Wilder Life Wellbeing CIC

This week at Nurture in Nature we learnt how to tie cobra knots and made key rings with coloured paracord. We also decorated pebbles with drawings and positive affirmations. The woods looked stunning with their carpet of bluebells and we noticed the lively bird song and more trees coming into leaf. We cooked delicious savoury tortillas with foraged nettles.

Today at Nurture in Nature we explored the elder tree through story and crafts, making elder charcoal pencils for sketching and elder beads for bracelets and necklaces.  We made some delicious Greek inspired food to share: hummus, tzatziki and Baba ghanoush with flat breads- delicious and sat around the fire chatting and laughing.

This week at Nurture in Nature we we embraced foraging edible spring plants. We collected wild garlic, nettle and cleavers. From the cleavers we made a refreshing spring tonic drink and with the wild garlic and nettles we made a delicious pesto. Using sweet chestnut wood, we saw and drilled to make Viking knitting reels and then used these to braid intricate friendship bracelets. It was very mindful and meditative to sit around the fire, chatting and crafting together.

This month at Wild Vision we made full use of the soft mud to track and then take plaster of Paris cars from the animal prints. We found badger, fox, squirrel, rat, pheasant and Barley prints. The casts worked really well and were a great way for everyone to really explore the different footprints using touch. As we are approaching Easter, we made chocolate cereal nests with chocolate eggs, played games and tapped a silver birch tree and drank the sap.

This Thursday we welcomed two new groups to our spring programmes for Nurture in Nature. We sat under a blue sky with the sun warning us all day. It was such a treat to listen to the birds and see the daffodils and bluebell shoots. Spring has arrived. This week we foraged for kindling and dead wood to saw for fire wood, made butter and jam and toast over the fire. We also created a beautiful mandala from all the treasures we discovered on the woodland floor.

We had a muddy and rainy session this month but nothing stopped our fun. We made bracken hearts and bird feeders. We enjoyed playing games, which included a sensory met the tree game; it was lots of fun. For our food we made and cooked delicious pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries.

Happy New Year from all of us at Wild Vision!  We were delighted to return to the woods this week and spend time together. It was a gorgeous winter day and we were grateful for the warm fire, hot chocolate and mulled apple juice to keep us warm.  We made and cooked delicious spinach pakoras over the fire. Our craft this time was to make candles by dipping string in melted wax. It was very satisfying to see them being made. We kept warm with some fun games and look forward to

Today at Wild Vision we enjoyed our time together with a festive flavour. We played zombie Santa hide and seek, made orange pomanders, sang Xmas songs around the fire and ate delicious festive pizzas. It was great to have fun in the woods, despite the wild winds. Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Today at Nurture in Nature we talked about Imbolc and welcomed the return of the light and awakening of nature in the earth. We made coconut and sweet potato soup and traditional St Bridget crosses from rushes to celebrate Imbolc. We listened to an Imbolc story and went for a walk in the woods and found a birch polypore fungi.  Making charcoal from peeled willow was fun and we used charcoal to sketch the tree silhouettes.

We had a gorgeous dry and fairly mild session this week. We didn’t even put the tarp up! This meant we could have the hammocks out again and relax appreciating the tree canopy and bird song. Today’s session was all about the bird song and we had a listening meditation, made bird feeders and had a walk and talk to learn more about bird language. As a group we prepped, cooked and ate a delicious quinoa soup.

Today at Nurture in Nature we appreciated a dry session and even managed to get the hammock up. It was enjoyed by lots of people. We went for a walk and noticed lots of interesting lichen and moss today. We made another delicious soup and this week it was a super healthy minestrone. Our craft today was making dream catchers which were decorated with larch cones, lichen and evergreen foliage. It was a lovely relaxed session sharing our week and being together around the fire.

Welcome back to our Nurture in Nature community. This week it was one of those very rainy days but we enjoyed a cosy time around the campfire and under the tarp. We had a meditation, prepped a delicious leek and potato soup and toasted bread. Some of us went for a wander in the woods to look at the silver birch trees and shared a tradition story about the silver birch. We then made birch key rings. These were peeled and then scorched with the ogham symbol for birch using a p

Happy Winter solstice❄️💙 Today was our final session before a break for the festive season. It was a joyful, cosy time around the fire, under the canopy of the winter trees. Drinking hot chocolate and mulled apple juice, eating hot mince pies with custard and sharing stories from the past week. Some of us walked through the woods, appreciating the bird song and holly trees. While others made floating walnut candles to celebrate the return of the light on the 21st for the win

At Nurture in Nature this week, we were treated to a cosy indoor festive crafting session. There was a terrific downpour for most of the morning so we were grateful for our cosy cabin and shelters. We had a campfire to cook savoury tortillas on and boil water for plenty of hot drinks and hot water bottles. Inside the cabin we had lots of chats, a meditation, read a tree story and made festive twig stars.

Nurture in Nature has emigrated for the winter to warmer climes. We are now working at Powdermill Woods, near Battle. We have a busy wooden cabin nestled in the woods and also a tarp and fire pit outside. This week we cut some Sweet Chestnut to make staffs. We peeled the bark and decorated them with a pyropen and sharpies. We cooked banana pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup and enjoyed a tree meditation and sitting drinking tea around the fire with hot water bottle and

Today was our final session for our Autumn Nurture in Nature programme. It has been such a fun, connected and supportive time. This week we made delicious and adventurous savoury swirls, which had spinach and cheese. We grounded ourselves with a tree meditation to start the session and then found a tree we had noticed and gave a gift of bird seeds and measured its age using our hands. Two types of bird feeders were made and a plantain hand balm to take away. It was a heartfel

We were thrilled to be back in the woods after Storm Benjamin had us cancelling the session last week. It was stunning autumnal weather and we enjoyed watching the leaves falling while making butternut squash soup over the fire. We shared stories and had a meditation around the fire and used the charcoal we made last time to do some charcoal sketching. Inspired by spider webs we did some stick weaving. It was a fabulous time together.

It was another fabulous autumn celebration. Dry, crisp weather and lots of crunchy leaves underfoot.  This week we got creative with nature’s resources and made Conker soap and willow charcoal. We will use the charcoal next week for some sketching.

Today at Nurture in Nature we embraced the joy and gifts of the autumnal woods.  We foraged for sweet chestnuts and roasted them over the fire with some foraged walnuts, whilst apples baked in the fire. We added custard and the nuts for a delicious treat. We practiced our fire skills by using Kelly Kettles to boil water. Some of us made cordage from raffia and one of the group showed us how to create leaf flowers. We were delighted with the results

This is a fabulous chance to take a closer look at nature. Sussex Wildlife Trust's annual photo competition encourages you to look at the...