Category: Life

Life, Wheel of the Year

September updates

Wild Fen

Hello lovely soul,

It has been an interesting September so far in the UK with some of our hottest temperatures of the year occurring this month! And yet, despite the heat, signs of Autumn’s approach are weaving their way into daily life. The misty mornings and dew decorated spider webs. The hedgerows heavy with purple and red jewels and the return of the Robin to our garden who has been serenading us each morning. I wonder, what changes you may have been noticing where you are?

This time of year, is a wonderful time to pause and acknowledge the transition of the year from Summer into Autumn. As the light is noticeably retreating now, we may find ourselves craving more rest, earlier nights, hearty foods and cosiness. One of my favourite practices for this time of year is to create or tend to a space so that it feels cosy and welcoming for self care practices for the darker months to come.

In today’s post I wanted to share with you a little of what we have been up to lately, some ideas for connecting with the season and let you know what we have coming up over the next few months…

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Life

Thoughts on the Creative Process

Wild Fen

This morning I revisited a creation that I began work on a few years ago and it got me thinking about my creative processes. Some creations emerge with such certainty, that they can be created the day the inspiration for them arrives. Other creations unravel at a much slower pace, the inspiration for them ebbs and flows. At times I lose sight of it altogether. Sometimes I walk with creations throughout a season, sometimes longer. I may take a break from them, allowing them to rest before hearing their whispers to meet again.

I guess I often favoured the experience of the rapid creative process because it feels productive and exciting to have such clarity about something I must create. I would go as far as saying that when I don’t experience that clarity I question whether I have enough passion for what I’m creating, whether I should carry on or let it fade away.

Today I returned to an incense blend that I have been working on (and off) for over a year. As I lost myself in its aroma I recognised the beauty in the slow unravelling of creations. The richness that comes from meeting an idea in a different space to the one that it was formed. The depth that travelling through the seasons with a creation brings, as we grow beside it.

Until today I had met the slow emergence of Spring with some frustration but was able to find some appreciation for the slower unfoldings that can be steeped in depth and richness too. Perhaps that is my lesson, from this slow to unfold Spring.

Life

Land Update – Circular Herb Garden

Wild Fen

As we enter our third week here on our land, we have been busy working on what will be our main herb beds. We wanted the beds themselves to be beautiful spaces for us to spend time within and had felt drawn to circular designs from early on. Circles are rich with symbolism, a shape with no beginning or end, they are often linked with infinity, interconnection, protection, the feminine, flow and of course the Wheel of the Year.

Circular gardens and spaces have been created throughout history, from stone circles, to medicine wheel gardens and sacred spaces for ceremony, meetings and healing…

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Life

Land Update – A Space to Grow

Wild Fen

If you follow us on social media, you may well have seen that after 2 years of living and working from our van home on the road, we have found a space to grow!

At the start of this year, we set an intention to find some land to be able to grow more of our beloved herbs and plants. For most of the year it felt like a pretty distant dream. However, we were met with a wonderful opportunity last month to rent some land. Set within a farm in the Northamptonshire countryside, it is just half an hour away from where we both grew up.

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Botanicals, Life

Wild Fen in Print!

Wild Fen

Sunflower Journal is an eco-friendly, independent print magazine that celebrates seasonal living and nature. Printed with vegetable inks on recycled paper, its pages are filled with a delicious mix of recipes, rituals, crafts and self care tips for each season.

It has become a seasonal self care ritual for me to sit and savour this beautiful publication, page by page.

You can imagine our excitement to have been asked to contribute an article for the most recent Lammas edition of the magazine about the ancient art of smoke cleansing, you can see a sneak peak below!

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Life

Sustainability, Ethics and Plastic Free July

Wild Fen

Plastic free July is a global movement that aims to raise awareness and encourage the reduction of single use plastic. It felt like a good time for us to review and share our own sustainability and ethical commitments with you.

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Life

A Reflection on Van Life

Wild Fen

It has been two years since we bought the empty van that has since become our home.

It is also two years since we left our home in the Fens behind and quit both of our full time jobs in a leap that was bigger than any we had taken before!

A few months back I wrote a post about running our small business from the van and I wanted to follow that up with some reflections on our experience of living in the van full time. I would stress here that this is very much our experience. Just like any lifestyle, it can vary massively depending on individual preference, budget, motivations, previous life experience and so on.

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Life

A small business and van living

Wild Fen

I’ve had a few questions and conversations recently about what it is like to run Wild Fen from our van and so I wanted to talk a bit more about it today.

We set up Wild Fen from our rented home in our beloved Fens a few years ago. Our intention first and foremost was to share and celebrate our love for the natural world. Since then we left our home and our full time jobs, sold our belongings, bought a van and converted it into a home for us to live a slower life, closer to nature, creating natural incense, jewellery and prints.

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Life

Welcome to Wild Fen

Wild Fen

Welcome to our website. We are Nicola and Chris and we created Wild Fen to celebrate our love for the natural world and the abundance that she offers, both in terms of inspiration and resources. We have both been studying and enjoying nature for most of our lives. This has evolved in many ways including growing our own organic herbs and plants, foraging wild edibles, concocting natural products and capturing the beauty of nature through photography and artwork. You can read more about our journey here.

This site will be a space to record our recipes, sell our creations and share inspiration with others.