Welcome to all our tree friends - human and other! 🌲🍄🌳🐝🌸🦋
This newsletter feels like a milestone - we've reached double digits! 🤣 Whether you've been with us since the beginning or not, thank you.
As we look forward to Lammas or Lughnasadh and the first of the harvest, we are still enjoying the summer evenings here in Scotland although we are noticing the changes. This month we have been fortunate to have cool weather here and we’ve had rain so the ground is soft and yields underfoot again in some places … and we’ve enjoyed the sunny days when the butterflies are flitting about. However, our thoughts are with others elsewhere experiencing very different impacts in their weather.
The images above and below show rosebay willowherb blossom to summer cordial bottle, and the curious art of processing wild food foraged locally - the colour and taste is completely different from the last batch!
WellBEing in the Woods with Woodlands Breathing
Bookings for some of our events are now hosted via the Forest Bathing Finder platform - please check our guide profile (FBF). We hope you’ll find this platform easy to use, and would welcome comments of your experience, so any tweaks can be made.
Forest Bathing Finder was created by the daughter of a fellow ANFT Guide in the US and enables you to see who is guiding and where in the world - perhaps you might be curious to join another Guide when you travel to a new place or try an online walk with another Guide.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Group Experience - Gather In-Person
Location: Cashel Forest Trust, Balmaha, Loch Lomond
Saturday 26 August at 13:45 (3 hours approx.)
In collaboration with the Cashel Forest Trust, join us at the Cashel native wood near Balmaha, on the east side of Loch Lomond. Please book here - the investment includes a donation to support the work of Cashel Forest Trust and refreshments.
Location: Binning Wood, between North Berwick and East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland - bookings here. All events begin at 10:00 (180 minutes).
Friday 1 September - after the holidays, gift yourself some space and time to connect and thrive. Note change of day.
Friday 20 October - another month, another Friday.
Saturday 18 November - the final outing at Binning Wood for the year, back to Saturday.
Online VIRTUAL - Connect Digitally (90 minutes) - book via FBF link
Let’s connect online, walk together and share our land wherever we are on the planet. Let us know if you’d like to connect from a different time zone or day, that works better for you.
Wednesday 30 August at 17:30 - 19:00
Tuesday 10 October at 15:00 - 16:30 - for World Mental Health Day
Sunday 26 November at 14:30 - 16:00
Other Events / Special Occasions
If you would like to arrange a specially tailored experience with a group such as friends or colleagues - in-person or online, please get in contact to make arrangements.
The Honourable Harvest
If you know how to identify what you are collecting and are interested in wild food, you may add a little foraging to some of your walks at certain times of year. We have noticed some hidden gems in the wild raspberry bushes this summer - yummy, after a quick check you’re not about to eat something that was feasting on the berry! I’ve even spotted some monster brambles ripening this week - they have obviously enjoyed the rain.
As we head into a popular time of year for foraging, please remember to take only what you need for personal use. As Robin Wall Kimmerer suggests, we should collect an ‘honourable harvest’ and take more than we need. If we all do this, we can all be grateful for what the sun, the earth, the plants and the pollinators have helped to create as well as leaving enough for the local populations of wildlife to feed upon. After a fantastic display of hawthorn blossom in the spring, it looks like there will be a good crop of haws this autumn.
🌿 🌿 🌿
If you follow our social media, from time to time, you might see a few tree friends who have been acknowledged on our wanders - add your comments in response and feel free to share your tree beings if you wish (and if they have given their agreement).
Thank you for reading, and until the next time, enjoy the WoW factor (Wonders on Wanders) with your tree friends!
🌲🍄🌳🦋🐞🪷
Looking for Gift Inspirations?
Are you the giver of a gift with curiosity? If you would like to offer someone special a ‘wellBEing’ or ‘green spa’ experience, why not consider a Woodlands Breathing gift voucher? We can arrange a voucher for either an in-person or online experience, for one person or a group. We can also include a ‘wellness pack’ - for example, as a way for online participants to share tea together (UK only). Why not enable the recipient to learn a new practice to support their mental, physical and emotional wellness? You never know, it might become a present that offers more than you expect! If you’d like more details, please email us to discuss options.
