Our first ever International Connect to Nature Day took place on the 21st September 2014!
We loved it and lived it!
We'd been thinking on doing it for a while, so we decided to align it with the date of the Equinox (Autumn or Spring depending on where you live).
We'd dreamt of spending the weekend in a treehouse or some other equally cool dwelling in the countryside, and as if by magic we found ourselves staying a the cutest bothy ever!
We spent that morning creating sound maps, surrounded by the most beautiful garden and the end of summer sunshine.
Morwhenna tucked in to a nook in the middle of the garden, me by the pond and then high up above the garden near the woods.
Then after a leisurely lunch on the lawn- love that that sounds like we were in a period drama or in a page out of the Famous Five for a second there!- we headed off for an adventure to Wooplaw woods, the first community woodland established in Britain (in 1987) and the promise of seeing and playing in a TREEHOUSE! Yes please!
When we arrived we headed straight for the treehouse. As we climbed the ladder we spotted a fireman’s pole that we knew we'd have to have a go on later, and once inside the house we found a little birds nest tucked in the rafters! Gorgeous! All surrounded by Beech trees that sheltered us and the river on the other side.
After a little explore further along the path I had the intriguing experience of eating an uncooked nettle leaf for the first time. Catching the leaf from the underside just right, and pinching and folding in all sides of the leaf so that all the hypodermic needle-like stingers dispensed their poison without stinging me was a feat of trust. Nope no stings...and then into my mouth it went! Nope no stings there either! Wow!
Once that tingle of excitement was over and we had a play stepping across the stepping stones in the river, with Steph's little boy; Morwhenna, Steph and I decided that we were going to celebrate some more by decorating the nearby jetty with leaves, seedpods and grasses that we could find nearby.
We set to work, edging the jetty with a zig-zag pattern each of a different colour or pattern.
It was so much fun! And once you started looking there was so much variety!
When we were finished decorating the jetty we decided that we needed to become part of the art too. So we lay down and gave ourselves some leafy headdresses and garlands, like the goodesses that we are! ;) It was a giggle and straight faces were not on the agenda! Especially for me!
The light was getting low and we headed home, eager to share our days adventures with the lovely people from around the UK who had signed up to take part on our facebook group. Thank you so much if you were one of them!
It really was a perfect day to celebrate our first International Connect to Nature day and we hope that you can join us next year and make this a truly international experience. Date TBC :)
In the meantime we have our next Connect to Nature Course in April 2015 and more information will be on it's way over winter 2014/15 about our in-person workshops in the pipeline, which we hope to run in both Bristol and Edinburgh areas. Watch this space!
To hear more about how you can get involved with Connect to Nature courses and workshops, read my reflections and ruminations on living a curious life, and embracing living life connected to nature and how I can help you do the same, please sign up to my newsletter and you will get regular- but not too regular- emails full of wanders and wonders from me.
With warmth and wonder
Jaimie xx