Meeting Owen Shiers
Meeting and working with Owen Shiers at Dynyn Cooperative, Sept 2023
Meeting Gerald and Owen this week has been truly inspirational, both of them are deeply passionate about preserving and promoting the future of the near extinct Welsh grains, in particular the Ceirch du Bach, little Black Oat. The restoration of this beautiful, speckled, and delicate looking crop alongside the culture, language, community and knowledge that was lost with the grain is so important to them. I spent time with Gerald, listening and recording his story, at the garden table and in the field, what came across so distinctly was his passion for working cooperatively, he understands the need for small farms to work together to lead a new generation in regenerative farming in West Wales. Pertinent to my interests in general and my interest in this project was our conversation about the value of things, how value is attributed to one thing and not another, and why, and the importance of a ‘community currency’ – the value of small scale locally grown produce to the surrounding community. Gerald told me “farmers are always told to feed the world, but we don’t need to feed the world, we can’t, we only need to feed our local community, and if every farmer did that we would have enough food for everyone”. Along with Katie Hastings, from the Gaia Foundation’s UK Seed Sovereignty Programme, who I am yet to meet, Gerald set up the collective Llafur Ni, Our Grains, which includes over 30 growers who share knowledge and grain. Owen Shiers who I met the following day is a key member of the group. I helped Owen harvest his quarter acre field of Black Oats growing on the land shared by the Dynyn cooperative. I managed to just about master using an old sickle to make my small bundles, because the crop is loosely sown with grass and weeds amidst it, it was a strangely meticulous process. It was magical working and talking with Owen in the heat of this Indian summer, a few days I will treasure for sure. I now can’t wait to watch (and document) the bundles of our labour go through the vintage reaper – binder threshing machine at Iwan Evan’s farm in a week or so.