Land Skills Hub

An activist centre dedicated to intergenerational and intersectional sharing of practical and political skills for land skills and justice
rooted in solidarity, diversity & love
a part of the movement for deep adaptation & transformation drawing on the old and the new in our activism
building resilience, healing the climate & biodiversity crisis
co-creating a just and equitable society
Who are we?

An emerging community of landworkers, farmers, crafters, natural builders, foresters, campaigners, educators and activists dedicated to connecting people to land and sea.

We are part of a global network of peasants who are deeply committed to the communities we serve and the crafts we tend.

We believe that connection builds peace & diversity creates resilience.

The impetus:

Disconnection from nature threatens our livelihoods, ecosystems and communities.

There is also a fundamental inequality in access to the countryside. In the UK black and brown people are 60% less likely to be able to access green spaces and natural environments than their white counterparts.

People from marginalised communities and those from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds also face similar issues.

A part of the solution is to empower people to live, raise children, earn their livelihoods and find meaning in ways that are less dependent on markets and more dependent on the land and healthy relationship with each other. We seek to create more access to employment opportunities for land based employment by a wider range of the population.

We need to explore a new way of living - drawing inspiration from peasant and indigenous ways of living and ideals of community-based autonomy and mutual aid.

Our approach

empowerment - popular education- political liberation

The Land Skills Hub is part of the La Via Campesina Agroecology Training School global network. With over seventy schools worldwide, there is a growing movement founded upon the understanding that practical and political eduction in agroecology is a path towards creating a just and equitable society .

We are part of a global network of peasants who are deeply committed to the communities we serve and the crafts we tend.

We aim to create alternative ways of living that can solve the most deeply rooted structural problems our society is facing - nutrition, housing, exclusion and marginalisation.

Urgency

The loss of biodiversity, climate change and rising inequality stem from the rising control of capitalism over our daily lives.

Disconnection from nature threatens our livelihoods, ecosystems and communities.

There are currently only two agroecology training schools in the UK - one in Scotland and one in Wales. We therefore recognise the deficit in this type of training and support, which is needed to empower people in England and build a global movement.

Agroecology creates alternatives to agribusiness by building collective power.

Power is the ability to act.

We focus on relational power - this happens when people come together as equals, to work towards a common aim.

At the Land Skills Hub we empower through connecting people to land and sea, as a way to inspire action in building a better world.

We centre our processes of empowerment around popular education.

This is "a method and an approach that puts forward the scaling up of agroecology at the territorial level and the strengthening of peoples’ food sovereignty."

Popular education includes practical and technical skills sharing, peer-to-peer / farmer-to-farmer knowledge and skills transfer, discussions, storytelling and collective campaigns.

We recognise that knowledge and experience is socially produced -we are social beings. Here, knowledge is based on people’s experience on the ground - this is then shared with the collective. We acknowledge the multiplicity of knowledge and social and human diversity.

Political liberation
Popular education
Empowerment

Our objectives

  • To provide progression pathways into agroecological living including:

    • introductory courses in land skills,

    • events in partnership with BPOC centred community groups

    • taster events to inspire more young people to get involved in sustainable landwork

    • political training empowerment weekends,

    • longer courses, internships & placements for activists working on land and food justice,

    • mentoring and microbusiness support for agroecological businesses,

    • collective care for activists in residency,

    • home education activities centred in multicultural traditions

    • retreats, gatherings and celebrations including crafts, song and art connected to land.

  • To be part of, and build, the social movement, based on connecting people to the continuum of life.

  • To keep traditional skills alive as a basis for developing new knowledge systems, weaving them into new ways of redesigning our society.

Our Activities

The Landskills Hub events are designed to:

1) connect people to nature,

2) impart skills in nature friendly farming, food processing, natural building, heritage craft and landscape management, wildlife and woodland management

3) provide a progression pathway for youth who wish to gain livelihoods in land work or climate and nature advocacy

4) share skills in advocating for action on equitable land use, climate change and biodiversity restoration

5 ) provide political popular education so people can understand the big picture of sustainable land management, healthy food systems and policies which support a sustainable farming economy

Who do we work with?

All of our events are open to anyone who wants to come along and contribute, but the project specifically works to increase opportunities for young people and for marginalised communities who typically face barriers to accessing the countryside, including people of colour, people with disabilities, people experiencing economic hardship, and the LGBTQ community to encourage greater access to the countryside.

an abstract photo of a curved building with a blue sky in the background

"We have the opportunity to rebuild a better system in a design so much better than before.

We have the foresight now to bring back nature as part of a just and equitable society, in a new pattern, based on the old knowledge and skills of our ancestors, but more exciting than ever before in history."

Writings

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Fivepenny Farm
Bridport
Dorset
DT6 6DF
UK