Kindred 24

Andy Hamilton sums up the vibe of the biggest ever gathering the Association of Foragers has had to date:

Many moons ago, and long before what3words made it big, the BBC adopted this identity policy. You’d see it in corners of studios, up on cameras and above DJ booths. Each show had three different words, the words reflecting the core values and identity of the show. Stuff like creativity, local, inclusion, nature or whatever. This year’s meet up got me thinking about the idea once more as core themes jumped out at me. It felt like these words, or words that would sit next to them in a thesaurus, were on many peoples lips.

Kindred

Of course the first word had to be kindred, I even renamed the weekend Kindred 24. For me it summed up my experience at last year’s meet up and I hoped it would sum up this years too. It might have seemed like a gamble, but really it wasn’t as the weekend was full of warmth, encouragement and bonds that were being either made or strengthened. In other words it really felt like a place where kindred meet.

In fact one member was so overwhelmed by how at home she felt amongst, after years of not feeling like she belonged, that there were tears, staging “It feels like coming home”. I couldn’t agree more.

Effort

This year there was a blistering array of workshops, too many to list. But just for starters there was writing, miso, smoking, butchery, cake making, herbalism we even had a highly entertaining foragers confessional.

Each person who put together a workshop did so for free, and that of course means putting in all the preparation and carrying about a bunch of nerves beforehand. Then there was the folk who disappeared off into the kitchen especially, Alex, Rupert, Craig and Kat (from what I saw, sorry if I’ve left you out). Who worked relentlessly, managing the chaos that was the kitchen, to ensure that we ate better than Kings with two multiple course meals a day.

Openness

Ok, so I know some of you will be running for the sick bucket with this one. But it’s a fact that none of this would have come together if it wasn’t for the openness of our members. To be willing to be open with each other, to share knowledge and to be humble enough to listen to others isn’t a given in every field (pardon the pun). This was on show in abundance.

There was of course other words and phrases that I could have used, goddess – due to the drumming, late nights, laughter, drinking, poetry, fire and partial nakedness. Indeed, we are blessed in our association as we have somehow stumbled into creating a near utopian vision of the future.

We might only manage to keep it for a weekend, but to have that glimpse is rather magical and I only hope you come along to share it with us next year.