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Pigs posts

‘Monbiotic man’ – will future food be ‘farm-free’?

Simon Fairlie starts a series of articles about whether technology will save us. He supports small farmers over George Monbiot’s ‘Regenesis’ solution. Read more

Life on Birchwood Croft: tales of smallholding in the Scottish Highlands

Lesley Anderson of | 10-Jan-2019 | 0

Lesley Anderson learns about the ups and downs of life for crofters Beth and Tim Rose in the Scottish Highlands. Read more

Permaculture pigs: integrating pigs into a permaculture design

Firstly I should state there is no such thing as a permaculture pig, but rather pigs woven in to a permaculture design. Firstly we have to look carefully at every element we are planning on putting in to our design. Read more

The case for feeding food waste to pigs

Lesley Anderson of | 03-Jul-2018 | 5

If we are going to use livestock to produce food, we need to work out how to do so sustainably. It has always been a source of frustration to me that so much food is wasted, yet we cannot legally use it to feed our livestock, leaving them munching away on food which could have… Continue reading The case for feeding food waste to pigs Read more

On a small scale, why is it illegal to give food waste to chickens and other animals?

Imagine you have a factory producing sandwiches for supermarkets and petrol stations etc. Maybe you’re producing 100,000 packs a day or even more. Now imagine the worst thing that could happen. Perhaps someone comes in to work with food poisoning and contaminates the product and 100,000 people come down with food poisoning. Read more

What’s the best thing to do with the uplands, in terms of sustainability?

Emma Olliff of RegenerEat | 14-Nov-2017 | 19

This is a question asked in an interesting debate on Facebook along the lines of uplands and their appropriate maintenance with regards to grazing. There are several fascinating projects and opinion pieces that were linked to Read more

Using pigs for woodland conservation

Lesley Anderson of | 02-Nov-2017 | 3

At this year’s Scottish Smallholder Festival  I attended a fascinating talk by Jack Flusk and Katie Swift of Conservation Pigs about their pioneering use of pigs for woodland conservation work. With benefits to the pigs, the pig keeper and the woodland this is a practice which could become far more widespread. Read more

How the study of animal behaviour (ethology) can help you keep livestock more ethically and sustainably

Lesley Anderson of | 12-Sep-2017 | 1

I want to talk about something which can help us design more ethical and sustainable ways of keeping our livestock. It is a subject that has always fascinated me and, if you keep animals, I think you will find it fascinating too. It is the is the study the behaviour of animals, particularly in their… Continue reading How the study of animal behaviour (ethology) can help you keep livestock more ethically and sustainably Read more

A year of downshifting in Devon

Downshifting means working less, earning less and spending less and it’s what Lowimpact.org’s Sophie Paterson has spent the past year attempting to do. She shares what she’s learnt so far and why she’d encourage others to embrace downshifting too. Read more

Come and join us on our organic, off-grid smallholding in 2017

We are James and Sukamala, tenants at Wild Geese Acres, Greenham Reach, which is an off-grid, low-impact farming project established in north Devon by the Ecological Land Coop  (ELC) – see website. http://ecologicalland.coop. Read more

Work / farmshare opportunity for someone interested in farming, smallholding, forestry, livestock, mushrooms or building stone

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 16-Apr-2016 | 8

Here’s a very interesting opportunity for a budding smallholder – either paid work or farm share, near Totnes in Devon. Over to Richard: Read more

Corporate cruelty

Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 11-Dec-2015 | 3

This particular corporate cruelty is down to Hormel (industrial food corporation and makers of Spam) and highlighted in a secret video made by Compassion Over Killing. But Hormel are not the only corporation involved in these kinds of practices. Read more

How to preserve pork on a smallholding

In 2014 we had pigs for the first time. Up until then we had only had chickens. We don’t have a freezer in the woods and where you can eat a chicken before it goes off at fridge temperatures, a pig requires preserving. Read more

Keeping pigs: the story of a pig co-op

In 2012 some households in our village decided to start a pig co-op/club. Living in a Somerset village and with several interested neighbours, one of whom had the space needed, we all got together for an informal meeting Read more

There’s a crash coming – a slap from Mother Nature. This isn’t pessimistic; it’s realistic.

The human impact on nature and on each other is accelerating and needs systemic change to reverse.

We’re not advocating poverty, or a hair-shirt existence. We advocate changes that will mean better lives for almost everyone.

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