IL Magazine (Issue 17)

I S S U E 17

FREE

CITY LIFE & TIMES LEEDS | YORK

After many years of blind and wilful ignorance, the plight of the planet on which we live has recently come into sharp focus. Concerned generations are starting to stand up and shout out, demanding action and forcing change. But this is only the beginning, and although consciousness is increasing and intentions are admirable, powerful pollution and mass consumption continues.

WHAT the world needs

This issue is our contribution to the growing information on what the world needs now. We showcase the people of York and Leeds that are forging ahead with positive solutions to the earth’s problems. From renewable energy to organic growth, there are loving alternatives out there ready to take over and look after. For as the song rightly says, what the world needs now is love.

NOW

Cover Illustration Henry Makin  @henrymakin My approach to illustrating the theme 'What the World Needs Now' was tackled in the way that I usually work, by collecting together different quick sketches, motifs and colour forms. I've tried to symbolise the connection between love and hatred and the cycle of life's beauty, along with death and decay. All the while I feel that hope is a common strength in the world, it just needs more action to put things in place. Hopefully some of this comes across in this piece!

Get Up Stand Up

4

Fuelling The New Age

8

Choose Life

10

The Eco Street Shuffle

14

Poems 16 Seasons Eatings

18

Inspiration Station

20

This Blooming City

23

Back To The Land

28

Sales

Eye View

30

Sarah Laycock : sarah@independentlife.co.uk

Digger’s Island Discs

34

Anything else

Consumption Conundrum

36

hello@independentlife.co.uk

All Together Now

40

Online

Wasted 42

www.independentlife.co.uk

What’s Up

Editor John Barran : john@independentlife.co.uk Fancy contributing drop him a line!

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Our website has had a makeover and is now ready to show the world wide web its stylish new look! Check it out to discover the latest news, vital stories, popular listings and hidden happenings, from and for the independent minded people of Leeds and York.

Leeds.independentlife.co.uk York.independentlife.co.uk

Leeds.independentlife York.independentlife

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Words: John Barran

SO

you’ve read the articles and you’ve watched the documentaries and you’ve listened to the podcasts and you’re angry and you’re upset and you’re going to bloody well do something about it. About the plastic in the ocean and the welfare of the animals and the chemicals in the fuel. That are decaying our nature, damaging our planet, and destroying ourselves. So now that we’re in agreement, what exactly are we going to do about the environment?

The first difficult step, believe it or not, has already successfully begun. In isolation, some might see it as pointless bleating on social medias to fellow believers or staunch deniers.

Singing in the echo chamber, shouting in a bucket. But the conversation had to start somewhere, and boy has this one got going. Yes, there is division and difference of opinion, but by learning, sharing and educating, the more people are exposed to information, the more people are changing their behaviour for the better, and the more we influence that of the major polluters.

Quite what that behaviour should be is a thing of contention.

There are actions that we assume must be doing good, and so we do them, thoughtlessly and with a pat on the back.

Some, however, are not so green as they are cabbage looking.

Recycling, for example, is vital, but not alone or without fault; the amount of recycled plastic required to offset the greenhouse gas cost of one flight is in the thousands, and whilst recycling aluminium has a stronger impact, the much used method of crushing cans can also crush the process.

Our intentions and improvements are impressive, but the reasons and results must be remembered.

Other mass movements too are admirable and effective if approached correctly. As an innovation to reduce fuel emissions, car sharing is a wonderfully logical solution. Two people in one car is clearly better than in two cars. But what if some of these people would take public transport, cycle or walk if it weren’t for the personal benefits of car sharing?

Similarly, the plastic bag has been maligned and charged for in an attempt to stop people buying the earth shattering buggers. We could indeed use a bag for life replacement enough times to have a positive effect, and rarely do; or the canvas substitute, proclaiming our eco credentials, yet in reality a new item with its own production and distribution costs that are only offset by years of re-use.

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Indeed, as we focus on one damaging material, do we become oblivious to the harm of its replacements? With many products, do we need to produce them at all? We remain mesmerised by consumerism, choosing cheap and convenient over excellent and ethical; tens of millions of ready meals are scoffed every week, hundreds of million pounds worth of disposable clothes are chucked into landfill every year, and 95% of fruit and veg is bought from the not so super markets. This is all easily avoidable with a change of habit towards local and sustainable alternatives, where a tiny effort reaps a giant reward.

Even as a conscious buyer, it is easy to get suckered in to slogans. Terms such as biodegradable and natural are powerful tools to be looking out for, but as much as you know this, so too does the marketeer, and it is therefore vital to delve beyond the buzzwords and into what they mean. How long does it take to biodegrade? What exactly does natural mean?

Therein lies the challenge. As eco-friendly living is increasingly popular, it becomes more profitable, and brands will join in and dubiously distort for their own questionable gains. McDonalds advertise welfare farming, Primark sign up to ethical practices, Coca Cola claim recycled waste, and Shell shout of green energy investments. Of course, all they’re doing is manipulatively following the money, but when the money is increasingly coloured green, then the people influence the powerful and the world spins in the right direction.

The above, and more besides, are not indications of defeated attempts, they are the roots of victories. They are proof that communities, cities, countries and continents can unite and force change. We are the demand and the numbers that the system of corporations and governments respond to, and we’re not even doing it right yet. This is a collective call to create a wave to save the world. Get up. Stand up.

And don’t give up the fight.

5

Fri 7th Jun • 10pm

Fri 16th Aug • 7pm

Thur 24th Oct • 7pm

Detonate: Shy FX

Coheed and Cambria

MoStack

Sat 8th Jun • 7pm

Sat 24th Aug • 5pm

Sat 26th Oct • 6pm - 10pm

Titans of Solid Rock

Black Star Riders

Death Grips Tue 11th Jun • 7pm

The Courteeners Sat 15th Jun • 7pm

Russ Splash + Jay1 Sat 22nd Jun • 7pm

The Doors Alive + The Gimi Hendrix Experience Tue 25th Jun • 7pm

Interpol Fri 28th Jun • 7pm

The Dreamboys Sat 29th Jun • 6pm

Soundwaves Music Competition: The Final Sat 6th Jul • 6pm

From Manchester and Beyond Mon 15th Jul • 7pm

Garbage Thur 25th Jul • 6pm

Centre Stage - The Final 2019

Thur 29th Aug • 6.30pm

Nick Offerman: All Rise American Humorist

Sun 3rd Nov • 7pm

Greta Van Fleet

Skunk Anansie

Sat 9th Nov • 6pm - 10pm

Sat 7th Sep • 7pm

The Amazons

Pearl Jam UK Fri 13th Sep • 7pm

Definitely Mightbe Tue 17th Sep • 7pm

Pixies

Tue 12th Nov • 7pm

Kodaline Fri 15th Nov • 10pm

Festival Of The Dead

Sat 28th Sep • 6pm

Sat 23rd Nov • 6pm - 10pm

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Sigrid

Wed 2nd Oct • 7pm

Thur 28th Nov • 7pm

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Sam Fender

Mon 7th Oct • 7pm

Happy Mondays

Hootie and The Blowfish Sat 12th Oct • 6pm - 10pm

Gary Numan

Sat 7th Dec • 6pm - 10pm

Fri 13th Dec • 8pm

Brutus Gold’s Love Train Xmas Disco Ball

Thur 17th Oct • 6.30pm

Wed 18th Dec • 6pm

Roy Chubby Brown

Dan Reed Network + GUN + FM

Sat 19th Oct • 6pm - 10pm

Celeste Barber Sun 11th Aug • 7pm

Tue 22nd Oct • 7pm

Chronixx

Heels of Hell

ticketmaster.co.uk

Picture This

Fri 30th Aug • 7pm

Elvana: Elvis Fronted Nirvana

Wed 7th Aug • 7pm

Mon 28th Oct • 7pm

Sun 5th Apr 2020 • 6.30pm

The World Famous Elvis Show starring Chris Connor

o2academyleeds.co.uk

Words: Susanna Cooper  @sciencecityyork Photo: James  @mr_jam_dawg_73

FUELLING the New Age

GrowStack is a Pocklington-based company that specialises in building vertical farms virtually anywhere. They were responsible for the Growing Underground project, which created a large-scale bespoke vertical farm built into the tunnels under Clapham in London. The crops are now growing successfully and are sold locally at places including M&S, Waitrose and Whole Foods Market.

And the One Planet York initiative asks those that pledge to uphold ten simple principles in order to make one truly sustainable city.

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Zero Carbon

There are other innovations which are less directly obvious in terms of showing innovation in sustainability, but which are world leading and future proofing our natural resources.

This includes the work that York Instruments (a leading MEG scanning company based here) are doing. MEG scanners provide brain imaging for neuroscientists and traditionally require a lot of helium to function, a precious resource which is depleting. York Instruments are currently developing a scanner which does not need to use helium to work.

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Zero Waste

3

Sustainable Transport

4

Sustainable Materials

5

Local & Sustainable Food

6

Sustainable Water

7

Land Use & Wildlife

8

Culture & Heritage

9

Equity & Local Economy

10

Health & Happiness

At a city level, York is serious about sustainability. This is reflected not only in the new Liberal Democrat / Green Party coalition, but can also be seen through various work by the people happening here. The university students in York have produced an online magazine called ‘Wild’ which addresses sustainability and eco-friendliness, created by, contributed to and distributed by the students themselves.

Sustainability and the future of the planet are at the heart of a variety of ongoing research and development projects taking place in York around environmental real change. These exciting undertakings will hopefully lead to dramatic changes in how we consume the earth’s resources, not just in Yorkshire, but worldwide. Here are some of the amazing things that are happening...

BioYork is a University of York-led initiative that hopes to use research to drive development of the UK bio-based industries. Their focus is on three main global challenges: (1) Heal – using nature’s solutions for healthcare and pharmaceuticals, (2) Feed – improving the productivity, sustainability and nutritional value of crops and food, and (3) Fuel – developing new sources of bio-based fuels and chemicals.

The York City Environment Observatory is a research project monitoring a variety of environmental events and its impact on the population. It will utilise data from the city’s citizens themselves to give researchers a much better understanding of the long term impact of the environment on a population’s health and wellbeing.

FERA Science is based out at Sands Hutton and are leading the way on sustainable food production. They want to ensure that developing agri-food systems can meet the changing needs of a growing population whilst reducing waste, pollution and reliance on non-renewable resources.

It is not only the scientists who are helping to save the world right here from York, but our business communities are also innovating sustainability. The Stockbridge Technology Centre, just south of the city, is leading on LED growing, which is producing better, tastier and faster growing crops. Their LED4CROPS facility was opened by Rt Hon David Willets (the Minister for Universities and Science).

These ten principles are:

CHOOSE

LIFE Three diverse businesses share

their vegan lifest yle.

B O TA N I C Words: Emma Grubb  @botanicyork

Veganism…. the last three years has seen a proliferation of vegan food and products with a general shift to care and concern for the environment and Planet Earth. The only planet us humans have.

Small, independent businesses through to multi-national corporations are offering more vegan and cruelty-free products, and those that don’t are increasingly considered archaic. Veganism is infiltrating all areas of life, even those more aligned with burger vans; Forest Green Rovers is a Vegan Society approved football club and considered the “greenest” by FIFA. Some of these businesses have green principals at the core of their existence, some may have jumped on to this highly-profitable bandwagon, but either way, this must not be a flash-in-the pan trend.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford and published in Science last year, concluded that eating a vegan diet could be the “single biggest way” to reduce our environmental impact on earth, not just by reducing greenhouse gases, but also global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. Biodiversity is plummeting at an alarming rate. A recent UN report found that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history. The main direct driver of biodiversity loss with the largest relative global impact are changes in land and sea use. More than a third of the world’s

land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production. The total emissions from global livestock is 7.1 Gigatonnes of Co2-equivalent per year, representing 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Co2 levels are currently at the highest point since the evolution of humans. Why not cut out the middle man and feed us with the crop directly?

CHRIS WOOD HAIR STUDIO Words: Chris Wood  @chriswoodhairstudio

I opened Chris Wood hair studio in March 2017 as a completely vegan salon, because that's one of the ways we need to move forward to help the planet. I got rid of anything that used animal bi-products or was not cruelty free and found a vegan and environmentally friendly brand which far surpassed anything I'd used before. I teamed with Davines, who make incredible products and colours without chemicals or animal testing, all of which are unnecessary for the sake of a luxury product. Davines have a zero impact status, something I strive for the salon to achieve in future.

What I've found by using vegan products is that it becomes more accessible to people who have struggled with sensitive skin due to the amount of chemicals and perfume in other products. The key ingredients and natural fragrance nourishes the skin and hair rather than irritates it, and by taking out harmful chemicals, I am now able to perform colour services on people previously having allergic reactions to colour.

We have also started offering refills on products to save on plastics, and switched to biodegradable towels and water saving shower heads, plus recycling everything possible. The vegan and environmental movements are such a huge thing right now, and it's fantastic that so many people are conscious of the impact animal products and plastics are having on the environment.

Although we don’t sell any edible products, I consider Botanic to be a vegan business. We do not stock anything derived from animal products and we promote a connection with the natural world by helping people bring greenery into their homes and businesses. The presence of plants in our indoor spaces encourages interaction and understanding between human and plant, and has proven positive effects on air quality and mental wellbeing.

BRASS CASTLE Words: Phil Saltonstall  @brasscastlebeer

The beginnings of Brass Castle Brewery can be traced back to the same moment that Harriet and I went vegan. Both longterm vegetarians, a transplant to New York in 2007 for work caused two important conversions to happen at the same time. First, there was a sudden realisation of the very poor farming welfare standards in the US, offset by the plethora of great alternative vegan offerings. We had always been vegancurious but imagined, as many do, that it requires an ascetic lifestyle of pulses and lettuce. The reality soon dawned and a whole world of amazing foods opened up. Just as a whole world of amazing drinks made themselves known, courtesy of the bubbling US craft beer scene. When they returned to the UK, a vegan-inspired brewery was the obvious next career path - with its challenges, since rural Yorkshire cask drinkers in 2011 liked their isinglass-cleared beers.

What is isinglass? Well - the manufacturers describe it thus: ‘An acidified aqueous suspension of collagen derived from the swim bladder of certain fish’. Essentially, it is a process aid that allows brewers to create crystal clear beer more swiftly than would otherwise be possible, thereby cheapening the brew cycle. We think that the addition of icky gloop created from the swim bladder of fish is disgusting, and also unnecesssary.

Brass Castle therefore does not allow any animal-derived products near the brewhouse. In turn, a house yeast was nurtured that didn't require animal-derived process aids to artificially hasten beer clarification. You won't find honey or lactose in Brass Castle beers either. In short, we worked out how to brew better and omit those ingredients, while still capturing the flavour profiles associated with them. Indeed, the beer is fuller-flavoured as a result, since clarifying agents often strip flavour notes and some of the goodness found in beer that is more readily associated with red wine.

Veganism for me is about embracing the power of the plant wherever possible in everyday life. Using plant based, biodegradable packaging in place of single-use plastics, for example. I am a tree-hugging ecologist, plant shop proprietor, musician and vegan. I drink vegan IPA and prefer oat milk in my tea. Oh, and I have some tattoos…. Maybe I am the epitome of hipster but I care not for labels, especially when the existence of a habitable planet is at stake. But what about everything in moderation? For me, this is not viable anymore. Vegan for the animals. Vegan for the planet.

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All in all, we believe that Brass Castle is a better brewery, making better beer, because of its vegan roots. In addition, the vegan impetus causes the brewery to be more environmentally sensitive too. For instance, rather than allowing a farmer to collect spent grains and put them into the human food chain (it's actually a poor quality foodstuff), we send spent grains to an anaerobic digester for conversion into biogas, compost and electricity. Spent hops find their way onto local allotments. Due to all of this, Brass Castle has won several 'Socially Responsible Business' awards - some people might call that being smug, we prefer to see it as being smart.

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Words: Hannah Riordan

THE ECO STREET SHUFFLE

As I’m writing this, I am entirely aware that we, me included, are all becoming subconsciously desensitised to the dumbfounding figures that depict our planet’s urgent need for action.

The facts are of course easy to ignore, largely because we are very rarely provided with the solutions. But if we all, as the consumer, take just a little more time and consideration when choosing the places we shop, the places we eat, drink, and spend our money, we can create the foundation for change.

Luckily for us, businesses in Leeds and York have already begun the groundwork, and now, finding a packaging-free shop or a café run 100% by renewable energy is no longer a menial task. In a society of supermarket giants and shopping malls built nearly as big as small towns, getting acquainted with your local independents is now more important than ever. In most, you’ll find owners, staff members and volunteers who have all taken a leap into the independent scene to do their bit, and to help us do ours.

Perhaps one of the most talked about elements of climate change is pollution, more specifically, our relentless throwaway culture. The recent announcement to ban all plastic straws, cotton buds, and drink stirrers, although a significant step in the right direction, is merely scratching the surface. It only takes one trip to an average supermarket to notice hundreds if not thousands of unnecessarily and individually packaged items, only to make our lives easier.

Offering alternative solutions to this problem are local businesses on our doorstep. Packaging-free shops are proving to be trailblazers in the fight against plastics and other unnecessary materials. On Bishopsthorpe Road in York, you can discover the Bishy Weigh, where owner Alice Hildred encourages customers to bring their own containers to fill up with everything from pasta and olive oil, to shampoo and washing up liquid, creating a zero-waste alternative to a supermarket. Although, this isn’t necessarily a new concept for York, as for the past 40 years Alligator Wholefoods have been selling loose produce and refills to the good people of York.

But fear not residents of Leeds, your opportunity to shop packaging free is the Refilling Station based on Harrogate Road in Chapel Allerton, The Jar Tree in Kirkgate Market, or EcoTopia in Central Arcade. And if you fancy a coffee whilst you shop, head over to Eat Your Greens cafe on New York Street to pick up some loose veg, seeds, pulses, and grains in their little on-the-side shop.

As well as being mindful in the way we shop for our food, there is also the chance to be mindful in other aspects of our lifestyles. On Kirkstall Road in Leeds, Seagulls Reuse are a grass root people-based social enterprise that specialises in the collection and redistribution of leftover household paint.

Established in 2002 by Cat and Kate, who bonded over a shared passion for local and global environment, they have remained true to their original aims of raising awareness for recycling and reuse, whilst providing opportunities, training and employment for hard to reach, marginalised people. In a contract with Leeds City Council, Seagulls Reuse collect independentlife.co.uk

unwanted leftover paint from households across the city, reprocess it to then sell at the Seagulls store for a fraction of the normal retail cost. Seagulls also have refills shop to top up your empty bottles with zero waste products.

One independent business in Leeds exists primarily to achieve and promote sustainability. On the cobbles of Dock Street stands Cha Lounge café which was established by brother and sister team, Jagdeep and Mandeep. Cha Lounge uses 100% renewable energy through a company called Good Energy, who also aims to fight climate change. Their take away packaging is 100% compostable and they also work by a zero-waste policy, reducing their food waste by methods of measuring milk for hot drinks and reusing bread ends and fruits for croutons and juices. Cha Lounge’s careful consideration of carbon footprint when sourcing products and choosing suppliers is a direct example of a genuine passion for the wider cause.

If we are to ensure longevity in the changes that we make, then education and accessibility for all is key. We can see this happening south of York, on Appleton Road at Brunswick Organic Nurseries. This charity enables people with learning difficulties to enrich their lives through horticultural work, by growing plants for the nursery, and producing seasonal fruit and vegetables for wholesale at local cafes and restaurants. Work at the Brunswick revolves around the premise of inclusivity, and creating change by concentrating on what people can do rather than what they can’t. With this in mind, we should all ask ourselves what we can do to make a change.

15

Breathe: Breathe kindly into your being, Breath is life.

Why should a body so busy, so ambitious, so restless and ready to take over the world with their power and riches stop to breathe and be?

Because you carry on your shoulders and in your spirit a story and that story might be holding you from your greatest potential.

Well of course I snap, life is stressful!

But shit happened and made me this way!

Did you know my heart got broken?

With love and kindness- what did you expect with feet planted on this earth?

Change is the only constant and it requires a catalyst.

Would we know peace if there wasn’t war?

Appreciate beauty without destruction?

Understand love without feeling pain?

Feel grounded.

Let your breath root you during the wild winds of change so you can witness your transformation.

Ask yourself: How do I cope in the face of change?

Our only inevitable.

Breathe.

Present yourself.

Untangle from the webs of the past.

Let your breath speak to you.

Now I recognise this language, Sadness is mellow, Anger aggressive, Anxiety erratic, shallow, confused.

Please breathe so kindly into your being that you dissolve all that was, and arrive here.

Meeting this moment with grace, Greeting this moment with the vulnerability of a being open to what is before them, not what once was or might be.

Be Here Now, with the beauty of what is. For this is yoga, and Yoga is life.

Open up to your life.

It’s happening as you breathe.

I once saw a tweet that said: If you walk into a meeting and say it’s all about finding a balance, Everyone will agree and nod their head.

Then jokingly I spoke it.

When you made dinner and we could not decide what to buy.

It was all about finding a balance.

When you asked how did a plane fly, It would be all about finding the balance.

When we watched politics lie and compromise, We would say they need to find a balance.

When you was unhappy inside, I would say you needed to find a balance.

When you would not spend enough time outside, I would say you needed to find a balance.

When you felt unfit and did not exercise, As your work life found no way out, And instability got the best of you, And threads became loose.

And what the world needs now, Is a way to find a balance.

It’s all about finding a balance.

Art that moves.

Genre-defying performances at Yorkshire’s largest dedicated dance house

DANCE

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THEATRE

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LIVE ART

SELF-SERVING C ATA S T R O P H E DAMON COOPER

Some Greater Class by Holly Blakey © Charlie Littlewood

POEMS B R E AT H E K AT E H E R R I C K , CALM COLLECTIVE

LIFE ADVICE BENEDICT DORAN

We destroy trees to make paper petitions We drive cars to attend protests against global emissions We unwittingly eat all the microplastics We avoid responsibility with mental gymnastics For years we wanted to kill biodiversity Now our species might die too, said a professor at university

Discover more:

rileytheatre.com

Northern School of Contemporary Dance, 98 Chapeltown Road, Leeds, LS7 4BH

Words: Craig Worrall  @edible.leeds

Aside from wild edible plants, fungi and marine algae are also excellent sources of nutritional, medicinal and other bio-use potentials. Strains of wild fungi such as Lions Mane, Shiitake, Jelly Ear and Oyster Mushroom can be cultivated and grown simply in your house, back garden or allotment using biodegradable and carbohydrate-based substrates.

Habitat loss, pollution and climate change are the main causes of fungi population decline, and not, as reported annually by certain toilet-roll newspapers, over-enthusiastic foragers. The rewilding of large areas of unproductive land combined with the regeneration of key habitats will assist with the recolonising of fungal species. Wild fungi play very important roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems and the fruiting bodies provide a wealth of interesting, healthy and tasty food.

SEASONS Eatings

The time for restoring vital connection with nature is now. As one species among countless others, we must understand that ‘we are a part of nature and not apart from nature’, and that humans are no more nor less important than any other organism; everything is interconnected.

Our current quest for food is quite literally killing us and the planet. Methods of commercial farming and food production are wreaking havoc on national and global life support systems and biodiversity. Recent scientific studies reveal that humans have systematically wiped out 60% of all life on Earth in the last 40 years alone; a truly terrifying statistic.

There are currently 7.7 billion people living on Earth and that figure is increasing daily. In order to feed all those bellies, we must implement new, innovative, environmentally-friendly integrated systems of food cultivation, free from the use of chemical-based pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, and higher in nutritional value such as essential vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbohydrates. All foods produced must be utilised; we cannot afford to waste 40% of it like we currently do. Practices need to include smaller scale, community-led, organic farming with the principles of permaculture, agroforestry and forest gardening, and a reduction in mechanised farming would also be beneficial; all of this puts people back in direct contact with the land.

Wild and feral food sources can play a major role while providing significant nutrition and abundance. Every year in the UK thousands of tonnes of plants, fungi, algae, mammals, fish, crustaceans and insects simply go to waste, as the majority of the population fail to recognise them as viable food sources. Those that are recognised, for example blackberries and apples, are largely ignored, yet happily purchased from shops carrying a heavy carbon footprint; how strange.

Wild foods share a very special relationship with humans, and despite our general neglect, many of us are learning to reacquaint ourselves with these old, tasty friends. Instead of fighting, taming, controlling and destroying nature, we should nurture, gather, eat and celebrate it. By doing so we enhance our understanding of the many benefits it brings.

Gathering wild foods reconnects us with culture and origins, landscapes and seasonality, it engages our senses in ways that nipping to the shops cannot, it facilitates learning and respect, it allows us time to reflect and be in the moment, to engage in quiet contemplation, to observe, to exercise freedom of choice; it is liberating, powerful, tasty and fun.

Marine algae, aka seaweed, and its sustainable, nutritional and medicinal potentials, are staggering. Add to this the massively beneficial impacts they have upon our wider, natural environment and we would be foolish not to research and protect them more fully, let alone allow greedy multinationals and other not so friendly corporations to exploit them; mechanical harvesting is not the way to gather these mind-blowing organisms. The range of available minerals, vitamins, micronutrients, proteins and essential amino acids are generally far greater than other wild and commercial food sources. Foraging for seaweeds is very rewarding and great fun; who doesn’t love a day at the coast?

Food diversity is healthy, not only for us but for the planet.

60% of the worlds calorie intake currently comes from just 3 cereal crops; rice, wheat and maize, and our demand for these - or having them forced upon us - adds to environmental pressures such as habitat and wildlife loss, and increased rates of illness. In the UK alone we have over 400 species of edible plant. Globally there are in excess of 50,000 edible plants! Yet most of us go our entire lives eating no more than a mere 60 food types in total, most of which are nutrient deficient and detrimentally impactive on nature. It’s not realistically a case of adopting a solely wild food diet, it’s about integrating them with sounder methods of commercial production.

In reality, we have a long way to go but the tide is turning.

More and more people are becoming aware of the pressures facing all life on Earth and how diversity in all its forms is essential. Food diversity and diverse food systems will play an important role in easing some of those pressures and it will make our journey far tastier too.

https://edible-leeds.blogspot.com/

In Britain 75% of all land is used for agriculture and a very small percentage of that supports biodiversity. If you observe the hedgerows and fringes surrounding crop and livestock fields this is where you will find abundance. The crop field itself is devoid of diversity and any wild things that want to occupy it are routinely evicted, usually by the application of poisonous chemicals by people who know very little about the importance of wildlife – those who do care, yet spray poisons, have some serious soul searching to do. Towns and cities require green transitions too and much can be done to enhance the opportunities for wild and other food sources. In Leeds, the likes of Orchard Project, Feed Leeds and Bedford Fields are providing springboards for learning and proving very fruitful.

independentlife.co.uk

19

INSPIR ATION Station

HUMAN AQUARIUM Words: Lucy Meredith

@HumanAquariumUK

Photos: Lizzie Coombes

LEEDS INSPIRED INTRODUCE US TO THREE PROJECTS MAKING S U S TA I N A B L E E N J OYA B L E .

MORE THAN A MOUTHFUL Words: Josh Sutton

@Commonerschoir

Leeds-based Commoners Choir (no ‘the’, no apostrophe) sing out about the world around them. They sing of history, poverty and politics. They sing with humour of solidarity and hope. The songs are written by choir leader Boff Whalley, whose song-writing pedigree stretches back from the heyday of punk rock, through a global best-selling anthem in the 1990s, to the critically acclaimed harmonies of theatre performances throughout the UK. The ideas for songs come from the choir, a rag-tag rabble of some eighty plus members, whose interests, professions and areas of expertise range from podiatry and politics to food history and environmental science, with almost everything in between.

A recent project, funded by Leeds Inspired, managed to combine a number of those interests. More Than A Mouthful was born out of concern for food poverty in Leeds, but rather than just sing critical numbers about the injustices of today’s food system and decaying welfare state, Commoners Choir chose to celebrate food as a cornerstone of community.

Singing in churches and community centres across the four compass points of Leeds, the choir cooked up a show where the price of entry was a donation of a food item for the local food bank. Once inside, audience members were met with a feast for the eyes, ears and the mouth.

Surrounded by posters celebrating the community of food, Commoners Choir sang in celebration of the Leeds Headmaster who opened up the school kitchens during the holiday period. While on stage, the choir’s resident food writer and chef cooked up a huge vegetarian curry for all to share at the end of the show and audience members left with a recipe book and the printed words to the songs written especially for the More Than A Mouthful shows. They left behind them a huge box of food that went on to feed some of the four million people that have been forced to use food banks in the UK today. www.commonerschoir.com

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The Human Aquarium project was created by Yorkshire Life Aquatic, an organisation that uses art to tackle issues such as single-use plastics and their effects on the oceans. We were really worried about the amount of single-use plastics we use as a city, especially as a lot of them cannot be recycled.

Although recycling is an option for some materials, we wanted to create a project that also promoted the ideas of reusing materials and reducing plastic use in the city.

It is especially relevant in land-locked cities such as Leeds, as people may simply not see the impact of these issues on the environment. The Human Aquarium aims to get people thinking about their plastic use in an interesting and visual way. Art and creativity are a powerful but gentle medium to engage people’s curiosity and interest in challenging subjects such as environmental sustainability.

We took over an empty shop in the St John’s shopping centre and transformed it into an aquarium inspired interactive exhibition. We created sculptures and installations made from single use plastics and thought-provoking photographic images and films to create a sensory space for visitors to explore. We collected thousands of used plastic bottles to produce the exhibits and worked with local group PlasticFree Me who created a giant octopus made from a single person’s plastic waste for one month.

For the project we collaborated with many Leeds based artists, makers and students from Leeds Arts University.

Over the 12 day exhibition in February we had thousands of visitors to the space, also running creative workshops using recycled materials and a sold out night of environmental talks, proving people really do care about what’s happening to our planet. The exhibition was a major success and we are already planning the second phase of the project soon. www.humanaquarium.co.uk

EAST LEEDS PROJECT Words: Kerry Harker  @eastleedsproject

The East Leeds Project seeks out the territory where issues of art and sustainability meet, with a specific focus on the Wyke Beck Valley. This expansive, biodiverse and often beautiful green corridor stretches for over five miles between Roundhay Park and Temple Newsam, and from there even further south to Rothwell Country Park. The project originated within a visual arts conversation, but we work with an expanded definition that embraces visual culture more broadly. We’re not a sculpture park or an outdoor art gallery – we’re interested in the potential of art as social action, and work with communities that border this urban greenway, including in Gipton where we’re based.

Our first major project is a collaboration with Leedsbased architectural practice Bauman Lyons through their innovative new design technology, MassBespoke. This ingenious system is environmentally friendly and allows for sustainable, community-led design and rapid build responding to genuine local need – a high-quality, bespoke service on an accessible human scale. We’re working with the local community in Gipton to co-produce a ‘Pavilion’ designed using MassBespoke, with support from Leeds2023, next Autumn.

We’d like to locate it on Fearnville Fields, a major entry point into the Wyke Beck Valley. The Pavilion will be a shared Maker Space – the first in east Leeds – co-designed by local people alongside artists and built environment professionals.

It will operate as a space where people can access tools, equipment and support, but we’re also looking at how the structure can be as low impact environmentally as possible.

We’re in the R&D phase for this project now, which includes a new commission about making by artist Andy Abbott for this year’s Gipton Gala on 14 July, funded by Leeds Inspired - everyone’s invited! www.eastleedsproject.org

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This

BLOOMING City

Words: Lotte Inch  @bloomyorkfestival

In the words of zero waste chef Anne-Marie Bonneau, "We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.” It is with this ethos that Make It York's Bloom! festival returns to the city centre in June.

KREP

The festival takes on a smaller format this year, paving the way for another full scale floral fiesta in 2020. With a focus on locally sourced, home grown, environmentally friendly and reduced plastic, this summer's two day event serves up a flower and produce show, a plant and flower market, and a full programme of family friendly activities in the Deans Park Gardens - one of York's most beautiful urban green spaces.

BRETON CRÊPES & GALETTES

At the heart of the event, there is a message about the importance of simply 'giving it a go.' Gardening and horticulture, even self-sustainability and going green, don't need to spark fear in those of us that struggle to keep a plant alive. Instead, Bloom! should reassure each of us that with little changes, at home and in the community, we can all make a difference.

Authentic French Street Food in the heart of York!

With local grass roots community groups, growers and enthusiasts, alongside some of York's best loved green organisations there to show you how, we hope that this summer's Bloom! encourages you to rethink how, together, we can make our city a more sustainable, more green, more plant filled place to live, work, visit and enjoy!

SHAMBLES MARKET FOOD COURT OPEN EVERY DAY 10am - 5pm

www.bloomyork.com

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MIM ROBSON A RTIST

iBLOOMFLORISTS Words: Sam Dunlop  @ibloomflorists

As a small York based independent, we feel we have a progressive approach to our business, with a clear vision of how we want to operate and who we want to collaborate with. That's why we are so excited about being involved with Bloom York, for the second year running.

Words: Mim Robson  @keepingitcraftyuk

I am an artist and workshop facilitator involved in Bloom! this year by running workshops and creative drop in sessions each day, making fruit and vegetable portraits and sculptures, and flower mandalas – it’s a lot of fun!

TESSA BUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY Words: Tessa Bunney  @tessabunney

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are food and medicine to the mind.” Luther Burbank For the past three years I have been collaborating with a group of FarmerFlorists to produce photography work which explores the resurgence of ‘artisan’ cut flower growers in the UK. Artisan flower growers tend to be small, family run businesses producing hundreds of different flower and foliage varieties on a small scale. They grow an incredible variety of flowers, they are seasonal, many are scented and may be fleeting in nature. They are grown with care for the environment and are primarily sold locally which also reduces the air and road miles associated with the global cut flower industry. In the same way, Bloom! celebrates the positive impact of gardening and plants on our daily lives by bringing horticulture to the urban environment through innovative displays and creative activities for all ages and abilities.

In the words of Caroline Beck, Flower Grower and Garden Writer: “We love flowers because they represent something that was taken from us. Growing them was what the British did until the 1980’s, but by embracing the global we lost the local. It’s no coincidence that just as we realise we’ve lost 90% of this country’s wild flower meadows, the flowers we’re asked for most are poppies, cornflowers and scabious.”

This year Bloom! takes the form of a traditional flower and produce show, and coming from a village that has run its own agricultural show with flower and produce competitions for over 100 years, I love the idea of this happening in the middle of York. It’s the idea of old-fashioned simple pleasures… winning a rosette for perfect potatoes, really noticing what it is that makes one dahlia more beautiful than the next, and wandering around after judging has taken place, comparing carrots, deciding whether they made the wrong decision or not!

For me it all represents something which I think we need to return to more and more – the slow reward of putting time into something and watching it grow, employing patience, nurturing something and slowing down enough to really pay attention. I’m hopeful that events like Bloom! can inspire people to get growing their own (if they aren’t already winning prize leeks of course!), or just spending more time in nature, being reminded of how precious and how worth protecting it is.

ST NICKS Words: Jonathan Dent

@stnicksfields

St Nicks is a York based charity promoting sustainable living and hoping to create lasting change in the actions of local residents. Over 20 years we have transformed a former landfill site in a deprived area into a thriving 24-acre Local Nature Reserve.

Last year’s inaugural Bloom! Festival transformed the city into a botanical wonderland buzzing with life. The wide range of creative events and installations attracted not just people but also many different pollinators. We were delighted to see the importance of nature and sustainability highlighted throughout the festival.

We firmly believe in inspiring action through hands-on education - getting outside and discovering the wonders of wildlife. Take bees for example. More and more people are beginning to understand the vital role they play in putting food on our tables. Seeing the amazement on people’s faces as they watch a busy bumblebee going from flower to flower with pollen sacks full to the brim, creating the next generation of plants, is a real breakthrough. Especially when those people then start to grow their own pollinator friendly plants at home after being so inspired!

EDI BL E YOR K Words: Bill Eve

@EdibleYork

Edible York is a registered charity with a small group of enthusiastic volunteers promoting different events and initiatives. We have an informal network of people involved, interested in various aspects of growing fruit and veg, or issues around food and how it is grown, distributed and prepared.

We exist to help all us Yorkies to grow more fruit and veg, and also to help encourage the local food market. There are so many natural resources we can make use of in an urban environment: sunshine, sweet rain, soil underneath a grass verge, or beneath a removed paving slab. Add in plant roots, a little bit of TLC and we not only can produce delicious food to eat, but we can even sequester carbon back into the soil and help reverse global warming.

Our focus last year was to launch the events side of our business, whilst working with Betty’s Tearoom to win the best window with an all natural cut flower display. This year we plan to work only with local growers and promote the British Flower Industry. We believe that florists have an important part to play in redirecting their customers to locally grown flowers and foliage, reducing their carbon footprint and enjoying freshly picked stems, with a local story.

Both Tori and I understand the importance of nature and the link to good mental health. We admire the work of York based growers Flowerpower and look forward to seeing their contribution this year, to the Mini York in Bloom 2019. They do amazing work in the community and we hope to work with them in the future.

As Visit York members, we are proud to be involved again and supporting a plastic-free event. If we can inspire people to go and try growing their own food and enjoying their garden, pots and outdoor spaces and appreciating locally grown product, we'll be very happy campers!

Growing our own food also reduces food miles and of course this can happen even throughout the winter. We held a brilliant evening last January where we learned how easy it is to grow winter salads on a window sill, or even outside. If half the households in York grew a few salad leaves or peashoots, then supermarkets would sell many fewer bags of salad!

One traditional saying is that 'we eat with our eyes', and arranging a few flowers on your plate is becoming increasing popular thing to do. Perhaps Edible York's direct contribution to the BLOOM festival has been to increase the number of specific flowers grown on our demonstration beds in the centre of York. Violas, English marigolds, nasturtiums, Californian poppies, dwarf sunflowers, caraway, and hyssop all make colourful (and also edible) contributions to our street planters.

We hope to help as many people as possible learn more about growing food, preparing what we eat in different ways, and finding out how to develop a growing space or mini orchard in their community. www.edibleyork.co.uk

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Words: Pete Tatham

@HydeParkSource

Illustration: Victoria Gregory  @victoriamarydesign

BAC K to the land

“We are stardust We are golden And we've got to get ourselves Back to the garden”

Growing your own food can have amazing benefits for physical and mental health.

In a world where our food systems are increasingly industrialised, with large scale agriculture using chemical fertilizers and pesticides as a matter of course, knowing what has been put into the food you grow is really valuable. Growing enough food to feed yourself all year round is not a realistic option, but the benefits are not just about the nutritional value you can put on the table.

The connection with the land, with nature and the changing seasons improves well-being and, in my experience, helps you cope with the often harsh realities of the human world.

Being able to plant a seed, nurture a seedling, grow the plant and then enjoy its fruits is an extremely fulfilling process, and one which, if it fails half way through, won't be a disaster!

There are loads of books and information about growing food, but there is nothing quite like losing a crop, or having a whole load of seeds not germinate, as an opportunity to learn.

In so many ways growing food, or gardening as a whole, is a brilliant training ground for dealing with life. Challenges, failures, different traits and qualities in plants, success, joy, frustration, all experienced in the safety of your own allotment or garden. I think this is why Community projects, such as the one I work for Hyde Park Source, are so successful.

We aim to improve people's health and well-being through improving the environment, and a lot of the work we do is based around getting people to meet up in a garden or an allotment for a weekly group, where they can work together and share the different experiences of gardening. It gives people a shared purpose, in a safe environment, to help them develop new skills, meet people and develop confidence.

With an increasingly uncertain world it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless, but there is also opportunities to form new connections and work together towards positive futures. I found permaculture around 10 years ago, which I like to call 'advanced common sense'. It helped me coalesce a lot of my thoughts and principles and move away from a position of being 'against' to being active in creating practical solutions to problems. www.hydeparksource.org

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BABA & GANOUSH

Words: Alex Lewis and Rufus Stewart

DIGGER'S ISLAND DISCS

Digger's Island Discs explores the collections of Leeds' most prolific vinyl slingers and groove bringers to present us with the records they could not live without.

This time, Leeds DJ duo Baba & Ganoush select their favourite floor fillers and ear thrillers in between their own blistering sets at June’s Inner City Electronic and July’s Deer Shed Festival.

DJ NORI - HAPPY SUNDAY (MAURICE FULTON MIX)

Anyone who’s been involved in the club scene for the last 6 years will likely have heard this one at some point. Dance music is somewhat functional, and as a result, formulaic, but it plays on some weird innate thing in our brains that just works. House music just had to happen; a four to the floor kick, a snare on every second and fourth beat, an open hi-hat on the offbeat and a big fat bassline, about as simple as you can get but fuck me, it gets people on their feet.

With this in mind, I think this Maurice Fulton remix absolutely nails it. It has groove, it has tension and it has release. There are some brilliant keys in there which sound like they’ve come straight out of a 70s funk track with this simple, experimental bassline which playfully adds something new to the diaspora that is house, something every great track should do in my eyes, be that sonically or emotionally.

OMAR S - SET IT OUT

GIL SCOTT-HERON - WILLING

The Detroit breed of artists in both house & techno really made the genres their own. How one city of only 700,000 people can dominate some of the finest productions in a genre is totally baffling.

What a voice. For me, Willing typifies what made Gil such a remarkable artist. A combination of hip shaking grooves with deep emotionally rich melodies and harmonies, with Gil typically delivering poetic lyrics that reach out and grab me round the ears and give them a good shaking.

Omar S is a total stalwart of the Detroit house scene, and has consistently put out seminal productions year in year out.

This is one of his biggest tracks (for very good reason) and has a very special place in my kick drum receptors...

Set It Out is a perfect example of everything a great house track can be, simple rhythmic workouts on a drum machine; a perpetually fruitful groove and some vocals that put you totally under their spell. A true classic!

CONNAN MOCK ASIN - FOREVER DOLPHIN LOVE (EROL ALK AN REWORK)

Dance music is a utilitarian thing, designed first and foremost to make people dance. Emotional aspects are sometimes put further back to make way for other factors like wobbly basslines and blazing drum beats necessary to make you move your feet on a night out. This isn’t a bad thing at all, but when I hear something like this that both grooves really nicely and delivers all the other things I’d look for in a piece of music, it really chimes with me.

This edit is sombre yet uplifting and euphoric, bridging two areas of music that tend not to cross over much that I really love. I could dance or fall asleep to it. My older brother was always a huge Erol fan and I once saw an interview talking about how he doesn’t make them sound like ‘Erol’, he just brings the best out of that particular piece of music. I like how humble this almost brutalist approach is. Substance over style.

K ATE BUSH - MOTHER STANDS FOR COMFORT

This song is about a mother whose son has committed murder but as a result of her fierce love for him will protect him at all costs. It puts into perspective just how far a mother’s love can go, driving her to do something which has gone way past her usual moral boundaries. I try to live my life in a very rational manner, and this is a reminder that no amount of rationalisation can trump emotion, love and fear.

The lyrics communicate how difficult it is to keep our lives constant, to not allow ourselves to compromise on our goals.

Sometimes the hardest battle is our own self doubt, and it takes a great deal of energy to keep that voice at bay, even at what might be the best of times. Gil’s usual husky delivery suggests hope and despair all at the same time.

Brian Jackson’s instrumental arrangement complements those emotions with a combination of such uplifting and yet sombre parts that make me want to dance around ecstatically whilst thinking about what it means to be alive.

SUN PAL ACE - RUDE MOVEMENTS

This track simply blows me away every time I play it out, which is a lot. It isn’t just that it contains this absolutely bonkers hypnotic rhythm. That it makes such a simple groove seem so complex and replayable. Or that it transports the room it’s played in to some dreamscape alien world where everything your experiencing is new and exciting. It’s the fact it was recorded in London in 1981. That might not be that exciting news for most, but for a dance music collector like myself, it is baffling how ahead of their time it can be.

Musically, this song is just fantastic, and really unique too. A grand piano leads the melody but isn’t quite at the forefront of the track, I love elements in music that donate something really forcefully but don’t necessarily stand out and catch my ear immediately. The fretless bass played by Eberhard Weber is the thing that really makes this piece of music so special for me. It’s so haunting and creates a surreal sense of madness and hysteria. It gives me goosebumps every time.

In association with

Rude Movements is so spectacular, that guitar, synth part and drum loop keep you completely transfixed with their repetition but over the top this absolutely awe inspiring collaboration of abrasive and unexpected synths is building to a crescendo that makes you totally lose your emotional centre. It takes you places you didn’t ever see coming.

CONSUMPTION THE FRENCH HOUSE

Conundrum

As fast fashion, fast food and fast furniture have encouraged an increasingly throwaway culture, here are four businesses answering our consumption conundrum with high quality and low waste...

DOG & BONE VINTAGE Words: Nic Barker  @dogandbonevintage

Working with textile and recycling companies across the globe, the vintage clothing at Dog & Bone saves thousands of wearable fashion garments from landfill each year.

Mind boggling quantities of clothing ends up in landfill every second because the industry is simply completely overwhelmed with the amount of textiles that have been produced to keep up with fashion trends. Furthermore, articles that cannot be re-used, re-sold or recycled due to the poor quality of material, that may be made from non recyclable fibres, are hard to dispose of and can be polluting to our environment.

At Dog & Bone we endeavour to encourage awareness in the fashion choices that we make, whether it be second hand or new. Ask questions - Why is this item so cheap? How was it made? Who was it made by? Will it last me more than one season? In a day and age where we are aware of poor pay and poor standards of labour in the fashion industry, we should not be making our fashion choices blindly.

Buying clothing which is vintage, upcycled, ethical and sustainable is not only good for the environment, it’s good for you and can make you think about why you want to dress in a certain way. Are you dressing to keep up with the current trend, or is it because you have a genuine passion for that style? Developing your own style is fun, flexing those creative muscles and is all about you. So, next time you buy an item of clothing, be considerate, be thoughtful and buy ethically.

Words: Caitlin Hazell  @thefrenchhouseyork

As if you needed more reasons to source vintage and antiques, not only are they often beautiful and stylish, never go out of fashion, and create a uniqueness, but they are also one of the lowest carbon footprint ways to shop, furnish and decorate your home. As consumers, we are much more aware about sustainability when shopping for food and fashion, but now this awareness has hit interiors too. What more ethical way to style a space than to reuse gorgeous timbers into a bespoke table, or take that 200-year-old tatty armchair and transform it into something contemporary that reflects your personality?

THE BISHY WEIGH Words: Alice Hildred  @thebishyweigh

One of the reasons I opened The Bishy Weigh was because I was frustrated at how difficult it was to avoid plastic food packaging. I decided to put my skill-set and experience to good use in opening a shop that would make plastic-free shopping more accessible in my local community.

I feel strongly that what the world needs now is not a small minority of people striving for an ethically or environmentally perfect life; we need for everyone to just do what they can within their means. Even one small lifestyle change takes us one more step towards a more sustainable future.

That is why at The Bishy Weigh we aim to offer as many plastic-free ingredients and products as we can, and work with neighbouring shops to the same ends, to help customers find the plastic-free swaps that work for their lifestyles and budgets.

LEEDS COMMUNIT Y CLOTHES EXCHANGE Words: Lauren Cowdery  @leedscommunityclothingexchange

Established in 2008, Leeds Community Clothes Exchange (LCCE) is a volunteer run community project encouraging the recycling and exchange of clothing to provide a more ethical alternative to the fast-fashion available on the highstreet.

It can be difficult to access sustainably produced clothing, as it isn’t always easily available. The majority of sustainable brands are online based without the option to try-before-youbuy, and are more expensive than the major retailers, which can be off-putting, particularly to people on low incomes.

The aim of LCCE is to provide another option which is accessible and affordable – visitors pay £3 per visit and can swap up to 20 items of pre-loved clothing and accessories.

You can expect to find everything from vintage garments and designer pieces to high street basics and handmade delights, in a range of sizes, with all genders catered for.

With fashion consumption fast becoming one of the biggest contributors to environmental damage, it’s important that alternatives become not only more available, but a more attractive prospect. The rise of Depop, sustainability influencers and vintage styling on the runway means that more people are seeing second-hand fashion as something to aspire to, and LCCE is thrilled to be a part of that! It’s also a much more affordable way to change up your look, and means you can take more risks with your personal style or get the perfect festival outfit without needing to invest a lot of money. Swapping won’t solve the problems of the fashion industry, but it’s an achievable step to reduce the environmental impacts of our wardrobes which doesn’t compromise on style.

Unique furniture for the home, whether they’re antiques, retro or one-off designed pieces, have always been popular, but people’s attitude towards their impact on the environment has changed. Therefore, the appeal to buy antiques is growing, as nothing needs to be produced, maybe just restored; this in turn is providing traditional trades like upholstery, cabinet makers, metal workers and artists an opportunity to keep these highly skilled industries going.

The French House in York have been upcycling beautiful pieces since we began trading 25 years ago. We are a family business that boasts one of the largest ranges of French antiques in the UK, ranging from the 17th to 20th Century; sourcing the hard to find, restoring the past its best. There is a workshop, upholstery service, bespoke pieces, and restoration of painted items by local York artists; we employ more than a dozen local tradespeople to restore and renovate.

People enjoy hearing the history of their purchases, enabling the story to be passed on. A late 19th century cupboard comes out of a textile factory office in France and is transformed into a kitchen cupboard. A late 1800’s pillow armchair arrives from France a little bit ‘cat attacked’ and is turned by a customer’s vision into sumptuous red. The upholsterer uses traditional methods to strengthen the frame, re-spring, stuff and recover. Many pieces are displayed in their original condition, so that customers can determine how much pieces are upcycled or not. These are all methods of providing more ethical and sustainable ways of shopping.

www.leedscommunityclothesexchange.com

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ALL TOGETHER NOW

I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from a handful of farmers in the so-called ‘regenerative farming’ space. Joel Salatin, author, farmer, and speaker is regarded as one of the most forward thinking; he’s a huge proponent for young people getting into farming and has written a load of books with a tonne of information and ideas for low cost start-up enterprises.

Allan Savory, the ecologist, livestock farmer and originator of Holistic Management has also been a huge inspiration to me, and his Ted Talk is a must see. He believes ruminants (cows and sheep) can save our planet. Both of these people have played a large part in me starting a small farming business, their books are essentials for anyone looking to get into this world. I took courses in Holistic Management and Permaculture Design prior to my farming addiction, these gave me a good understanding of how I wanted my farm to work.

Now three years later things have got a little out of hand. I run between 70 and 120 pigs at a time through the forestry on Escrick Park Estate and around 450 chickens for the table.

From day one my focus was always to allow animals to play their natural roll in ecosystem function and to let them express all of their natural behaviors. I also wanted the meat to go direct to the end consumer as far as possible.

Industrial farming is almost certainly contributing to global warming and the destruction of the natural environment, and we should be doing our best to promote a lifestyle that

doesn’t perpetuate this. I feel meat does still have a place in this lifestyle however. There are food choices we can make that benefit our environment. Many farmers go to great lengths to manage their livestock in a manner that has little impact on the environment, or in fact helps to regenerate land and sequester carbon dioxide. Animals raised in holistically managed landscapes are allowed to play their role in ecosystem function. Birds bring in fertility and sanitise the grassland. Forest floor omnivores, like pigs, aid in pest management, decomposition and nutrient cycling through dispersed minor soil disturbance, grub hunting in rotten logs, consuming fallen trees, and manure fertilisation. Ruminants trim grasses and other pasture plants, stimulating new growth above and below the soil, sequestering atmospheric carbon for years to come.

We have an open door policy on the farm, anyone is welcome to visit anytime. We believe in self-certification not labels, so the meat we produce is available to buy directly from source and not though any supermarkets. Ethical farming, or ethical anything, is getting a lot of press at the moment; the word ethical is one that means many different things to many different people, but always relates to moral principals and beliefs. We hope yours align with ours here on the farm.

www.grassfruits.farm

www.friendsofham.com

Words: Fraser Aitken  @grassfruits

From a young age I had an interest in farming, probably because of the big machines. Now, having started a small farming business, I’m trying to figure out how we can use machinery less. I wasn’t born in to farming so didn’t pursue this career path after school due to the perceived barriers to entry. Huge start up costs, high land prices and incredibly competitive farm business tenancies. With no formal qualifications in agriculture you’d think I’ve made life even more difficult for myself; maybe I have.

I worked in a number of industries, from kitchen porter to skiing instructor, to marquee builder, to sales manager, to HGV driver, before deciding desks, kitchens, and trucks weren’t my thing. The state of our food and farming system was something I’d become particularly interested in. I’d read a lot about how our food is produced, particularly meat, and how it gets to us. This led me to purchasing my first four pigs.

I thought if I couldn’t trust the big food system I’m going to do it myself.

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Words: Jack Keery  @deershedfestival Illustration: Joshua Pell  @pelltopsy

wasted It’s fair to say festivals haven’t always had the greatest reputations for putting maximum effort into minimising their environmental impacts. The Deer Shed site has never been badly littered with plastic, thanks to the early introduction of Green Goblet’s reusable pint cups at the bars and a conscious audience, but we took the decision last year that much more needed to be done.

After the airing of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II in late 2017, our ‘Making Waves’ theme for Deer Shed 9 provided the ideal platform to launch a ban on the sale of single-use plastic bottles in Baldersby Park. With Waste Aid UK as our official 2018 charity partner and everyone onsite from traders to volunteers and the audience themselves fully backing us, the policy became a huge success.

We invested further in the festival’s recycling infrastructure, food and drink vendors stopped selling plastic bottles, with everyone instead bringing their reusable bottles along, and the site had never been cleaner for the team’s annual postfestival Monday morning litter pick.

As a member of the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), Deer Shed also signed up to the trade body’s ‘Drastic On Plastic’ initiative, pledging to become a completely single-use plastic free festival by 2021. As the big players follow suit - Glastonbury began to spread the message ‘Refill Not Landfill’ this year - the festival industry is now taking real steps towards ensuring that throwing a huge party in a field remains viable during the critical years ahead.

Our tenth anniversary event sees us further our progress.

The sale of single use hot drink cups, cutlery and serveware, like bottles last year, is prohibited. Food vendors will serve meals with compostable trays and cutlery. We will have a long block of hand-built eco-loos onsite. There will be general, recycling and compostable waste bins, managed by Leeds-based company, Maltings Organics. Eighth Plate, the festival food waste scheme, will be collecting surplus food from traders, as part of its aim to salvage 60 tonnes of festival food waste this summer, to make 143,000 ready meals for vulnerable people in society.

The next step, we believe, is persuading more audience members to consider sustainable travel options as part of their journey to Topcliffe. While the festival offers a shuttle bus service direct from Thirsk train station to the site, we want to encourage more alternative travel than has previously been the case. A small number of audience members, for instance, choose to cycle to the festival, and the team would love to build on this.

Companies like Red Fox Cycling are doing excellent work here, having partnered already with Shambala, Bluedot and others since establishing in 2018. They organise guided cycling routes to festivals from key locations. The challenge for Deer Shed will be making these alternative methods of travel appeal to its family audience.

We not only hope that the event itself will achieve a high level of sustainability, but that efforts onsite will also help to change the habits of its attendees in their everyday lives, long after they leave. There may yet still be resistance from certain aspects of the events industry, but the hope of course is that consumers vote with their feet and back the events investing both time and money into sustainable initiatives.

What's up York

What's up Leeds

LEEDS HERITAGE BEER TOUR

THOR'S SÓL ÁST

The Tetley, Leeds / Wed 24 July / 18.30 – 19.30

NOW OPEN

The Beck and Call / Meanwood, Leeds / 11.00 – 00.00

Join Beer Evangelist 'Mosaic' Mike Hampshire on a guided walking tour around Leeds. Including The Tetley, the tour will take you to five different venues, where you will have the chance to learn about beer and its history in Leeds…and of course, drink beer! Over-18s only.

The ‘Beck and Call’ (formerly the True Briton), has officially reopened in Meanwood. The reinvigorated pub – owned by The Belgrave Music Hall owners - will feature a menu of locally sourced traditional pub grub and will aim to reinstate itself as a North Leeds venue for all.

GL ADYS KNIGHT LIVE

The Principal Hotel / 24 May - 1 Sept / 11:00 - 23:00

BRITTEN-SHOSTAKOVICH FESTIVAL ORCHESTR A

PERSIAN CUISINE WITH SABRINA GHAYOUR

Join the Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra - a unique organisation that offers young musicians of conservatoire age in the UK and Russia a rare shared cultural experience – at Leeds Town Hall this September. They will be joined by Siberian born pianist Pavel Kolesnikov, one of the most exciting young pianists performing today.

Enjoy an evening cooking with BritishIranian Chef and food writer Sabrina Ghayour, a multi-award winning, 3-time best-selling author including Persiana, Sirocco and Feasts.

Leeds Town Hall / Thurs 19 Sept / 19.30

Station Rise, York / 6 Sept / 18.30

FOOTLOOSE

Carriageworks Theatre, Leeds / Fri 21 and Sat 22 June / 19.30

A MILE IN REFUGEE’S SHOES

Leeds City Museum / 6 July, 3 Aug, 7 Sept, 5 Oct / 10.00 – 13.30

Shipton Road / 18 Aug / 18.30

YORK PROMS

Museum Gardens / 14 July / 16:30

LEEDS FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL

The annual Leeds Food & Drink Festival returns to Millennium Square this June.

Now in its ninth year, the three-day festival organised in partnership between Leeds City Council and The Yorkshire Evening Post brings together a wide selection of some of the best local street food and artisan food specialists. Better yet, it’s free!

'Tales of a City Tours' are running a series of monthly walking tours around Leeds city centre, led by tour guides with a refugee background.

“GATHER THEM IN” – THE MUSICAL TREASURE OF W.T. FREEMANTLE

Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, Uni of Leeds / until Wed 31 July / 10.00 – 17.00 "Gather Them In" tells the undiscovered story of a passionate collector and the musical masters he admired. One of those masters is the great composer Felix Mendelssohn. Collector W.T Freemantle amassed the largest private collection of Mendelssohn in Europe. This is his story.

National Railway Museum / 24 May – 11 Aug / 10.00 – 18.00

Innocent or guilty… you decide…

Millennium Square, Leeds / Fri 28 – Sun 30 June / 11.00

'Kick off your Sunday Shoes and Cut Loose' with the cast of LIDOS, as they perform the explosive rock ‘n’ roll musical sensation 'Footloose'. Tickets are priced at £17 each.

ONE BILLION JOURNEYS

THE MURDER TRIAL LIVE

First Direct Arena, Leeds / Sun 23 June / 18.00 Gladys Knight, Empress of Soul and seventime Grammy winner, is returning to the UK for a run of special shows. The awardwinning singer has recorded more than 40 albums and enjoyed No.1 hits on the Pop, Gospel, R&B and Contemporary charts.

There is still time to grab a ticket!

From cocktails with friends, swift craft beers after work or a refreshing mocktail, spend time at Thor’s this summer; either in the gardens, on day beds or inside our cosy tipi.

A rousing, flag-waving outdoor concert featuring music from the classical world, film, musicals and more. Finished off with a fireworks finale at dusk and including an array of fabulous local food suppliers, or you can pack a picnic!

L AUGH OUT LOUD COMEDY CLUB

LOL Comedy Club, York / 13 July, 16 Aug, 13 Sept / 20.00

The Tales of a City guides will ask you to walk a mile (or so) in their shoes as they take you on a journey around Leeds city centre, sharing their own personal experiences of being a newcomer to the city they now call home. Visit Eventbrite. com for more information.

Join top comedians from BBC2's Mock The Week, Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats, BBC1's Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and Have I Got News For You LIVE in York. Previously, the LOL Comedy Club has staged the likes of Jason Manford, John Bishop and Sarah Millican before they hit the big time, so come and see more brilliant comedians!

Words: Ellie Palmer  @elliepalmtree96

Ever wondered what it's like to sit on a Jury? Or to assess the evidence and convict a criminal? Well now you can for the first time in history. Following an evening meal, you will become the jury and the decision, quite literally will be yours.

New for 2019, One Billion Journeys features 45 absorbing images from acclaimed photographer Wang Fuchun, some of which have never been exhibited before. Having spent over 40 years capturing an estimated 200,000 candid snapshots of life on China's railway, Mr Wang's work documents a profound change in China's history.

WHISK Y SCHOOL

Hotel du Vin Bistro, York / 29 June / 10.00 – 16.00 Find out how whisky is made and discover the different styles produced all over Scotland and the rest of the World.

Attendees will get the chance to blend their very own whisky, choose a brand name for it and take a miniature of it home with them!

45

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