Guided by the slogan ‘how science meets art in the water’, Transition Town’s water guardians took over the Pop-Up shop for a week of exhibitions, videos, art work and beautiful river-themed poems by children from Otter class in Rockwell Green primary school. It was hard work but lots of fun and full of wonderful moments, such as seeing huge excitement from the children when they saw their first elver (baby eel), and learnt that it had been born in the Sargasso Sea and travelled all the way across oceans, up rivers and streams to arrive at our very own Basins!

The extraordinary migration of eels really brought home the interconnectedness of everything. We humans, and every other living being, are part of the water systems of the world, our bodies consist of 50%-70% water that needs to be constantly replenished. So caring for our waterways means we are looking after all life on our planet.

The week culminated in a day-long event on Saturday, July 19, at the Arts Centre, with some fascinating talks and rewarding discussions. Finally, we showed the film ‘I Am the River, The River is Me’, an inspiring documentary journey along the Whanganui, a river in New Zealand that in 2017 was granted legal personhood. The Whanganui is the first river in the world to be recognised as a legal entity with the same rights as a person. This is all part of the Rights of Nature movement which is gaining traction all over the world.

The week was described by one visitor as ‘fascinating, informative, fun, educational and surprisingly moving’, which was wonderful to hear.

Transition Town Wellington held a family picnic at Longacre on Saturday, July 26, inviting people from the local area to come and sample food made from the fruits that grow there and having a tour of the site to show where different fruits are grown that you can pick for free.

There were still redcurrants, whitecurrants, wineberries, blackberries and jostaberries to pick although there are very few gooseberries and blackcurrants left now. The plums are almost ready but the apples will be a while yet.

The sun came out in time for the Wellington Ukuleles to play for us, which we enjoyed while tasting plum tart, cherry pie and jams from the more unusual fruit - aronia jam was popular, a subtle taste and the fruit perfectly ripe right now (not good raw though, see TTW’s free foraging recipe booklet available in Sunseed for a recipe). Quince jam with its slightly lemony taste was enjoyed too, jostaberry jam on scones with its fruity tang and redcurrant jelly, usually eaten with lamb but surprisingly good on bread! The icecreams made by Anita were also a big hit- creamy blackcurrant or whitecurrant; yum!

We’ll be back again with another summer picnic at Longacre next year, but sooner to look forward to is the picnic on Fox’s Field on Saturday, August 30 from 2pm to 6pm.