Pippa

We held a gathering today in honour of Pippa.

Pippa loved to be outdoors, often taking off her shoes and going barefoot. She visited PLOT 22 several times and was very supportive of the project, planting many of the flowers and vegetables that have made the place so beautiful this Summer. She took her life recently and is missed very much. We wanted to acknowledge and remember Pippa and so invited others who also miss her to join us in a simple celebration of her life.

It felt important to hold this gathering on the Autumn Equinox, when light and dark re-balance and are once more in equal measure.

We have planted a fragrant damask rose for Pippa next to the cabin. It’s an old Persian variety called Ispahan, grown in Morocco, a place Pippa loved. In the Dadès Valley in Morocco lies the heavenly pink town of El-Kelaa M’Gouna or the Valley of the Roses where miles of pink, small Persian roses are cultivated as hedgerows dividing up the plots of land. Tens of tonnes of petals are needed to produce a few litres of precious oil, and the harvest culminates every year in great festivities at the annual Rose Festival.

Now there are only leaves on the rose we’ve planted but we look forward to the rose buds next Spring and continue to harvest, share and re-sow the seeds from the sweet peas Pippa helped to grow. They trailed so prolifically over the archway this Summer bringing colour and sweetness to our own festivities.

Thank you Pippa.

Peace One Day
21 September — a call to global ceasefire for just one day.