Elders in the Woods – Week 1 – Kinda Elders in the woods

Led by Nicky, we began with a silence, listening to bird song, the still warm autumn sun coming through our parachute, a scent of fresh wood sap from the fire. We gathered. Some vintage (some vintage vintage) and some new, around the circle. There were 27 of us!

Nicky reminded us of the turning of the wheel of the year, this is Lamas, or Lughnasadh in Celtic. It’s the time of the year when the power of the sun begins to fade, and darker colder days are coming. Lugh the God of Light is celebrated, and he gives his name to Lughnasadh, the Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season.

It is the season of fruits, and this day we celebrated the Blackberry.

Apple and blackberry is my favourite
I remember picking blackberries on Mousehold heath and getting purple hands
Yes, i remember picking them on the Netherd, with Mary with her earphone hair, and crock stick to get the ones just out of reach
Black men, black berry, I’ve eaten the berry but not the man.
Fishing with my dad, we filled up our bowls while waiting for the fish to bite
Old michaelmas day 10 Octob er on this day Lucifer was expelled from heaven, thrown down and fell into a blackberry bush
Blackberry pips have been found in ancient bodies unearthed in archeological digs
In the Junior Oxford Dictionary, Blackberry is defined not as a fruit but a phone
Brambles are useful for forensic scientists, for detecting how long a body has been dead at a crime scene
They originated in Armenia.
Found in bog bodies.
Full of vitamin c, good for eye sight and curing Dysentery.
I had a black labrador who would put his mouth over a bunch of blackberries and draw away only the ripe ones
Blackberry Jelly is heaven
Blackberry flowers feed many butterflies (which one Virginia? you showed us an image later)
Yes, I too remember hocking the briars with a shepherds crock while blackberrying on the south downs with my mother, who had done the same with her mother.
A gang of us went where we were forbidden, and got scratched by the briar
Marianne read us a poem about blackberries: On the edge of the field gap, blackberries thrive
I remember blackberries at the bottom of the garden and gettiing scratched, then getting a sweet. With my one armed uncle, who someone said why aren’t you applauding?
Moving to a new place outside London and finding blackberries, a eurika moment
Leave the first for fairy folk or the pixies. Or if in Cornwall the first blackberries cure your warts
Not a true berry, but an agrigate fruit a Drupelet (drupelet (plural drupelets) (botany) One of the small drupe-like subdivisions which compose the outer layer of certain fruit such as blackberries or raspberries
I’ve only just moved to Halesworth and on my first walk along the Millenium green, I picked and ate blackberries.
Growing up as a child in Bungay Iwent to the fields and picked blackberries. Good for my mental health
Picking blackberries in Holton Pits. In 1989, (I was living in Hong Kong), we bought a piece of land from Lady Eve Balfour, founder of the Soil Association, who grew raspberries and blackberries, protected with huge nets. Theberton.
When I lived in Norwich along the Dereham Road, we’d walk into the fields beyond and pick blackberries
Don’t pick in October, the devil has urinated on them.
Picking blackberries in Hampshire
The largest commercial producer is Mexico
Everybody has written a poem on Blackberies
I remember blackberry picking with Bertie, he loved blackberry and apple
On my aunts farm blackberrying.
Best blackberries in Beccles around the Quay
Memories of picking blackberries with my grandmother, then taking them to sell at the shops
Elizabeth Grant has huge blackberries in her garden
We used blackberries to make fake bruises on our arms

Diana demonstrated her dyeing with Blackberry and blackberry leaf – a surprising yellow. Dove grey. Stained the bath!

After such a huge circle we moved, walked to the cabin and out to the field, where Virginia named the wild flowers. Rachel told us some of her plans: with Will they had designed a brief for the field, which she planned then to interpret with a map of the land.

Under the hornbeams we tapped. Some of us on each others backs. A wonderful tonic.

Back at base, we found goose feathers and blackberry ink, and decorated our name cookies, which had been cut by Pete and Chris.

Over tea, scones made by Diana with blackberry jam, naturally, we recounted the best part of our day