Greetings fine folk,

I write from a northern land where the sun barely sets, deep in a valley that has become surprisingly hard to leave. At some point soon I'll run out of food and resign myself to a trip to town, yet for the moment I'm happy staring at the birch covered mountain and ever changing sky.

I'm up at the 'Shieling' site, that a group of us are caretaking to create a centre of cultural revival and nature connection. It's a magical place and the longer I'm here the more vivid encounters with the wild I have- last night by the fire we saw some movement at the bottom of the field, a strange spinning, almost like a dance...too small for deer, to agile for fox, it was two hares circling each other in some ancient reel.

It reminded me of a scene from the Border's tale, The Laddie who Herded hares, in which the laddie plays a flute gifted by a bird, and the hares dance merrily in a circle. In old Scottish lore, the hare was a favourite form for a witch to shift into. Certainly they bring their own magic to these long summer nights.

Our presence is also bringing some of the hungry wild things closer. A few nights ago I came face to face with the badger, snuffling around the house looking for scraps. Its face beautiful by dusky light. A day or so later I entered the kitchen to chaos: milk cartons spilled, shelves cleared, chocolate wrappers chewed and a whole loaf of bread missing. An open bathroom window and grubby paw prints on the sink gave the thieving pine marten away.

The longer I'm here the more satisfied I feel, and the more excited I am to share this place with others.

My first public offering here is imminent with our Salmon of Wisdom retreat taking place this weekend but before then I will make a fleeting trip to Edinburgh for this months Hearth Fire Sessions where again we have a fantastic lineup of guests.

I'll be spending most of July in the North, so I'll be well steeped in wild lands by the time I return to Edinburgh for the Fringe festival. Tickets for A Wolf Shall Devour the Sun are already on sale, and we have some gifts to offer through our Crowdfunder which will support us to do the Fringe well and to set up a tour of rural Scotland afterwards.

If you're further afield, you might enjoy my storytelling musings via Substack.

And if the idea of getting close to wolves in the wild, and hearing wolf tales by night, whets your whistle, you might fancy joing us for a weekend of Wolf Tracking and Storytelling in Germany in October (9-12).

Even though it's summer, we're already dreaming up events and activities for next year, so I'm curious:

Would you be interested in land based immersions with story and craft?

If so, what kind of themes, crafts or stories would you like to go deeper with?

Would you look for 1-2 days or a longer immersion?

We're at the trial and error stage up at the Shieling for now, so any input is greatly appreciated.

Hope to join you in the story-sphere sometime soon

Hopping Hare blessings

Dougie