SEE BELOW FOR FULL DESCRIPTION OF SESSION THEMES AND CONTENT
Ash of Hebden Herbs will take us on a wander to find fungal medicines growing in the late-winter woods, and share how herbalists work them, along with a variety of other key UK species. This will be followed by a practical medicine-making session together around the fire. Take home your own medicinal mushroom preparation!
Join us for a seasonal celebration to gather around the hearth fire and mark the return of spring. The session will include fire, time for reflection and intention setting, co-created ritual to mark the Equinox, and celebrating the return of new shoots and growth.
Join us to learn a range of basic survival skills that are great for confidence and resilience when camping and hiking… and super handy for the end of the world!
We’ll cover how to stay warm and dry with fire and shelter, safely gather water, and look after yourself and each other in the wild.
This session will blend mindful practices with relaxed journaling and a sacred circle to help you slow down, reflect, and connect.
Come as you are. Move, breathe, and share in a space made for softness, safety, and genuine connection.
Arrive, settle, and share a gentle vinyasa flow and guided meditation to ground into your body.
Heather will share herbal tea, journaling prompts, and open a circle for soulful conversation.
NB: If there’s anything you need to make the space more comfortable for you (fidget toys/ sensory considerations etc.) let Heather know.
Join us for a seasonal celebration to gather around the hearth fire and mark the Celtic fire festival of Beltane. The session will include a celebratory fire, time for reflection and intention setting, co-created ritual, and celebrating the beginning of summer.
A creative project combining Foraging, Ceramics, & Whittling
Over two sessions, create your own unique ceramic utensil rest (dublé) and accompanying hand-carved wooden spatula. The workshops include: a guided foraging walk collecting flora in a beautiful local woodland to create the decorative botanical design, crafting your fired and glazed ceramic item: a spoon or spatula holder, and finally, whittling a spatula to go with your finished piece.
Please note, this is a two-part workshop with the second session taking place on Thursday 23rd of May. Your ticket is valid for both of these sessions.
Learn about edible and medicinal herbs and plants that can found as this abundant time of year. We’ll share identification skills, and ways to harvest and prepare plants for both food and medicine. You’ll also mark your own healing balm to take home with you.
See above session description for Saturday 9th May.
Seasonal foraging for the edible fungi, berries, and leaves that can be found as this abundant time of year. Learn Identification skills, how to harvest and prepare wild plants and mushrooms, and enjoy a cook up of wild tasters over the campfire.
Join us to celebrate the high point of summer and the longest day. The session will include a celebratory fire, time for reflection and intention setting, co-created ritual, and marking the ancient Celtic festival of Solstice as a community.
Humans have made containers from tree bark since ancient times. Join us to learn this ancestral skill, and make your own container from bark that can be used for gathering, carrying, and storing.
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We’re delighted to announce our 2026 Nature Queers events at the National Trust’s gorgeous Hardcastle Crags. This beautiful wooded valley just outside Hebden Bridge is one of the region’s most beautiful and biodiverse outdoor places. We welcome all LGBTQ+ folks to join us in connecting with nature, self and community, while learning a range of practical outdoor skills in a playful and supportive environment.
Nature Queers is about creating spaces to meet and develop a nature-loving LGBTQ+ community. During the sessions, Leonie, Rachael, and occasional guest facilitators including Ash Brachi of Hebden Herbs will share skills such as bushcraft, foraging, fire skills, natural crafting, whittling, survival skills, shelter building, and herbalism.
Each session will also include nature connection practices that encourage a sense of belonging, safety, and peace in the outdoors.
Both experienced outdoors-people, and people new to the outdoors, are equally welcome to join us as we create a relaxed and welcoming space where we can learn in nature, and in queer community.
Live Wild’s Leonie Morris (she/her) – Leonie is co-founder and director of Live Wild and works with people of all ages to help them rediscover the ‘wild nature’ both inside and outside of us. She is a qualified Bushcraft Instructor & Wild Food Teacher, with many years experience teaching a range of programmes including regular seasonal foraging courses across the north of England and our long-term Forager’s Journey programme. She is also a proud member of the Association of Foragers. Leonie facilitates our Questing With Fire rite of passage programme, and various nature-connection programmes for children. She is happiest when sharing foraging wisdom in a holistic context: using all of the senses, gathering respectfully and playfully with homemade baskets, building a fire to cook up finds – she is a strong believer that all food tastes best cooked together over a fire!
Live Wild’s Rachael Taylor (she/her) –Rachael has more than 20 years experience as a youth worker, creative facilitator, and outdoor skills leader. She has worked with diverse groups of children and adults to deliver creative and inspiring sessions, and was co-facilitator of Live Wild’s hugely popular LGBTQ+ sessions in 2024, funded by Culture Dale. Rachael is project leader for Live Wild’s Monthly Nature Mentoring programme, as well as Nature Queers. Outside of her work, she loves wild camping, swimming, canoe expeditions, foraging, bushcraft and learning what it is to be human. “My work and hobbies have shown me the power of nature to enliven and recalibrate us, young or old, and to give us increased confidence and creativity, as well as bring us closer to our grounded selves. I feel that creating a closeness with nature is key to our mental and physical health.”
Guest facilitator, Ash Brachi (she/her) – Ash is a Medical Herbalist who runs a consulting clinic and apothecary shop at Hebden Herbs. Ash is also a keen outdoorsperson and forager who knows our local wild medicines inside out. She delivered a fascinating session on medicinal mushrooms for one of Live Wild’s LGBTQ+ sessions in 2024, and we’re pleased to have her back to lead a session exploring the plant medicines growing in Hardcastle Crags on Thursday 29th May.
By booking onto a Live Wild Nature Queers Course you accept the Terms and Conditions outlined here
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