KAT WOOD

Photographic series taken throughout The Shepherds' Residency, which is a part of the Neringa Forest Architecture programme at

@nidaartcolony

In August 2021, I became the shepherd for a flock of 30 Skudde sheep, this included daily grazing walks in dedicated forest areas.

The flock of sheep belong to artist Laura Garbštienė’s, her recent practice encompasses temporal art forms and reflections on natural phenomena, ecological awareness, domesticity, and the decline of rural life. Since 2013 Garbštienė has lived in Šklėriai, a small village near Dzūkija National Park, with a small herd of Skudde sheep, where she promotes spinning as an anti-capitalist movement to unite people from diverse cultural backgrounds. In 2017 she started Verpėjos (The Spinners) – an artist run initiative to research and discuss rural traditional lifestyle and nature preservation on a local and global scale.

The Shepherd’s Residency and Neringa Forest Architecture programmes are developed in collaboration with the Curonian Spit National Park, co-funded and organised as part of NERINGA - Lithuanian Capital of Culture 2021.

There are a limited number of meadows in the Curonian Spit, so they are particularly valuable. Floodplain meadows are important in order to preserve the uniqueness of the spit - the diversity of sand habitats.

Grobštas forest meadow is special. This small meadow, nestled between the forest, has a large variety of flowers, grasses and rare protected plant species. The flower meadows are also home a wide variety of insects and wildlife. However, if they aren’t maintained, they would soon overgrow with trees.

Lithuania is located in a mixed forest zone, where the forest has the most favourable conditions for growing, so open habitats become forests over time. Meadows remain meadows only if there are permanent factors in these areas of land that prevent woody plants from taking root.

Permanent pasture is the oldest and most natural way to preserve meadows and woodlands. During grazing, the animals do not allow them to overgrow with bushes, trees and spread to uncharacteristic plants.

Considering holistic grazing in relation to UK farming, if farmers mimicked the natural behaviour of herds and wildlife and the way they graze land, it could help them increase their grass productivity by up to 300% without expensive inputs and reverse climate change.

In holistic grazing within a farm environment, animals move from field to field, mirroring their natural herding behaviour. This gives the grass time to fully recover before being regrazed.

Leaving the grass to rest for longer periods builds resilience in the soil. More energy is harnessed from photosynthesis, creating a stronger and deeper root system. This improves water infiltration and storage capacity, reducing flooding as well as making the grass more drought-tolerant.