Written by Ash Balderson, Hester Kuypers-van der Sluis, and Magnus Fraser

Exciting news! The Findhorn Foundation Team (plus many others!) are going to the Isle of Erraid on the west coast of Scotland to help our community prepare their food producing organic gardens for the coming season! Of course this is so that our community and our participants – maybe you? – can enjoy the fruits of our labour later this year!

Hester Kuypers-van der Sluis, part of the Dutch family who have owned Erraid since 1978, Ash – who looks after the Findhorn Foundation’s grounds and gardens – and Magnus –Erraid’s resident gardener – are planning this garden week for the end of March and have invited many of us to join them on the island. They have been collaborating now on Zoom for many weeks! We asked them what is going to happen when we are out there, and what they are looking forward to doing together with us …

Here is what they say …

A summer sunset over Iona. Erraid’s beautiful gardens and cottages are held within the old stone walls from the lighthouse keeper’s days. The walls protect our organic produce from sheep and other ‘wanna-be munchers’.

Ash, who cares for the Findhorn Foundations grounds and gardens:

*Ash is dreaming of a great harvest for Erraid this summer.*

Some exciting gardening news for this early Spring in Scotland! At the end of March we are planning a gathering of gardeners and willing volunteers to all come together and revitalise our beautiful and bountiful gardens at our community on the Isle of Erraid on the West Coast. Our magnificent resident gardener at Erraid – Magnus – has been doing an amazing job, mostly single handedly – with a little help from fabulous guests and helpers – but there is only so much that it is possible to achieve alone!

So, along with half a dozen of our Dutch colleagues, led by Hester, and the whole Foundation SCIO team, plus some local gardeners, and hopefully some past Erraidians, we will all join the Erraid family for a week of community gardening.

*A ‘bramble demolition’ project in Ella’s garden on Erraid over ten years ago, with Steve – long term resident of the Erraid community at the time – on the wheelbarrow. :)*

We have many many things we're hoping to achieve in our week together, some of which are: fix the polytunnels, prune the hedges, get a reliable watering system in place, collect lots of seaweed for composting and mulch, revitalise the compost system, a lot of bramble ‘demolition’, re-build the cold frames, planting out and sowing, create some mouse-proof storage for potatoes, and of course – WEEDING!

*Love in Action – will include lots of WEEDING! – in Erraid’s gardens.*

We’ll be working together and listening deeply to the intelligence of Nature as we go, a key ingredient for all things Findhorn! We always try to garden within the precepts of permaculture and biodynamics, while really taking time to tune in to the unique environment and climate of a wee west coast island. We will have some evenings to share our knowledge, experiences, and our inner learning, and no doubt to compare scratches, thorn punctures, and bruises too! We’ll be meditating and eating together, and there will be lots of time for building and deepening our relationships with each other and the land.

*The lovely herb garden on Erraid just outside the community kitchen.*

It will no doubt be a very busy week and I am very confident that with this very enthusiastic group, we will achieve LOTS! We’ll be sure to keep you all updated on our progress during the week on Erraid and I’m sure that Britta and I will be bringing you some wee snippets of gardening life on the island. Watch this space!

*We hope to bring you some snippets of Erraid life through our social media channels from the last week of March!*

Hester, a member of the van Der Sluis family who have owned Erraid since 1978:

*Hester on the stone wall surrounding the Erraid gardens.*

I sometimes find it difficult to remain positive in a world where mankind seems to make a mess of virtually everything. Thinking of Erraid helps me in these moments. It is one of the rare places where you can experience that we can live in a reciprocal relationship with Mother Earth, or even have a positive impact on our planet.

*Hester looks out over the islets to the west from Erraid’s highest point.*

The contrast of the untouched, rough beauty of the islets on the west side of Erraid and the abundance of life in the sheltered garden and forest just a few hundred yards away, is astonishing. Over more than 45 years, the Erraid community has facilitated life by adding life and this has not only resulted in feeding the community, but has also created a home for lots of trees, plants, insects, birds, a living soil, and happy souls.

Erraid gardens brassicas sign how to harvest.jpg

Elizabeth Kale brassicas Erraid garden.jpg

Vibrant brassicas in Erraid’s gardens – one of the birds is harvesting from the garden too :)

The Erraid garden is the heart of the Erraid community. Over the years the level of self-sufficiency of the Erraid community has varied and there is a lot to learn from old Erraidians, local gardeners, and movements such as regenerative farming. By bringing all of this knowledge together in the Erraid Garden Week, I hope that we can create a solid base for Erraid to become an inspirational example for others. We can have a positive impact on biodiversity by facilitating life. If by sharing and experiencing Erraid and its gardens, this generates a transformative impact, this would be a beautiful outcome of our time together.

*Looking from the Erraid cottages towards the summer sunset with the beautiful fuchsia hedges in full bloom.*

Magnus, Erraid’s resident head gardener:

*Magnus in Erraid’s community kitchen about to prepare one of his homegrown mighty cabbages for dinner.*

My connection to Erraid began in the gardens and has only grown stronger with time. Preparing the ground with seaweed was my first love-in-action activity on my first visit. An appropriate metaphor for preparing myself for the huge personal growth and abundance I didn’t yet know that I would experience in my time here. SImultaneously, the gardens have re-connected me with my upbringing in the western isles, and reawakened a kind of primal connection to nature.

*Magnus, Andrew, and Kegan bring in the seaweed from the nearby beach to fertilise Erraid’s gardens.*

As I move towards a year on the island, my relationship with the land, with food, animals, and the seasons has reached new depths. It has made me feel steadfast to challenge, and flexible to change like never before.

By bringing together this group for the garden week, we can supercharge the garden with wide-ranging skills and knowledge, rekindle connections with the wider Ross of Mull community, and kick the vegetable production into high gear for the coming year. There are many mouths to feed and much fun to be had as the Erraid gardens continue to cultivate this revolutionary experience among as many people as possible. This, I believe, is a path to real positive change in the world.