Thank you to the 30 strong team from Edinburgh Uni Conservation Society a.k.a The Dirty Weekenders who finished clearing the bracken last Sunday, in preparation for our Community Orchard. And to Sima the Scyther! Next up, building the deer fence. One free place left on 5th Oct and one free place left on 8th Oct workshops. Get in touch if you’d like to be involved threehareswoodland@gmail.com
Also thanks to Eilidh, our Conservation Facilitator, for heading up the day and taking these great photos. A good reminder that Volunteering Days at Three Hares get you to take part in work on the land, but also to enjoy being close to nature and to spend time with a bunch of good peeps! Next Vol Day is Sunday 29th October.
A FREE 3 day community workshop at Three Hares Community Woodland. 4th, 5th and 8th Oct 10am-4pm. Places are limited, so please email us for a slot threehareswoodland@gmail.com
A wee reminder that the last Sunday of the month is Volunteer Day at Three Hares from 11am-3pm. Open to all. Come for all or part of the session. This month we will finish off cutting the bracken to make way for our Community Orchard. Let’s hear it for more biodiversity!! There will be lopping, whacking, cutting and scything. The bracken cut will be piled up for mulch, to be laid around the base of trees when it has decomposed somewhat, so as to prevent competitive growth from grasses and …ahem…bracken. Permaculture states: The Problem Is The Solution!
As usual bring water, snacks, and appropriate footwear. No previous experience necessary.
A big thank you to the Green Team and other volunteers who came to Three Hares last Sunday (10th Sept) to clear bracken. This is a great start to clearing the site where we will plant our Orchard.
There is more to do, so join us on Sunday 24th Sept, 11am-3pm. We will scythe, cut and whack the remainder of the bracken.
Also, if you are interested in wood work, or would like to learn how to build a fence to protect trees from browsing deer, check out the details of the FREE course we are running at Three Hares on the 4th, 5th and 8th October. This will be our next step in creating our Community Orchard. Details can be found on our website, or email threehareswoodland@gmail.com to book your place.
We have a large section of Bracken at Three Hares which needs cut, whacked, scythed, bashed, however you chose to do it! This is to make way for the Community Orchard, happily increasing the biodiversity at Three Hares. Join us this Sunday, 10th Sept., 10am-3pm.
As usual bring lunch/snacks and water. Please wear appropriate gear. We have some work gloves but do bring your own if you have them. If you can’t join us this Sunday, but are keen to do some bracken removal, then we are continuing the job on the 24th Sept. 11am-3pm. Plenty of opportunity to help out! Thanks!
What? Come and learn how to build a fence to protect an Orchard. We’ll discuss various options and participants will get hands-on experience of installing the posts and rails for a robust deer fence. No tools required, but if you’ve got tools you like to use please bring them along.
The course is free but spaces are limited so please email threehareswoodland@gmail.com to secure your slot!
The course will be run by Mark Vrionides, co-founder of Three Hares who led the hut build on the land back in 2018. Mark says:
“I’m a trained site and workshop carpenter with a love for the native trees of Britain and the way they inhabit and enrich our lives… I believe in building projects that empower people and contribute to the local environment and community. I bring a background in community development and youth-work to the building site and aim to make it a welcoming, encouraging and safe space.”
Our Fungi Exploration Day happened this weekend. Fungi hunting, fungi facts, story making, story telling, drawing, chatting, laughing, folklore, and candle snuff making. On a beautiful day with great people and a welcome cup of Turkey Tail and Mint Tea. Thanks to Sally and Hanna for organising! Thanks to those who came along!
“Such a lovely, gentle day learning interesting facts and making new friends” – Participant
“What a really lovely event, thanks so much for putting it on. I am really loving it!” -Participant
Three Hares were grateful to receive funding to run more Musical Forest Workshops this summer, facilitated by Mischa Stevens. There was funding to run a Mental Health session, and two sessions with Trees and Seas forest school group (see photos).
But what exactly is a Musical Forest Workshop? Here is what the forest school group got up to:
‘The workshops started with ice breaker games. These included a “follow the leader” with silly warm-ups stretching and role play. Another favourite was a “what animal do you feel like today” activity to introduce everyone. There was then a quick introduction of the musical forest, the history of the instruments and the outline of the day’s activities. Then we moved to the instruments. To ensure everyone had a go on every instrument, we rotated around and played a different mini musical game each time. The games included playing with call and response, dynamics, speed and building up layers one by one. Different people then took turns being the leader/ conductors. We then used short stories to create rhythms and structures together. Teaching simple chants relating to the stories to get everyone playing the same rhythm. For example, one story involved a young girl who magically turned into a monkey at school. We drummed together “monkey, monkey, monkey, who’s a cheeky monkey”. The story developed as one by one everyone then turned into a monkey and musical chaos ensued. For the last mini game we took turns performing musical conversations in pairs. Each pair pretended to be a different set of animals conversing and the group guessed which animals they were. After lunch we went on a walk to the river, and enjoyed the different sounds we could hear and make in the woods. Returning to the musical forest, there was storytelling where the group was encouraged to act out parts and create sound effects. We then learned to play a song that accompanied the story. Coloured stickers on each note ensured everyone could play together. To finish the workshop we did more “musical storytelling”.There were prepared sets of colour coded rhythms on cards for the groups to play. They each had different themes that were weaved together into a story. For example, one was a fruit salad theme set of rhythms that gets blended faster and faster into a smoothie. Lastly the group was encouraged to create their own rhythms and themes which we then played together, making some very funny inventive musical stories!’
So, next time round would you like to join us? Look out for future Musical Forest Workshop opportunities, or get in touch if you would like to bring a group.
On the run up to COP26, two years ago, Three Hares hosted a group who had walked 500miles from London to reach Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference, A Pilgrimage For Nature. They created and shared performances along the way.
They are returning to Edinburgh as ‘The Strolling Mummers’ and invite you to join them at the beginning of their ‘Pilgrimage for Re-Pair’ on 3rd September at 4pm on Arthur’s Seat.
They write : ‘The Strolling Mummers Pilgrimage for Re-Pair, 2nd Sept – 20th Oct. The Strolling Mummers are setting off again, this time walking from north to south, along the Spine of Albion, along the Belinus and Elen energy lines, starting at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh and ending at Culver Down on the Isle of Wight. Earlier in the year the Mummers met at Dragon Hill and had an incredible week developing a new mummers play, based on the legend of King Arthur. On the Spine of Albion are many sacred sites, associated with Arthurian legends, including a cave at Alderley Edge where he is said to reside, until such a time as when the land needs him once more, he shall rise to save his people. At a time when events in the world mean that perhaps Arthur is beginning to stir, we will walk this land, putting one foot in front of the other, seeking to re-pair and re-imagine relations between the inner and outer worlds, re-membering and re-claiming our own Sovereignty, and our deep connection and marriage to the land. As a collective we are breathing new life back into our indigenous culture, which used to deeply root us to the land. The common people of the UK were the first to be colonised and those who took our lands as their own have not taken the best care of them. The land, this planet, is all our birthright, and by remembering, reclaiming, and deepening our connection to Mumma Earth, we strengthen resolve to protect her, as well as finding this ever deepening relationship enriches our lives in ways that are unimaginable. The Strolling Mummers came together in 2021 when we walked from London to Glasgow, along the Spine of Albion, a vertical leyline, to the UN Climate Conference ‘COP26’ for Listening to the Land, Pilgrimage for Nature, creating a performance en route, which we presented to the delegates in the Green Zone. Then last year we walked a Pilgrimage for Unity, along a horizontal leyline known as the Michael Line that spans from Carn Les Boel, near Land’s End in Cornwall, all the way to Hopton-on-Sea on the Norfolk Coast. On this route we performed a traditional mummers play of Saint George and his Many Enemies, exploring how we create our own enemies through projections, and that really we are all one. This year we are walking a Pilgrimage for Re-Pair, with our own mummers play that we recently coined, that explores how we can reunite the inner and outer worlds, the head and the heart, finding our own High King, whilst hiking, and helping to bring us back home to and in flow with all parts of ourselves, each other, and the land. Our route will take us through Edinburgh, Carlisle, Burnley, Stoke, Manchester, Birmingham, Stratford, Winchester, and the Isle of Wight. If you live along this route and would like to help by hosting a performance, or putting us up for the night (there’s seven of us), then please get in touch. Follow our adventures @strollingmummers on Instagram and Facebook and come see a performance or spend a day walking with us if you’re able.’
three hares woodland 