Chris Smaje

My writing - which encompasses academic publications, journalism and creative non-fiction - focuses upon the environmental challenges that we face today, and in particular upon the capacity of small scale farming systems to help tackle them through practical, social and spiritual means.

Copyright unfortunately precludes reproducing my articles here, but you can find some of my recent work in the following publications:

• ‘Genesis & J.Baird Callicott: the land ethic revisited’ Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (Vol.2, No.2, 2008: pp.183-198)

  This is an academic article about the orientation towards nature in the Judeo-Christian tradition, but it also sets out an ethic for modern small-scale farming which we attempt to live up to at Vallis Veg.

• ‘If you go down to the copse today’ Somerset Life (2008, Forthcoming)

  A look at the revival of the ancient woodland art of coppicing in Somerset.

• ‘So, just whose land is it anyway?’ The Countryman, (November 2007), pp.81-84.

  A light-hearted piece about being a country landowner, based on our experiences at Vallis Veg!

• ‘Planning a woodland’ Permaculture Magazine No.51 (Spring 2007), pp.47-8.

  An account of the woodland planting we undertook at Vallis Veg, focusing on the practicalities from a permaculture perspective.

• ‘A few acres in the country’ Permaculture Magazine No.50 (Winter 2006), pp.36-9.

  An account of the Vallis Veg project at a slightly earlier phase in its development which explains some of the permaculture design principles underlying our approach.

• ‘The watcher in the woods’ BBC Wildlife Magazine Vol.24, No.6 (June 2006), pp.54-5.

  This article describes a spooky encounter in the Canadian woods. It won the 2006 BBC Wildlife Magazine travel-writing competition.

• ‘Down on the farm’ Independent on Sunday (The Compact Traveller), 24 September 2006, pp.10-11.

  A travel-feature about eco-volunteering in Western Canada.