Artists and the Practice of Agriculture - a conversation with Artist as Family
Artists and the Practice of Agriculture: Politics and Aesthetics of Food Sovereignty in Art Since 1960 is a book just released and here we share our part in it.
Radical scouts, the Feral & Free kids of Hepburn and Daylesford, show how blackberry surfing is fire prevention and weed mitigation all rolled into one big afternoon of fun. Music by Belle and Sebastian.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4R1hZmSDHA
In our latest video we give an insight into the philosophy and structure of our bush school, Forest & Free, which we established several years ago. This is a 'school' built upon gifts, with few organisational costs, little administration, and a whole bunch of community trust, where the principal teacher is Mother Country.
For those turning away from the polarity trap of AI schooling and the neoliberal-transhuman programmes attached to it, and you'd like to start your own community-based learning group, you may find some useful things here.
As always, your comments are not just welcome but appreciated. We'd love to hear your thinkings and doings as you push further away from the global culture of hypertechnocivility and lean further into your local culture of magic making.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1rLYRFkNPQ
A new Artist as Family song to celebrate Meg on her birthday, featuring Maya Green on fiddle. Now for the recipe...
First:
Add your cleaned turnips to your jar. We pickle ours whole, but feel free to slice yours first. They will taste the same, but will ferment faster if they are sliced. Pick your purslane and wash if needed. As purslane grows along the ground, it can collect soil. Break off the leaves and smaller stems. Keeping these on will turn your ferment into mush. We only ferment the larger stems. Ideally wait until the stems turn red in colour, but dark green is fine too. Add the stems into a second jar. We pickle the turnips and stems separately as they ferment at different rates. Keep the turnip leaves for cooking, and the purslane leaves and smaller stems for eating fresh.
To each jar add:
Pepper corns, mustard seeds, fresh dill or dill seeds, bay leaves, peeled garlic cloves, slices of fresh lemon or dried lemon. For the brine: 1 tablespoon of salt (non-iodised and without caking agent in it) per 2 cups of water. We use salt from Loch Iel (the Pink Lake) and rainwater.
Fermenting:
Make sure all the solids in your jars remain under the liquid and that they stay that way for the duration of the fermenting process. You can keep the lid on your jar tightly, loosely or not at all. As the veggies begin to ferment they will release carbon dioxide and brine may spill from your jars, so it's best to place each jar on a plate or bowl to catch the liquid. You may need to top up each jar if a lot spills out. The time your veggies take to ferment depends mainly on the temperature of your home. The hotter the environment, the faster the process. Fermenting is a relationship. Don't be afraid to taste the brine with a spoon each day to witness the transformation, to embody it, and so the brine can be part of your development too. The brine will start out clear and will turn cloudy. After 10 days or so in a summer home, your veggies might be ready. Taste them. If they are too crunchy, let them ferment for a few days longer. Once you are happy with the flavour and crunchiness, put your jars somewhere cold, such as a fridge, cool cupboard or cellar, to slow the fermentation process right down.
Eating:
We like to put our pickles out in a bowl and just munch them, or chop them up and add them to summer salads.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjc0bJFwjr4
Gary Trindall takes Artist as Family for a short bush medicine lesson on Gamilaraay country, Walgett NSW.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1femEvZ_agY
The annual Terra Nullius breakfast, held outside the Daylesford Town Hall each January 26, is a public ceremony that examines the historical legal fiction used to establish the nation-state of Australia; reflects on the grief and suffering of First People as a result of this legal tactic of colonisation; and celebrates both the survival and renewal of Indigenous cultures in the face of systemic violence, segregation and discrimination. Warm and special thanks to storytellers Rebecca Phillips (Pangerang and Djaara woman) and Dale McDonald (Papal-kil tharat Tjinang-Muddy featherfoot Mukjarrawaint tribal lands Garweid), and didgeridoo player Mitchell Boney (Kamilaroi and Kooma Merri Wurri man, known as Warrabaa, meaning Saw-neck turtle in Gamilaraay). This year's gathering was shot by Miles at Ideas Agency, and thank you so much Miles and assistant, Briega, for your gifted work.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmvPDV5MGhc
Artist as Family SWAPs, Marta and Connor, demonstrate our method of turning fire-prone blackberry canes into an edible green mulch.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYYgxMWYYPw
Goathand cooperative detail our low carbon methods, the bureaucratic challenges we face and the growing community support we have in rolling out this gentle but powerful approach to bushfire and weed mitigation in the Hepburn Shire in a climate changing era.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-hzKC-96cE
Artist as Family's Patrick Jones talks to Ben Bush and Adam Grubb on 3RRR's Greening the Apocalypse about all things Peasant Insurrection Chess, wild edible mushrooms, eating weeds and ferals, neopeasantry, blue light pollution, guerrilla forestry, good sleep and generally living a carbon-positive lifeway.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoCMbudGmCg
Gardening Australia visited us at Tree Elbow University's School of Applied Neopeasantry and made this little intro video.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FskLWmiyMHY