The Wild Circle

Ready for the Open Day here tomorrow, a small celebration of Ash trees. The Red Ash circle is up, for the first time, the pinhole photos are hanging in the yurt. There will be some assorted spoonware too, storytelling, making story sticks and Nature walks and cake and coffee to raise some money for the local wildlife and Conservation Group.
Hope to see some of you there. From 11- 4 at Sunnybank, St Breward, PL304LP .Very limited parking please park in the village and walk .

Looking forward to our Open Day on the 29th June for an Ash Tree themed day with an exhibition of pinhole photographs, and the ongoing Red Ash Project - which involves painting 100 ash trees and stems felled as a consequence of ash die back.
The open day is An opportunity to get involved or come along for some tree talk with story telling, a steam bending demo and cake and coffees. It is free and all ages are welcome.
29th June from 11-4pm
The trees were planted in the year 2000 as a coppice to generate poles for the yurt making business and other greenwood crafts. In 2021 they were hit by ash dieback and we started to look for other ways of using the wood apart from firewood. This project is a celebration of Ash Trees as they slowly disappear from our woods and hedgerows.

Invitation to our Open Day on the 29th June for an Ash Tree themed day with an exhibition of pinhole photographs , and the ongoing Red Ash Project - painting 100 ash trees affected by ash die back.
The trees were planted in the year 2000 as a coppice to generate poles for the yurt making business and other greenwood crafts. In 2021 they were hit by ash dieback and we started to look for other ways of using the wood apart from firewood. This project is a celebration of Ash Trees as they slowly disappear from our woods and hedgerows. The open day is An opportunity to get involved or come along for some tree talk with story telling, cake and other local conservation updates. It is free and all ages are welcome.

Another great day with Lokervya peeling ash poles for an ongoing project to celebrate Ash Trees. There is still some way to go but Thanks to and - only another 50 to go.
Once they are dry they will all be painted - if you would like to get involved DM me.

Some lovely pictures from the recent Pleasure Birthright Womens Retreat here in June, with and . Looking forward to the Mens Retreat they will be offering here in September - more details to follow soon.

One of the side shoots from the wonderful Pleasure Birthright Womens Retreat last weekend with and are these Pelvic Steam Stools or Womb stools or Yoni stools. HandMade here in the workshops from local larch and Ash. Finished in walnut oil. Available to order in the Wild Circle shop. photos

Coming towards the end of a Wonderful pottery course - Dig, Make, Fire - with and Hannah Lawrence, using clay dug from the Lizard Peninsula . To work like this - tracing the materials to a particular place, exploring natural glazes, tracing the history of the clays had been a rare and special opportunity.
The first picture is an unfired bowl, hand built / coiled not turned, the second pic from a few weeks ago, is my first pot since leaving school many moons ago.

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Inspired by .finberg recent Bowl Carving Course here I carved my first kuksa, a Scandinavian cup, out of piece of birch a friend gave me.
I recently found out that maybe one of the reasons the Scandinavians have have such a rich and lively wood culture is that they don’t have much clay to make pots, bowls or cups.

Back in the pottery studio at CAST in Helston today working with Gabbro clay from the Lizard. The clay was formed around 12 million years ago from rocks formed 400 million years ago .
It’s both bewildering and wonderful to be working with such deep time on a bench in a brightly lit room like this.
It’s also unusual for me to step outside my usual roles and learn some new stuff and work with clay , something I last did in the deep time of my increasingly unreliable memory. Gabbro clay was held with special value and used across England 4 000 years ago in preference to other clays, many theories exist as to why this is but nobody can be certain what is special about this particular clay.

Happy Beltane. This was Daisy as a May queen with her garland of Hawthorn a couple of years ago. She was an orphaned calf and had four different owners in her first year before she came to us. Always a part of the family she was just at home with her human herd as with her cow herd. She died a few weeks ago very peacefully on the brake .

Soil health is so vital especially up here where the soil is shallow and acidic- We haven’t used artificial fertilisers for many years and instead spread well rotted cow dung over the fields. We’ve done this many times by hand but this year we went fully mechanised with a mini digger and tractor combo.

Great first day on a Dig, Make Fire course digging Gabbro clay on the Lizard with . Picking out the stones and roots and leaving to dry for a week. Learning and seeing where the materials lie in the earth and making things from the ground up is a privilege and such an important part of the story of handmade stuff that is easily overlooked in this prepacked processed age. Looking forward to the next stage .

Some pictures from our recent Bowl carving weekend. Very lovely bunch of people, good food, and great teaching with .finberg in the company of trees. A Perfect way to spend a long weekend.

Buds of a small leaved lime. I planted a lime tree circle a few years ago. They are not common in these parts but they like the soil here and are growing well. Lime is a beautiful tree but is not included in versions of the Celtic Tree Ogham which is odd as I suspect it would had a close relationship with our human ancestors. It feels important to think outside some of these traditions and rediscover our own responses to the plants and trees around us.

This is Wendell and Berry, after the American farmer, poet, novelist and activist and someone who has inspired what we do here. There are different stories to be told about farming that are not about the industrial scale we are familiar with and Wendell Berry has been one of the most eloquent voices in that movement. It’s a big name for two young calves to carry between them but their Dad was named after the Roman emperor Nero, so it felt like a different story needed to be told.

Last sunlight on the moor as the Snow moon rises.

Looking up through alder trees down by the river. I like to explore my own relationship with trees but according to a version of the Celtic Tree Ogham, the alder is a tree of January. Easily overlooked, the purple buds this time of year help it stand out. It Is tree often with its roots in watery, damp places, but it’s wood burns the hottest charcoal and it’s branches carry male and female catkins. Alder bring together fire and water, masculine and feminine and offers a bridge between the two at a time of year when the first shoots are stirring.

Beautiful light and rainbows between the showers. Exploring new woodlands, and slowly catching up with the new year. Dates for our next Trees retreat will be posted soon.

Happy solstice everyone.

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Sunrise this morning over the moor.

Looking forward to this weekend workshop with Alex Finnberg at the beginning of October. Fully catered, immersive weekend on the edge of the Cornish moors. Ideal for beginners and intermediate carvers and a great introduction to the Wild Circle.

Just back from the beautiful Buddhafield Festival. Plenty of inspiring conversations , workshops, company and cake. Thankyou to everyone who visited the Wild Circle yurt and the Circle workshop. festival

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Some lovely pictures from the Wild Dreams retreat last weekend with . A wonderfully radical approach to our dream lives , supporting change and resilience in our waking lives. So useful snd much needed. a lovely bunch of people bringing curiosity and generosity to the fire circle. a Big Thankyou to Jacqui for all her amazing work and to for keeping the hearth and kitchen and to Kirsty for the qigong and for all the beautiful pictures💚🙏🌱

Sounds like a great film. "All that Breathes " - the title of the film is more subtle than the review headline.

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