Yr Ardd – Volunteers and Welsh Learners
This is blog number 2 of 4 about our recent project, Yr Ardd. Read the whole series by following the links below.
Yr Ardd Volunteers and Welsh learners, 14 September 2024
Yr Ardd depends on a community of volunteers, many of them are Welsh learners. These people have grown with Yr Ardd, they’ve seen it change and develop over the months and they have in turn rooted themselves in the place like everybody else, Yr Ardd wouldn’t be what it is without them. So we gathered together on a Saturday morning to be in Yr Ardd and think about the place and the people, with a promise of warming soup and delicious cakes at the end. We invited them to work in Welsh or English, whatever was most comfortable.
The small group that gathered together were all given one of my legendary notebooks to collect any thoughts or do some writing or sketching, whatever appealed.
We began by talking about the garden and our journey to it. It was a chance to get to know each other. Where had we all come from to here? Everybody had something to say about the place, how it made us feel, what we took from it and through sharing we were given a window in to each of us, which felt like a privilege. The garden gave us a safe space to be open, we felt held here.
We did a little creative writing exercise to loosen up. We all had to think about the following: if we were a plant of flower, what plant or flower would we be? Initially, I thought that this would be a little exercise that would lead us on to somewhere else, but it was truly an emotional find in itself. We all identified with certain plants because of certain qualities and sometimes we saw ourselves in a negative light, but in this place of growth and nurture, this was soon reframed by others who contextualised things and saw other more positive elements in each of us. It was such a good feeling to experience that network of knowledge. By taking the people and plants, weaving them together, we created a symbiosis representing Yr Ardd – it is truly the people and the place.
The weather was getting colder, and we retired to the shed for a bowl of hearty soup and some cake – the conversation continued over lunch. We talked about Welsh plant names and also certain words that had struck a chord during the session.
After lunch, we tied some paper tags with some those key words written in Cymraeg and English on them to the willow house using garden twine. In time, they would disintegrate and disappear leaving nature still working at Yr Ardd.
I can’t wait to go back and see the place soon.
A garden chorus of plants
Today, I am ivy, iorwg.
I am tenacious, a parasite,
I grow because, I grow despite.
But I make things beautiful with curled leaves like gems
turning gardens into shining green treasure,
tŷ gwyrdd yn yr ardd.
Heddiw, coeden olewydden ydw i, I am an olive tree,
wedi bodoli ers canrifoedd, ancient,
mae gen i wreiddiau sy’n tyfu’n ddwfn, with deep roots,
rwy’n addasu ble bynnag ydw i, I adapt,
rwy’n vulnerable, yn fregus, ond yn gryf, I grow.
Today, I am brambles, mieri,
I stay out on the edges, growing on the sides,
I am protective and yet I bear dark fruit,
I am spiky but sweet.
Heddiw, draenen ydw i, thorns,
yn boen i lawer,
draenen mewn ystlys hyd yn oed, a thorn in the side maybe,
ond rwy’n gwarchod, yn cadw,
yn gysgod, yn dwyn ffrwyth,
I support and sustain.
Heddiw, capan cornicyll ydw i, a lapwing’s hat or nasturtium,
trailing along the ground,
flashes of colour, lliw tân, here and there, enough to make folk smile
and a peppery taste to warm the tongue.
Today I make the garden feel good
and I feel good in the garden.
Today, I am willow, helygen,
I’m quick-growing, scrubby, a survivor
and weed-like I turn up everywhere – dyma fi
I am rooted in this place – fan hyn
a hybrid, a mixture of many things,
and in the wind, my leaves sing.
– Yr Ardd volunteers