Tulips and Tractors

Tracing feral routes and ecologies
between the site of Ware’s Nursery and Bath City Farm;

Prospecting for local histories of growing;
Exploring the potential of regenerative farming.

A scoping and capacity building project November 2022 to April 2023 nurturing conversations and networks through the development and delivery of a public walk connecting across the Whiteway Road in Bath

Building on the creative and collaborative working practices of Blooming Whiteway and Bath City Farm and exploring the spectral presence of Ware’s Nurseries, Tulips and Tractors will explore local human and more-than-human networks, horticultural and agricultural histories and relationships with the land. The project contributes to a learning relationship with Bath Spa University towards funded activity sharing knowledge and building local resilience and capacity. 

Tulips and Tractors aims to

• Initiate and contribute to critical creative conversations on belonging, social justice and the land in a time of climate breakdown and cost of living crisis.

 

• Investigate processes and initiate activity gathering, imagining and articulating local non-human presences, feral routes through connected urban and urban fringe green spaces

 

• Initiate, build, extend and stimulate networks, communication and collaboration across both sides of the Whiteway Road towards further funded Knowledge Exchange activity. 

 

• Share and prototype participatory practices and approaches as part of a collaborative Knowledge Exchange project.

Activity:
Tulips and Tractors is focused on the development and delivery of a circular walk. An informal identification of possible wildlife pathways crossing human constructed boundaries will inform the route of a curated walk. Engagement is built through mapping, walking and asking questions, identifying connected green spaces and informal commons. Gathering stories, artwork, local memories and wildlife data will open conversations on place and belonging as well as issues of land use, land ownership, horticulture and agriculture.