Karuna

It was in Karuna that I first felt truly apart of the life we had chosen. The fear and anxiety of untangling the knots had passed and although they still come back periodically to haunt me the serenity of Karuna stays with me also.

Karuna, a permaculture project in Shropshire is full of young life and inspirations. Its creators planted 7000 trees of different varieties four years before on local arable land. From the tallest of their Silver Birches at maybe 10 foot tall to the smallest apple tree saplings, the place has a playfulness to it and the devotion laid upon it is clear to see.

What I learnt at Karuna was to play at all things, to make wines from whatever what abundant in the hedgerows, that elderberries smell like potatoes when covered in hot water, to soak rose hips to release their flavour at least 24 hours before use. I learn to mulch and it induced my need to know about the medicinal value of herbs.

Permaculture is seen as a revolution of gardeners, its about sustainability and creating a low impact self sufficient lifestyle that works with the land it is situated on and not against it. The locals of where Karuna is situated have not taken to Karuna being apart of their community and in protest they have thwarted all planning applications, stolen seed heads and even poisoned their young saplings.

I am not going to dwell on the problems that Karuna are facing but to praise the project for its tranquilty and originality and to wish the creators luck in their future. Please visit their website: http://www.karuna.org.uk/ and read about what they do first hand.

Karuna was the third wwoof host we spent time with, after this we spent more and more of our time in woodlands and we have fallen in love with the woods and all they have to offer. Karuna put us into the right frame of mind for all that followed and our last wwoof host in Kent just before Christmas was a true test of our resilience to living outside with nothing but a bender for shelter and a fire to cook over and warm ourselves by.