“Wild is the music of autumnal winds / Amongst the faded woods.”
~William Wordsworth
On the Land:
A fabulous time for fungi, with an abundance of mushrooms emerging on the land, trees, stumps and dead wood are adorned with marvelous specimens of all kinds. Along with the wild ones, we have a growing crop of Oysters coming on nicely too!
Becoming soggy in places, we’re expecting another wet winter, so looking forward to marking out our raised areas and paths more closely, and continuing preparations for the tree planting and forest areas. We will be establishing chinampas in part of the research and demonstration area, so that we may explore further this resilient method for growing produce in a wetland area. Fun link below.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221009-the-return-of-aztec-floating-farms
Bridie’s Farm Forest School
We provide opportunities for children and young people to experience outdoor education on our land situated in Glastonbury. Home schoolers welcome. Come along and practice bushcraft, foraging, cooking on the fire, art and green woodwork skills. Through different seasons and weather we explore and learn about the natural world around us. There is also lots of time for having fun and playing games. Up to age 16 years.
We are inviting bookings for sessions commencing again in Spring. Please get in touch in the first instance with Name, Age, Gender of each child you wish to enrol.
Email: forest.school@bridiesfarm.org.uk
Volunteer News
Our Community Tuesday Volunteer group has been taking part in regular activities on the land since April and a whole host of tasks have been carried out including, construction of the tree nursery, installation of new fencing, hedgerow maintenance, compost bays, marking areas for polytunnels, tree planting, painting & construction of our new yurt plus our first public Open Day.
We are grateful to all volunteers who have already registered with us but always welcome more people and groups who would like to be involved.
At the end of October we had a thank you celebration in honour of everyone’s efforts and how far we’ve come together, with hot spiced juice and apple cake round the fire.
Thanks again to the Street and Walton Men’s Shed, who produced some marvelous habitat boxes for our birds, bats and hedgehogs. Enticed with the promise of cuppas and cake, the gang delivered to the farm, and brought apples too!
Our weekly sessions have come to a close until the springtime but we will be offering several tree events for you to be involved in over the winter season.
Samhain Thoughts:
We will be commencing a genius loci of the land very soon. This will entail identifying, interacting with and observing the kingdoms of mineral, plant, animal and human presence on the land, the impact they have on the land now and through the ages. Samhain thoughts highlight acknowledgement of the ancestors who were and are still present on the land from all the kingdoms. Corresponding to the genius loci we will be informed how the landscape is designed in context with which these are located. Conducting this research and seeking permission from the land to move forward feels essential for the integrity of the project.
Coming Up…
Bridie’s Farm Tree Prep Events – 12th and 26th November, Bridie’s Farm, Porchestall Drove.
Land Alive Conference – 22/23rd November, Bath & West Showground.
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Bridie’s Farm CIC is the company responsible for the delivery of the Glastonbury Food & Regenerative Farming Centre project.
