Blog: Wild Ways Well – Embracing Autumn

A blog for NHS Lothian Charity by TCV Senior Project Officer Paul Barclay

Well that was your summer then, wasn’t it glorious – what do you mean you can’t remember it? It was that week in August when the sun briefly came out and it stopped raining for almost 3 days. A beautiful Scottish summer.

Truth be told, the weather has definitely been against us in the Wild Ways Well project this year. It’s hard to motivate people to come and join you in the outdoors when a gale is blowing and the rain is hammering down. But we persevered, and either through my powers of persuasion, or people taking pity on me, we managed to get a whole load of sessions and events out in the wilds of Howden and Ladywell.

We’ve worked closely with St John’s Hospital as always, and welcomed participants from a number of wards and units within the hospital. Every week, we go for a walk and see what is going on in the woods and parks, stretching our legs, watching for deer and squirrels, communing with the trees and stopping to smell the flowers. We’ve identified bees and butterflies, listened to bird song, watched a sparrowhawk nest, with the chicks fledging and flying around us, and learned about witchcraft and folk beliefs about magic. We’ve tried out a whole heap of natural, traditional activities like flower dyeing, sculpting with clay, painting, drawing, weaving, playing horseshoes and just telling old stories about the life around us.

But mainly we’ve relaxed, using the green spaces to calm our minds and steady our souls. Every week, I hear stories from participants about their lives, the challenges they face, the issues they are living with. And every week, I watch the stress and the strain lift off them as we feel the sun (or rain!) on our skin, and we walk and talk together in amongst the beauty of the woods and garden.

There really is something in this. I feel it myself, the worries of life fade when I’m with a group, sharing a cup of tea, or the sight of a wildflower. Someone said to me during a session this summer: “This is sublime. I’m so happy to be out here. Why haven’t I always been doing things like this?” I couldn’t help but agree.  

Our Thursday and Saturday garden volunteers have done an amazing job looking after Howden Walled Garden and it’s been looking its (rainswept) best thanks to their efforts. We were treated to an amazing display of colour in our new Pollinator Bed (Rachel’s Rainbow Garden), and the Tea Bed produced endless amounts of mints and camomile for us all to try making tea cocktails in our breaks. We planted up a new bed with plants we can taste, like strawberries, chives, nasturtiums, curry and broadbeans… maybe not all in the same mouthful! It’s been fun watching plants coming up, smelling the lemon verbena, tasting the chocolate mint, finding caterpillars in amongst the campion flowers.

But there’s definitely been a change in the weather lately. The nights are drawing in, it’s time to close the curtains, break out the blankets and comfort foods, settle yourself in and endure the long wait until spring…

Or is it?

I have to admit I’ve got a negative attitude towards the autumn, and the dark winter to come. But it needn’t be that way. Albert Camus said that: “autumn is a second spring, when every leaf becomes a flower.” John Muir said that the autumn winds can blow our cares away, like leaves falling from the trees. There is so much beauty, and strength, to be found in the woods in autumn.

We’ve got great plans for autumn. The Walled Garden needs to be prepared for the winter; there are trees to prune, and plants to move to sheltered spots. We will plant wildflowers and daffodils in the garden and trees in the park. We will count squirrels, listen to bats, and look for the tracks of deer. We’ll make green men to guard the woods and spoon flowers to bring fun to the flowerbeds. We’ll hang wishes from the willow trees, and have a go at traditional activities like making corn dolls and saining straw. We’ll drink tea, talk, and share our hopes for the future. We will listen to the lessons of our ancestors, and of the plants and animals all around us.

The deer know how to endure the dark, the trees can teach us to withstand the storms. The Holly King is awakening, the Cailleach Bheur is abroad in the woods. We will look for them and welcome them, we will thrive in the million colours of the autumn leaves.

And we’ll do it together, in good company, and with the occasional cup of hot chocolate to keep out the cold. Why not come and join us?