They're busy up there at the moment, the military on Dartmoor, preparing soldiers for action in the Middle East. They're moving more troops out today, including some of our locals, destination unknown (or maybe classified?), and meanwhile the gunfire on the practice ranges in the hills above us continues on.
Quite unexpectedly, one of the best learning experiences about agricultural life which I've had so far here, came in a presentation based on a conservation project sponsored by the MoD on Dartmoor, by 'cultural environmentalist' Tom Greeves, one-time pioneer of Common Ground's Parish Maps project (a great influence on my thinking about place) and currently chairman of The Dartmoor Society.
On the MoD's Dartmoor Ranges website they say that
The Ministry of Defence, through Defence Estates’ strategies, has earned an excellent reputation as a steward of its land responsibilities. Conservation is important to Servicemen and women. Understanding cultural heritage, nature, wildlife and farmed stock helps them to live, fight and survive.
Tom's work was to research the histories of two farms on land which the MoD took over, Doe Tor and Bearwalls, and to publish his findings, so that while the farms would inevitably fall into decay and get knocked-around by military exercises, their cultural heritage would be sustained. Nice idea. And Tom's recent presentation to us at Lydford village hall, based on the material he'd gathered (accessible here), was fascinating.
Probably eighty people gathered that evening - including some families who had lived on the farms or farmed that land - and witnessed Tom demonstrate how there are many different ways to look at the history of a farm. What exactly is a farm? - was the question Tom's presentation prompted in me. A farm is a geographical area, a definer - and breaker - of boundaries; it's a mixture of earths and soils and grasses and trees. A farm is a house and a collection of outbuildings which may appear randomly placed but were probably put there for good reasons (which it is the investigator's joy to reveal). It's a multitasking workplace. It's an animal centre. And most of all, perhaps, a farm is a home, and the shells of the Doe Tor and Bearwalls buildings are receptacles of family histories as deep and profound as any described by National Trust guidebooks of gigantic country mansions.
So, what exactly is a farm? - a fascinating question; and guided by the approach of Tom (and of other local people who have dedicated time and energy to revealing the stories of the people and places of our area), I will enjoy unearthing the answers to it, on the ground, with the people of these parishes, as time goes on
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