Julian Rose

January 2008

The small peasant farms of Poland form the bedrock of traditional farming practices in this highly diverse and relatively unspoiled Country. I say ‘relatively’, because over the past decade Poland has been subjected to a full frontal corporate and EU attack upon it’s indigenous resources  – industrial as well as agricultural.

However, inspite of a big post Communist sell off of national industries and a predictable fascination in capitalist ‘free market’ carrots, Poland retains a certain solidity and is not yet wedded to the urban inspired life style that so strongly influences UK socio-economic patterns. (more…)

July 2007

During the 20^th century, the word ‘Horsepower’ has been adapted to describe the power output of the internal combustion engine.  However, the early road hauling and agricultural steam engines were quite literally described as being three, four or five ‘Horse power’, thus one could equate the strength of the horses to that of the steam engines of this new era. These steel beasts lead the charge of the all-conquering industrial revolution, followed by the dominance of the internal combustion engine and the almost total dependence on oil for the great majority of agricultural and transport needs. (more…)

Now that we know how damaging the oil based addiction is, it is time to move forward to ‘light footprint’ ecologically sensitive resolutions. Anyone who has had a horse put his or her hoof down on one’s foot will know instantly that this is indeed a ‘light footprint’! Plans are underway to start a training course on the organically managed Hardwick Estate for those wishing to learn the art of managing a heavy horse. We will be using these horses to shift logs and tree trunks in the Hardwick woodlands. Interested parties should write to the author (see contact)