58 September/October 2019 Promote • Educate
on an estate in England. It is closely monitored with meticulous
scientific observation over many years and there are copious
references. As a long-time friend of Hugh Wilson and his work at
Hinewai out on the far-flung reaches of Banks Peninsula I am very
familiar with his success with similar thinking for regeneration of
the degraded New Zealand landscape. There it is noxious animals
that are the problem, whereas in the English example it is the
reintroduction of extinct fauna that is to the fore. The Global History of Organic
Farming
Gregory A Barton
Oxford University Press, 2018The Global History of Organic
Farming makes for interesting
reading. Much is familiar but
so much is forgotten with
time and I found the detail of
the life and times of Sir Albert
Howard very illuminating.
Every student of organics
knows about the Indore system
of composting but the story
behind it all is less well known.
Howard was not a fan of the
Rothamsted Research station
in the UK yet his most famous
claim to fame, the Indore
composting system, was
actually it seems, plagiarised
from the research by two scientists of that institution, with no
credits given.
Similarly the devoted work by his two wives to the success
of the organic system is not well known. Of lesser import but
interesting from my point of view was that Howard was brought
up in the idyllic English countryside close to Bishop’s Castle in
Shropshire which has an iconic morris dancing side which I sought
out as a morris dancer myself with no realisation that Howard was
born close by. It was a Brazilian who walked into the information
centre in Bishop’s Castle in 2014 to find out where the farm of this
famous son was located, only to learn that nobody had ever heard
of him.
Romanticism played a large part in the organic movement so
it’s not surprising that Rolf Gardiner, who helped found the Soil
Association in the UK, also created and led village folk dances
which undoubtedly would have included the establishment of the
morris traditions. The book is well referenced and makes for an
enlightening read.Bob Crowder has had a long involvement with the organic
movement. He founded the BHU (Biological Husbandry Unit)
at Lincoln University in 1976, and has been a patron of Soil &
Health.September/October 2019 Promote • EducateBook reviews
What an inspiring read these three books make. They will set your
mind reeling and help towards a greater holistic understanding of
the complexities and interactions within the world we live, and
what our part should be in it.
Had I still been involved in the teaching of organics they
would certainly fall into the must-read category for students
and for everybody interested in the history of organic culture.
Highly recommended for all those interested in promoting a new
paradigm for global living. Pig: Tales from an Organic Farm
Helen Browning with Tim Finney
:LOGÀUHThis is a magical account of
the lives of pigs, from one
of the UK’s most influential
organic farmers and long-
time leader of the UK Soil
Association.
Helen follows the life
of her pig herd from go to
woah over a year and relates
all the stresses and strains
encountered with farming
while also dealing with the
complication of running
the Soil Association with
all the related political
complexities. A really good
and entertaining read which
involves the romanticism,
holism, ecology and science that makes up the pathway towards an
organic paradigm.Wilding: The Return of Nature
to a British Farm
Isabella Tree
Picador, 2018This is an inspirational story
for those who echo the words
of Gerard Manley Hopkins:
‘What would the world
be, once bereft of wet and
wildness? Let them be left, O
let them be left, wildness and
wet; Long live the weeds and
the wilderness yet’. Written in
1881, the sentiments are even
more relevant today, so what
happens when a manicured
estate is allowed to revert back
to nature?
This is the story of that
regenerative transformationBook reviews
%\Bob Crowder