In our initial ‘mission statement’ we openly aspired for the Earth Heart project to be about placemaking, to offer a space to come to for connecting with a quieter, more natural environment, to spend time recovering and healing. Creating that place from our current circumstances is a big aspiration indeed, but it’s achievable. This weekend, we made some progress in that direction and we’re both feeling inspired, energised and motivated in having done so!
| Some months back, Nik cleared a lot of debris (rocks, ivy, old tree trunks, etc,) from the remains of an old pig hut set just at the top of the Earth Heart land and a bit to the side of the cottage. That whole thing will have to come down eventually but clearing the overgrowth was the first step. Since then we’ve been waiting for the right weather to have a bonfire and dispose of the waste but it seemed like every time we were free… the rain came down! Finally, we decided that this weekend was make or break and though it was a little windier than might have been ideal, with the possibility of a shower or two, it was good enough to go for it on Saturday afternoon! |  Getting the fire going... |  ...the flames build! |
It took a few hours to really get going but by evening (and following a few cleansing sacrifices of old art work and bundles of herbs from last years harvest) most of the pile had been sent up to the heavens on a cloud of sparks! It was certainly a cosy fireside to sit by, gazing in to the flames and sharing our imaginings for the land.
| As we were at the point furthest from the cottage and roughly where we plan for the bell tent to go, I was picturing the cosy canopy sheltering some of our future guests exactly where the fire was burning brightly and wishing for that warming energy to stay resident and fuel their time here. It was round about that point that Nik also caught a spark of an idea and suggested that the next day we build a shrine on the land to involve it more in the whole site and begin inviting the qualities of our principal figures of inspiration into the project. It doesn’t take much to get me excited about shrine building so I started thinking about it there and then! Although we’ve apparently both got to a point in our lives where nine o’clock seems like just the right bed time, thank you, we sat up until well after eleven warming our hearts on the fire of the land and bouncing creative ideas off each other, happily. As we eventually made our way back to our bed in the cottage, I couldn’t stop myself from gazing back at all that beauty. The crackling of the still dancing flames creating a symphony with the sound of water trickling off the hillside while the breeze gently tangled wispy clouds across a waxing crescent moon, framed in the outline of the old apple tree and held in the solid, earthy embrace of the land. |  Old timbers burn, making way for the new... |
As I bade a grateful goodnight, I was strongly in touch with a sense of each of the elements weaving their magic into support all we hope to achieve, lending their blessings and their energies to the vision of the Earth Hearth project.
| The next morning, the sun was out once more and we were keen to get back down to the smouldering ashes! It didn’t take much more than a handful of sticks to rekindle the flames, which we kept going through out the day as we attended to a few other jobs that needed attention. By the afternoon, we had some time to get creative. I began the shrine building project while Nik made a start on realising one of our other ideas for the land that we’d chatted about quite a bit by the fire the night before. |
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 Box building! | Perhaps the first thing we’ll really be able to make public; an ‘honesty’ box from which to make upcycled crafts, surplus organic produce, houseplant babies and veggie seedlings available to passers by. He recently found some unwanted offcuts of wood being thrown away on a set he’d been dressing and so fetched his drill to begin crafting them into a made-to measure roadside stall! For the new shrine, I wanted to keep with one of our principles for the project, which is to bring in our new ideas with respect to what has gone before. In fact, we originally had the idea to call the project ‘Rhyddid’, a Welsh word for liberation to acknowledge but bring new values to the trapping history of our particular part of the valley. So, as the natural forager that I am (I think I might have a Womble in my ancestry), I began piecing together a base from some of the things left lying about by previous guardians of the land; a tyre made a good solid platform as well as providing a little cavity to stash an old number plate and some pieces of timber. A piece of wood from Nik’s old house boat made a surface to support a lovely sheet of rusty corrugated iron. |
The foraged shrine, built from the old to invoke new unobstructed success and generosity!
Old door frames supported the front whilst various other found objects first jostled but eventually nestled between carefully placed stones and rocks from the pig hut. I rustled up a few make-shift candle holders and vases from jars and bottles then it was time for the finishing touches.
| Since his time in India, Nik’s been particularly inspired by the Hindu figure Ganesh, widely held as a remover of obstacles; certainly something we need help with on the land! We do have a big stone Ganesh in the main garden, but I rather practically suggested that instead we might move the (much lighter) Buddha figure whose company I had been enjoying in the new herb garden. I inherited this Buddha from a Taraloka community clear out shortly before leaving and I rather like the idea that he’s bringing some of that lineage with him. I’m not completely sure which particular Buddha this rather inexpensive garden centre replica is supposed to represent, but I do know that he’s sitting in meditation with the mudras (hand gestures) of fearlessness and generosity. The abhaya, or fearlessness mudra, with the hand held to heart height, the palm facing out, is the mudra of Amoghasiddhi, the dark green Buddha associated with unobstructed success and I’ve thought for sometime that he’s got a quality or two in common with Ganesh. I think he’s also got some Green Man energy going on which keeps my pagan side happily cohabiting with my Buddhist faith! Of course, the generosity mudra also feels very appropriate as we’re not just creating this space to erect a fence and enjoy in isolation. We want to give, to share. It feels important to work that energy in to this space from the start too. |  Offerings of flowers and incense... |
By this time, we were both getting close to the end of our energy for the day but we weren’t quite ready to go back under a roof so I knocked up some bowls of soup for us to enjoy by the last of the fire and the glowing candles of the new shrine. We chatted as we ate, soaking up the cleared space and sharing that we both feel we’ve made significant progress on the land this weekend. It might not seem like much; Earth Heart is never going to be a shiny new enterprise of business plans, bank loans and brand new kit. It’s going to burst from the grass roots of the land itself, crafted by what we find and what is given to us by circumstance and serendipity. But it’ll be real, it’ll be authentic, it’ll be stitched together with love and that’s what’ll make it special. It looks like the weather’s going to take a cold turn again in the coming days and I’ll be back at Taraloka next week for voluntary cooking on a retreat but if the weather picks up again in the last week of April (surely it’s got to!?) I don’t think it’ll be long before we’re giving our tent it’s first outing of the season. It won’t be the six meter bell tent we’re envisaging in the long run but it’ll be lovely to be back under canvas; and to take the next step in the dream of loving and living on the land at Earth Heart!
 Our new dining room... |  ...and a celebratory meal! |
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