stephen_watts

I have made stone carvings with hand tools for the past 17yrs. I have carved around 20 sculptures to date and worked in a variety of stones. Most of the blocks I have carved have been off-cuts of rough blocks which have had flaws or cracks in. I am familiar with the process with the natural character. I have carved around 40 lettering pieces. I am really into Stonce sculpture grafitti - a true permenant mark to leave. I have studied a number of artists work particularly Barbara Hepworth’s work in detail, reading books and visiting her sculpture exhibitions through out my life – she is my major influence. To See more of my photos log onto www.myspace.com/maxsalad or see my facebook site.

I am interested in living in harmony with nature with only "basic essentials" ie what we need to live and be happy and healthy. I ahve been a food grower (soil guardian seem more a more fitting nowadays ) for 5 yrs. i have been interested in what it is that people really need to survive. in todays age of mass production, short term survival (consumer culture) has been brought to the level of "rising above" survival - "freedom" from the basic need to grow your own. we are all consumers. but i feel we are only just surviving and have lost how to live. Taking away a "survival Need" has made us require entertainment and stimulation to make us feel alive. I long to live life close to nature, on the edge where each day one celebrates the fact that we have food, our basic needs met, and we have one another.

Basically, what i would really like to learn is how to be a part of a community that is living sustainably on the earth, and hence learn the skills to set up my own community.

On one level people see it as "dropping out" but for me calling short sighted mass production "Progress" is truly dropping out. I really want to learn my past - what my ancestors did to survive and learn about there ways of life to give my own life more meaning. and help give me clear direction on how to live sustainably and happily on the earth. I want to walk the paths of my ancestors , and i feel deeply rooted to this land, this island. i feel indigenous spirit and i see it around me in glimpses in others faces and being. but so much of our roots have been lost and i feel we suffer for it. Where has the harvest celebration gone? I have never hunted but i am a hunter - i seek and i must find to survive. And in that finding there is a joy in recognition the "the universe provides". In Finding i am found. So the main reason why i want to go on the year course is simply to find myself.

I have now got to the point where all i have to buy (ie that which i cant grow ) is grains and pluses and fats - seeds and oils. I have been fruit and vegetable sufficient for a yr and a half, sourcing these from my allotments , which i am now guardian of 7. i also help others with there allotments, being a seed saver and enthusiastic grower with some experience. in this present abundance im spending about 3 quid a week on food. in the spring when stores get low ill be spending more like about 10£. I recycle all my body wastes back to the earth where i think and feel they belong, and have a passion for finding natural springs.

I have been into foraging for 5 yrs and my philosophy is - grow what you cant find. I have harvested lots of food from the wild, vegtables fruits, roots and grains, and have done small grain and seed growing production on my allotments - about 6 kg this yr of rye grain and about 7 kg of seeds - beans, peas, and squash seeds, saved. i love plants. growing them , saving them, being around them , eating them.

I am part of a collective called grow sheffield which deals with creating urban food growing landscapes, and have run a project called abundance for the past 2 yrs, harvesting surplus fruit from peoples gardens, and giving it away for free to people who dont get access to good fruit. ie homeless charities, assylum seekers etc. i have also led fruit tree pruning workshops and seed saving workshops. I have never had a formal job - i am a Stone Sculptor and food grower, not for selling the produce but for self suficiency, and social and theraputic benefit.

I am interested in sourcing all my needs locally, and believe that the healthiest, and therefor happiest, life, is one of interdependent coexistence, valuing peoples individuality and diversity of skills and knowledge, and sharing our wealth for the benefit of all. Self sufficiency is a myth. we recieve through giving, and give through recieving. I would like to seek out the wilderness in myself, to become aware of where my needs end and where the earths needs begin.

i am also interested in what it means to be truly human, how i can help myself grow, and in doing so, learn how helping others can be a form of helping ourselves. thats what i would like to do with any thing that i learn, is that i can then use those skills to help others to help themselves. And i deeply feel that one of our human purposes is to look after a small bit of land, live on it, cultivate it and care for it.

All these aspects of myself lead me firstly to want to find others out there who are seeking the same, and could teach me more, and also to see how i can find where i belong, socially and environmentally, wether that is urban or rural.

life seems worth so much more than just survival. at the moment i feel that most people are barely living. I see a desperate need for people to be educated, but more than that i feel that people need to feel loved. i feel happiest when i feel close to nature, - that which ties me back to fundamentals. People, plants , planet. this makes me feel loved by the universe.

I am interested in understanding what Growth is, and what part water has to play in growth. I have read books on biodynamics and have a small understanding of the basic principles of solar, lunar ,and cosmic planting cycles. i have also read victor shaubergers Nature as teacher, A Fertile Earth, and hidden energies. I am interested in the evolution of growth, - how growing grows.

i would like to explore how my own learning can benefit others I am deeply interested in learning about what it takes to survive, and what it is we truly need. I feel that the biggest challenges we face at the moment are inner relationship conflicts, between ourselves and one another. I feel that we need to do alot of work on this level (esp me!)

I have volunteered my skills ever since i left school. i have not been recieving job seekers alowance for nearly two years. i lived off just under 700£ from feb 07 to jan 08 and most of that money went on buying manure, gardening tools and a new bike, and replacement parts. I get housing benfit, and cover extra bills by selling home saved veg seeds, selling the odd bit of sculpture or lettering, giving wild food walks and talks. ( i have recently been really into eating snails! ;-)