Piper and I went to our first Woodcraft Folk meeting on Monday evening.  Ayrton has been a member for over 2 years now, and has progressed from an Elfin to a Pioneer.  He has encouraged Piper to become a Woodchip, and for me to get involved too.  We are very glad we did.  We’ve already been invited to our first camp.

If you don’t know about the Woodcraft Folk, it is an alternative to Scouts and Guides, with less of a military and more of a "peace and kinship" vibe.  It in non-religious and not affiliated to any political party, but does play an active part in anti-war activism.  Being a sucker for beautiful words, the envoi (creed) moved me to tears (well, moist eyes) at my first meeting.  All the kids and grown-ups stand in a circle before leaving and say:

This shall be for a bond between us
That we are of one blood you and I
That we have cried peace to all and claimed kinship with every living thing.
That we hate war sloth and greed and love fellowship
And that we shall go singing to the fashioning of a new world.

It’s been a few weeks, but we’re back home after a trip to Cape Town for my sister’s wedding. It’s good to be back with Tango the cat and our little house, although it was very hard to leave family and one of the most beautiful cities in the world for the little bit of suburbia that we call home.

We offset the carbon emissions from our flights with Climate Sure, a very good idea I’m sure you’ll agree. Get a quote next time you need travel insurance, they’re very competitive and do good things with the money that you pay them.

Being back has me fired up with enthusiasm for getting organised at home, at the allotment and for the future.  Apart from business as usual, I am going to be taking a Full Permaculture Design Course in the near future on the path to a new career.  Sadly the course that I’d hoped to be doing is not running this year, so I’ll be hunting for another.  Keep you posted!