Out of the Ashes Story – Callum Bell

By Christine Lines | Published: 04/12/2022

Out of the Ashes 2021

A Hinterland Retreat that Made All the Difference 

How an FHT retreat workshop impacted the life of a young Scottish lad and how these events provide opportunities for young people to engage with the work of the Park Ecovillage, Findhorn.

This is a story of how the Findhorn Hinterland Trust and in particular its land manager Kajedo Wanderer totally changed my life. In the Winter of 2020, I was writing my dissertation in environmental philosophy in my home-city. The year before that, I was lucky enough to go down a rabbit-hole studying philosophy, environmental humanities and religions in Kyoto, Japan. When I came back to Glasgow in the thick of lockdown, I felt much angst about my life not reflecting what I was writing about, thinking about or dreaming of.

I love Glasgow – but going from exploring the many shrines, temples, forests, and mountains of Japan, to a winter of lockdown living in my childhood bedroom for the first time in five years was a blow. I was flying and then my wings were clipped.

Through my spiritual studies, I was increasingly curious about the idea of ‘manifestation’. I imagined living somewhere more rural. It should have a beach nearby, as the sea calms me down and my ancestors lived on Islay. It should have forests, as that’s where I feel most myself – ‘Callum Bruce Bell’ literally means ‘beautiful dove of the forest’. There should be a strong sense of community – my dormitory during my cherry blossom year in Japan provided me with the most powerful feeling of community I had known, and I needed more of that. I should have the opportunity to immerse myself in the arts wherever I was, because all that is good in my life came from a healthy diet of movies, music and books fed to me by my parents. I wrote all this on a piece of paper and then set it alight.

The next month, my environmental studies led me to the idea of ‘ecovillages’, and a quick Google search made me realise I did not have to leave Scotland to find one. Here was this place, Findhorn, that I somehow had never heard of despite living in Scotland for 22 years. Clicking onto their social media, I saw ‘Out of the Ashes camping retreat with Kajedo Wanderer, with the Findhorn Hinterland Trust’. Perfect! It began in summer, when I planned to travel throughout the UK following my graduation. This was my chance to dive into this place that seemed strangely aligned with everything I was hoping for.

As I arrived in the Park after a journey with four connections, my senses were overloaded with caravans, colourful clothes and houses, and accents from all over the world. Plus, it was a sweltering hot day. Was I still in Scotland? It certainly wasn’t Kansas anyway.

The first person who welcomed me was Kajedo, who is essentially the person who put out the invitation for someone like me to appear at that specific time. I was the only male participant on the Hinterland retreat, and the youngest by a decade or two, but I still felt I fitted in perfectly. Kajedo gave us tours of the Park’s history, of the land’s history, and led us through deep personal sharing’s around the Hinterland campfire. 

This was a totally new world for me. I’d been obsessed with spirituality since bingeing Alan Watts YouTube videos at 14, but somehow I barely knew anyone or did anything in the outer world associated with ‘spirituality’. In the sacred space held by Kajedo, I found myself talking about feelings and experiences that I’d mostly kept to myself for years because I knew I would’ve been judged for them in most other settings. The retreat was massively cathartic, and so I jumped at the chance to do Seva (selfless service in Sanskrit) on two more retreats over the following months.

I was gobsmacked hearing about Kajedo’s experiences in the Himalayas and with Native American teachers. The possibilities of what I imagine could happen in my own life began to expand and expand. I’m definitely not the most practical person, but I also got a massive buzz from clumsily starting the campfires and rushing to deliver food and tea to new participants.

At the end of the last retreat, I was sad that I probably wouldn’t be in Findhorn again for a while. Our group stayed on for an extra night and went to ecstatic dance. During a passionate, and (unusual for me at the time) sober dance, my life so far flashed before my eyes in a wave of gratitude as I knelt before a centrepiece which read ‘Art is Life, Life is Art’. Once the dance ended, we sat in a circle and Peter Vallance announced a graduate job that fitted my CV perfectly. Thanks to Kajedo and Hinterland and the Universal Hall, I’m still here over a year later. We’ll see what happens next.

Callum Bell

 

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News from the land – Autumn 2022

By Kajedo Wanderer | Published: 04/12/2022

Looking out of my window, as I am reflecting on the past few months on the land, I am in awe of the beauty of our ‘golden October’.

In awe of nature’s color-schemes. The ocean of yellow in the gorse at spring-time gave way to the purple of the heathers in the summer, and now the trees are changing their outfits from green to shades of yellow, gold, red and brown. And bit by bit their leaves dance to the ground to become another layer of soil…

As you might know, our planned camping retreats have not really happened, except for Jenny’s ‘plant day’. But we have had a good camping season and lots of events – mostly around the shelter area on the Green Burial ground.

We ran successful guided tours of the land once a month, and kept up the monthly work-parties.

In regards to the Green Burials – Jamie Bryson is assisting me in taking over the land-based roles released by Will Russel, who has done a great (& patient) job of training &  mentoring us. We now have 47 bodies buried in the ground (of the G.B. area). We’ve also had a number of memorial trees planted in the memorial wood – on ashes of deceased ones, placentas of babies, or ‘just’ in memory of a loved one.

Draeyk has done a great job with reviving the ‘Woodland Garden’ – I recommend that you should go and see for yourself, if you can.

Wednesday mornings have become our ‘volunteer mornings’ – for conservation work. Where needed a lot of gorse got cut. We have planted some 60 oak trees and a number of scots-pines, and are still waiting for 150 trees from the woodland trust to be put into the ground this autumn.

Jonathan, on Hinterland’s behalf, has been busy supporting the beginnings of building the new main sanctuary in the Park.

We have started (and by the time you read this – hopefully finished) to run the topper over the regrowth of gorse on open areas. Around the turbines, the Green Burial ground, firebreaks and major tracks, etc, etc. It’s the first time we are doing this in the autumn to see if it could make a difference to the regrowth of the gorse.

Of course, as always there are so many different ongoing tasks essential to the conservation of our beautiful piece of the Earth here, i can’t mention them all. Maybe a small measure could be that we have used almost 200 tree-stakes for ‘tree-care’ over the summer. Some to put new, tall tubes around young trees, some just to replace rotten older stakes.

We never run out of good things to do!

And last but not least: Alan Watson Featherstone’s work with our surveys, and his interest in the tiny creatures which are overlooked more often than not, has given me a renewed appreciation of the incredible abundance and beauty of different life-forms on our small piece of land.

Wishing you all a beautiful autumn and festive season.

Kajedo Wanderer

FHT – Land Manager

31st of October, 2022


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Meet FHT team member – Jacqueline Buckingham

By Vivienne Wylde | Published: 04/12/2022

To put things in context, can you tell us a little about your connection with nature, where that arises from?

My first connection with nature was within days of being born, being brought to my family farm in the south of England, I grew up there for the first ten years of my life and the farm was my playground, my playmates were animals and nature, it was a very strong connection.  Later I lived in Australia and quite early on met some aboriginal elders.  They would talk about their connection with nature, the land and animals, a really deep spiritual connection, and when they spoke, it just re-awakened something in me, it just made sense.

Fast forward ten years, and I came up to Findhorn 2010.  During Experience Week I learned about the founding principles, and it was co-creation with the intelligence of nature that really grabbed my attention and spoke to me.  That and the ecovillage side of things.  When I returned to do the Living in Community Guest programme I worked in Cullerne gardens – always the nature connection was a strong thread for me.

So now tell us a little about how you became aware of and involved with Findhorn Hinterland Trust?
After I returned to Australia, I received an email from someone living in Findhorn who told me, ‘there’s a job going that is a perfect fit for you!’ I hadn’t intended to move back to the UK, but it was an amazing opportunity and I’m one of those people, when life throws such openings in my path, there’s always a sense of ‘I think I need to give this a go’! That role was fundraising and working in the communications team for the Foundation, where I could bring my skills from broadcasting and charity fundraising to bear. 

The Findhorn Hinterland Trust had always had a co-opted Foundation representative as one of its trustees, and the incumbent person was stepping down. I was approached to step in, I think because of my fundraising and financial understanding, plus I had a reputation as someone with a strong nature connection.  Although I now live in the south of England, I’ve continued as a trustee (even taking the role as treasurer for an unexpected four years!) and I find the role is easy to continue online, including putting together the regular newsletter. I really like to have that strong thread that connects me here more than simply visiting.  It feels like I’m really contributing to something important.  I think the care of the land globally is very important and to be able to do it consciously on this piece of land, it’s great to be part of the team doing that.

Have you seen Hinterland Trust grow during the time you have been a trustee?

Yes!  Just about the time I started, the trust had won a grant specifically to support us in creating a really strong management structure and offering training to trustees.  It really helped us identify areas of work and roles and gave people a clear sense of their contribution to the whole.  There has also been lots of support on the fundraising side and we have benefitted from a couple of grants.  One of which was for the construction of the Conservation Hub, which has been a long held vision!  We have a professional bookkeeper, our Land Manager is now employed by us, and we have a strong support team of volunteers alongside our trustees.  Our projects are steadily growing, such as the Green Burials; we have really good foundations to continue our work.

What are your ideas, vision, passion, hope for what Findhorn Hinterland Trust might be and do in the future?

I think my ambitions are quite modest in a sense.  What we have been tasked with, by people or by the land itself, is to care for the land.  To ensure the biodiversity is healthy, that native species are healthy and protected, and to balance that with humans being able to enjoy the land in a collaborative and non-destructive way. There is land management work that always needs to be done, with gorse, non-native trees and so on, to ensure a truly healthy native ecosystem.  We need to ensure the bees we tend are healthy.  Overall for me, it’s really about caretaking/custodianship, so my vision is to have a team that is passionate about that and pulling together to make that happen!

And finally, tell us a little about your relationship with the land, how does it call to you?

I do feel that in this place, because of the consciousness of the relationship with nature that there has been over the last 60 years, that nature responds to that.  There are also powerful energy lines that pass thru this place.  I feel the health and vibration of the land is strong.

Early on in my time here, when I read that the common ground asks us to commit to having a spiritual practice – I didn’t consider myself to be a religious person, so in exploring that question I used to think, actually my spiritual practice is nature!  That’s where I feel closest to something bigger than me, that greater spirit, universal life force, god, whatever you call it, that’s where I feel most connected to that larger sense of everything.  When I am here, mostly my connection involves taking walks out to the beach.  It’s a special place, I have my favourite spots where it feels like the place is alive and vibrant, or I just wander through the woods in a conscious way and feel the energies of the trees and the land.  When I go to morning meditation in Singing Chamber, it’s lovely – in the open air, surrounded by trees and birds.  I just sit there and feel that fullness of spirit!

 

 

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FHT Biodiversity – Exploring the Wonderful World Of Lichens

By heather.paul | Published: 04/12/2022

Lichens grow all around us- on trees, walls, pebbles and the soil- and yet we often hardly notice them. They paint the world with splashes of colour and patterns. Many are tiny but all are a symbiosis of a fungus and alga living together – along with yeasts and other organisms – they are indeed mini eco-systems.

The fire pit in between East West and North Whins is covered in a carpet of delicate lichens that grow on the ground, on pebbles and on the stems of heather.

This area, which was a former gravel pit, has been cared for since 2017 by volunteers, ensuring that this beautiful area remains open to the sun and rain and is not covered by gorse or the growth of many self-seeded non-native Lodgepole Pine trees, which would shade out the lichens and cover them with dropped pine-needles. The fragile lichen areas are marked by small notices and ringed with pebbles, and logs indicate pathways.

The fire pit is home to a nationally rare and endangered lichen that is only found in a few places in the UK.  Peltigera malacea or Matt felt lichen, carpets the ground here, its tiny leafy body is dark green when damp and crinkly and brown when dry. In the photo below it is growing with tiny pixie-cup species of Cladonia.

There are other species of Peltigera growing on the ground in the fire pit. These are called “dog lichens’ because the undersides carry hairy projections which reminded people of dogs’ teeth. In the past they have been used to try to cure dog bites.

These Cladonia scattered about in the fire pit have red fruiting bodies containing spores. This is one of the ways that lichens reproduce.

In October the monthly Findhorn Hinterland Trust work party removed gorse and broom from the firepit – without this on-going care these ground-dwelling lichens would be lost as they cannot grow under shade and both gorse and broom would soon overwhelm them.

Further work was carried out by this October work party in a large area to the north of the fire pit where a large translocation had been done in 2020 in order to save some of the lichens that were growing on the ground in North Whins.  All the lichens in the pictures below were moved in 2020 by over 30 volunteers in a daylong work party organized and supported by Duneland Ltd. 

This picture shows the lichens 2 years after translocation.

The lichens thriving here include the rare Peltigera malacea and different species of Cladonia or“reindeer lichens” (the silver-white  species are an important food for reindeer in the Arctic).

Lichens also grow on the larger pebbles in the translocation site and it is hoped that the sandy areas with small stones will gradually be covered by lichens as they settle in and  reproduce. The tiny creamy balls on this Xanthoparmelia mougeotii are a mix of fungus and alga and when they fall off or are blown away they can begin to grow into new lichens.

This picture shows the work done by the FHT work party in October 2022.  Prior to the work party, patches of the rare Peltigera malacea were identified. Volunteers moved this lichen from areas that will be lost by the current building work, helping to complete the translocation started 2 years ago.

Many thanks to Duneland Ltd for the thought and care they have shown towards taking steps to value and save important parts of this amazing local ecosystem and giving time to allow amelioration work to be carried out.  Thanks also goes to Eian Smith, their Executive Director, for the very welcome pumpkin soup provided at the end of the work party!

Heather Paul

FHT Member and Local Lichen Enthusiast 

November 2022

 

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Community Kids – Growing Up with Oak Trees

By Christine Lines | Published: 04/12/2022

My daughters, Anaya and Leela and I gathered acorns a couple of years ago in Badgers Wood near Elgin with the help of Tom Moon, a fellow Drumduan parent. We sprouted them and have been nurturing them for two years. 

It has been a great experience for the kids and a valuable lesson. It was very nice to be able to plant them out in Wilkies Wood on the Hinterland-we planted 17 two-year old saplings in an area already prepared by FHT. The girls dug the holes with some help from Kajedo Wanderer, the FHT Land Manager, and I and then added a small amount of compost before backfilling and giving a little water and the odd song to bless their growth. 

I explained to the kids that Oaks support over 350 different species as they mature. To know the kids will be able to return there for many years to come and to know they have contributed to the biodiversity of the woods is a wonderful thing.

Appreciations, 

Paddy Adkinson

Father, East Whins resident and community and FHT member. 

 

 

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Volunteering for the Findhorn Hinterland Trust

By Christine Lines | Published: 04/12/2022

A Story of Learning and Gratitude

I am fully aware of the challenges facing our world including the loss of biodiversity, cultural diversity and climate change and for the last ten years I have been working as an aid worker in different parts of the world, most recently in Mongolia, to do something to make a positive difference.  My work has been in the fields of appropriate technology, renewable energy, organic agriculture and helping with access to water.  I have been fighting to support vulnerable populations to recover their self-esteem, local knowledge and dignity. After considerable reflection, I thought I needed to go beyond barriers that I found in a system which I felt reproduces a failure model of life and a spiral of destruction rather than abundance.  Driven by this search for living in a more harmonious way with nature, I decided to explore what was on offer at the Findhorn Ecovillage by signing up for a permacuture course in October.  

During the course I met some very special people and discovered some ‘beautiful jewels of paradise’ at Findhorn that helped me to visualise and dream of a beautiful future for humanity becoming part of ecosystems again. Two projects and talks especially caught my heart – Alan Watson Featherstone and the Trees for Life rewilding project and the ecosystem restoration project on the Findhorn Hinterland Trust introduced through a guided walk and talk given by its Chair, Jonathan Caddy. As I was at Findhorn, the magic did work and before ending the course I was offered a house for a month to take care of a beautiful cat, I was accepted as a volunteer by the Findhorn Hinterland Trust and after a few weeks I was then able to attend a rewilding week course with Alan and his wife Pupak in Glen Affric.

Whilst  carrying out a variety of activities on the Hinterland, I had the best mentor I could imagine, Kajedo Wanderer. With him, I learnt so many things that it would take a much longer article to express them fully. The ones that impacted me most were: that every external action we make is an internal action we do to ourselves; he taught me to observe, listen and communicate with nature and to feel what is requested of us to do as part of the ecosystem we are in and to recieve and give back in balance. I also learnt so many things about the ecosystem such as the species succession that nourishes the soil until it becomes a forest and the different trees, plants, mushrooms, insects, mammals etc that contribute to the complex interconnections between living and none living creatures that live in fragile balance. He also helped me to learn many things I didn’t know about myself. I feel very grateful – thanks from the heart Kajedo!

Volunteering was also fun! I loved the Wednesday mornings where I shared time with more Hinterland volunteers co-operating together in forest care tasks. I was also lucky enough to have the chance to enjoy a couple of days with Jonathan Caddy and George Paul to help build the new long term Hinterland volunteer’s Shepherds Hut, a project inspired by a mobile gipsy camper van. I must confess that I’m not a very handy person but there was no issue about my lack of ability as they were very happy and patient teaching me and made me feel integrated and useful as part of the team. They have fun working and really transmit this. I really enjoyed it!

I will end my story with what I felt was a little of Findhorn´s magic. When I was doing the permaculture course we took part in an activity that involved letting ourselves be guided to a place our heart takes us to. Even though I was in love with Craig and Maria´s food forest garden, my heart directed me to the tree nursery in the Hinterland Woodland Garden. I could see that the small, beautiful trees there were asking for some love and care as they had many weeds in their pots. The garden is being cared for by Draeyk who has volunteers on Saturdays but sometimes it is in need of additional hands. I ended up with another friend on the course, taking care of the trees. When others on the course left, I continued caring for them in the afternoon after my Hinterland volunteering work. What I was not expecting was what turned out to be the best ending I could hope for for those beautiful trees and myself. In my last week of volunteering, Kajedo, who knew nothing of this story with the trees, asked me to plant them in the Hinterland woods! My heart is full of joy whenever I think of those lovely little trees as part of the Hinterland woodland.

I only have words of thanks for this amazing experience!

Beatriz Maroto Izquierdo

Madrid November 25th 2022

 

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Green Burials: A Team Member’s Reflections 

By Christine Lines | Published: 04/12/2022

‘We commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.’ Committal prayer.

I have held the role of land manager’s assistant for green burials for one year now and have assisted with the six recent burials of Leslie, Judith, Brian, Bill and Paddy, some of which I have been a pallbearer for, carrying the coffin to the graveside and lowering it down into the depths of the grave. 

Initially I had felt that my referral for this work had come as a result of my melancholy countenance and deep grieving following recent close encounters with death during the pandemic. Yet, there may have been other factors at play in the timeliness of my adoption onto the green burials team, coming as it did at the first year anniversary of my mother’s death. 

I had been concerned about how I would react when confronted up close with death and the depths of others’ grieving. I worried that it would bring these feelings of grief to the surface, triggering sadness or depression, or that I would not be able to cope with facing my deepest fears of death. 

Instead, practising mindful awareness of my feelings arising in these moments observing others’ grief is strengthening resolution to wellbeing and practising psychological resilience to my fears of death.

I have found there is nothing to be afraid of in death, beyond the veil, our reality is pulled aside like the crematorium curtain and death revealed for the everyday, natural occurrence that it is. Outside of the hospital, crematorium or churchyard there are only the elements of nature; sky and trees above and earth to be laid under. 

There is a moment when the coffin has been laid to rest at the bottom of the grave when a sense of calm and peace descends upon me for a while, a kind of loving acceptance of the passing of a life. I feel these moments strongly and sense others do too, a kind of shared oneness in life continuing after death. These moments are life affirming in their poignancy and tenderness.

James Bryson

FHT Green Burial Team Member

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Partnership with Equal Adventure Update

By Christine Lines | Published: 04/12/2022

As the winds get colder and the hills and mountains start to gain some of their winter frostings, it is time to look back over the past couple of seasons.  Equal Adventure’s ‘Yes We Can Outdoor programme’ has delivered outdoor activities days with individuals with disabilities and complex needs, across the Highlands and North of Scotland.  We have been developing engagement in the outdoors and environmental awareness for all at a time when our planet most needs us to give back. 

The low-carbon activity has not required much travel and along with the environmental engagement has provided participants with a framework to develop healthier more sustainable habits.  Many of the sessions have centred around the Findhorn Hinterland Trust’s facilities which have formed an excellent base for developing skills and confidence as well as providing the privacy to allow participants to explore at their own pace and in their own way.  In particular a small group of vulnerable adults from Ark Housing based in Forres have benefitted greatly from the opportunity to attend weekly sessions around the Woodland Shelter. It is hoped to develop the programme further in the New Year.    

Thank you to all the participants, partners, and funders who have made this possible, which includes the positive collaboration with the Moray based Findhorn Hinterland Trust.  We look forward to next year’s program as well as some Festive season surprises.

If you want to know more about the work of Equal Adventure then see www.equaladventure.org or contact [email protected]

Suresh Paul

Director and Principal Advocate, Equal Adventure

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Christmas Tree Event

By Kajedo Wanderer | Published: 04/12/2022

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Chair’s Roundup – September to November 2022

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 04/12/2022

The FHT has been active once again in various ways this season both on the land and within our community.  

Tools and considerable volunteer time has been spent helping with the site preparations for the new sanctuary rebuild – thank you to all those that took part in joining with other Park Ecovillage Findhorn community members to undertake the different tasks and for the FHT trustees to back getting involved in this community building exercise.  Trustee Alan Watson Featherstone took a lead in helping create a full–scale model using trees from Wilkies Wood and rope to give a good impression of the location and dimensions of the new building.  Others helped to dismantle and remove all the insulation and plasterboard of the kitchen office on the site – the FHT will recycle the building shell as a pony shelter in the fields up near the wind turbines.  There was also Alberto’s office, a smaller structure on site that seemed too good to destroy but had some rot in the lower base plate and would have needed a new foundation and floor structure.  FHT long term volunteer George Paul and I wrestled with what could be done with it and then had the brainwave that we could cut the bottom 20cm of studs off and see if Green Leaf could use their new machine to lift it up onto the robust and insulated trailer base that we had prepared for our long awaited Shepherds Hut.  Within hours we had the windowed, roofed, insulated and clad structure up on wheels next to the Conservation ready to be internally refitted with woodstove, bed, storage etc over the coming winter months. It was a fun and imaginative project to be involved in and it seemed like a miracle that the office was almost exactly the same size as the base that we had previously prepared! 

The FHT was also involved in various ways with the 60th Community Birthday Celebration Week.  On the 17th November, the actual birthday, our Land Manager Kajedo Wanderer did a splendid job organising the 25 or so participants that took part in a ceremonial tree planting of 60 trees around our pond area.  Those involved included my young nephew who was a tree-planting virgin along with two others in that category.  (See the article by Travis Caddy elsewhere.)   The trees that were used were provided by the Woodland Trust and the FHT secured a small £250 Action Earth grant from Volunteering Matters to buy guards and stakes for these and other tree work later in the season.  Kajedo also led a couple of tours around the land for participants with some very positive feedback.

The new green burial team have been active with two burials of people close to the community this season – long-term member and associate Brian Nobbs and Laura Sheeren’s father Derek Gobbett.  The team of four, Laura, Juanna, Kajedo and Jamie, meet twice a year with advisors and at the October meeting Judith Berry stepped down from this role after over fifteen years service helping to guide this vital and well thought of part of the FHT – thank you Judith for all you have contributed to make this a thriving and well structured part of our work.  Will Russell will still be involved in selling lairs but feels that he has passed on enough to not need to attend the regular meetings.  Well done Will in successfully setting up and nurturing a structure that makes this part of the charity robust and sustainable well into the future.

Following on from the success of making the green burial part of the FHT resilient and sustainable, the trustees have also been looking at how the whole FHT organisational structure can be truly sustainable so that work with local people and in the woodland and with other ecosystems can carry on for the foreseeable future and beyond.  One of the main challenges is that if I am no longer supporting and being the safety net for the organisation how is its work to effectively continue?  For this reason I plan to step down as Chair in three years time which will give time to look at what roles I do are essential to the functioning of the organisation and looking to make this into a paid Operations Manager position.  To do that we will need to look at how the FHT can financially sustain itself well into the future – watch this space.

The trustees have great pleasure in welcoming David Hammond on board as our new Treasurer.  Many thanks go to Christopher Raymont who offered to temporarily hold that role over the past months – he will carry on as our bookkeeper and with David, Jacqueline Buckingham (another ex FHT treasurer) and myself will form a strong financial subgroup team that hopefully can help bring about the changes needed in the organisational and financial structures.  Other changes in personnel include Paulo Bessa stepping down as our fundraising trustee – thank you for all you have given Paulo – and  Vivienne Wylde with her ecological background will be joining our team with her exact role still to be determined.     

 A couple of other happenings need mentioning.  The first is the Biodiversity Exhibition that was supposed to take place in October but for various reasons had to be postponed until the 2nd December.  This social gathering that involved Alan Watson Featherstone delivering  a talk with slides to celebrate the incredible diversity on the land we care for was well attended and much appreciated by the 50+ people who attended.  Do have a look at Alan’s beautiful and inspirational  photos that are displayed in the Phoenix Café and will also be in the upper foyer of the Universal Hall from the 22nd December if you missed the event. Another is to say thank you and farewell for just now to the young Spanish lady Irene Canalis who was involved in a trial Land Manager apprenticeship programme this year.  From late March until October she lived in a FHT bell tent with a wood stove and took part in regular activities, which she reflected on and learnt from with the help of a small mentoring team.  The experience was both beneficial for her and also for the FHT who wish to develop an apprenticeship programme to ultimately help train people up that might eventually succeed our present land manager. 

Blessings and appreciations to all,

Jonathan Caddy

FHT Chair   

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