Getting perspective from aerial views

Using my phone as a map on satellite aerial view driving around the West Country, the different shapes of the fields look like an interesting geometric upholstery fabric. I took a few screen shots as design inspiration. Later I compared those surreal images to a similar aerial one of my allotment in on Whitehawk Hill in Brighton.

My first thought was one of scale, habitat loss and the polar opposites food production. In the images of the fields you can see giant hay bales in vast fields. The bales are the same size as the makeshift sheds on the allotments. On one side, the straight, ordered tractor lines, on the other side, the wiggly thick grassy paths and hedges, the unpredictable shapes of raised beds, compost heaps, benches, piles of salvaged wood planks, cut flower areas and bathtub ponds. There is the barren toxic mono crop created by machinery for the masses and there is the diversity of food and habitat created by individuals for their families and friends in a social setting.

I really encourage everyone to grow as much fruit and veg, edible flowers and herbs in their out door space as they can. Get back in touch with the soil, see where your nutrition comes from, reap the rewards of sharing what you grow, create a little stopping point for bees and butterflies , make a refuge for you and wildlife. There are no prizes for guessing that allotments are an hugely important refuge for wildlife that can not possibly survive in the farm fields that are sprayed repeatedly and routinely with a cocktail of pesticides fungicides and fertilisers.