The Rural Future
We hope to develop HFE as a model farm that will show how the rural economy can thrive without breaking the ties to agriculture or to the traditional forms of country life.
We believe that newcomers to the landscape can help both to diversify the product and to instil new interest in its production.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the product is not confined to foodstuffs but includes all kinds of intangible goods, intellectual, social and spiritual. We want to show how it is possible to provide for the leisure interests of urban residents, as well as the intellectual and scientific interests of environmental enthusiasts, within the context of a self-supporting business.
We hope to encourage and teach others the importance of farming, the environment, how to look after it, and most importantly how to enjoy it. Research also shows that spending time outdoors is hugely beneficial for our mental health. We are building up our resources in order to become a countryside classroom, so that this generation can learn about wildlife, nature, farming and preserve our wonderful outdoors for future generations.
The island of Crete has a lot of windmills. They are water-pumpers in the main, and they mostly share the characteristic of being built on a shoestring, using wood, rope, and sailcloth. The Cretan windmill at the CAT seemed to embody the same string-and-sealing-wax approach, but in spite of myself I was impressed by how accessible this technology seemed: there was a do-it-yourself guide on sale at the Centre shop... perhaps even I (indigent Arts student) might build a windmill? Read the full article by Colin Hope HERE.
