authority project, with all the participants living across Cumbria. Had it not been for Covid, we probably would never have come together.
Today our theme is wood pasture creation and we are meeting at Robinson Place farm, the home of Jennie Hill. Jennie is going to show us the wood pasture work she has done as part of her countryside stewardship scheme. I am first to arrive and am welcomed into the kitchen for a cup of tea. We all bring food to share – what we call a “Jacob’s join” – for dinner after the walk. (We use “dinner” for our lunchtime meal here, although I know that can be controversial.) The views over Langdale are spectacular.
Today there are nine farmers at the meeting. It is a busy time of year, and some farmers cannot get away from work. We follow Jennie with her daughter (asleep in a backpack) across the fell to look at the cactus guards surrounding the 320 trees that she has planted on to the fellside. It is relentlessly hot and we are all being bitten by clegs (horseflies).
Two fire engines head down the valley, and we stop to watch, wondering if we need to go and help. Another farmer pulls up in a pickup and says there is a wildfire at Stickle Tarn, but the fire brigade have it under control, so we continue on our walk. We talk about how to remove rush, restore meadows, and then stand watching the dragonflies in her fenced-off riparian strip.
It is idyllic living here, but it can also be lonely. Our group holds our community together, so though we may be geographically isolated, we are never farming alone.
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