Wilderculture was founded by myself, Alex Tomlinson and Stephen Grindrod in 2018.
We describe Wilderculture as a ‘hybrid of rewilding and regenerative grazing designed for application in the marginal uplands.’
Having had a passion for wild spaces and upland areas and as a regenerative agriculture consultant in the UK, I became increasingly aware of the ‘gap’ in knowledge and application of regenerative grazing in the upland non brittle context.
At the same time I could see the incompleteness of rewilding schemes that excluded the essential natural processes of animal impact and grazing or failed to see the importance that livestock bring to nutrition security in the UK.
Wilderculture was born in answer to these apparent missing pieces of the puzzle.
The name ‘Wilderculture’ comes from a desire to make our uplands wilder – we have over domesticated so much of the UK with the consequential loss of production and ecosystem function.
The inclusion of ‘culture’ indicates that we also must value all of the cultural shifts our landscape has evolved through, from the wild wood, to traditional farming practices. We want Wilderculture to be a new but fully inclusive form of land management.
The ‘wilder’ ‘culture’ also indicates that we believe humans need to be rewilded and regenerated too. We have become over domesticated animals with the associated loss of purpose and grounding. The storytelling, myth and art used by indigenous people was the foundation of teaching people who they were and how to live as part of their ecology – in a balanced way that regenerates rather than depletes. We hope to find new and fully inclusive ways of bringing back these missing pieces of our culture in ways appropriate for our era.
Take a look at our Wilderculture for more information.