We Say Yes! – Do You?
by Steph Bradley with Stephanie Pickerill
Commitment. It’s a funny old thing, isn’t it. We want it, we often expect it from others, but what does it take for us to give a wholehearted Yes to someone, something, or some place?
At Bowden Pillars Future we say Yes on a regular basis. We understand that like a marriage, commitment isn’t something that happens just once. It’s an on-going dance. Things flow and align, and we say Yes. We have a difficult interaction or meet an unexpected challenge and then maybe we have a wobble and question our commitment. But at some point, when love and connection are present, we say Yes again, and again, and again.
Why? Because there is something whole and right about what we have set out to achieve. The Land that we are custodians of asks for all of who we are, to be all of ourselves - not always an easy task.
It challenges us to stay in our integrity. When we succeed the rewards are invaluable:
Joy, fulfilment, connection, satisfaction, sharing and learning new skills, using our innate gifts and talents, applying our knowledge and acquired wisdom, being creative, collaborating, listening - always listening - to our intuition, to our colleagues, to Nature and The Land.
It isn’t always easy. Humans beings seem to learn through conflict. But push through the discomfort - and resolution, depth and new insights await.
“When I first got involved in this project I realised it was from a place of wanting to say No to so many things. No to climate crisis, No to misuse of land, abandoned wildlife, and No separated living in nuclear families. Turns out it’s a Yes.”
Yes to Farmland, Nature, Village.
Three tenets upon which we build our regenerative project, day by day.
“The Land itself is saying Yes, wildlife returning, [nurtured and nurturing] soil, [native species thriving]”
Farmland thrives – we have new growers on the land and a magical new Forest Garden in the making. Nature thrives. Together with Devon Wildlife Trust we’ve planted some 20,000 trees, we’re doing bird surveys, observing new species, and spotting returning ones as the land regenerates. Now, it is the turn of Village. The Human piece of our shared tapestry.
“The project has been met with humans saying Yes since Day One. People saying Yes with support, inspiration, their own ideas, approaches and experiences”
The question now is:
How can 50 small households integrate, live and thrive in this landscape?
To answer this, we need to go through a lengthy process. We started three years ago. The process moves slowly, there is much to do: research, consultation, planning, designing, going back to the drawing board over and over, fundraising, refining, checking, taking on board new ideas, questioning, compiling, creating new.
“Most importantly, [it’s a] Yes to the connection of land with food, with living with wildlife, with human [intervention], positivity and care.”
Often working long, sometimes unpaid hours behind the scenes team members such as Aleksandra Silwa, James Shorten, Jerome Tait, Sally Shell and many more, working along contracted professionals, are gradually working towards putting in a planning application to South Hams District Council to build 50 low impact homes, integrating food growing, care of nature, and a low carbon lifestyle, on the footprint of disused agricultural buildings on the site.
“Active Hope is not wishful thinking.
Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued
by some Savio[u]r.
Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life
on whose behalf we can act.”
"Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power" New World Library
“Let’s [imagine] we’ve already had a Yes, [and there have been so many] yeses to what we’re doing. And let’s provide the evidence to prove i”
If you have a Yes, a question, or a concern... please contact us
come and get involved,
or pledge your support here:
“Grace happens when we act with others on behalf of our world”
