Paludicultural Biomass

From the Fens, With the Fens, For the Fens

‘From the Fens, With the Fens, For the Fens’ is a place-based regenerative design project that takes potential native crops from an alternative farming system, known as paludiculture, and turns them into paper. The materials investigated include common reed (phragmites australis), soft rush (juncus effusus) and a mix of sedges (carex sp.).

The Fens are a landscape of low-lying peat soils in East Anglia that are experiencing peat degradation. Areas of farmland with drained peat in the region may be suitable for a wetter method of farming known as paludiculture. Paludiculture is the practice of farming on rewetted peat, with an elevated water table closer to the ground’s surface. It has the potential to reduce the degradation of peat soils and CO₂ emissions whilst still cultivating the land and supporting wetland biodiversity. Although a lot about paludiculture is very unknown as the system hasn’t been implemented in the UK at farm level yet, it’s an opportunity to increase the diversity of habitats in a landscape that has historically been drained which is likely to benefit biodiversity. It’s also a way we can support wetland species by mimicking aspects of a natural fen and bring back habitat-characteristic species. The practice is very much in its infancy in the UK and many of the crops associated with paludiculture are yet to be explored for their material potential.

Paper making was chosen as a direction due to its ability to scale up alongside the supply of materials as paludiculture transitions from theory to reality. Artefacts were then made out of the paper to imagine futures where people, species, locality and paludiculture all collide.

Making process

To collect biomass, common reed and sedge was foraged for along the banks of the River Cam which connects the city of Cambridge to the Fens. In collaboration with the Great Fen project, soft rush also was harvested by hand which had encroached onto their paludicultural trial site, initially being perceived as a weed and proving to be particularly resilient.

Batches of each plant were cut down to approximately 3cm in length and cooked in water for several hours, initially with soda ash but then switching to trial wood ash to break down the lignin. Once the cooked fibres had cooled, they were rinsed until the water ran clear. The fibres were then beaten down in a blender with water to produce a pulp. More water was added into a vat with the pulp and mixed, so it was evenly suspended in the mixture. A mould and deckle was used to pull up sheets of paper, which were then dried flat in the sun. Leftover water from the vat was returned to the garden to support the surrounding living systems.

Formers and moulds were used to give the paper 3D forms as it dried. Other production process investigated included the archaic process of making pasteboard. Pasteboard involves applying a paste made from flour and water in between layers of wet paper. The layers of paper are compressed whilst they dry to produce a rigid board, historically used in making decorative goods for japanning like tea trays.

Recycled paper pulp was added to some batches of alternative fibres (typically 67% paper and 33% alternative fibre) which produced a more stable paper blend and is more in line with industrial methods.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.