APPLE HARVEST – 1st OCTOBER 2023
The Apple trees were well honoured and cared for as the weight was lifted and their miraculous fruits turned into sweet apple juice for all to share. Apples were collected, branches prodded and wheelbarrows were taken up and down from the orchard to the busy little juicing area below. Meanwhile expert fiddle and guitar players kept spirits up and people and apple trees danced.
Apples of greens, reds and yellows were washed and mulched, squeezed by turning a press and out trickled the juice bottled up by a dedicated team of bottlers – young and old and in between all a part of the work. There was tea and delicious cakes all afternoon, a raffle of goodies and information about apples, the Spiral Centre and the Spiral Sanctuary library opened up.
At 3.30pm we followed the drum to the orchard Spiral. We tied ribbons to an arch and later shared what we were grateful for all together. We spiralled around and Jo and others helping out shared the story of the apple trees. Their dormant bare branched winters, and then their winter ‘haircut’ and then their new hair dye! Green leaves and apple blossoms. And we wondered – how really do these sweetest of flowers become apples? It’s still a mystery.
APPLE HARVEST – 2ND OCTOBER 2022
The weather forecast for the day wasn’t great, but on the day, the sun shone! The original musicians were not able to come due to covid, but other musicians (Liz and John) were able to step in at short notice. There was even dancing in the car park by the end of the day!
On the day apples were picked, mulched, turned into juice and then bottled. There was information on the Spiral Centre and the different types of apples, items for sale on the stalls, as well as tea and cake for sale.
Meditation sessions were offered by Hilary. Sarah Toraven, with Su drumming, led a walk up into the spiral on the edge of the orchard. We tied a ribbon onto the entry arch with a personal gratitude. Once we were all on the spiral, we were asked to look at the apple, we each had, then to close our eyes and feel our apple, followed by smelling, then listening and finally eating the apple, and considering what ‘seeds’ we were going to plant either literally or metaphorically. We then held hands to create a long line, which walked slowly out of the spiral, with Su drumming.
A raffle with a generous range of items concluded the event.
OTHONA VISIT – 10TH AUGUST 2022
From Seed to Harvest, and Harvest to Seed
There were 12 of us (see attached photo) for the Lammas Spiral Away Day on Wednesday 12th August at the Othona community in West Dorset (https://www.othonawestdorset.org.uk/). We enjoyed a tour of the gardens and buildings by volunteer Catherine, with an impromptu Circle Dance in the Chapel when we viewed it, (generously facilitated by the group who were staying that week).
We then heard more about the history of both the site and the Othona Community from manager Tony, in their new Four Seasons workshop space. The Community was setup after World War II and welcomed all classes and nationalities, including the Germans.
When Tony was explaining about daily life at the community, he described a practice they call ‘seed to harvest’. The day starts with a ‘seed’ – a gathering in the chapel, mainly in silence, with a simple offering of words. Then in the evening after dinner a sharing circle to offer what has been the ‘harvest’ from the day.
After the discussion we enjoyed a lovely lunch, and then we formed our own circle where we could share which parts of the visit had resonated for each of us (our harvest) and if any could become a new seed at the Spiral or in our own lives.
Some of the group then visited the photography exhibition by Sam Rose, Rewilding Unwrapped (see more info below), at the Bridport Arts Centre on the way home, others walked down to the beach from Othona for a swim.
Sam Rose spent the last two years – in between lockdowns – visiting rewilding sites in the UK as part of a major project for his MA in Photography at the Arts University Bournemouth. His work has taken him from Cornwall to Norfolk, Devon to the Cairngorms, and it has been a revelation. He has made an extensive body of photographic work, undertaken a huge number of interviews and put these into a website www.whatifyoujustleaveit.info and podcast of the same name. You can watch a YouTube talk of his from the following link –https://youtu.be/PJjoSaWbAdw
The Spiral Centre 