Monica Griesbaum on natural tea growing in Scotland and making tea

12/04/19 • 73 min

:: Dialogues with Nature Network has launched and is currently open for new members to join until 16 July. Find out more here.

:: If you feel the flowers and trees are calling, the grasses are whispering your names, come and join us in the Meadow, our Foundation Course here.

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In this episode I'm talking to Monica Griesbaum from Windy Hollow Tea Farm in Scotland who tells us all about how she lives and works in dialogue with nature through her beautiful relationship with tea, natural farming.

Monica generously shares her knowledge and experience about tea growing and tea making. She learnt traditional tea making techniques in Taiwan and took that back to Scotland with her, where she started her own tea farm growing her tea plants from seeds. Monica has a great respect for nature and the ecosystem in her farm and places a big emphasis on only using natural farming technique. She also tells us about organic and biodynamic farming and her passion to care for all living things.

‘Sometimes labels separate us, but we have so much overlap, similar aims and we can work towards we wish to achieve.’

Furthermore, we talk about the new tea culture in the West and legacy of the East. There seem to be an important thing that kept reappearing in our conversation, the connection between the farmer and the plants, between the leaves and the tea maker during preparation, the connection between the dry tea leaves and person preparing and drinking the tea. Also, the connection between tea farmers, tea makers, tea houses and tea drinkers seem to be a symbiotic one. They mutually depend on one another, just as much as the growth of healthy tea plants depend on the natural predators and the fertilisers in the soil, the temperature and water. The nuances of fine naturally grown tea can bear witness to a specific historic moment in time, whether the season was dry or exceptionally hot, how much rain there was as much as it has the fingerprint of the maker who plucks, rolls and dries the tea with their skill, care and patience.

Monica gives some wonderful advice to those wishing to embark on their own tea journey and encourages us to be open and keep learning.

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Previous Episode

Tiffany Francis on nature writing and its role in our current ecological times

:: Dialogues with Nature Network has launched and is currently open for new members to join until 16 July. Find out more here.

:: If you feel the flowers and trees are calling, the grasses are whispering your names, come and join us in the Meadow, our Foundation Course here.

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I’m talking to Tiffany Francis in this episode who is a nature writer and illustrator from the South Downs in Hampshire. Her third book Dark Skies was published this autumn with Bloomsbury. We discuss her published books and how they came about. Tiffany shares a lot about her journey to nature writing, current projects and about a transition to be more in control within her own creative practice. We share our passion for nature and the seasonal cycles. We talk about the contemporary nature writing scene and how it relates to the current environmental crisis we face.

‘We can’t just leave it scientist to solve the climate crisis, it’s a burden for us all to bear. The role of art and literature in conservation is becoming more and more important. The new wave of nature writing is being so personal reflects the fact that we are part of nature and nature is part of us.’

Tiffany was also chosen this year as a writer-in-residence for Forestry England. She talks about this and the work she produced as a result, when and where it will be first presented.

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Some references from our conversation:

Tiffany's published books: https://tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/books

The blog post she wrote I refer to | 5 Things I've Learnt Since Becoming an Author: https://tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/blog/2019/10/30/5-things-ive-learnt-since-becoming-an-author

about her Forestry England writer residency: https://tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/forestry-commission-residency

Kendal Mountain Literature Festival:

https://www.kendalmountainfestival.com/events

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You can follow Tiffany on instagram and on twitter

https://tiffanyfrancisbaker.com/

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Next Episode

Eleanor Cheetham on independent publishing and seasonal living

:: Dialogues with Nature Network has launched and is currently open for new members to join until 16 July. Find out more here.

:: If you feel the flowers and trees are calling, the grasses are whispering your names, come and join us in the Meadow, our Foundation Course here.

__________

‘The everyday can be extraordinary. These small and seemingly normal things going on outside are extraordinary. That connection what can bring us so much joy for so little.’

Today I’m talking to Eleanor Cheetham whose work is rooted in nature and the seasons. She is a writer, editor and independent publisher. She was publishing Creative Countryside magazine in the past two years that you may know.

Eleanor lives in the Lincolnshire countryside with her family. She talks about her work and journey through Creative Countryside, publishing the magazine, and the inception of the seasonal community that has naturally evolved over time, realising the value of building in-person connections. Providing a platform where meeting others who love and feel inspired by nature has also become an important part of her work. Nurturing connection with nature in a group resulted in a collaborative partnership this year with another wildhearted women with whom together they launched Folk + Field, a creative nature inspired community.

Eleanor finds her inspiration on a daily basis in the local landscape, the fields and the hedgerow she walks past daily. In her words - ’it seems like such a simple thing, that really roots me but going the same way everyday, means that I see the exact moments when the rosehips turn, or the moment the hazelnuts are ready, or when the elderberries have fallen..' - Noticing these tiny moments are key and inspire her writing.

‘What we do won’t immediately yield instant results. It’s about the journey and connecting with nature, ourselves and like-minded others.’

Eleanor talks about her future plans. She is currently writing a book and also publishing a chapbook this Winter with poetry with hope to bring joy to people’s everydays throughout the darkest season of the year.

Drawing on her own experience, she is also about to begin offering mentoring for creative writing projects and self-publishing. She emphasises going at our own pace.

She also tells us about following the sun and the moon and cycles. the Celtic ‘Wheel of the year’ festivals and how these markers in the season reminds us of bigger cycle of the earth.

We are ending this episode on a note of awareness of transformation around and within us.

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