Articles by Martino Newcombe

Since 1995 Martino Newcombe has managed a mixed smallholding in Galway in the west of Ireland as a wetland nature reserve. Keeping only horses there until 2022 when he introduced rare native breed cattle to mimic the actions of large herbivores. Creating piles of deadwood combined with introducing horned cattle and slowing surface water has resulted in an increase of various animal and plant species. The majority of his holding is locally called "riascach" which translates from Irish as ‘marshy’, which it is. Heeding the older generations’ inherent understanding of deep ecology is in his experience overlooked and undervalued, as oral cultures generally tend to be, along with the resilience that mixed smallholdings have in withstanding economic and climatic threats to food, fuel and biodiversity. His work has been in a wide range of environmental areas labouring in gardens, farms, construction and forestry. He has no formal farming education nor in forestry, where he logged with horses, which are still relevant in difficult terrain and environmentally sensitive areas. Anything he knows is from word of mouth and hands on experience from specialists, neighbours or family – his Italian mother’s family were mountain peasant sheep farmers who used oxen for draught work and his Irish father’s side labourers, smiths and horsemen.