On the first Saturday of each month, we welcome you to the farm to get involved with what’s going on on the land and for seasonal celebrations, nature-based taster-sessions and mini-workshops. It’s a wonderful chance to see what’s been happening on the farm, learn new skills and enjoy a relaxing, fun day with like-minded company!
This month, our Community Farm day falls on Calan Gaeaf (or the Celtic fire festival of Samhain). For rural folk in Wales, Calan Gaeaf has always marked the end of the harvest season and has a long association with death and the Dead - though different celebrations, this is where Halloween and Calan Gaeaf, or Samhain, are similar! Calan Gaeaf has always been acknowledged as a time when the veil between the living and the dead is at its most thin. For us, working the land, it is when we are in most direct contact with the dying of things, the falling leaves, the slowing of growth, the coming slumber, the death that feeds life in the next cycle of the seasons. It’s a chance to reflect on death, the dead, and the rhythms and cycles of nature that connect us with them.
So in our farm activities this month, we’ll be getting into some composting! We’ll be looking at different ways of composting, and how our waste, decaying material is so vital for the plants we’ll grow for food in Spring. In the tradition of many cultures around the world at this time, we’re also inviting you to contribute to a Calan Gaeaf shrine. It’s still common in many households to make a shrine to those we’ve lost, and light a candle for ancestors passed at this time of year, and we’ll be doing the same for our community in our events space. It could be photographs of a loved one, objects that signify someone or something you’ve had to let go, or something you are grieving.
As ever, we’ll be having a bring-and-share lunch, so please do bring a dish for the lunch table on the Saturday. Vegan-friendly dishes are encouraged to ensure that the spread suits everybody! We’ll have lunch around 12.30pm. We’ll provide refreshments through the day and everything else you might need, including mugs, plates and cutlery. Waterproofs and sturdy footwear is strongly recommended!
Let us know you’re coming on the button below!
*To get the best from the day, we really do recommend trying to arrive on time if you can!
‘As the darkness now draws near
See the cycle of the year
As the light goes within
Let the hallows dance begin!’
Samhain Blessing