We left the woods in convoy and remarkably all ended up at the right place: our first stop Edge Noko, a new cafe restaurant in Ringsfield. 'We've arrived in Vietnam' observed Virginia. With a rich background in design and style, the Elders had some sharp scrutiny to observe on the menus and crockery. 'Never white… Continue reading Elders 12 – Elders outing to Ringsfield: Edge and Lil’s land
After precise measuring of chemicals by Kally, the magic began when we created our scarf pattens (those that enjoyed Tie Dye), using pegs, string or bends. The lid raised on the vat of Indigo, revealed the tell tale shimmer at the surface, and in Kally gently placed our works of art inside the blue liquid.… Continue reading Elders 11 – Dying with Indigo and Woad
Delicious bean burgers made by Kally, using black beans, marmite, oats. Homework was a melange of 3: Recipes, conditions for growing dye plants, or grasses. Emily bought in the sweetest smelling roses. Grasses and their seeds about to burst was our task of the day: happy families uniting grass with grass, and then giving them… Continue reading Elders 10 Bean burgers, post Linnaeus grass names
It was an intimate pleasure to hold a duck and chicken, bought to us this day by Claire. It came out of our letter to the other tribes when we said we'd like the animals to come to us too. Letters rock. We delved into the broad bean will all our senses. Gina shared the… Continue reading Elders 9 – Duck, chicken and broad bean song
The staunch and resistant elders rocked up in the summer rain, to be rewarded with such seed knowledge that we did not know existed. But first, we shared our own seeds: In some cases our children and grand children. In some cases our dogs. In some cases the seed that represented a change in one… Continue reading Elders 8 – Our seeds and Lil her bean seeds
The weather had changed, it was suddenly warm, and nicely cool in the wood for us to gather and recall the origins of the seed of ourself. Where were you conceived was the question we asked: My mother and father went ski-ing on their honey moon. My mother came back with a broken leg and… Continue reading Elders 7 – Seeds, our own, and natures
The stalwart rocked up today, the hardy came in their wellington boots. Over sweet potato soup Caroline found that her letter had been responded to, which asked the Elders if they remembered the war, and what stories they could relay to the Combo kids who came on Tuesdays. So we wrote a letter. Michael: "A… Continue reading Elders 6 – Tree party and snug in static
Tell us about Beltane we asked the Elders to come with today and full of spring energy they did exactly that. What revelations. Marianne bought in a beautiful nest, representing a circle, symbolic at Beltane, and the strongest community form. At the end all our questions were answered from the Witches Handbook, a handy resource,… Continue reading Elders 5 – Beltane and descendants, dyeing plants
We played with natural paint, shared sunshine, got out, birdsong, talked vintage, seedpods, looked at all the different seeds, yin yang like pea beans, and smelling a nutmeg. Saw fossils and crystals mined from the rock hard field. Caroline's fabulous notes:
We began with stories. Seeds and lovers and their letters. How one set of stored letters became a nest and food for a mouse family. How another was devastated that his letters (works of art, naturally) were cremated. We turned to homework, guessing the seed. Parsnip and apricot flummoxed us. A song warmed us up… Continue reading Elders 3 – seeds, shapes, hopes, manifestations
Kinda Elders in the woods 