Rooted in the Borders: A Journey of Mindful Growth
From muck to rich compost, a journey of mindful growth. How a kitchen garden resists mass consumerism & uncovers true belonging.
Léonie Blaire-Cooper
114 posts
deFacto critic of the Border Lands
The Alchemy of the Demijohn: Slow Living in a Fast World
A 1960s recipe, a flash of Border rain, and vibrant rhubarb must fizzing atop the piano. Step into our slow-living kitchen.
The Gilded Tenants of the Desk: A Bitter-Sweet Summer with Common Carder Bees
Sharing my desk with carder bees means watching them use my window shelf as a runway to the garden—a beautiful, fleeting summer joy."
A Window in the Weather: Discovering Greenknowe Tower
Dodging the Borders rain to explore the 1581 Greenknowe Tower—where 16th-century history meets a modern climate conservation story.
The Amygdala Prison: Situational Enclosure, Betrayal Trauma, and the Double Binds of the Charity State
Locked in the amygdala? Discover how modern homeless services enforce bureaucratic subjugation and the biopolitical enclosure of the charity state.
TERFs in Exile: The Architecture of the Digital Enclave
The Green Party faces a calculated campaign: a modular, multi-litigant project to displace inclusive policy and dismantle human rights.
Concrete and Coil: Unpacking the Decline of the Klein Studio
The Bernat Klein studio: from modernist sanctuary to a site of defensive isolation. A clinical look at the architecture of neglect.
The Woodburn Rhubarb Patch: Crumble, Chutney, and Neighborly Gifts
From bitter medicine to backyard crumbles, country wine, and sharing the seasonal glut over the fence at Woodburn. Read our new post!
The Envelope of Light: Phenomenological Impressions from the Garden
Our garden is a room without walls, vaulted by an ever-changing celestial ceiling. Here, we inhabit an envelope of light where the sky dictates the rhythm of the day. Within these boundaries, we observe, we breathe, and we reclaim our sanctuary from the noise of the world beyond.
The Hauntology of Eight Quid: How a Cornish Pottery Set Found a Home in the Borders
From street homeless in a 2020 lockdown caravan, to a secure Borders home. An £8 vintage Cornish pottery set brings all my ghosts into one room.
Blood, Soil, and the Common Good: The Architecture of Border Hegemony
Leonie analyses the dynamics of belonging in the Scottish Borders, mapping the overlaps between micro-local patriotism and exclusionary nationalism to demonstrate how local heritage unintentionally codifies birthright privilege.
Toxic Village: The Spatial Policing of Belonging
Reflecting on the distinct challenges faced during a twenty-two-month residency in Ancrum, Léonie deconstructs the idyllic rural facade to reveal a 'Potemkin village'—an illusion of community that profoundly influenced her lived experience
Showing of 114 posts