Laurie King is a crofter, researcher and artist, based on the Isle of Eigg.
Laurie is passionate about the environment and the way people relate to it. For her PhD at Cardiff University, she explored the practices of foraging and conservation in the UK. Her research investigated the idea that foraging, as an ethos, could encourage people to see themselves as part of a multi-species collective. She is a keen forager herself and loves talking to people about their own foraging practices.
Previously, she studied Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews and has an MA in Food Policy from City, University of London, which she completed part time while working for an organic farm as a community worker. For her masters she examined local and traditional food practices on the Shetland Islands. Her research interests have also extended into freelance journalism and she has written features for magazines such as Resurgence and Ecologist, Sustainable Food Trust, STIR to Action and Bristol Cable on topics such as land access and rights, sustainable food projects and local businesses trying to make a difference. She has also co-edited a volume of stories and poems about nature connection and adventure with the explorer Miriam Lancewood.
Laurie now lives on a croft with her partner, chickens and a cat, where she grows vegetables and looks after the many trees they have planted. Her creative practice involves foraging and making inks and prints from plants on Eigg. She also runs creative retreats on the island and works as an Early Years Practitioner. She loves living on Eigg as she feels it is a place where she can live in accordance with her values around land, community and the environment.
