Biodiversity, Ecological Education and Ecotherapy

Dear supporters,

Wow, it has been a little while since our last update. We had a little break after the busy May. We have been touched by the generous donations and we know that more people are now aware of Ecotherapy East thanks to our crowdfunding campaign. We still have a few weeks left of our campaign and we hope we can raise more funds to support our valuable work and give us the resources we need.

We also needed to focus on preparing our first Scything Workshop which happened this Saturday 18 June. Richard Brown from Wild Scythe and Scythe Association of Britain & Ireland came to our meadow in Bramfield to share his extensive knowledge and skill of meadow management and scything. Richard has a lovely approach; he describes scything as a multi-sensory activity. When we scythe we can not help to pay attention to what is right in front of us with all our senses. We notice more and get into a rhythm with the movement of the scythe. It is a wonderful thing to see so I included a few pictures of our scythers. We also have videos on our social media.

Scything encourages a healthy ecosystem and spread of wildflowers. Our intention is to scythe the whole 12-acre meadow if we get enough enthusiastic volunteers. Please get in touch if you would like to help : [email protected] A group of volunteers will be meeting in June and July which is the best time to scythe.

Ecotherapy East is therefore coming full circle. The meadow is beig scythed again after 200 years. The watercolour picture of the meadow shows us how it used to be done. 

Our crowdfunder is running until the end of this month. There are still a few rewards to redeem. We have a beautiful hand-made wood carving from recycled materials of a green man by Nick Jackson, one of our directors.

You can also pay a bargain for a hand-made woolen knitted blanket by one of our supporters.

You can find out more about both of these under the rewards section. Mindfulness and ecotherapy one to one sessions are still available at discounted price with myself, Rob and Rijuciddha and voice sessions with myself. I can help singers, speakers, actors and others to expand, explore and look after their voices. We have a vegetarian meal in our yurt for 2. 1 ethical financial review with an experienced professional is still up for grabs . You can also come for a tour of the meadow and cuppa for just £20. All these are listed in rewards. 

In the final week of the crowdfunder we are organising a community gathering and film screening of a very inspirational documentary The Little Big Farm about the regenerative power of nature in a lovely venue and yoga studio on Nelson street in Norwich. There will be a short talk about Ecotherapy East before the film, tea and cake and an opportunity to discuss the film. Book your tickets, places are limited: www.thegates.uk/event-details/film-showing-the-biggest-little-farm

Finally, we are getting very much ready for and excited about our upcoming Wise Nature: Ecotherapy and Mindfulness Retreat in North Norfolk in July. It's taking place on a beautiful meadow surrounded by a woodland near Aylsham and it is an opportunity to connect with our inner nature and outer nature using ecotherapy and mindfulness practices and relax. A participant last year wrote this about his experience: 

There is no previous experience necessary. If you would like to join us or know someone who might be interested, please share the flyer above, visit our website: www.robertblackcounselling.co.uk/ecotherapy or email directly: [email protected] 

With wild blessings and hope we meet somewhere soon,

Sebastiana on behalf of Ecotherapy East