This spring in my garden (and all other areas of my life), has been totally dominated by the death of my best buddy Floss, who died at the Equinox. At 13 years old she’d been fading for several months and although her death wasn’t unexpected, the anticipated then actual grief of loosing her from my life has been huge. As a result some core things planned for the garden this spring including taking regular photos have happened late or not at all. Here are pics of some of the activities and events which have taken place. 

I’m excited to be participating in some great local events over the summer months.

‘Everyday Permaculture’,  my series of monthly two hour workshops at my neighbours, the brilliant Salts Works workshop space in Saltaire, West Yorks, continues on the third Saturday of each month 10-12pm .  ‘Everyday Permaculture - Climate Actions’  takes place on June 17th, ‘Everyday Permaculture - Designing Events on Saturday July 15th and Everyday Permaculture - Right Livelihoods on Saturday 19th August. For more details and how to book, click here 

It will be my second year hosting the work of 2 other artists alongside my own creative work as part of the super popular Saltaire Arts Trail - taking place over the late May Bank Holiday weekend 27th-29th May. People walk through the wildlife area of my garden to get to my edible gardening area and kitchen where work by Cameron Ling, Felicity Pockets  and my permaculture themed illustrations will be displayed.

This year for the first time I’m participating in Shipley Open Gardens for the first time - happening over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of June my permaculture inspired garden in Saltaire will be open from 1-5pm both days. I’ll be selling my zines, cards and prints from my kitchen, where vegan chai and flapjack and permaculture info will also be served! Through the weekend I’ll also be hosting work from one of the amazing ceramic artists at Hive Community Arts 

My Open Garden and June Everyday Permaculture workshop (both events as above) are also part of  ‘Shipley’s Great Big Green Week’, connecting to the national Great Big Green Week initiative 

And round the corner into September, I’ll be taking part in the Open Gardens weekend of the brilliant Saltaire Festival, which will be celebrating its 20th  birthday this year. Saltaire Festival takes place from 9th -17th September, the Open Gardens event is over the first weekend, Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th. 

I love this South facing wall in my edible garden so much - such a great example of using microclimates. 

Early January saw me sorting though my seeds to work out what I needed to order for the year ahead. It turns out, I don’t need to order any! Where do all these seeds come from!? 

Mulching raised beds and the wild garden ‘edge’ with a thick layer of leaves topped with woodchip supplied by a local tree surgeon. The soil along the wild garden edge is looking, smelling and feeling SO much better in terms of fertility and structure, now into its 3rd year of this winter mulching application.

Imbolc fire with my girl. 

Beautiful fungi 

Pruning back some of the larger baby trees in my wild garden edge, so that the more recently planted ones get enough space and light. I added these prunings to two different insect habitat areas.

Creating a new area for fallen leaves, including leaves from several of my neighbours’ gardens. 

Cutting down seed heads, (intentionally left standing over the winter for insect habitat) ready for new growth in spring. Tied the dried stalks complete with seed heads together and left upright so that the little critters can carry on snoozing until the days get lighter and warmer.

…..and to mark the start of 2023 growing season, I had a stall at my local Potato Day, 40 varieties of seed potatoes and lots of amazing people buying them and supporting the accompanying stalls and cafe too. I’ll be sowing my chilli seeds over the next few days. More details about this years growing in my next blog post. 

I’m excited to be facilitating a series of 11 workshops throughout 2023, about how to use permaculture design in everyday life situations and events.

The 2 hour monthly workshops are taking place at my brilliant neighbours, Salts Works in Saltaire, Bradford. Through relaxed information sharing, creativity and informal discussion, these workshops will enable  participants to explore how permaculture can be used to navigate everyday life in ways that connect with our values. Each workshop focuses on a different topic and is created to be enjoyed as a stand alone event or as part of the year long series.

Access 
Places are limited to 10 per booking. Salts Works is accessible for people using mobility aids, including wheelchairs. This includes an accessible toilet. There is also an accessible garden for anyone who needs a break from being indoors. 

COVID 19
Please feel free to wear a face covering/mask in the workshop, if this gives you the confidence to participate. People are asked not to attend if they have any symptoms of a new bug or virus. Cancellations for a full refund are available until 24 hours before the event.

Also 
Each workshop costs £20. The price include hot/cold drinks, vegan & gluten-free sweet goodies and a takeaway mini zine about the main themes of the workshop. 

Everyday Permaculture - An Introduction
Saturday 18th February 10.00 - 12.00

Everyday Permaculture - Edible Gardening
Saturday 18th March 10.00 - 12.00 

Everyday Permaculture - Health & Wellbeing 
Saturday 15th April 10.00 - 12.00

Everyday Permaculture - Wildlife Spaces
Saturday 20th May 10.00 - 12.00 

Everyday Permaculture - Climate Actions 
Saturday 17th June 10.00 - 12.00 

Everyday Permaculture - Designing Events  
Saturday 15th July 10.00 - 12.00

Everyday Permaculture - Right Livelihoods 
Saturday 19th August 10.00 - 12.00 

Everyday Permaculture - Caring For Others 
Saturday 15th September 10.00 - 12.00

Everyday Permaculture - Death, Dying & Bereavement 
Saturday 21st October 10.00 - 12.00

Everyday Permaculture - Winter Festivals Planning 
Saturday 18th November 10.00 - 12.00

Everyday Permaculture - Designing 2024
​Saturday 16th December 10.00 - 12.00

​Please feel free to email me if you have any questions about these workshops

I created the first version of this tool in 2013 after participating in Starhawk’s Earth Activist Training PDC (Permaculture Design Course) in California. Throughout the time there I gained knowledge and practice in connecting two of the most important areas of my life - Earth based spirituality and permaculture design. 

I asked myself - 

‘How can my spiritual self and practice inform my permaculture design work?’ 

In the years since, my Five Elements tool has evolved as my work as a permaculture practitioner & educator has progressed. This post is a basic outline of my own current tool, which can be used and developed in a way that works for other permaculture practitioners’ own style of designing. 

​In the North
​Midnight

As the designer, how can I remain grounded and focused while implementing the design?
Do I need to address the fertility of the project in order for healthy growth? 
How will the project within the design grow? 

​ In the South
Midday

How can I ensure that I balance my own energy needs as the designer?
How can I use my creativity as a core aspect of this design?
How is the sun or other aspects of fire, present in the design?
How will energy and transformation be directed in the design?

In the West
Sunset/Twilight

How can I ensure that my emotional wellbeing as a designer is a function of the design?
What are my key emotions about this design?
How is water present in the design?
How can I support the flow of this design? ​

For more information about the Five Elements, I can recommend the following resources 

Sacred Earth Celebrations - Glennie Kindred
The Fifth Sacred Thing (fiction) - Starhawk
The Earth Path - Starhawk 
Earth Pathways Diary

Here is a little update about events I am participating in over the next few weeks 

I’m so pleased to be participating in the above creative events this month, all of which are within a ten minute walk from my house. I’ll be selling my cards, prints and zines  along with permaculture books and other resources  by Graham Burnett, Pippa Chapman, Twigs Magazine and (free copies!) of Permaculture Magazine. As always I’ll also be happy to chat about most things permaculture related! 

Thriving With Principles is a design that Diploma apprentice, Kate Dickinson and I are collaborating on. Its a design about sharing and celebrating the voices, knowledge and experiences of permaculture designers using permaculture theory and practice to thrive while living with disabilities from chronic illness. We are at the stage of evaluating the first part of the design and are getting excited about where this will lead in the months ahead.  

Check out Kate’s Instagram space for more of their creativity and wisdom 

I’m really excited to be launching a range of ethically produced tote bags featuring some of my most popular illustrations as designs.  Check out my Teemill site for more details ​

The view of my edible garden (from my bedroom window), on the last day of October 

The last of my bean and courgette/squash harvest (supervised by Floss)

I mulched the raised bed left empty after the last of the squash and courgette harvest with the contents of one of my compost bins. 

….and then sowed phacelia as a green manure cover crop/mulch to remain in place until next spring. (The glass jar of marbles and water is an insect water station. I have several of these throughout my garden, as well as being good for insects and birds, they also look pretty. Aesthetics is a big function in my garden design, I love to create beautiful spaces). 

A week or so later, phacelia pushing its first leaves through the newly applied compost. (The orange peel is part of my cat deterrent strategy!) 

This winter I’m trialing growing leafy plants (kale, chard, oriental greens) and fennel seedlings under bubble wrap. The adjacent south facing stone wall is an additional heat sink to the recycled farm plastic waste raised beds. (My raised beds are from the brilliant British Recycled Plastic in Hebden Bridge)

The baby trees and hardy perennial herbage ground cover plants on the North facing small slope ‘edge’ between the urban meadow and busy main road,  are thriving after some autumn rain. This strip has been well mulched with wood chip and leaves for the past two winters and the soil fertility, water storage ability and depth has really improved. I gave several young trees struggling with the drought conditions of the summer a big water in August, but about 90% of the trees have managed without supplementary watering. I intend to add another layer of locally obtained wood chip mulch on top of this autumn’s leaves over the winter.   

I’ve been improving  and expanding the diverse areas of wildlife (mainly insect) habitat, including leaving about 10% of my urban meadow uncut. Last winter the uncut cow parsley flowers became the home of many ladybirds over the cold months. 

Its been great to see how many of the perennial wild flower and grasses seedling plugs I planted directly into the urban meadow in the early spring have established themselves, despite the very dry conditions over the summer. I planted the plugs into small areas of bare earth I had created by killing areas of regular lawn grass with wood chip mulch. 

I’ve created a zine about my garden, you can buy it from my shop right here 

Several of Alan’s friends are starting to plan an in-person event to gather and celebrate Alan’s life, probably in next Spring. I’ve created a list of ideas, incorporating different aspects of Alan’s life, to use as support for grief and celebration in the meantime.

(The text and images from this blog post are also available as a printable PDF here  )

​Colouring in - colouring books/cards with coloured pencils or pens. If you are someone who has a stash of colouring in tools, maybe rearrange them by colour, as Alan did.
​
Plant a tree, consider a fruit tree for added functions.

Plant tree seeds in pots for planting into the ground in years to come.

Support local creatives, by purchasing from them and/or sharing their work.

Spend time with a tree or trees who hold significance for you, reflect on Alan’s life and the connections you had with him.

Sing, dance, create, meditate, feast near trees.

Write a letter to Alan. Compost, bury or burn it. Grow food or a tree in the soil where the compost, letter or ash has been placed.

Start a practice of photographing patterns in nature, perhaps share these with friends either online or in person.

Start supporting a local, small business, practicing ethics similar to your own.

Visit a local independent café and eat cake.

Consider starting a new daily spiritual practice.

Bake bread.

Create a nature altar, either outside or indoors, include space for a candle to burn in connection with Alan.

Get involved with a local activism group creating regeneration for community and/or land.

Consider starting a local activism group for regenerative change.

Gather with others who know Alan, either in person or online. Share stories and memories of connection with Alan and his work.

Consider mentoring someone who is wanting to develop skills similar to your own.

Check in more frequently with friends who you know are struggling in some way.

Prioritise your own self care. (We can best support others and participate in activism, if we place our own holistic wellness at the centre of our lives.)

Practice self compassion on a regular basis.

Remember that online activism is just as important as in person activism.

Learn more about a particular tree. Its story, magic, science and significance.

Mark and celebrate solar and lunar cycles & festivals.

The above list is just some of my own ideas based on my experience of friendship with Alan. There might be some you don’t resonate with or agree with and that’s totally ok. Please feel free to create your own activities or adapt any of the above.

Just added to my online shop - cards and A4 prints of some of my recent illustrations.

​Plus my very first publicly available zine!