Samhain, when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and our conscious thoughts turn to our ancestors, those who have gone before us, those in our family or friends or animals we have lived amongst and are no longer with us. Thanks to the Pear Tree (Michelle Cheesbrough) who collaborated… Continue reading Elders 7 – Samhain
Words
Preparing for Samhain next weekend, we began our circle with a story of an ancestor, and around the circle arrived our beginning thoughts of who we would invite this Samhain to join with us, feast with us, be with us, and then invite them to leave. Grandparents were popular, a great grandmother included: John Gay… Continue reading Elders 6 – Planting bulbs and Samhain prepations
Here's our mycellium mind: Fly agaric under a birch - does it particularly like birch (yes, says Neil) How old does fungi get? How many days does the fruiting body fruit? Over the bridge at Hevingham Hall are hundreds of puff balls Chicken in the wood I'd always wanted to find, then a workman came… Continue reading Elders 5 – Fungi with Neil Mahler
We almost went home - no one came, except a spot of rain. We tried and liked the butternut soup, with a little kick. Then a car, and before you could say Squash, we had a gaggle of friends huddling around the fire, firing on all cylinders with ideas. Emily had located amongst her bookshelf… Continue reading Elders 4 – Squash
A surprisingly large number of elders gathered this week, warmed by fire, sun and the social glow of circling together with old and new friends. We shared dance moves and words that described how we felt. Several of us drew with sticky berry’d treasure inks and some sat noticing how calm kaliwoods was, the trees… Continue reading Elders 3 – hip and apple
Setpember 2024: Because of finding so many galls last week (between an pedunculate and Turkey Oak) we dedicated this day to galls and making gall ink. But Emily had anticipated, and bought along her home made gall ink, complete with rusty nail. We made our own gall ink from scratch: On the dissection table we… Continue reading Elders 2 – Galls
As close as we’ve ever got to the actual equinox, this felt like a really special time to be in the woods with our fabulous forest family. A full harvest moon 3 days ago and a super moon at that, autumn officially begins tomorrow in my diary but today felt like a day of soft warm… Continue reading Forest Family Saturday Sep 21st 2024
We gathered for the first day of term, some new some vintage, and collected in the basket our words for the changing season, and seasonal recipes for our book. Apple and blackberry, crumble and pie, we longed for quince. We went out to see how the land had changed. Stopping by an oak tree, we… Continue reading Elders 1 – words, recipes and the human fruit machine
We gathered, for the last time in this set of 8, reflecting on the past weeks. Joining us was Kevin and Jo from the Pear Tree Trust, and Guy - all the way from Norwich, and by surprise Dean the poet in search of the word Squishy. In our traditional circle go round, some were… Continue reading Elders Week 1/9 – January Stories
Kinda Elders in the woods 