Way of life
The Silvasheep project (we call it an expedition) is developing a regenerative agroforestry system that unifies food security, farming and the environment.
Where we are going there will be more natural nutritious food, better soil health and biodiversity, and better than net zero emissions. We'll be guardians of the land using silvopasture and rotational silvoarable farming methods that will preserve forest and parkland, and plant new native trees, shrubs and cover crops to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and store in the soil. As well as helping to establish carbon pools, trees also serve to improve the health and wellbeing of farm animals with shade, shelter and diet, with knock-on improvement to the taste and quality of the food produced. Agroforestry systems can have a significant role in providing habitat for species of agricultural importance (e.g. pollinators and predators of pest species) and also conservation importance such as farmland birds.
Health
Silvasheep's main product is a natural strained yoghurt made with milk from sheep grazed outdoors in a silvopasture environment (grass fields with trees).
Ewe's milk presents a tasty nutritional and health-promoting food source due to its low sugar and high-mineral/protein content including A2 β-casein which is understood to be better for human digestion than other forms of milk that contain the A1 protein variety.
Silvopasture grazing allows us the opportunity to explore beneficial properties contained in certain species tree bark and leaves and whether these can be transferred to the milk to enhance nutritional benefits (see our Research).
Secondary agroforestry products include wool (for environmental use and clothing), meat, fruit, nuts, botanicals and timber.
Sense of place
"To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognised need of the human soul." Simone Weil
Anthropologists Steven Feld and Keith Basso have defined sense of place as the experiential and expressive ways places are known, imagined, yearned for, held, remembered, voiced and lived. Many factors in the modern world, including climate change, mean that cultures everywhere are threatened with losing their sense of place.
Each Silvasheep farm will preserve its own provenance so everything produced is perfectly suited to the unique character of that home land and the local community.
Every Silvasheep farm will be based on a circular production model with the aim of achieving zero waste. For example, the whey waste from yoghurt making may be combined with tree biomass to produce renewable energy biogas and electricity.