Here are some stills from the moving image material I've made as part of my Landowner performances/actions/movements in Wester Muir, a large fallow field above Jedburgh. The idea behind this aspect of the project is to play (and dress) the part of a Borders Landowner, then carry out various performative actions in the environment that relate to a relationship with the land. For example, measuring, examining, assessing, recording, witnessing, embracing, being swallowed up by, destroying (pretending to of course) and so on.

These actions ask questions of what it is to own land. Does owning land confer the right to destroy it, isolate it, let it go to waste, forbid others from passing through? Usus, Fructus, and Abusus​. Those who fret over our legal systems still get their knickers in a twist over all this stuff and it fascinates me that there's still a landed gentry in Scotland, two hereditary Dukes no less, meaning unelected, who seem to own half the country between them. Not to mention a crew of minor toffs who own the rest. I love unpicking the detail behind these anomalies or injustices, call them what you will. I like to recall these details every time someone starts rabbiting on about a what a progressive and modern society we have in Scotland.

This was a great day out in spite of a rather dull cloud cover. Nonetheless the light on days like that is often perfect for photography because the cloud acts as a giant diffuser. With a smaller group, six of us this time, everything changes substantially in terms of our relationships with the landscape and with each other.

We followed a route from the road above Hunthill, down to the Scraesburgh back road then cut up through the woods to the fields and track above Coalpits. Plenty stops for photographs, chat about landscape, light and art and a silent chi kung exercise with eyes closed which was very revealing. Back at the ranch (Kenmore Hall) we had refreshments and I rolled out a length of paper for everyone to write and draw their words and sketches. Pictures below.

Look out for details of the next walk on 27 April where we'll be exploring sound.

And so it begins. Bob Dawson and I have built, painted and installed the planters with some cardboard underneath to suppress weeds and some old bits of wood to fill in the bottom third of each planter. We just need to figure out what to do about getting the soil in and then the schoolchildren will be able to come along and potter about with the planting.

The green itself is a fine sun trap. The main wall is a beautiful feature of the whole site. The arch in the wall has got us talking about different ornamental features. Some benches would transform the space into a place of contemplation and relaxation. And then a small hut in the corner for local resident Paul (pictured) to keep some garden tools.

This is simply the beginning. I'll get round to asking some visual artist and food growers friends to take a look and think about how they'd design the space - perhaps a dash of colour here and there, some small features. Let's see.

I call this beautiful square of land The Green. It's the kind of place that progressive towns would consider as having the potential to be a demonstration garden. Maybe Jedburgh could be that kind of town and that's what I like to think about with this project - what's possible and how can we overcome resistance to positive change.

People in Jed will know the spot. It's nicely tucked away behind the town and is the perfect place to set some planters. I spoke for a while with Paul and John (pictured). John lives in Paradise Cottage and looks on to the land. Both were very enthusiastic about the growing initiative, as was Gina in the house over the wall who said that this project has been a long time coming.

Paul was clearing the border by the track with a view to growing something along the verge which would complement the planters very well. Maybe some veg, soft fruit  and fruit bushes or climbers. We also spoke about the possibility of benches  and a toolshed in the corner which, if we can overcome the red tape often associated with good community ideas, would make the place an excellent green space for citizens to rest and relax. 

One of the finest feature is the wall (in the first picture). It looks like part of an older walled garden. I'm told the green was a market garden some time ago so there's a historical precedent for growing. In the archway they used to put sticks and branches to attract bees and wasps, I imagine to get rid of plant predators and to pollinate the produce. It's a beautiful feature and invites some creative placemaking ideas around how to design the planters, where to place them and what to grow so that it all works aesthetically as well as functionally. With the school on board I have the green marked out in my mind as a safe spot for the wee ones to come and tend to the vegetables and herbs. I think the residents, especially the elderly ones, would welcome that.

This is the start of it. Timber and compost donated by Forth Resource Management Ltd and Border Demolition Ltd. A generous discount from Mayfield Garden Centre in Kelso for Cuprinol, membrane and netting. Bob Dawson always ready to give his time to drive, collect, store and paint. The last picture is one of our sites for a planter. Jed folks will know where this is. I'll blog many more posts to thank and acknowledge our collaborators as we go along.

Spring made a spectacular appearance over the weekend. Cool and misty in the early mornings giving way to clear blue skies and the much anticipated warmth of the sun. All graced by the silvery light of Lent. 

To make my art work for the Fallow Land project I've settled on two proper fallow fields. One of these, set aside for stubble that the birds can enjoy, is to be ploughed sometime in the spring so I got in quick and made the basic audio recordings I need. If they spare the field for a few more weeks I'll do some more recordings then hopefully get the pictures I want using long lenses and getting my eyes down to ground level which will involve lying down in the stubble in the early morning or evening. Dry weather would help. These are some pictures taken by me and others on the walks. You have to be here in person to appreciate the quality of the amazing light at this latitude but hopefully the photos give you a feel for what it's like.

I might have mentioned that a small group of us in Jedburgh were interested in growing food around the town. This conveniently falls within the social domain of the Fallow Land Project. Vegetable planters here and there that anyone can access when the plants are ready to pick.  Some call this guerrilla gardening (which would seem to be out of kilter in the Tory Borders) but we can look at it as enabling fallow communities to spring into life, an exploration of the fallow commons and so on. Our working title is Get Jed Fed.

Placing planters around the town seems to be feasible and straightforward. There’s strong support from the council and the community generally with no real objections as long as we apply common sense.

The other idea of reviving the herb garden at the site of Jedburgh’s Franciscan Friary isn’t going so well. What we wanted to do was plant some herbs in the existing quadrants, as close as possible to the original garden, and make the place more beautiful for citizens and visitors to enjoy. But because it’s an archaeological site there’s some confusion as to who’s responsible for the upkeep, who should be maintaining it and whether or not townspeople can have some agency in replanting and improving the site which is, to be frank, at the moment somewhere between a dog toilet and a skip. All above my pay grade but let’s see how things pans out over the weeks ahead. 

Here are some pictures of how things stand. The box hedge surrounding the herb quadrants is blighted and the fruit bushes at the back need attention. Above and beyond simple growing the whole site needs a lot of love. Some of the archaeological features have been vandalised and need replaced or repaired. The signage could be done with a facelift and the decking platform, which offers views of... the decking..., would benefit from being re-designed with more benches installed. A more welcoming entrance and it could be a very special place to sit and read a book or play your guitar in the fine weather. 

I’m going over different ideas for an eventual art work or works relating to the Fallow Land project and its themes. I’ve covered a lot of ground (literally), what with the art walks, my own walks and spending time in the field (again literally), looking, listening, thinking, exploring through all the senses, in both the mindful and the mindless modes. The other part is the social dimension which involves growing initiatives in the town and those are going very well. I’ll report on them next.

A few ideas are coming to the fore. Some of these involve recycling ideas and concepts that I've had bubbling away as part of previous investigations into Jedburgh and its hinterland. I had discussed with two of the farmers I know the possibility of making small signs to put on the gates of those fields along the paths where people walk the most, signs illustrating through symbols and/or words what’s going on in the fields. This might still happen and my own preference here is for some kind of ideograms that encapsulate the growing or function that the various fields are undergoing over a given period.

​From my neighbour Alfie Dodds who farms below Hunthill south of Jedburgh I have some wonderful descriptions of the fields in the area I’m investigating. One goes like this: Species-rich meadow used for grazing, cannot be ploughed without permission from Department. Presumably that’ll be the Department of Agriculture. I thought this was all about insects, maybe dragonflies, but what it means is that there are rare grasses in that field and somebody has considered it worthwhile to protect them. As you’d expect other descriptions are very functional, for example Permanent Grass will be left until July and cut for silage or, more detailed, Arable silage field under sown with grass. Will be ploughed out in Spring and re-sown with arable silage mix and grass. To be cut for winter fodder 2025. I especially love this one - Winter stubble scheme to encourage birds, will be ploughed and sown in Spring with Spring Barley, because it's a novelty to me that food growing involves feeding the birds. It all makes sense within a more holistic view of the food environment.

Out of all this I’ll be spending a lot more time in the spring, wallowing in the amazing milky light you get at this latitude. In and around these fields employing cameras, lenses, a bunch of objects and ‘stuff’ to make some short test films and staged photographs, probably in my performance mode as ‘Landowner’. Back to the ideograms I can see a place for those as objects, printed out or as linocuts, brought into the environment.

Sound is tricky and I say that as someone who works with the medium every day. The sounds in those high fields and woodlands can be undifferentiated, nuanced and subtle at the same time, not without interest but difficult to manipulate into an accessible art work. Until I adequately decode the soundscape my way round this problem is to represent the sounds visually or even sculpturally which I find fascinating.

Finally, alongside finding a place for the words and phrases that the farmers themselves use to describe places and processes, I'm considering some activity around sonograms, again linocuts or other prints. If you’re not sure what I mean by sonograms I should make it clear that I'm not doing pregnancy testing for cattle.

​After all that lot I might be able to make some decisions. 

The Fallow Land Project is one that obliges me to take my time, slow time, time for reflection and research over days, weeks and months. Without this temporal stretch I wouldn't be able to unearth meaning. Mining for meaning. Fallow is an interesting  signifier. It carries with it agricultural and ecological significance, metaphorical resonance in the biblical and spiritual spheres and, as I'm discovering, there's an important social meaning that emerges slowly when you start to work with people and form small communities around activities that connect us to the land and the food environment. 

I'm interested in how we can form small communities around food growing in the town - planting vegetables, siting planters around the public space and working with the council to recreate the historical herb garden in the Old Friary. The Jedburgh Artwalks already have the feel of a nascent community.

If they can be sustained these modest initiatives could and should transform social potential from a dormant state into a productive state, releasing creative energy and offering benefits to the individuals, the groups involved and the town. A side benefit, much needed in this slow small town, would be the establishment of a precedent in the cultural creative and community domains, a template that enables further development. That's where I am just now with the meaning of the word 'fallow'.

And what a great time we all had of it. A four mile circuit then refreshments and discussion in Jedburgh's Kenmore Hall. My neighbour Alan Dodds who farms locally had provided us with maps and information on what's going in the fields because nobody apart from farmers seem to know what goes on. I certainly don't. The species rich meadow, a variety of grasses just left to get on without disturbance, is a new one to me. The maps have helped greatly in informing our reflections on art in the environment more generally.