Our Story
“The land that feeds us” creates a synergy between human, animal and plant.
It is a socially engaged environmental art project that collaboratively explores an alternative food network. It aims at collectively reviving and celebrating the locale.
“The land that feeds us” is a creative investigation into increasing beef farming’s economical and societal viability through becoming environmentally and socially sustainable.
A cow brought up in a herd in Westmeath, fed solely on native grass and herbs on land that has not been ploughed, sprayed or artificially fertilised for decades, is butchered locally.
The community is gathering and cooking historical recipes for many cuts that are not typically eaten anymore today.
Come along to the community feast on the 6th of October 2023. It is free, more details here. The collected recipes are archived and can be found here.
The project is funded by Creative Ireland through the Westmeath County Council Arts Office.
The lead artist
Sophie von Maltzan is a socially engaged environmental artist, who lives in Moyvore and practices in Westmeath as well as in Dublin.
How it came about
Travelling between Westmeath and Dublin, Von Maltzan notes that farming is placed more and more out of sight, city and countryside become more decoupled, and that diets and recipes are not informed by history, tradition and locality but by what is available in the supermarkets, more and more money is made by the distributor and less by the producer
At the same time, the local knowledge and awareness for local circular economies using local produce is quickly.
“The land that feeds us” is a creative investigation into increasing beef farming’s economical and societal viability through becoming environmentally and socially sustainable.
A cow brought up in a herd in Westmeath, fed solely on native grass and herbs on land that has not been ploughed, sprayed or artificially fertilised for decades, is butchered locally.
The community is gathering and cooking historical recipes for many cuts that are not typically eaten anymore today.
Come along to the community feast on the 6th of October 2023. It is free, more details here. The collected recipes are archived and can be found here.
The project is funded by Creative Ireland through the Westmeath County Council Arts Office.
The lead artist
Sophie von Maltzan is a socially engaged environmental artist, who lives in Moyvore and practices in Westmeath as well as in Dublin.
How it came about
Travelling between Westmeath and Dublin, Von Maltzan notes that farming is placed more and more out of sight, city and countryside become more decoupled, and that diets and recipes are not informed by history, tradition and locality but by what is available in the supermarkets, more and more money is made by the distributor and less by the producer
At the same time, the local knowledge and awareness for local circular economies using local produce is quickly.
Therefore Von Maltzan and the project team believe that collecting, archiving, recreating, making visible and tightening the historical synergy between humans, the land and the animals is of imminent importance.
This connection is of environmental, societal and economical importance. In the short and hopefully also in the long term, we are seeking to connect the urban and the rural and the pasture and the street through a new principle of solidarity and circular economies that empowers the farming community.
