As I write, I’m coming to the end of a week long getaway in the ‘purple Perigord’ wine region of Bergerac. My holidays are inadvertently becoming an assessment of how wild an area is. Back in January, I went to Wales and found myself shocked at the lack of biodiversity left by sheep grazing. And on this holiday, I find similar themes recurring for me.
We are staying in a beautiful Airbnb, tastefully renovated and surrounded by vineyards as far as the eye can see. Just a few years ago, I would have found the view stunning. But, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. Now, I am shocked by how much we humans have dominated the landscape. This may feel ‘rural’ and ‘remote’, but it’s certainly not wild.
It’s not as devoid of biodiversity as rural Wales. In between the vineyards are strips of wild plants where nettles flourish and poppies sway in the wind. There is the occasional wildflower meadow where oxeye daisies reign supreme and butterflies dance gracefully. That gentle cricket sound is occasionally serenaded by an enthusiastic frog croaking its song. The local semi wild cat can find and catch mice in the long grasses. And, as for me - I can identify and name numerous edible plants – including plantain, clover, elderflower, and lemon balm.
But – I wouldn’t eat these wild plants as I suspect the fields are sprayed with chemicals. We see the farmers go up and down the fields in between the vines with tractors that are spraying… and I don’t think its water from the amount of rain we’ve had. In fact I found a toxicity warning label on the ground in the vines.
So, as is the story in so many places, we dominate the landscape and we spray it with chemicals. Being in the midst of it has definitely put a slightly different tinge on my glass of Bergerac.
This raises the question of how did we get here?
Human domination of the landscape
It always fascinates me that although homo sapiens have existed in our current genetic form for 200,000 years, modern agriculture only evolved 12,000 years ago. This means it’s existed for 5% of human existence. Before that, we ate a wide range of plants – thousands a year. As we settled to farm, that dropped to hundreds. Today, 12 species provide ¾ of our food – with half our calories coming from three crops: rice, maize and wheat. [i] Of course, with agriculture came the concept of land ownership which was the first precursor for capitalism.
While on holiday I’ve been reading Sara Maitland’s ‘Gossip from the forest’, which is an excellent exploration of the history of English Forests and their links with European fairy stories – how the two nurtured one another.[ii] As she admits, the Grimm stories were intended to be ‘Germanic’, or Teutonic, but common stories and themes can be found across much of northern & western Europe, including Germany, Britain but also France as well. So I’m going to follow this loose geographical sense in my musings too.
The history of the concept of the forest is an interesting one which she explores in this book. In England, the Forest was originally the king’s hunting ground. She explains that when William the Conqueror came over in 1066, most of England was actually owned by the nobles already, so the King claimed that all the animals belonged to him. He could therefore ‘afforest’ areas of land where he wanted to hunt. This included but was not restricted to woodland, but also much scrubland too. This was what protected much of the ancient woodland that still survives today. [ii]
But much of the land was owned by nobles and during the agricultural revolution, it was enclosed to enable the use of ploughs so many commoners lost their right to graze animals and collect wood in the common land. It is well known that there were many protests against this process, but less well known that some were successful. The City of London actually mounted a legal battle to save Epping Forest, buying up parts of the forest until it owned everything which exists as it does today. When it opened, it was the first forest to exist for pleasure purposes and for the benefit of people who didn’t live in the forest (ie the inhabitants of the City of London).[ii]
It was the first of its kind and a precursor to the national park model. It seems to me this reclassification of forests from somewhere we had the right to use - to graze animals, forage or cut wood - to somewhere owned by someone else where we could be granted the pleasure of walking through for recreation was a fundamental shift. It stopped being ours in the same way, but something separate. People didn't live there, we could only visit. The same sort of idea been dominant in conservationism and national parks across the world, often causing the displacement of the indigenous peoples who managed those lands in a respectful way, promoting habitat biodiversity.
Consumerism
Following enclosure, another big process impacting the use of land was the aftermath of World War Two. A couple of nights ago, I watched an interesting documentary on France 3 about this period in French History, when rationing was still taking place and people were hungry as the country struggled to rebuild itself.
Paesans, the rural farming folk, were poor and isolated – charged with feeding the nation with back breaking and thankless labour. But then the American liberators brought over their big mechanical ploughs and they became ‘agriculteurs’ – saviours of the nation.
Food became more widely available, which was obviously a good thing, but the 50s also become the era of increasing consumption. I didn’t realise that in France, a condition imposed as part of the liberation was that a certain quota of Hollywood movies had to be shown in French cinemas. These promoted American life and also American products. So, consumption began to rule en masse.[iii]
The more we consume, the more land we need, and the less is left to nature. But as David Attenborough has demonstrated on his ‘Life on Our Planet’ – more wild spaces is exactly what we need if we want to save the planet. Wild spaces have an incredible rate of carbon capture and also allow biodiversity to flourish. The documentary (which everyone should see, in my opinion) has a stark message – Chernobyl, considered too toxic now to be inhabited by humans, has been reinhabited by the Wild. The cost of doing nothing is a future where humans are missing, but the wild will prevail.
So, what is the Wild?
If I’m searching for the wild, then what is it exactly? Isabella Tree’s ‘Wilding’ has an interesting explanation of how Europe was not originally closed canopy forest but rather a mixture of forest and scrubland with some individual trees too. A sort of European Savannah if you will. Large herbivores grazed and therefore kept some sort of equilibrium – allowing some growth (not the overgrazing that happens in Wales nowadays), with some natural coppicing and general munching that allows diverse habitats to grow.[iv] The Knepp rewilding project is a great example of how this could be brought back to our lands and rewilding efforts are gaining pace across the UK and need to be encouraged – as is being highlighted by the Wild Isles documentary.[v]
And what is our role in all of this? Us Humans? There’s a lot of disagreement here. Many would argue that land needs to be left to the wild and we need to remove ourselves from it. I have heard George Monbiot arguing that organic farms and permaculture can be less productive and so take away from land that could genuinely be rewilded as they’re less productive.[vi] David Attenborough takes a similar stance in his Netflix film and also advocates population reduction (not through brutal means I might add) – and growing food in multi storey labs essentially.[vii]
I’m not sure where I sit on that sort of thing, but what I do know is that humans evolved to have an intimate connection with wild plants – both for nourishment and for healing. It’s how we survived. On nourishment, Miles Irving’s ‘World Wild’ podcast is a great source for conversations on how wild spaces should be used respectfully to provide food.[viii] Miles forages for commercial purposes and has fought legal battles defending the right to do so. He would argue – and I believe – that if you love something, then you protect it. Miles (and apologies for paraphrasing him here!) believes that if more people engage with and consume wild plants, then we will be more inclined to allow the restoration of wild spaces in which a different kind of economy could evolve. This will, as the foragers association’s motto goes: “restore vital connection”.
Personally, I’m increasingly feeling that there’s something more than practical, something spiritual at stake here. As Nathaniel Hughes says in his book ‘Intuitive Herbalism’, “Herbalism is a vast subject with strands of wisdom living in every corner of the earth and within each generation of human existence. It predates us, since plants and animals were living in a rich symbiosis long before we arrived…As we shed layers of preconception, projection, fear and cultural baggage, the voice of our intuition becomes ever clearer and the voices of the plants offer their harmonies to the ancestral wisdom we all carry”. Incidentally, Nathaniel’s book series is called “Weeds in the Heart”, because “we believe that both the wilds of our land and the wilds of our consciousness hold a key to our own healing”. [ix]
From politics to personal connection
To circle back to the beginning of this stream of consciousness: as I look around myself I am constantly struck by the absence of the wild. By the dominance of humans over nature in the name of consumerism which in itself is I believe a mask for deeper addictions and trauma (perhaps a theme for a future blog..!). But how to get to a healthier and more sustainable way of living?
I used to think politics was central: I studied History with a capital H. Roman Empires, Kings and Queens, Fascism and the rise of democracy and the declaration of universal human rights. But the past few years have showed me that that something more is needed. Why, in a modern, prosperous, democratic and capitalist system can populism and xenophobia still can take hold? Even after all the lessons of the twentieth century?! Why are more people depressed than ever? (Imminent Doctor Gabor Mate has some great thoughts on this[x]). Even as we become more environmentally conscious why are still pumping so much plastic into our oceans and CO2 into our atmosphere even when we know it will destroy us and those we share the planet with?
Some fundamental shift is needed before politics can do its thing to deliver “the good life”. It sounds cheesy but we need to look within. I’m not pretending to be a do-gooder within this. I have dabbled with veganism, being plastic free, and have high and lofty hopes to be a good citizen. But it is hard. And I feel, for now, perhaps I need to do some work on myself as well as these efforts.
So, another thing Nathaniel Hughes says in his book also resonates with me recently: “I have long believed that real change starts on an individual, that personal responsibility, personal integrity, small steps towards living in our world harmoniously are ultimately powerful. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps protest, revolution and a wonderful new world of benevolent governance will heal our self inflicted wounds. But even if such a utopian U-turn is in the making, we are, each of us, guardians of the little bit of earth we call home and the little bit of flesh we call our body.”
Concluding thoughts
This blog started out of my craving for wild places, particularly on holiday, and being surprised at how how absent they can sometimes be. But I end remembering that the wild is always poking through and searching for it, sitting with it, and engaging with it right on our doorstep is a great place to start. Lately, I have been withdrawing into my garden and also the forest at the end of my road to really recentre and focus in on the plants.
I am also signing up to various courses to help me develop these skills of connection. I did one on growing your own herbal medicine with the Seeds Sistas, which was an online webinar so easily accessible for me. I did a sensory herbalism session with the brilliant Katie Shellard at Fernwood. In September, I will be visiting Knepp for a dusk safari which was on my bucket list for this year! Every step I take to develop my knowledge and connection with the plants is really nourishing me and I am excited to see where it takes me.
This has wound up being an extended thought piece so if you have stuck with me this far, thank you so much for reading! Comments spreading the wild plant love are welcome :)
Resources
[i] "Where the wild things grow", by David Hamilton [ii] "Gossip from the Forest", Sara Maitland
[iii] La France de l'après-guerre, France 3
[iv] "Wilding", by Isabella Tree
[vi] See "Regensis" by George Monbiot for more on his views on farming.
[vii] "A life on our planet", Netflix documentary by David Attenborough
[viii] Worldwild Podcast by Miles Irving
[ix] "Intuitive Herbalism" by Nathaniel Hughes
[x] "The Myth of Normal" by Gabor Mate