Examining the cattle sheds in the walled garden at Bamff.
Here are some random thoughts about what to do with them:
The southernmost will be dismantled (this is a certainty). The northernmost converted into a growing area (greenhouse/polytunnel), a storage area, a performance area and more (I aim to have an upright piano inside a greenhouse or poly tunnel – one that could be “sacrificed” to the trying conditions of excess humidity and variations in temperature). Meanwhile in the new empty space to the south, small shed structures could be constructed using existing materials, and some sculptural, artistic constructions again made of discarded materials and objects, or even abandoned farm vehicles nearby, all of which could be used as vertical growing supports for plants.
A place where people can work with materials found in the garden: perhaps cordage from nettles and lime trees, or constructions from willow sticks.
A space for a harvest festival!
This is all just a stream of consciousness, but I hope vaguely resembles what might come in some years from now.
About three years ago I was given the opportunity to reimagine the cattle sheds (and the walled garden). At this point I had little knowledge of permaculture, and had newly arrived in Scotland with music still at the forefront of my mind and career, hence I tried to imagine something ostentatious and slightly ridiculous (and ultimately unnecessary) as a solution; something that would have required some big budget funding. In any case, the sheds were still in use by the farmers (up until only some months ago), the pandemic arrived, and ideas of creating performance venues in the middle of nowhere suddenly felt even more ridiculous! Nevertheless, the latest ideas do still have a clear genetic connection to these older plans. Arguably these could be designated as “version 1.0”, but in software terms, these are probably more akin to “version 0.1”; some kind of alpha stage of software development – full of bugs and inconsistencies!
The Bamff Walled Garden. 