You will find a huge diversity of perennials, herbs, fruit trees and wild native plants in our Forest Garden. We will be learning more about the nature of the land throughout the weekend. Bringing you foraging workshops, herbal medicine workshops, lacto-fermentation workshops, film screenings, and how to grow a forest garden, abundant vegetable plots and vibrant orchards.
NOTE: The Schedule for 2025 is yet to be confirmed but we thought you would like to see some of the previous artists who ran workshops at Coed Ffest 2024:
COED GARDENS TALK AND TOUR
One third of the communities food consumption is produced within the gardens of Coed on about 1.5 acres of land. Enjoy a tour of the gardens with our one and only Stephen!
Get to know Stephen a little more here.
FORAGING WITH MARTIN & SETONDJI
Familiarize yourself with the land and forage and cook with fresh wild food. This year Martin Bailey from Goforaging and Setondji from Setondji’s Sunshine kitchen will be hosting the foraging sessions. Martin will be leading the foraging, and Setondji will be cooking it up!
STORIES FROM THE LAND with CATH LITTLE
Cath will be bringing stories and songs from the land of Wales to share. She bridges the worlds of land based nature connection with arts and culture, using her skills to weave magic into the land we walk upon. More about Cath little
HEALING HERBS
This year there will be a medicinal herb walk and workshop on herbal nervous system health with medical herbalist Aimée Lomand.
FILM SCREENING OF WOOD FOR THE TREES
We will be screening Charly le Mar’s latest film series Wood for the trees with questions and answers
SEED SAVING WORKSHOP
An interactive seed saving exploration with Sophie Bolton. Sophie will share some information on seed saving followed by a general discussion on vegetable growing – particularly salad leaves. Bring any questions you might have.
Lacto-Fermentation Workshops
We all know how good fermented foods can be for our health right?! Laure from Absorb Health will be hosting 2 fantastic workshops on lacto-fermentation in the DoveLove classroom on both Saturday and Sunday. There are limited numbers available for these workshops so sign up on the board in the main barn.
TREES OF HOPE AND EDICULTURE
On Sunday morning join us for a special talk about planting trees in Zimbabwe and Wales.
Tafara Chakanetsa, director of Trees of Hope, was born and raised in rural Zimbabwe and has witnessed the effect of over zealous deforestation for farming, firewood, mining, timber and firing kilns.
At twelve years old Tafara planted his first trees on the family land. 30 years later and those trees are the inspiration for the Trees of Hope project.
Trees of Hope was constituted in 2020 with a broadly representative committee to oversee work in the UK and Zimbabwe.
Trees of Hope and Ediculture are the two charities to which the surplus money of Coed Ffest will be donated. Come and find out more about what we want to support
HONOURING THE MOTHER: CONNECTING WITH THE SACRED WATERS OF COED HILLS
Gathering at the festival on this Summer Solstice, we are reminded that to spend time on the land we must honour its waters. Coed y Ffynnon is a Spring just below the stone circle. It is a place of inspiration and magic, of quiet contemplation and nourishment.
We have borrowed from many cultures in our quest for re-enchantment with the sacred, and yet the land in the Vale of Glamorgan holds the stories of our own gods and goddesses, the deep replenishing waters of our own legends.
At 3pm each day there will be a guided walk to the Spring, weaving stories and myths of Wales and our history, gathering at Coed y Ffynnon to give thanks, and take rest and replenishment. This workshop will be led by Sarah Raven, one of the original community members of Coed, now living in a remote valley north of Pontadawe.
Q&A with John the Beeman
John will be hosting a Q and A in the forest garden on all things bee related. Come by to learn more about beekeeping, honey bees and bumble bees and taste some of our delicious honey. ??
John has over 50 years of beekeeping experience and now has hives in Pembrokeshire and at Coed Hills.
John is a font of knowledge about bees. What he doesn’t know isn’t worth knowing!