Balancing the old ways with tech days.
How do you incorporate living lightly with modern living? Or follow ancestral paths while using modern technology? What ancient skills have relevance today, if any? Plus new foraging dates on sale.
These interesting questions were posed by Seth Hughes to a panel discussion I took part in recently. Seth is a filmmaker and had organised this event with Vivo Barefoot at their London store. Also on the panel was musician Finnegan Tui, grower Poppy Okotcha and an audience of around 50 people sitting amongst the shoes and boots, perched on every available ledge. Deep in discussion the time raced by and, all of a sudden it was over, and I was back out on a rainy, city street, navigating the Tube, with my mind whirring to incorporate and make sense of our combined thoughts.
These days - at least in my bubble - many of us called into a closer relationship with nature. The form of this calling varies: hiking, guerrilla gardening, forest bathing, outdoor swimming, camping, foraging, bushcraft, ancestral skills and wilderness rites of passage, amongst others. Perhaps deepening our connection to the land is solace? I like to believe it inspires us to action, to protect the non-urban planet and create a more sustainable and harmonious way of living. Yet, in the daily onslaught of news, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the scale of species extinction, habitat degradation, extreme weather, authoritarian politics, war, suffering and the steadily growing threat of resource shortages. And, after the weekend when we get outside, we’re back to the grindstone on Monday, often tethered behind desks and immersed in an electronic world. It can be tough to stay in balance and hard to be cheerful.
New spring Hedgerow and Seaweed foraging courses are now on sale. I am also working with Werner Pfeifer in May on a series of one day courses on Stone Age skills in East and West Lothian. Plus our five day Solstice Wilderness Crossing retreat in the Lake District returns for its third year. Details of dates and how to book can be found at the end of this post.
However, what each thread of the discussion spiralled back to that night was ‘community’. Most of the ancestral skills like fire making, shelter building, hide tanning, foraging, etc. were carried out within a group. Firewood gathered by many; one person to steady the bow drill, another to spin it - it’s easier this way and in return many gather round it to share stories and warmth. If I have friends over I can always keep their hands busy shelling acorns, or destalking berries while we chat. Humans are social animals and few would have survived for long outside the tribe. This isn’t reflected in TV programmes like ‘Alone’. A solo contestant parachutes into an unfamiliar habitat, left to thrive or starve. Yet living sometimes feels like that too.
When you’re young, starting out in a career, the best jobs are often in the cities - and not necessarily one you were born and brought up in. Back in London, I remembered what it was like when I was 19 and moved to London for four years. I was touched at one of the audience’s question - how do you find others with shared interests in such a big city? He had been there for just 6 months. Yet in this room, people piped up “I’ll go for a walk with you.” as a new embryonic community formed.
The mass exodus into the cities started with the Industrial Revolution but now 55% of the world’s population are urban dwellers. It is already over 82% in Northern America, 81% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 75% in Europe, 68% Oceania, 50% Asia and 43% in Africa. In 25 years, city inhabitants could make up 70% of the world - or 80% if you’re in Europe. That’s a lot of people living in a concrete, steel and tarmac world and as studies show, ‘urbanisation significantly fragments traditional social networks, leading to isolation and reduced informal support systems’.
Assuming that urban dwellers have the same needs as rural dwellers, and vice versa, often confuses the arguments about what ‘progress’ should look like. For example, the best way of farming to feed those in the countryside is not necessarily the best way to feed humans densely packed into cities. Studies find considerable British urban–rural differences in mental health - poorer in cities - possibly due to more difficult urban social environments. Noise, crowding, poor housing, light, and air quality are all cited as stressors. Social researchers have begun to examine neuroscientific research on the urban brain in new study areas like neurourbanism and neurogeography, seeking solutions to how people can live healthy, happy lives in urban conurbations.
Then there is the double whammy of urban isolation, concurrent with the rise of online connectivity via messaging and social media. On one hand it can reduce loneliness as people can keep in contact with friends and family in other places more easily, but this can come at the price of not getting to know others locally. When everyone has their eyes locked to their phones in public, engaged in their own virtual worlds, so the likelihood of striking up a conversation with a stranger, who shares the same stairwell or bus stop, becomes remote. Following the old ways, you can’t light a fire with a bow drill while connected to a phone. Ancestral skills don’t just teach us new crafts, agility and self-confidence but connect us to others with similar interests. The trick is to keep the bonds forged on courses alive, when back in the city.
To spend a few days in green leafy spaces, without my phone’s constant demand for attention, with others and their open hearts is, for me, both a blessing and a renewal. It reminds me that connection is truly important.
Connection to the land. Connection to community. Connection to spirit.
Like everyone these days I have to have a phone and I have a love-hate relationship with it. I definitely have to schedule ‘off time’ with it. I need my computer to earn money writing yet my body complains about it incessantly and my heart yearns for freedom from its yoke. It is difficult finding a healthy balance day to day. This is why I find it essential to plan time away, walking and fasting in wild places. Without it I get caught up in the cycle of never ending to-do lists and, when taking stock at the year end, realise that nothing in me has grown (except my waistline!). It’s a question of making sure I prioritise good quality time spent in activities that stretch and renew my soul and psyche. Making dates with, and showing up for, myself. Yet this is not an individualist quest. While I sometimes need time alone in wild landscapes, mostly I choose to take time out in community. And not just any old community but an intergenerational, diverse, earth-centred village that brings different strengths, skills and stories together, enriching us all, with a common love of this place, this earth. This sometimes surprises me as I grew up in a solitary way but it gives me joy.
London reminded me what it is like to be without a clan. While the metropolis can be a place of awe it is certainly a place of huge contrasts. I marvelled at the incredible drawings of Renaissance masters but also at how so few people can own so much wealth. Shrank to the size of an ant in front of towering glass edifices of architectural and engineering triumph, while touched by the trees in their shadow struggling to photosynthesise in the fumes. Hypnotised by lights, noise and sirens, I craved a friendly face in an unseeing crowd. Enjoyed eating out, got totally muddled by the Underground rush hour, read poetry to a cab driver.
Ultimately though, while I prefer a quiet life in the sticks, there is no going back from modern ways. With AI and hybrid warfare, technology will continue to connect and disconnect us, enlighten and enslave us.
The art of survival is to find balance; the art of thriving is to find your tribe.
New Forage Dates, Workshops, Retreats and Booking Links
Hedgerow Forages with Matthew Rooney
Seaweed Forages with Monica Wilde
To book all of our forages, retreats and gift vouchers, visit my shop: https://monicawilde.com/wild-food-foraging-walks-workshops-scotland/shop/
Knots and Seaweed: A Foraging and Stone Age Day Course
Friday 23 May 2025, East Lothian
Join me and Werner Pfeifer, an expert in Stone Age skills for a one day course learning about how our Mesolithic ancestors interacted with coast and estuary.
Wood and Clay: A Stone Age Day Course
Saturday 24 May 2025, West Lothian
Join us for an introductory course on ancient pottery and woodcarving techniques learning how our Mesolithic ancestors crafted pots and shaped wood for utensils.
Flint and Stone: A Stone Age Day Course
Monday 26 May 2025, West Lothian
Join us for an introductory course to working working with flint and making ancestral tools learning how our Mesolithic ancestors made knives, arrowheads, spears, awls, drills, burins and saws.
There is space for camping if you want to attend consecutive courses, just let us know.
Solstice Wilderness Crossing with Monica Wilde
18 June - 22 June 2025, The Lake District
Do you find yourself at a crossroads in your life? Do you feel called to make a change? Need space in your life to find a new direction? Or to celebrate and mark a transition? Join us for a wilderness threshold crossing and guided rite of passage ceremony in the beautiful fells of the Lake District from Wednesday 18 June to Sunday 22 June 2025.
For further information about what’s involved with the Solstice Wilderness Crossing, visit my website here. You’re welcome to get in touch with me on hello@monicawilde.com with any questions you might have about the Crossing.