life all around me

had a blissful hour at my chill out zone earlier today. it was a warm day, a mix of high clouds and sun. the green has taken over! the grasses are tall, brambles everywhere. i carefully wound a way through the wood and arrived at my nature place. I quickly relaxed. I stood gazing out over the scenery. birds chatted and warbled, i saw wrens, blackbirds and the odd pigeon flying over. my blackcurrants are slowly ripening and i look forward to eating them, no pesticides, just pure healthy fruit! the rabbits have been and nibbled all the leaves off two of my tiny trees! but not much i can do about that, however, i weed around my prime bushes, hoping that they would smell this and keep away thinking some mad predator was in the zone! lol! (the things guerilla gardeners have to do). I meditated on nature getting on with it all around me, the bees filling up with nectar, the birds, a giant caterpillar which i almost trod on!!! there is so much life here, so many species of plant and tree, of grass and weed. It is a mini paradise!it got me thinking, all these species are doing their things, what about me? well, my interactions with the place have altered it, freed up space here, changed the dynamics there. I reaally think my precence has been beneficial on the area!

the need for peace

If I am honest, i am finding it all very mad at the moment. as i was en-route to my nature refuge earlier these thoughts were ruminating in my head! what do i want? peace i think...but maybe in humans of a certain temperament the points at which they interact with the world become too 'hot' or sensitive, or overloaded....then a point is reached where 'everything' is too much...sometimes in this state the whole structure seems brittle and in danger of collapse of some sort. hence, the need for peace. a retreat. the world seems too mad so a retreat is sought....well, i have been going to my nature place for years now...and earlier i just lay back...smelled the scent of blossoms in the air...watched the gnats weaving in the air...without thought, without reflection.just lay back and soaked up the earth energy...it is pure...it is what i need right now. peace to all, and thanks for reading.

Moving with the green gods

Ahhhhhhhh, its back again....at its best..green, and strong, and vital, and lively! no wonder we used to dance around maypoles and make love out in he fields in latter days! Its early May! nature is totally medicinal....i have visited my secret nature place a few times lately and the place is hidden again as the leaves are out on all the trees. this year, i am viewing the place anew. i know it so well yet can still be amazed in many ways on every visit. for example....at least 80 berries are forming on my 4 yr old blackcurrant bush. ......my mountain ash sapling is now exactly my height! (nurtured from seedling!)i have noticed many new horse chestnut trees growing in he vicinity (dropped by squirrels i think)watching with wonder the way the ones growing in shadier places have more spread out leaves at he top, to maximise sunlight! everywhere it flows, this seemingly effortless natural intelligence. an area is cleared slightly, thus enabling a flush of life for one of the species...they come and go...flourish and retreat...a game, a dance....but it varies, experiments, flows....and works damn well. we can, of course, learn from it...we need to....if we do, we get happier...we get freer...we start to see and feel real magic....the magic of flow...balance....not to win the lottery or attract loads of money, but to be free, vital and ever evolving! peace and love, and early may vibes be with u all:)

its a joy

its a joy to be out and about at this time of year, to springboard out of the compressed madness of the winter and grow once again, in rhythym with the blooming of nature. I sauntered onto the golf course the other day, the air was warm and the buds were out, i reached the meadow and crossed to my place. there is a lot of railway work going on and the workers had been clearing trees and scrub and chucked it over the fence into the wild area...i dont mind as i can use the wood! i will take a saw next time and claim the branches to expand my plot in some form or another. soon, the leaves will be out and the place will be obscured fully once more, but for now one can see thru (just) and if they peered hard enough would make out (maybe) my shelter. but hey would have to 'know' something was there i think. it just blends in so well!! anyway, upon reaching the zone, i got out my large plant pot and sat and chilled under the moving clouds and the blue, just allowing nature in, to blend with me and my energies....ahhh, the bliss and the peace. hen, after an hour of chilling, back to the golf course and home....naure medicine, spring medicine, having done their job. till next time.....

up to date pic

this is the nature shelter as it is today...as u can see its very muddy!

muddy fun

The last two visits have been muddy affairs. in fact, that reminds me, i have a pair of jeans still in my car boot that were once blue, now clay brown! Its sodden wet everywhere in the uk at the moment. the river is high, the footpaths like the somme, the golf course flooded. So i walked the wet, deserted greens, finding some large fir branches that had been blown down in the recent winds. I picked one up and entered the slippery wet slope of the wood. Much huffing and puffing later, many splinters and breaks i reached the shelter where i sawed off various bits of the branch and layed them in place. I then went back for another. this one was even bigger. i slid all over the place nearly twisting my leg off on a slope, but i made it. After an hour or two of slopping wet clay over the bits that needed building up i sat on my plantpot and relaxed. The air was fresh. drips were dripping everywhere off trees and bushes. it began o rain again. i didnt mind, just sat there getting wet .then i heard voices. down below, groundsmen were doing drainage work! damn! i was stranded. the lack of foliage would make me visible if i sood up and moved about so i resorted to 'sniping' along the wet ground, over humps, hollows, branches, wet grass...i made it, but i was filthy. i reached the footpath and felt really fit and wild! then back into civilisation for a cup of tea and a warm!

We Have Fire!

Momentous day today! i spotted the heavy rusty old chiminea in the garden earlier and thought..lets go for it! I have made a lot of headway lately with he shelter..as i said in an earlier post, i was not on some mad mission to complete it all in a week or two, it has evolved slowly over years...an organic dreamed up creation! I had planned for a while to install my old stove into it and the time was right. I lugged it to the car and drove it over to my sisters house. Running in to tell my news i enlised the help of my nephew Lewis. We donned wellies and carried the old stove down the path to the golf course. We had a window of opportunity to cross so i picked up the heavy thing and ran the greens. lewis said 'how did u run carryin that?' 'adrenaline' i replied. We climbed tthe wooded slope, over the meadow , up the next slope and to the clearing. Lewis was amazed at the progress of the shelter. he had no been for some time. Next, i dragged the chiminea into the shelter, forcing it through the lower part of the stick/mud/clay/straw, so the chimney was poking out, then i stacked clay around it so as not to burn the shelter down. Taking some paper out of my pocket and gathering a few twigs i excitedly lit the first fire! It was an amazing sight seeing the smoke coming out of t

he chimney!

getting better

The shelter is really coming along now. I have been helped by the recent weeks of rain that has made really soggy all the clay based mud that i have dug out in order to make the structure. I have become more skilled in its application too. The recent bits are far superior to the older parts...I have been making really effective wattle and daub from the wet clay/mud, straw and leaves and applying it over the weaved willow like a thick paste. This will eventually harden and it will be weatherproof.I am planning to cover the interior floor in clay as well, and when dried out from a few chiminea fires it will be spot on! then i can start the meditation properly. I meditate outside in the clearing often but i think that when completed, the dark and smoky interior of the shelter will take me to new realms and deeper depths of peace and visionry!

the main problem i have now though is the approach path. with me tramping back and forth over wet ground the path from the wood makes a beeline for my clearing, and although most would be put off by a steep slippy path bent in half under hawthorn trees it is still obvious that something is going on behind all the underrowth..too big for a fox track. I will have to hope that the golfers or groundsmen don't feel like exploring off bounds! prob safe at the mo, but will have to alter the approach, plant a few trees, make it a bit harder to see. Come spring, all will be well again, but this is the danger time around now. anyway, fingers crossed, i would be gutted if it was found now!

my son

As my son has accompanied me to the nature place lately i incorporated it into his bedtime story earlier. this is how it went....25 years from now, you are driving to see your cousin Lewis and his kids. You have your own 6 yr old in the back. You are excited because you are taking him to the nature place for the first time.You park up and call in . Lewis and his so join you and you all head down the familiar path to the golfcourse. No one around you run across the links and up through the wood, through a different path that you know now. It is familiar yet different the scene in front of you.The fir tree atop the high meadow is stretching up into the sky, thick and luxurious. You remember when it was small and say to your son 'your grandad planted that before i was born'.heading up into the upper bit, under he hawthorn trees and into the clearing. The shelter is still there but chaned. It has a small door on the outside and inside wooden floor and matting.the chiminea is there, blackened with use and pots ans pans hang up on hooks. a small wooden bed and a chair are there. candles. an antique paraffin lamp. you watch your sons eyes widen. 'wow' he says. suddenly grandad appears..he is 67 now, with a lined yet happy face. he brings in some kindling and lights a small fire on which a kettle of water is set to boil. While its boiling you show your son around. The pond is a haven of life, generations of frogs call it their home. Birds wash in it. the ground is hardened from years of walking on...and the early evening sun falls from the west where the gap in the trees allows a view of the distant mountains. All the trees have grown up. the fruit bushes are massive, and grandad picks off a juicy blackcurrant to give to your son. All these years it has remained hidden. an oasis. an inaccessible place. a place of vision, for those with vision. Only a few people have been here, trusted friends, poets, musicians, all to relax and soak up the vibes. Your son asks 'can i stay the night'...'one day son yes, when you are a little bigger'.....

progress made

I haven't posted for a while so thought I would give an update on the progress of the secret nature shrine. It is still there and still undiscovered. However, the recent few months visits have made very visible a definite path leading up through the wood, across the lower meadow, up a slope and under low hanging trees to the site. in the spring i will use the othere route and let this one grow over so as to keep it hidden.I am considering replanting one of my 'planted' fir trees on this path so in time it will form a barrier . i mix and match the paths, altering them and obscuring them and am ably helped by nature in this. however, at this time of year not much grows so its more difficult. but its not accessible from a public path, and i can'tt see many golfers being inquisitive to the extent of traipsing up a muddy path into a dark and undergrowth filled wood! the last few visits have been to do more work to the shelter itself...adding straw and cutting thin slices of clay out of the ground to act as tiles..its building up well. i added more inner branches to help contain the weight. as soon as the chiminea is installed i will have a few fires and get it all dried out properly inside. the spring and summer sun will do that on the outside for me.

The main change/idea is that i have begun to build a pond! this was my 6 year old sons idea, i had never thought of it so nice one son! i have ordered a pond liner and have begun digging the hole. helping nature and adding a different vibe to the place...frogs! i look forward to welcoming you to my sanctuary. i will post up the progress.