At Wildflower’s Farm they are also trying to spread the tradition of celebrating the seasonal changes with equinox and solstice celebrations. Over the last four years their celebrations have grown to gatherings of around 500 people (keep an eye on social media or subscribe to their newsletter for information closer to the time!)
Jane: It is exciting to be celebrating the changing of the seasons as you watch them shift around you. The summer solstice is about the peak of the sun, the light, and then the movement towards the darkness and the winter solstice is about the darkest day, the least light and finding that guiding light within to illuminate the movement towards the light. A lot of people miss that, but if we can ride those waves and honour natural cycles then we can be more at one with nature.
Casa London: What do you do for the harvest dinner?
Jane: Well at first we just wanted to get some people in and have some really great food and showcase the creative ways we can curate a meal based only on our local produce. We collaborated with Chef Yoda (Glassroots) to bring a full vegan harvest dinner to the plates of our community. The feedback was incredible, so we went from 50 guests last year to 100 guests this year. We incorporated an array of farms and chefs this year which allowed us to showcase the many talents in Elgin county.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some times when we have been thinking “What are we doing? How are we going to make this work? We have to pay the bills”. But the more we get support and get great feedback from the community the more we get lifted up to want to continue our dream of living on the land and sharing that dream with others.
Casa London: Do you think you have benefitted from the growing popularity of buying local produce rather than just supermarket brands?
Jane: We definitely have! This Christmas we had a lot of people in the store telling us that they were only buying locally for the holidays.