Stories From the garden
Voices of the earth photography Exhibition
After weeks of planning and preparation we have finally launched the exhibition, our year-long project “The Voices of the Earth" has been brought to fruition! I think it is safe to say the exhibition was a success due to all the smiles and participation from our guests who visited on the evening of the 10th of June.
MY EXPERIENCE AS A CLIMATE AND FOOD AMBASSADOR
We hear the words ‘climate change’ in the news and it often washes over our heads. For a lot of people, it’s something so distant from our everyday realities that even if you want to help you might not even know where or how to start.
IMPACT! EARTH, CLIMATE AND FOOD GROWING: OUR FOOD AMBASSADORS' JOURNEY SO FAR
“Recognising that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come... Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own - indeed, to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.”
— Wangari Maathai
VOICES OF THE UNIVERSE
Much of what I have brought to Global Generation’s work has roots in the group of islands 18,300 km across the seas from London that form Aotearoa New Zealand; the land where I was born. The covid pandemic meant that what might have been a brief trip for me and my husband, Rod Sugden, to visit my 95-year-old mother turned into a five-month stay.
FROM THE WILD WOOD TO THE URBAN FOREST
Living in the city, trees are a precious resource so often overlooked and neglected, yet are a defining character of our streets, highways and parks. For those of us who love them, they bring nature close to us, and we may get to know a few intimately if we pass them each day or watch them changing through the seasons from windows and balconies.
A WORKSHOP AT KAICYCLE – WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND
Sitting in a circle, with a group of teenagers choosing values that mean something to them, could easily be what you might find in one of Global Generation’s London gardens. This time, Rod and I were having a parallel but different experience.
FROM THE HEART OF A NEW ZEALAND NATIVE FOREST
I am sitting here overlooking a huge bush-clad gulley north of Auckland in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Ahead of me is a thick green mantle of forest giants; rimu, kahikatea, tanekaha and three huge kauri that tower above the other trees. In hot weather kererū, the native wood pigeons, swoop through the forest in their mating dance, and tui sing their trickster tale songs.
A FLOATING GARDEN SLOWLY COMING TO LIFE
The Spring Equinox. A perfect balance between night and day. And now the days are getting longer and warmer. For many across the world this is the celebration of the new year. Which makes so much more sense than our calendar years.
UPDATES FROM THE PAPER GARDEN
As we edge closer towards spring I have found myself reflecting on the year before in the Paper Garden, where we saw more time spent among the plants than people. We have built so many new growing beds that I have lost count, and seen an influx of birds and smaller crawling creatures to the habitat we are creating.
GARDENING AT REDRIFF PRIMARY SCHOOL
At the beginning of the school year, back in September 2020, I began my role as the gardener at Redriff Primary School, having constructed the two food growing planters with my colleague Glen during the summer.
GROWTH THROUGH STORY WALKING
I can’t remember how it began; the decision for my GP, Jane Myat and I to invite some of her other patients to join us for a story, a poem or two and some gentle qigong as we walked through the Green Spaces that lie between the Listening Space Garden at the Caversham GP practice in Kentish Town and the Story Garden in King’s Cross.
Revisiting Global Generation’s History - 2020
This was the year when the world turned upside down. We were grateful for our gardens, our open fires and most of all for the wayfinding spirit of our team and the readiness of our participants, which all combined to help us find a gentle path through the uncertainties and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. As one of the Generators wrote:
Netley Garden Guardians
Back in November, the garden club that myself and Gareth Morris, Deputy Headteacher of Netley Primary School, had hoped to start in the Summer was finally going to begin. Ten students from Year 5, The Guardians, embarked on the journey as the first group of students stewarding the allotment beds on Netley campus.
A year at story garden
It’s tempting to brush last year under the carpet and pretend it didn’t happen. But there have been some important discoveries, or rediscoveries and it would be wrong not to celebrate them! A
My journey into mindfulness
Having worked for Global Generation for over a year now, I’ve got to know the organisation in more depth and have gradually bought into its ways of working. As I begin to take on more responsibilities at the Paper Garden I felt it was time to start my journey into mindfulness.
Voices of the Earth - Yarrow
As she has done for millennia, Yarrow, a small unassuming but surprisingly strong plant, shared her healing powers with Cassie, one of the Voices of the Earth Fellows. Cassie describes how connecting with nature and the mythical tales surrounding Yarrow was an important part her of finding a sense of wellbeing amidst the pressures of school and the uncertainties of being confined to her house during the COVID pandemic.
Voices of the Earth - ash
Standing tall and proud in St Pancras Gardens, Jane Riddiford encounters the Ash, which is the sixth plant in our Voices of the Earth pantheon. Here, Jane shares what happened when a young man paid attention to a story that Ash re-kindled in him.
Voices of the Earth - daisy
Daisy is the fifth plant in our Voices of the Earth “pantheon”, a plant that called us to explore, with words and movement, what the underworld means to us.
Voices of the Earth - Thyme
Where we come from stays alive and strong whatever we become or wherever we go. Our origins, our Home, our roots, those are part of us. And there are things around the world, things through the years of our life, things we see or smell or touch that, in one instant, can take you back to that place, those roots, that Home. In this blog post Silvia Pedretti, Global Generation’s Senior Project Coordinator, explains that thing, for her, was an encounter with Thyme.
Voices of the Earth - Marigold
The first time I encountered Marigolds, they were called “Calendulitas”. I was helping to sow seeds and plant seedlings in the south of Spain, where a noun adorned with the suffix “ita/o(s)” makes it a tiny version of that thing. Everything we planted was young and small, so everything was referred to in this way.