A programme of ten workshops for Fèis Rois and Dingwall 800

Plants and Place | Lusan an Àite with Suzann Barr, Abriachan Forest

The season is turning. Late summer into autumn is a time of transition in the plant world: growth slows, seed heads ripen, and the colours of the landscape begin to shift. Rowan berries burn orange-red against the sky, while at the field edge devil’s-bit scabious holds its vivid purple – one of the last flowers of the year.

This session is an invitation to notice the plants still growing in verges and woodland, along riverbanks and field edges, and to ask what they reveal about the landscape at the turning of the season. Suzann Barr of Abriachan Forest brings her deep knowledge of Highland ecology and outdoor learning to this exploration of plants and place. We will explore the stories, uses, and meanings carried by late-season plants, before trying our hand at some plant printing using gathered leaves and flowers.

Format: talk, conversation, art-making, tea and cake.

About the programme

From late summer to midwinter, these sessions invite you to dig where you stand: to explore the cultural memory of Dingwall and its surrounding landscape. Countless generations before ours had a closer connection to nature and the changing seasons, bound up with a sense of community and conviviality across the rhythm of the agricultural year. Each week we explore a different part of that world – from stories of drovers, herring girls and radical resistance, to harvest seeds, plants and birds, to the music and song of the winter ceilidh. Part conversation, part creative workshop. Drop in for one session or follow the season as it turns. Open to all. Bring what you know!

Background

This programme was developed by ethnologist and creative practitioner Mairi McFadyen for Fèis Rois and Dingwall 800, exploring the cultural and ecological memory of the local area through conversation and creativity. Dig Where You Stand takes its name from an international public history movement that invites communities to research and reclaim local histories.

Description supplied by the event organiser.