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Tree planting, Basketry, Knitting & The Great Turning! - an update

HellooOoo!

My first blog post in MONTHS! It's been a turbulent time but a positive one. Thank you everybody for your emails. Thank you xxxx


The Land

Soooo... I'm working on a grant with the Forestry Commission to plant upwards of 6000 trees on our Exmoor land. That's around 4 hectares! It'll be on this piece of our land below, which is just crying out for it...


The regeneration area.

We need to think of a name for it, which is fun! Any ideas appreciated! Lots of work to be done but oh soooo satisfying. The Forestry Commission chap I've been dealing with is a top bloke, really helpful and positive. As are the Woodland Trust who are also helping us through the process.

All the trees will be native not only to Britain but to Exmoor. So It will be predominately Oak, with nursery trees like Birch and Devonian Aspen (hopefully!), Cherry and Ash. There will also be lots of shrubbage, Hawthorn (my fav!), hazel, Rowan and other bits and bobs. I also want to sprinkle wild flower seed, but that might not be possible or even necessary. So ridiculously excited about this!!



Baskets

I'm working on a basketry tutorial for someone elses blog! It's taking me an age because I'm keen to make it so that it can actually be followed. I decided to make the basket out of foraged materials from the land. I can't tell you how whole it made me feel. Do you remember the first time you sowed some seeds, grew some veg & then made a meal out of the harvest? Well, it was like that! Full circle, a dream come true!


My favourite basket so far. A Willow and Holly basket, made from foraged materials from our land in Exmoor. Woohooo!

Here's a Linen basket I made with a honeysuckle handle on it...


My second favourite basket so far. It was a sod to make though! :)



Music


I've got back into creating music in a big way. I can't believe I stopped singing for so long, if there's one thing I am it's a singer. So I'm putting up some of the bits I record on to MySpace. My page is: www.myspace.com/henweaves It's mostly covers but it's all just me mucking about!




Crafts


I've also been practising my knitting and I'm pleased to say I've knitted a proper hat, thats round and that fits my head!


The wool is handspun and naturally dyed. (not by me!)

I've also knitted a strawberry hat! It's only little though!


It might be little, but it's still a hat! :)





Twitter

I know Twitter isn't for everyone but I love it and have made strong bonds with lots of people I would never normally have met. I know most of you will love it too, especially those of you that use forums! My tweets are protected so you have to send me a request to see my tweets. If you're on twitter let me know and I'll pay you a visit! I'm @hen4!




Spiritual/Deep Ecology Stuff

I'm still studying Joanna Macy's work on The Great Turning. In order that I can run courses on the land to help us to remember what it means to be human.

There's nothing more important to me than to reconnect our awareness to our interconnection with all life. An awareness that is within all of us and that our mind already gives us flashes of insight to.

'I cannot be healed unless you are healed' Joanna Macy. We're in this together and I want to enable us to find our happiness together.

To give you an idea of what that means to me, have a look at this movie clip:

Joanna Macy from Chris Landry on Vimeo.



Well, there's so much more to fit into this blog post but I think I'll leave it at that! Suffice to say that life is as it should be & I'm working hard toward my dream.

Warmest hugs!

hen
xx

7 comments:

  1. Great video hen, thanks for showing it here :)
    That piece of land is going to look aMAZing when it's all planted, it looks pretty lovely already but it makes me happy to think there's people like you who are loving the earth in the way it deserves. Oh, and the hats are brilliant! :)xx

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  2. What a fab blog post!:) My hubby was only talking the other day about wishing he could buy a house with big grounds so he could create our own little woodland!:)
    Its one of his secret dreams too. How very exciting that you get to be part of a project like that!

    And I LOVE your baskets btw...
    And your hats!!

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  3. Fantastic blog post, Hen! So, so glad to hear from you.

    I can't wait to see your land with its new lease on life!

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  4. What an interesting blog post. I enjoyed seeing your baskets. Wonderful work! Your knit hats look lovely as well. I don't knit but I crochet. I admire your work.
    Nancy

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  5. welcome back to blogland hen, youve been away far too long!

    Leanne x

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  6. I'm delighted that you're creating, singing, planting and all the rest. May your dreams and desires come to fruition. An edge of Exmoor overlooks my home and garden, for my dreams did happen eventually, and I watch deer, walk there daily and sleep all the more soundly. With love, liZZie X

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  7. Hen!
    I totally missed that you did this post in November!! How wonderful to hear what you have been up to, sounds so perfect in every way!

    That linen basket is the most beautiful basket I have ever seen! Wow. Your basketry work is always so breathtaking to me.

    Everything you are doing is so beautiful in its own way. Keep following your dreams!

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