Behind the McBrayer tartan is the remarkable story of Tim Bruce Sanders and his family and what they are attempting to do on their farm in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in a remote corner of Kentucky. Their website is well worth a visit – www.indiancreeksettlement.com
From a fragment of ancient cloth in the archives of the Scottish Tartans Authority, International Tartans has been able to reproduce the McBrayer (McBrier) tartan in honour of their grandfather Ichabod McBrayer. The design will be used for labelling a wide range of local produce in the farm shop, and the cloth itself will be used by local craftworkers to make a range of hand-made tartan accessories for sale in the gift shop.
This unique social enterprise will be run in strict accordance with the ‘Land Ethic’ outlined by American environmental philosopher and naturalist Aldo Leopold:
”The Land Ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants and animals, or collectively, the land.”
Aldo Leopold was a professor of wildlife management who was pivotal in the designation of Gila National Forest in New Mexico in 1924 as America’s first national wilderness area. Leopold introduced the concept of this land ethic, arguing that humans should transform themselves from conquerors of nature into citizens of it. In this, he was extending the preservationist philosophy of John Muir (1838–1914), founder of the Sierra Club and known as the father of conservation. Without men such as these, there might not be a planet left to save today.
The McBRAYER Tartan
