Do you like your medicine wild?

Then join us for a Wild Medicine Workshop with herbalist Jessie Martelhof on Sunday 22nd August at Saddlescombe Farm.

Jessie will be leading us on a gentle ramble around the hedgerows to learn about the medicinal properties of some of our native late summer plants such as Elderberries, Hawthorn berries and Nettle seeds. You will learn how you can safely identify and harvest these plants sustainably and you will get to make your own herbal remedy to take home.

Jessie is a qualified Medical Herbalist with a passion for native wild plant medicines that are available to everyone for free! She has a degree in Herbal medicine, she co-runs the Brighton Apothecary and offers health consultations in Fiveways. Website: www.gentle-medicine.co.uk

Booking is essential. Tickets cost £35 full price and £25 concessions and are available by clicking here

All profits go to supporting our charitable work.

Celebrate Solstice with Grow

We’re so delighted to announce that as things slowly come back to life, we’ll be restarting our popular monthly Natural Wellbeing days from June. And to kick things off in celebratory style we’ll be gathering together at Saddlescombe Farm for Summer Solstice - the time of year when we count our blessings, celebrate our achievements and each other - seems very apt for this year!

If you’d like to know more or to book then click here Natural Wellbeing — Growing wellbeing and see details of this and other events planned for this year.

Can’t wait to see you back out on the hills

Grow is springing to life!

Reconnecting with Grow this spring

Hello everyone, we hope you are enjoying the beauty of springtime and the chance to reconnect with nature and friends as the lockdown begins to ease. As it is now possible to meet in small groups together, Grow is starting to run in-person Reconnect sessions again. If you are interested then check out the information on those pages and get in touch. We’d love for you to join us.

Grow is on YouTube!

We’re also very happy to announce that Grow now has a YouTube channel! And to celebrate its launch, you can enjoy watching the “Hope Springs” video that some of you very kindly contributed images, videos and poems to. The video is a mini journey from wintertime to spring to capture the changing of the seasons. And what better time to release it than this moment as we experience a bit more freedom to spend time with others.

Please feel free to share the video with your friends and family :-)

Wishing you all a gentle and enriching time this spring.

Practice: Capturing autumn colour

Practice: Capturing autumn colour

Hello friends, we hope you’ve had a good week with plenty of time in nature. For this week’s practice, we invite you to look around you and capture some of the amazing colours on display as we journey deeper into autumn.

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

— Albert Camus

How can I join in with this practice?

For me, autumn is one of the most beautiful and magical times of the year. The colours on the trees are changing, the air is becoming crisp, and the sun begins to cast long, dramatic shadows as its arc sinks lower day by day.

Autumn is a unique and precious time of year to slow down and reconnect with the natural beauty around us, and that is exactly what this week’s practice helps you to do through the medium of autumn colour. So how does this practice work? Here’s some step-by-step guidance to get you on your way:

• First, gather whatever you’ll need to capture those beautiful colours — it might be a sketchpad and coloured pencils, some watercolours, a bag for collecting beautiful objects, or a camera (perhaps on your phone) for taking snaps (or indeed several of these!).

• Make your way mindfully and gently to a place where you like to enjoy nature — this might be your garden, a local park, or even a spot in your house where you can look out onto a natural space. Wherever it is, you can slow down a little to enjoy the journey — no need to hurry to get there.

When you arrive, take a few minutes to either sit or stand and feel your body, your feet on the ground, and the cool air on your skin. It might help to close your eyes to tune into the sensations fully.

• Now, begin to look around you and explore what’s there — What grabs your attention? Where do your eyes and your feet want to take you? Begin to slowly explore what’s around you, taking time to soak in the details of what’s around you — the leaves, the branches, the berries, the tiny objects on the ground, or whatever else draws you.

• Allow yourself to fully enter a space of wonder — if it helps, you can imagine yourself as a child playing in nature. What treasures can you see? Spend as long as you like amusing yourself this way! Capturing this wonder is precious already.

“All the wonders of life are already here. They’re calling you. If you can listen to them, you will be able to stop running.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

• When you feel ready, prepare whatever you brought with you to begin capturing some of this beauty for your own and other’s enjoyment later.

• Now, find the beauty that calls you and capture away! Start drawing, painting, collecting, photographing, or whatever else you have chosen to do. Engaging with how to really bring out the beauty in what you see creatively can be a rich and rewarding experience in itself.

• After you’ve finished capturing, take some moments to appreciate your experience. again to feel your feet on the ground and the air on your skin. Look at whatever you’ve created or see it in your mind’s eye. Experience those colours again and know that they are captured inside you as well as on the page, phone, or other medium.

Share the beauty you capture with others!

There are so many amazing forms and colors out there waiting to be captured — what will you find? We’d love for you to share your stories, photos, artwork, or anything else inspired by this week’s practice with us on Facebook or Instagram!

Remember to wrap up warm and wishing you much joy capturing the colours of autumn.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

— Lao Tzu