As ways of ending festival seasons go the Green earth awakening camp is perfect for us, its small so we have a chance to chill, its lush cause its on the old Buddhafield site and its intimate so we get to catch up with friends. A lovely way to celebrate the end of the summer for sure. The last GEA we went to was in 2019 so there was one massive difference this year, Gian wasn't there with us. For many a year Gian was part of our crew, he would help us set up and pack down, bring us wood for the fire and help with anything else we needed. I remember when I gave him an outer regions T shirt his face lit up and he said to me he would wear it with pride, he literally wore it till it started falling off him lol.
Gian brought his own ritual to the GEA, he was a keen gardener and among other things he grew industrial grade hemp and would bring bundles of leaves wrapped in news paper to burn on the fire outside the cafe. He would give us all a bundle each to throw on and we would all give thanks to someone or something. This year in the early hrs of Monday morning I crept out of my van and made a little bundle of green and threw it on the fire, I gave thanks for our friendship cause it really was a pleasure to know that man and call him my friend. He may have left this realm but the memories time shared will be with us forever, a true gentleman who we miss more than words could possibly express ❤
I love the GEA, it really is a little gem and the land its on also has a special place in my heart as this site is the old Buddhafield site, we used to come here with the outer regions when we first started and have been coming ever since, Buddhafield have helped us so much on our journey, Trevor made our tent and they let me pay off in installments as I had no money at the time, we borrow stock from their cafe and they borrow stock from ours, we help each other out and over the years I have become good friends with many of the crew so It really is something I look forward to year after year.
Well, the time has come to let go of the summer and embrace the autumn, the cafes going into storage and me and the rest of the Regions crew are going to have a well deserved rest before getting stuck into our winter projects.
Until the next time 🙏❤
