Tree Weaver

The Cavally Forest Reserve is one of the largest of 234 classified forests in Côte d’Ivoire, covering an area of 67 593 hectares..

In 2020, Nestlé began working in collaboration with the Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Water and Forests (MINEF) and Earthworm Foundation to protect and restore the Cavally Forest Reserve.

The initiatives in Cavally Forest Reserve are designed to include local people in moving beyond just protecting forests to proactively restoring them and helping them to thrive – which stems from Nestlé’s Forest Positive strategy.

Nestlé’s CHF 2.5-million investment supports incentives for local community members to preserve and regenerate the forest, allowing them to feel a sense of ownership and prevent further illegal farming.

In 2002 the Nestlé’s Cocoa Plan distributed over 1 million fruit and forest trees directly to the cocoa farmers Nestlé work with in Côte d’Ivoire.

As well as regular patrols, reforestation is a major objective. Nestlé’s funding helps to set up nurseries to begin growing native trees as seedlings, which can then be sown in the cleared forest areas. Two rounds of maintenance take place in the following months to make sure that the seedlings are growing successfully.

The preliminary results of the initial, three-year project that was funded by Nestlé and ran until the end of June 2023 were very encouraging. During its first phase, the Cavally project led to a significant reduction in deforestation, the natural regeneration of 7000 hectares, and the reforestation of almost 1500 hectares. In addition, greater economic and social resilience has been observed within local communities, with more than 1400 people benefiting financially from the project.

The project is now welcoming new partners to achieve a greater impact. These partners include the Swiss Federal Administration (SECO) via the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO) as well as companies Touton and Cocoasource, which work directly with cocoa and rubber cooperatives in the area affected.

To combat deforestation and tackle the root causes of the problem, a collective approach based on creating value for producers and rural communities is required.

“The Cavally project is a very important initiative for us, as it allows our company to act directly within our supply chain. We are protecting a forest adjacent to the areas where we source cocoa and creating value for the farmers we work with. We’re delighted to have been able to contribute towards the success of this first phase and look forward to working with new partners to intensify the project’s impact further,” explained Corinne Gabler, Head of Confectionery & Ice Cream at Nestlé.”

Discover some of the Key Partners.

Halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, we welcome the growing light and the quiet stirring of life’s endless rebirth. Here’s to hope🕯️

Artist: Wendy Andrew

Blessed Imbolc!
The light is returning, inch by inch, whispering the quiet promise of spring. Imbolc invites us to awaken from winter’s stillness, to stir our dreams like seeds beneath the earth, ready to break through.

This is a time of renewal, of cleansing, of tending the sacred flame within. Like Brigid’s fire, may your spirit burn bright with creativity, hope, and warmth. May you honor what is growing inside you, knowing that even the smallest spark can light the way forward.
Step gently into this season of becoming. The earth is stirring, and so are you.
Rivers in the Ocean 
Art by Madam Luna

“We are calling the Grandmothers,
Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, Daughters
The wild women
The crones
The seers and midwives
The mountain and desert women
The soul summoners
The water carriers
The tenders and feelers of Earth
The ocean women who are rising the tide
The fire women who are ready to roar
The girls who already breathe consciously with the trees and the Elders who choose
to sing the song that ends the
desecration of our world –
We are calling you to rise together now –
You are invited – to unite and waken
to who and what you really are,
on behalf of the forests, on behalf of the trees, on behalf of Life.”

—-Clare Dubois

Image: Himba Grandmother, Namibia©️Sarah West http://www.sarahwesthealingarts.com

Worcestershire County Council are calling for more volunteers to help with tree planting at the county’s newest woodland in Upton Snodsbury.

The countryside team are looking for extra helping hands as they aim to finish planting all the trees on the site before the end of winter.

A number of community organisations have helped to plant trees, during one of several dedicated community planting days.

More planting days are being held on the following days from 10:30am to 2:30pm:

Sunday 12 January
Tuesday 21 January
Tuesday 4 February
Sunday 16 February
Tuesday 18 February
The Upton Snodsbury site will have 16,000 trees when completed and is part of the County Council’s plans to plant 150,000 trees at sites across the county.

Councillor Emma Stokes, Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “It’s been great seeing the Upton Snodsbury woodland come together, and we’re really thankful to those who have joined us so far, enjoying the opportunity in the great outdoors to help us to plant the trees.

“The creation of our new woodlands is designed to be a real community initiative, both as the woodlands take shape and long after they are opened. This site will have a community orchard, and we really want the local communities to see the woodland as a space for them to help create and use in the future.

“Those that have been on site so far have really enjoyed their time, so if it sounds like something you’d like to get involved with, please contact our Countryside team.”

The tree planting days are part of an ongoing project throughout winter using groups from the community to plant trees and as such the County Council will be running regular work parties.

The site is currently being planted with trees to create a mixed native woodland nature reserve with a community orchard.

https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/24841852.tree-planting-days-announced-upton-snodsbury-woodland/?ref=rss

“So many feel lethargic, unmotivated, or worn out in this hemisphere.
We are really not made to rocket straight through Winter, ablaze with energy.
Look at nature.
The ground, the plants, the animals are deep at rest.
This is the natural way of things.
Spend some time with the long nights, the moon, solitude,
the bare earth, stillness.
Be easier on yourself ..”
~ Victoria Erickson ~
IMAGE: Elaine Bayley

💚🌿🌲🌳Walking through the woods is always good for the soul. To find old paths where trees stand as guardians…..and rocks speak quiet memories of times gone by where those have walked before.

Our feet that touch the earth…..our breath upon the air…..the brush of branch and sound of forest’s sway…..in gentle breeze that warms the heart and chases cares away. For here we feel alive…..unfettered, free and wild…..each stone…..each leaf…..each cloud….that drifts above…..entwined in nature’s dance…..beyond all time and circumstance. For here we find the life in everything…..and here we hear the truths that nature brings…..🌳🌲🌿💚

~ Artist – Katie Daisy ~

FB post ‘Away with the Faeries’

Deck the halls with boughs of holly… but why holly? Where does this tradition come from?

Once again, we turn to the pagans. Both the Celts and the Romans brought evergreen plants into the home during winter, believing that their abilities to remain green throughout the cold months was magical and promised the return of spring. Christianity adopted the practice and holly was used as a representation of the Crown of Thorns, with the red berries symbolising the drops of Christ’s blood.

And so the tradition continued throughout the centuries – from 16th Century German wreaths to Victorian drawings on Christmas cards, the humble holly has been a hallmark of the festive season.

As Henry VIII wrote in his Christmas carol:

Green groweth the holly,
So doth the ivy.
Though winter blasts blow never so high,
Green groweth the holly.

Pictured below is a Ilex x altaclerensis ‘Camelliifolia’ and this particular type of holly is a hybrid which originated in Highclere estate. It has smooth leaves, however they do turn spikey when they have been attacked or pruned!

So, this year let’s continue tradition and deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la. 🥂

Mistletoe (Viscum album) has been a Christmas staple for centuries, but where does this festive tradition really come from?

The Ancient Greeks used mistletoe as a cure for many ailments, from menstrual cramps to spleen disorders. Celtic Druids regarded mistletoe as a sacred symbol of vivacity, as it was able to survive the winter, and hung it up for luck. In Norse Mythology, after her son had been shot with an arrow made from mistletoe wood, the goddess Figg declared that she would kiss anyone who walked beneath a mistletoe plant, in order to stop it being used as a weapon ever again.

But it’s in the 18th century that the practice of kissing beneath the mistletoe at Christmas time began among the ‘lower orders’ and made its way up the social hierarchies, becoming a beloved tradition by the time the Victorians were solidifying what we now recognise as Christmas.

Quite a folkloric feat for a semi-parasitic plant that survives by feeding off the water and sugars stolen from larger trees, a romantic tale for a plant whose seeds are mainly spread by birds wiping their excrement onto branches, and a lovely saga for a plant who’s ingestion is poisonous to both humans and animals!

So here’s to mistletoe, one of the most unlikely heroes of our Christmas canon.  

Post from Chelsea Physic Garden, London’s oldest botanic garden.

66 Royal Hospital Road
Chelsea, London SW3 4HS
Tel: 020 7352 5646
enquiries@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk

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