The story of 'Butts and Bees'

Last year I was fortunate enough to join Jenny Andersson from Really Regenerative for her signature 'Power of Place' course on placemaking. I'd been struggling for a while to get people to engage with the idea of 'urban rewilding' and been looking for the right way to get people engaged and involved in this idea I have become to passionate about.

Of Jenny's many frameworks and her extraordinary experiences working with 'place' all over the world and the unique social and ecological niches of each place I realised that Seaford, where I live as not ready for a 'grand framework'. Through talking to people and engaging with more deeply with my place I realised that, living near to farmland, downland and the sea, people cared about bees, butterflies, and glycosphate's impact on them, on the land and on the sea.

I realised that this was my 'way in' and so I stopped talking about rewilding and set about putting together some little packs of seeds under the brand 'Butts and Bees' which researcher well with children - unsurprisingly - with some links to my main site after people had actually had a hands on experience of growing wildflowers and seeing nature 'arrive' as a result. I distributed them through Seaford Environmental Alliance and local primary schools (and they are now for sale in bulk for class use on the shop page).

It's worked, to some extent....I'm planning to build on it this year....but the lesson was - find what interests people and meet them where they are at.....with a first little step...