News from the Land – Summer 2024

By Kajedo Wanderer | Published: 16/09/2024

‘I ask for a moment’s indulgence to sit by Thy side.
The works that i have in hand
I will finish afterwards…’

(R.Tagore)

As the first day of September – and the end of the summer – is fast approaching, I sit under a tree and pause to reflect on the abundance of these last months…

Out on the ‘fallen acres’ a 17 strong ‘vision quest’ group from Central Europe is preparing for their solo time in the wilder parts of our land.

While throughout the summer we’ve had a slow trickle of campers and the occasional event at the shelter- it is great that now that every camping pad is occupied by a tent, and there are even some tents on the tracks through the birches. It is the only time this summer that we had the camping pads and the shelter area being so busy for 10 days.

While much of the world is heating up at alarming rates it seems that here in the North of Scotland things are getting cooler. We’ve had a fresh and damp summer. Yes, there were days of working in shorts and T-shirt, but overall it was never too hot for the strong physical work required on the land.

Over the last months we have been blessed with committed volunteers willing to show up every day – in exchange for staying in our ‘Shepherd’s Hut’ or the bell tent. Chris, from California, our Shepherd’s Hut resident, Fern from Tasmania, who gave the Woodland Garden some much needed love & care, and Stuart from Australia stayed longer than intended and helped wherever needed.

Together we achieved a lot. Much of our time was spent with ‘prickly issues’ – cutting gorse. We maintained and improved all our areas of ‘species rich grassland’ and the now beautifully purple flowering heath lands. We cleared tracks and paths and fire-breaks. On one of the fire-breaks – which gets mowed every year – we counted 25 different species of flowers and grasses ! Together they provide an inviting home for a spectrum of insects and birds.

And many of our days are filled with numerous, unglamorous small jobs which are needed to be done to care for this land and all its creatures. Replacing fence posts on the pony fields, putting over 150 little trees into 1.20m tubes to protect them from the deer, replacing broken tree-stakes – or loading the tractor-trailer with woodchips to give our camping pads a fresh layer in preparation for the vision questers. Brambles were pulled up on newly planted areas, and baby trees have been dug up in areas where they would not have a future and potted to be planted out in the autumn.

Logs have been peeled in preparation for the imminent building of the new Sanctuary.

And within it all we have explored the deepening of the human connection with the surrounding natural world.

I often set tasks for the day beyond the physical work –

How can we stay curious ? (As a gateway to intimacy…)

Can you find something on the third day of doing the same job, something which you have not seen here before ? (findings ranged from flowers and fungi, to insects, to lizards…)

How can we move from looking at things to actually really seeing them ? What is the inner equivalent to the outer work we are doing ?

How can we turn our work into ‘worship’ – an offering of our devotion ?

Well, the harvesting season is about to begin. Apples & pears are nicely ripening in the gardens, so are the wild plums on the land. We’ve snacked on the wild raspberries and now the first blackberries are ripe.

With the recent warm rains the mushrooms are finally poking their heads above the ground in great variety.

I am sure the many bright red berries which shine like rubies on the rowan trees are a happy sight for the birds.

And with that it seems right to sit quietly for a little while and consider our ‘inner harvest’ – as the summer comes to a close.

‘…Now it is time to sit quiet
Face to face with Thee,
And to sing dedication of life
In this silent and overflowing leisure.’

(R.Tagore)

Posted in News

Report Article from Forres Rotary Club Presentation – 1st August 2024

By Tanya Barker | Published: 16/09/2024

As part of reaching out and promoting the work of the Trust I took up the offer of member Lorraine Warshaw to give a presentation to the Forres Rotary Club which was a fun thing to do and was very well received. It was good to connect with some old school friends but also other locals I have worked or interacted with over the years. One of these was Tanya McLaren now Tanya Barker who for many years was a reporter for the local paper the Forres Gazette. For fun she wrote a little report on the event which you can have a look at below. Some of the facts are not totally accurate which was always the case with Tanya but her genuine appreciation given during the Q&A session after the presentation of the work of the trust and the long journey it has taken to develop its work was most heart warming.

Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair

Forres Rotary hosted retired local teacher, Jonathan Caddy, as speaker for one of their August evening meetings, held at the Mosset Tavern.

Mr Caddy spoke to Rotarians about the Findhorn Hinterland Trust which was originally formed in 2015 as the Hinterland Group to manage a large parcel of land which encompasses dunelands and the former Wilkie’s Wood on the edge of Findhorn.

The organisation was originally created to manage the 35 hectares, following a meeting in the James Milne Institute in Findhorn where Mr Caddy explained that although Duneland Ltd had purchased the area that it was a huge area to manage and would be in the interests of the community to jointly manage some of the land outwith the Ecovillage, so working in partnership could begin to protect the fragile dunes area which was included.

Forres Rotarian and former Forres Gazette editor, Tanya Barker was at the meeting and recalled the atmosphere at the JMI (James Milne Institute) was originally suspicious of the offer to jointly manage land, given plans to build homes on the outer edge of the Foundation were taking shape, and there was confusion about what was actually being proposed.

“It was a very long and at times, a very volatile meeting, where a room full of people all wanted to have their say,” she said. “I had to go back to the office and write a story which captured the main essence of what was being proposed without showing bias. Thankfully, things progressed quickly, and the community headed up by a small group embraced the idea of working together to try and protect the fragile dunes area. It is clear to me from speaking to Jonathon recently that obstacles have been overcome and the Hinterland has benefited from community involvement over the years.”

Mr Caddy explained to Rotarians via a powerpoint presentation, that as well as a green burial site which has been created there, existing alongside the eco-village that following a lot of work, the Hinterland Trust has now successfully achieved official recognition of some of the extremely rare lichen and other fauna and flora that exist near Findhorn, which demonstrates the ongoing need to protect the duneland area for future generations.

President Jackie Stephen thanked the speaker for an interesting and informative talk which included information about future plans including the Dune Restoration Project and an offer was made for Rotarians to go along to have a look at the site and work being done there.

The Hinterland group is also holding a Moth Trapping Event on September 1st where moths caught overnight will be viewed before being released. And a walk and talk open to the public is due to take place on November 2nd with more information available on www.findhornhinterland.org

Tanya Barker

Posted in News

Vision Quest – A Support for Life Transition

By Jakob Reitberger | Published: 16/09/2024

21st-31st September

Spiral into the centre
The centre of the wheel
I am the weaver, I am the woven one
I am the dreamer, I am the dream
Song of the natives

Holger and Gesa Heiten were the leaders of this vision quest that I have just completed that took place on land managed by the Findhorn Hinterland Trust over the last ten days. Holger in particular has had a long, forty year connection with the Findhorn community (the Park Ecovillage Findhorn) having initially come here when he was eighteen. He was so impressed and influenced that he has been coming back every year since. He is also connected to native american elders through the School of Lost Borders and for many years has had his own organisation, the Eschwege Institut, which is involved in gestalt therapy that supports life transitions.

The sixteen strong group that came to the Findhorn ecovillage this year was made up of the leaders with their older teenage daughter, four assistants/ apprentices and nine participants. The group was based around the Woodland Shelter in Wilkes Wood where we camped on the bark camping pads- I found it particularly pleasant to sleep on the soft and warm bark of the purpose built pads. We were so blessed to be in such a beautiful place to do this kind of retreat and I felt it was perfect for this sort of experience involving a rite of passage. There was something important in this particular landscape to do with the connection between the land and the sea. This landscape seemed to reflect my internal landscape and it was so good to simplify back to the bare bones of life during this experience. On this land there are a lot of mini habitats with moss, insects and lichens that grow on poor nutrients and hardship. Only in such extreme conditions with poor nutrients,drought and variable temperatures do you get such abundance of special species. This hot spot zone was a key for me as I came to see how I could grow having less around me in my life.

Let me introduce myself. I am Jakob Reitberger 44, a handicraft/technical Montessori teacher for class 5-10 in Eichstaett, Bavaria, Germany. I am married with four children 23, 20, 13 and 10 – two boys and two girls. I have worked in the school for thirteen years and two years ago there was a change in leadership in our school which became one of my struggles. I also had a winter sport accident this last year and later experienced paralysis in my face which shocked me and was the reason that I felt I needed to take a pause in my life – I felt totally broken! I love my wife and children very much but they seemed to have different needs from what I felt was essential and important for me at this time. This was tearing me apart and was part of the backpack of challenges I came with. Others in the group came with lighter and some with heavier packs but all felt it was beneficial to have others here to help them heal, move on and grow in their lives.

The core of this experience/ritual of this retreat was to stay in solo time for 100 hours which involved going out with a tarp and something to drink to fast in a place that only you know. You stay there and be with yourself. Before going out and when you come back there is a process so that you can get the most out of the experience and then be able to integrate it. For me it felt like I was cutting up the old pieces of my life to create both a seed and compost to help grow a new essence to help me move forward. After the experience I feel very connected and bonded with the earth as well as feeling still, calm, full of enthusiasm, boldness and daring.

Every day during the retreat, from the human doing to the human being, we dove deep into listening to nature outside and inside us – we were re-naturing the human being. A life transition is a time where the old things including deep wounds are faced, acknowledged, appreciated and transformed. A pause in life creates the possibility to process and integrate the struggle of life. It is possible to bury old beliefs.

I am not new to the idea of a vision quest as fifteen years ago I had taken part in one in Sweden. What I received there helped me look at life in a different way – to see how my life is like a swaying grass stem that moves in the wind but always comes back near to the quiet and stillness of the centre. It helped me see that the things around us are like the wind. This experience sustained me until the upheavals of the last two years. I wanted to come here because I knew and was touched by Holger’s and Gesa’s work and also wanted to connect particularly with the Findhorn Ecovillage and other communities as I lived for one year in a yoga ashram, Yoga Vida, in Germany and am connected with some other communities there such as Templehof in Bavaria.

At this moment I feel brave and with this fresh energy and direction am ready to go back to Germany with a courageous and open heart and new thoughts to share with my children, group and school family. I feel I have let the old things go and am able to return fresh and enthusiastic. Because of facial paralysis, for three months I had had to give up my teaching but now I feel I can go back and return to work helped greatly by this vision quest experience and so thankful that my facial paralysis has almost faded away. A huge thank you to Holger and Gesa, the vision quest magic, this community and the special landscape that has helped my personal transformation to happen.

Whatever you do and dream you can, begin it. Just begin it
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it
Just begin it!

Goethe

Written by Jakob Reitberger
Vision Quest Participant

Posted in News

FHT 2023-24 Pictorial Finance Summary

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 11/06/2024

Sometimes looking at figures visually can be fun and revealing which is what David Hammond FHT Treasurer with the help of Trustee and Bookkeeper Christopher Raymont have done here by putting together simplified figures from 2023-24 data on the trust’s income and expenditure.  What are some of the observations that we can draw from this way of presenting the figures?

  • The first that I notice is that I am thankful that we as an organisation are presently living within our financial means  with income very slightly above expenditure for the year. I realise that this is only made possible by the generous support of our members, donors and grant givers and the willingness of the team and community to give of their time and skill to support our good land based work.  Let’s be thankful for this community support and celebrate this achievement!

Looking now specifically at the income  and expenditure pie charts, here are some other things I note:

Income

  • One of our strengths as an organisation is that we have a variety of income sources that in most years roughly cover our annual operating expenses so we are not dependent on generating grant income to do this. Securing grants for operating expenses is often difficult so this is definitely a plus.
  • Income is hugely dependent on green burial income (33% for the year in question) which varies from year to year.  This variance is illustrated by looking at the green burial income that has come in over the last two months of April and May 2024 which has been £7,955  compared with £11,350 for the whole of last year!  Are we headed for a bumper gb income year?
  • Of great importance though is the income from paid membership and donations as together they roughly brought in the same income (30%) as the green burials but do not fluctuate as much from year to year so giving a more stable income that helps when putting together our annual budget.  Members, your contribution is really valued and counts!  Thank you and do encourage a few more people to join and help contribute and connect in this way.
  • We can see that there is plenty of potential to increase the income from grants and also retreats and workshops.  Our policy is to only depend on grant income for new projects not for general trust maintenance costs.

Expenditure

  • Much of what we spend money on goes to pay for support people (63%) like our Land Manager, bookkeeper, green burial team members, minute taker, marketing person and our ecologist involved in the Dune Restoration Project this year.  They are all essential to the smooth running of the organisation.  The FHT is proud to be able to create some local employment out of what it does and be able to pay above the real living wage to those that do essential paid work for us.  That said, I have also noticed that those involved often generously give back by volunteering some of their extra time. Good to see both sides in this mutually giving and supportive relationship.
  • The greatest expenditure is on our half time Land Manager employee (37%) who is out there for part of every week day making sure the basic work of the trust is covered.  Appreciation goes to this often unseen steady hand who also, like others already mentioned, contributes voluntarily beyond his paid working time.

No doubt there are other gems of wisdom that can be gleaned from this basic information but I will leave it to you to explore and find them for yourself.  If you have any questions around this work and the FHT finances in general , do not hesitate to get in touch.

Jonathan Caddy (Chair)
David Hammond (Treasurer)
Christopher Raymont (Trustee and Bookkeeper)
June 2024

 

Posted in News

My Story as a FHT Volunteer

By Mitch Tarbit | Published: 11/06/2024

My name is Mitch and I am a 23 year old young man from the Lake District who has been living in the FHT Shepherd’s Hut and volunteering for the charity for the last two months. I would like to share with you a little of my positive journey over the last couple of months.

How I ended up here is quite an interesting story.  I had no intention of coming here  and getting involved in the work of the trust and knew nothing about this community before I arrived here.  How I got here actually involved a tube of toothpaste!  I was working for the army base down the road at Kinloss and was looking on my phone to try to find out where I might get a non-fluoride toothpaste and came up with the Phoenix Shop here at the Park.  Afterwards I took a little walk around the place and into the woods where I happened to meet and start talking with Luna, the previous FHT volunteer.  She told me about her work and that started to bring up a lot of questions inside me.  I went away and thought about it for the next five months or so and I just couldn’t let it go and ignore the fact that the place was just up the road – it felt like the right place to be within my heart so after a lot of thought I left my job.  It aligned with the time I needed to move on and I felt that I couldn’t go back down to England before spending some time here.

Two months on it has been everything I hoped it would be and more.  The interaction with nature has been a highlight.  Living in nature, living in the forest a hundred metres away from the sand dunes and heathland makes you appreciate the little things – you start to live in their world and begin noticing strange little things happening in the earth and around you.  For example the other day I saw ten magpies in one tree playing around and dancing and this morning I woke up and there was a red squirrel two metres to my left watching me eating my porridge!  People ask me if it is difficult living in the Shepherd’s Hut as they see that I don’t have very much – no electricity and only a small gas stove and wood fired heating stove.  They say it must get quite cold  and I say look I may not have much but I feel that I have everything.  I feel my eyes have  been opened to what the world actually holds.  You don’t need to have much as so much is already here and has been given to us.

Physically what I have been doing has been connected to this season.  There has been a lot of gorse that has needed to be cut back which is a repetitive task but I have found that the task can be a meditative way to work rather like when I am running – I find I can think whilst I am doing.  A lot of the work here I have found has enabled me to think and be introspective.  Kajedo Wanderer, the FHT Land Manager who I have been working with, is good at externalising these thoughts.  For example with working cutting back gorse he has got be to ask the question, “What do these actions represent within you?” He starts to help me think about the prickly things in our life and inside us which can over grow and block out the small things that are intricate and don’t often have a lot of fight.  What does it represent cutting back those prickly things in you?

I have also been working with Jonathan Caddy and others which has been practically and mentally stimulating involving creating and working as an individual in a team to build beautiful products such as the chunky wooden benches and even the platform to lay the body on for a funeral that we did the other week.  It is all just good – I am not doing it for myself or to make money but doing it for the good of the people and the planet.  I am finding what you put out comes back to you.  I think people are beautiful around here – I find them whole, genuine people being open and willing to speak and to have interesting, intellectual, spiritual conversations about really meaningful topics which I have not necessarily felt elsewhere in a 9 to 5 job.  This has been something that I feel I really need to do again.

Being brought up in the Lake District I had access to the wild from the towns and villages that I come from.  When I was little I pushed the nature aside that was around me – I wanted to be inside playing games and whatnot.  As I got older I realised how important nature is.  I used to intellectually understand why people would love horses or why people would love flowers but I didn’t really feel this myself.  It has been only by giving something and fully interacting with nature that that has definitely changed.  For example I came across the three  horses kept on the land in the pony field the other day.  It gave me joy witnessing them watching me as I watched them, patting them and looking at the flowers.  I now find myself all inquisitive and asking questions about the nature around me: “What is this flower?  How did its seeds get here?”  A new world has opened up to me in which my eyes have been opened and I can see more.

I have had this experience between jobs.  Unfortunately I am moving on to find a new job in a new sector.  Sales in an entrepreneurial world is what I am looking at but I am going to take lessons from here with me particularly from Kajedo and see how I can apply them in the entrepreneurial and corporate landscape.  Hopefully I can bring good to that area of the world as I am aware that there are a lot of corrupt minds, narcissism and selfishness in that world and I am hoping to spread love throughout it.  When I start my own business, right at the beginning I want to have my new employees come here and experience some of the life changing magic I have experienced.

Mitch Tarbit
FHT Long Term Volunteer
March to May 2024

Posted in News

Chair’s Report – Spring/Summer 2024

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 11/06/2024

It has been another whirlwind spring season as far as the Findhorn Hinterland Trust and the various activities on the land go.  

The ‘When the Bough Breaks’ film, which starred our trustee Alan Watson Featherstone and the rewilding work he was previously involved in with Trees for Life, took place on the 16th March in the Universal Hall and was well attended and received  It led nicely into a public presentation on our very own rewilding project, the Dune Restoration presentations by Alan, Heather, Sean and I the very next day with a follow up walk and talk on the dunes for some. 

 

This was part of raising awareness locally about this major and important project and allowed us to promote the BigGive Green Match Funding campaign which took place from the 18th to 25th April.  This was very successful and a huge thanks goes to the BigGive organisation for selecting our project and everyone who contributed; we raised over our £10,000 goal plus an additional £1000 being donated through John Clausen and the Hygeia Foundation in the USA.  This will be used to pay for work done on the ground during this next winter.  We were also fortunate to secure further funding  of £3250 through TSI Moray and the CAN (Climate Action Network) that helped pay for project set up work; the film, the public presentations, an unexploded ordnance report essential as part of our risk assessment measures, project development by Sean, marketing by Birgit and help with monitoring the project through another ecologist James Bunyan.  James visited us in April and we are excited about him looking at some cutting edge monitoring of our project using drones.  

Another exciting and connected development has been the securing of a £3,500 grant through the Newbold Legacy Trust which will help fund a three year partnership with Forres Academy to build awareness and involve pupils in our biodiversity and nature awareness project work; the school already spends a day here with around 50-60 pupils carrying out their Biology fieldwork work in the summer term and we expect them again on the 18th June.  This is a major step forward in fulfilling our educational purpose as a charity and watch this space to find out how this partnership develops.

Birgit Carow, who does the marketing for our charity, put together the splendid FHT Educational Programme for this year and her colourful and appealing posters can be seen dotted around and some online marketing has taken place.  Despite not yet having a working community website to advertise through, all three day workshops so far, Sharing Nature, Sacred Ways and the one on Biodiversity, have gone ahead.  It is great to see local people taking advantage of the educational expertise and knowledge offered by our exceptional and talented local experts. We are offering two week long retreats/workshops in the next months which are still to fill so please do spread the word and encourage those you know who might wish to come and benefit from these.  

 

Other areas of the trust’s work are ticking along nicely. After very few green burials last year there have been a number already this year including the moving funeral and memorial service for long term and much loved community member Duerten Lau.  There were several hundred people present at the Wilkies Wood green burial site to send our dear friend off.  Duerten did much to help develop the community at the Park Ecovillage Findhorn including for a period being the Chair of the Findhorn Hinterland Group the precursor of the FHT charity.  We now have 58 bodies buried at the site and 62 reserved lairs with 3 burials and 2 more reserved since April of this year.  The site is still used for community events which included this year’s May Day Celebration organised by Draeyk and complete with May pole dancing and a small play. This event was part of a one day visit by a group of keen and enthusiastic teens from an alternative school in New Jersey that were visiting the land and theEcovillage as part of their studies through an organisation called Travel for Teens.  It was a privilege to host these change makers of the future who showed great interest in our work.

It has been good to see the sun and feel some warmth in May as April was unusually cold and rainy.  For this reason our bees had to be fed with fondant all through the month of April to keep them alive and we are glad to say that nine out of our ten hives are now thriving with two extra artificial swarms already having been set up and a large swarm having been housed.  Unfortunately both the other bee team stalwarts, John Willoner and Martin Harker, have had health challenges which has left me holding the fort.  Thanks to Amanda and Goran for some help but please do contact me if you are interested in offering help or even being part of our core team in the future.  No bee experience – come along to our two day bee workshop on the 22nd and 23rd of June!  You will love it and learn a lot.

 

Another creative endeavour that will lead to a Chunky Bench Making Workshop in September has been the creation of two lovely rustic benches sponsored by FHT member Helen Kalis which are now installed on the high dune ridge above the North Whins site at the Park.  Woodworker Steven Porter has been volunteering has time and skill to make this all happen.  Do take the time to wander up and enjoy the benches and the view and have a look at Steven’s article elsewhere in this newsletter. 

Great to finally see the new sanctuary project moving again with the foundations now in and we are looking forward to getting the logs down to the Conservation Hub for their final preparation and to have the joints constructed under tarps by talented woodworker Henry Fosbrooke.  Help with the log scraping will be needed and grading and helping with the transport of the sawn timber we milled from wind blown wood will be much appreciated. 

Change is a constant in the world, our community and the Findhorn Hinterland Trust.  The charity has been planning how it can be more sustainable and resilient as an organisation so that its good work can be carried on for a hundred years and beyond. How will this be done especially as I step down as Chair January 1st 2026 and others in their roles just now will need to be replaced over time?  To help us consciously take the next steps we secured some consultation time with Just Enterprise, a government organisation that helps the charity and community enterprise sector. This involved them finding out about our charity, exploring the thoughts of the core team through a questionnaire and gathering us together for a meeting at Cullerne House to carry out a SWOT analysis and look together at our next steps.  (See their detailed report elsewhere).  The main change will be from an organisational structure where I as an individual maintain links to one where even more of a team structure is put in place where the organisation is effectively held by the group.  For this reason we are very open to new trustees and team members and as part of this change welcome Talitha Ross as our new FHT Secretary who will be replacing Judith Bone after many years of service. Vivienne Wylde has also stepped down as our Membership Secretary and although Arun has offered to hold this position for now, we are on the lookout for a younger person to grow into the position. Might that be you?         

Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
May 2024

Posted in News

News from the Land – Spring Early Summer 2024

By Kajedo Wanderer | Published: 11/06/2024

It’s a damp day out there – so perfect for spending some time writing for our Newsletter…

The trees we planted on the land last autumn and this spring are celebrating the life-giving rain after the warm sunny weeks we’ve just had.

The transformation out there at this time of the year always blows me away.

From the barrenness of winter to this lush abundance of fresh green leaves, flowers, blossoms and new shoots on trees… During the last dry days there were clouds of yellow pollen from the pines wafting through the woods, and the ocean of the bright yellow blossoms of the gorse between here and the sea smelled deliciously of coconut !

And we’ve got to enjoy that every day as we’ve been busy these last weeks with hand-cutting gorse…loppers and hand saws and the noisy brush- cutter… cutting back the regrowth of gorse back on firebreaks, on the heathlands and the grasslands in our care. The all important maintenance of precious habitats. And – we also did little improvements on each of those areas (extending them a bit, where it made sense).  Prickly issues… we got scratched & prickled plenty as we worked in shorts and sleeveless T-shirts.

As always I challenge myself and our volunteers to find the ‘inner equivalent’ to the work we were doing out there… So that our outer work becomes a physical ritual for what we need to do inside of ourselves. Hence the question – what are we doing with ‘prickly issues’ in our lives ? 

Of course we also did other things these last weeks & months. The mixture of sunshine and rain is perfect growing weather and our baby trees are all of the sudden sticking their heads out of their little spiral tubes. We need to beat the deer to get to them and put them into taller tubes to put the tips out of reach of our four legged friends. We staked and tubed around 150 trees !

So – how are we protecting the fragile, delicate and vulnerable things in our lives ? Within ourselves, and within our communities and societies ?

We are part of nature, and our inner nature and nature around us are deeply interconnected. As we become increasingly conscious of this connection, it is easy to turn our work into authentic  ‘worship’ –  sacred rituals honoring all life.

‘Rewilding the soul’ – a week-long camping retreat we’ve planned for July – aims to explore the question of what we can learn from ‘rewilding’ nature around us for the process of remembering and embodying our own true ‘wild’ nature ?

“Buddha nature’ some would say…

Enlightened nature…

Or to quote Eileen Caddy – ‘The Christ within’…

And finally an extract from a well known poem by Thich Nhat Hanh :

“…Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile, learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone…

Please call me by my true names,
so i can wake up,
and the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.”

T.N.H
Kajedo Wanderer
Land Manager of the FHT

 

Posted in News

Findhorn Hinterland Biodiversity Workshop

By Hugh Andrews | Published: 11/06/2024

This one day workshop was held on the 1st June 2024 with 10 participants attending including Hugh Andrews who submitted this article.  There was much praise by all for this event – so much so that they wanted to encourage others to make a note and join when it is offered again!  JC

What a wonderful day that was. To be shown around the Findhorn Hinterland by Alan Watson Featherstone and Heather Paul. Two true experts in their fields of biodiversity and lichens, who for the decade and more have poured their love and passion into the land, studying the amazing array of different species of  plants and animals that live here. Their particular love is for the micro worlds of invertebrates, lichens and fungi, that most of us walk past without a glance. Our day was a real treat opening us up to these hidden gems. There are literally hundreds of different species of bugs, beetles, spiders, aphids and other insects here, along with hundreds of different lichens, fungi and slime moulds that have so far been recorded here, some of which are extremely rare. 

The day started off with a general discussion of the Hinterland Trust’s work and aims in maintaining and enhancing the existing four main habitats that are found here – woodland, species rich grassland, heathland and dune scrub. Each area has very distinct and different species associated with it. We were given a small hand lens with a x10 magnification, needed to open us up to the “Alice in Wonderland” world of the micro. Splitting us up into two small groups we went off on our adventure into this new world, one half going with Alan and the other with Heather. This allowed an intimacy where we could really study in detail the features that were being pointed out. 

Alan took us for a journey through the trees, showing how small pockets of the original pine plantation have been opened up and new native broadleaves introduced. These greatly enhance the variety of creatures that now live here, pointing out shield bugs, and spiders living in the leaves, along with the leaf miners living in the leaves. Picking an old pine cone from a tree, Alan tapped it into his palm to show us  the pine seeds. But instead of seeds falling out, spiders, mites and aphids appeared, showing how a cone was a complete habitat in its own right.

Then it was Heather’s turn to enrapture us, as we peered into the world of lichens. What amazing patterns and colours leapt out at us as we studied a pebble or piece of bark through our hand lens. She shared how some of the species, particularly those on the sand and heathland here are extremely rare. One of the main aims of the Hinterland Trust is to try and support these species, and the only way to do that is by removing trees and gorse that are rapidly moving into the dune area. Removing trees can seem at odds with nature conservation, but in this case it is vitally necessary if the overall biodiversity is to be maintained. 

So we returned to base with big smiles on our faces, nurtured by a glorious day of sunshine, knowledge, beauty and friendship, and now looking forward to each buying our own hand lens, so we can continue to explore this magical world that is literally under our feet and all around us.

 

Hugh Andrews
FHT Member
 June 2024

Posted in News

Meet the Team – Alan Watson Featherstone.

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 11/06/2024

How did you get so involved in nature and nature conservation?

Alan Watson Featherstone FHTI have had a long history of developing a deep relationship with nature which I think really started in a serious way back when I travelled abroad. In 1972 when I was 18 I travelled in Europe and the following year I went to Canada where I spent time in Western Canada connecting with the Rocky Mountains, big forests and healthy landscapes full of species.  That really touched me deeply.  When I left university I decided to explore nature more and went back to Canada to live for a couple of years before travelling the whole length of South America including the Amazon, the Andes, Tierra del Fuego – you name it and I was there!  That really opened my heart and was my preparation for coming to Findhorn.  

I came here through finding the Findhorn Garden Book in the most unlikely place of downtown New York in the heart of the urban jungle!  I was really touched by the connection with the spirit of nature, particularly Dorothy Maclean’s work which really resonated with me. When I came to the community I lived at Cluny for many years where I started in the kitchen and then very quickly moved into the garden where I worked for four years.  In the garden I  learned that I could give back my care, my love and my attention to nature to help make it flourish, not just taking from it what I could receive and appreciate. 

In 1979 I started to go out to Glen Affric in the Highlands of Scotland which was like a tiny bit of Canada here in Scotland.  I began to visit there regularly and soon I started to feel the pain of the dying forests- I felt the trees were calling out for help.  I was also inspired by visits here from Richard St Barbe Baker the Man of the Trees and other people like that who visited the community.  These experiences led me to found Trees for Life which became the main chunk of my life’s work involving the restoration of the Caledonian Forest for 31 years.

Whilst  carrying out  lots of surveys, studies and identifying species in the forest I developed a great interest in biodiversity so when I got involved in the Findhorn Hinterland Trust I was able to bring that knowledge, background and care for natural ecosystems with me to my backyard where I live.  My work now doesn’t involve long journeys and I can come here very quickly.  I see an opportunity to help this land become more natural, more diverse and more abundant because when we inherited it, it was mostly an old pine plantation, bits of the former air force base and gorse scrub.  There is  a lot more diversity returning now through the work of FHT.

 

Tell us a little bit more about your work with the Findhorn Hinterland Trust

Alan beside the base of a rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia) that grew over an old stump which has rotted away, Birchfield, November 2021My involvement is on two levels. One is that I am a trustee of the trust with the specific job title of Land Trustee.  In that role I chair the Land Management subgroup which has an overview of the practical work on the land.  The other is more specific – I have a strong interest in identifying the biodiversity that is here so I also do a lot of photography on the site and have commissioned, through the auspices of the trust, various biodiversity surveys.  The latter has over the years involved inviting specialists to come to look at things like moths, spiders, true bugs and many other groups of organisms that inhabit this land.  I am aware that there is still quite a list of different organisms to work through until we get a full picture of what is here.

 

How has this work helped with the recently set up Dune Restoration Project?

The biodiversity surveys that have been happening over the last few years have given us some very useful data that can be used to help promote and justify this project. For example we have found some rare fungi out there as well as other organisms such as special lichens.  There are several of us that have a strong interest in biodiversity and we have a biodiversity day on the 1st of June coming up where we have people joining us with whom we hopefully will share our knowledge, experience and wisdom.

 

What is the future work of the trust?  What is your vision?

For me I think the vision has two main parts to it.  The first is to bring the land back to a state of greater health and diversity.  That is a long term project because we have these old pine plantations some of which we are gradually naturalising.  That is going to go on for at least a few decades and will enrich the habitat with a greater diversity of species.  Then there is making sure that it is protected such as with the Dune Restoration Project which will help make sure the encroachment of gorse is halted and the rare dune habitat safeguarded. 

Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) on the branch of a Scots pine tree (Pinus sylvestris), Findhorn HinterlandThe other main aspect of it is about education – being an example to people, a source of knowledge, information and inspiration for both local people who live here, many of whom may not know so much about the area, and also for visitors that come be they on programmes that we run, school groups and others.  We have the potential to establish a real solid pool of knowledge and depth of understanding that we can share with other people.  That to me is really essential because that understanding is what the world needs now as we move into this time of rapid transition and major change on the planet.  We have to reconnect with nature, understand our connectedness and the necessity of healthy, fully functioning ecosystems for the survival, not just of humans, but all life on the planet.

 

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would just like to say for people reading this newsletter, to come and see for yourself, get in touch with us and come and visit the Hinterland.  We can give you a tour or share some special things with you in one of our workshops or you can participate in our fun and rewarding work parties.

Interviewed by
Jonathan Caddy
FHT Chair
May 2024

 

Posted in News

Playing Creatively with Wood

By Steven Porter | Published: 11/06/2024

It’s a short walk from the Conservation Hub up to the dunes on the way into Findhorn Village. That short walk can draw out when you slow down to notice the insects humming and the birds darting for cover past Rowan and Birch into the gorse. At the top of the dune the gorse is a sea of brilliant yellow with views out over the bay. Helen Kalis thought this was the spot to sit and rest and appreciate the surroundings and some benches would be a welcome addition to the trail – we agreed and had the right material for the job, with the wind fallen pine from Wilkies wood, which had been milled on site.

A few weeks earlier I had made contact with Jonathan and the Hinterland Trust about coming to help out, I had recently moved to Muir of Ord and was looking to connect and get involved in meaningful work. I’d followed the work at Findhorn Foundation for many years from afar so now that I lived closer I was keen to get involved. Jonathan being the open person he is, was happy to meet and see how things could fit together and be of mutual benefit. Helen’s bench commission came at a perfect time and given my previous experience as a cabinet maker in Northumberland seemed a perfect fit.

 

The idea was to make at least two simple rustic benches along the trail using the natural curves of the wood to form our benches. We started by rummaging through the wood store to find appropriate pieces, looking for interesting shapes, anything that would intuitively fit together. It was a refreshing way to work with the material still in a raw state, with all its imperfections and character, not the increasingly unrecognisable processed and standardised product of industry. At the time I was working with manufacturing windows and doors at a joinery shop in Inverness. The end of each week couldn’t come soon enough, then feeling free to work creatively, in a built environment in harmony with its surroundings, much more nourishing for the soul.

A few sketches and a template later we had our basic design, informed by the unique qualities in the wood we had picked out. This stage also included a lot of sitting to find that sweet recline spot for our benches. With Jonathan’s chainsaw skills and the help of long term volunteer George Paul, Louna and later Mitch we cut and notched the wood and prepared logs to form the feet of the bench. Extra shaping was carried out with a drawknife, a deeply satisfying experience if you haven’t tried it before! The nature of working with chunky wood encourages play as you can’t really make any mistakes, any gouge or undesired edge can easily be whittled away. The wood was planed and sanded back to bring out the grain which was deepened once we added an oil finish, the familiar smell of wood and oil drawing favourable comments from the curious passer-by keen to find out what we were making.

Once we had our finished bench components the trailer was filled and we trundled uphill to the site. Fence posts were hammered into the ground to provide strength and the ground was prepared, a bed of soil and bark and each foot sitting on found stone and brick. The benches now had a home and the final few screws brought everything together, they were now sturdy and ready for all the Summer ahead. I’ll look forward to seeing the benches age, the colours softened by sun, wind, rain and the edges worn smooth like an old stile – something that only comes with time. If you haven’t been up that way recently I encourage you to follow the trail, take time to sit and look out at the sea and it’s perfect blue.

We are running a weekend workshop on the 7th – 8th September for those of you interested in learning new skills and trying your hand at working with wood. Rustic, creative and rewarding! Follow the link for more details and to book on the course. Hope to see you there!

https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/58316

Steven Porter
Woodworker and FHT Member
June 2024

Posted in News
Findhorn Hinterland Trust, Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) SC045806
228 Pineridge, Findhorn, Forres, Moray IV36 3TB