RAMBLINGS FROM DARES (this month Dan!)

Heeeyy everybody - welcome to the new monthly scoop, your one stop goss shop that’ll keep you up to date with all the happenings from the sensation that we call DARES. One year ago, DARES (the collective project) was on the brink. It felt as though we were close to flat-lining and as though we needed to rediscover our purpose. Would that even be possible? … DARES has been so many different things to different people. What followed was an incredible act of communal support and very quickly it became clear as day and night that the underpinning thread that holds DARES together has always been the value in ‘people care’ - And for that, we are grateful to everyone.

It has been a wild yet formative year for us where we have learnt SOO much as a co-created space.

Personally, I have found the process of co-creation to be a truly humanising experience. One that has shown me how diversity, in all of its forms, really is our strength and that we should actively pursue it in every aspect of our lives.

Just how good bio-diversity makes for more resilient ecosystems, or how diversity in our own gut-biome makes for healthier people, the diversity in our personalities, our emotional sensitivities and our neurodiversity makes for healthier, stronger and more resilient communities.

The blueprint to a healthy community isn't about picking our best dream team and pegging it off to the hills to live happily ever after. In my opinion, it is almost entirely down to our relationship to co-creation.

The trick is to fall in love with the process of co-creation, and by that I don’t just mean the processes of ‘working as a team’ - You need to passionately fall in love with non-hierarchical ways of doing things, such as consent based decision making (CBD) which is what we have adopted here.

In practice, that means you have to (mostly) let go of control and see yourself not as a driver, but as a contributing part to the ecosystem.

Personally (although admittedly I find this difficult), I even think it is healthier to let go of your vision for the ultimate project destination. If you can do this, then you will be free to really embrace the excitement of the journey.

Journeys can be unpredictable and full of twists and turns, but the uncertainty of where your adventure will take you is thrilling, once you've learnt to love it.

Bumps in the road should not be an excuse to turn to hierarchy. I have had hierarchical relationships with my children in the past, “don't put that battery in your mouth, end of conversation” for example.

But reproaching other adults as though they were toddlers is disparaging and shortsighted. Is that really going to work long term in a communal space?

Some journeys can be difficult, yes, but it is naught when compared to the benefits brought from the collective empowerment of one another and the diversification of your community. THIS is community resilience building in practice.

And that is how you have wound up with me, Dan, kicking off the first Monthly Ramblings (for better or worse)!
Each month (or so) we hope we will see a different Project Member take on the ‘DARES Newsletter’, sharing some of the amazing stuff that we've been up to, what's worked, what hasn't worked, and diversifying our comms style as we go.

HAPPENINGS IN THE HIGH WEALD

We have been fortunate enough to see our first DARES-grown Wine Cap mushrooms, aka The Garden Giants!

Foraging for wild mushrooms is something I look forward to every year, when the same ol' paths you are used to walking throughout the year suddenly reveal the hidden dimension of the fungi world that has been there all along!

We have found some great edible fungi this year like the chunky Orange Birch Bolete and the curious Amethyst Deceivers.

This year we have also been playing around with different seedling compost mixes, and have had some great results.
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Currently we are using 1 part sieved compost from our wood chip urine bio-digester, 1 part soil from mole mounds and 1 part store store-bough-bought multipurpose compost. Our own garden waste compost is loaded with weed seeds and is not ideal. Hopefully we'll be using our own fully DARES-made compost for seedlings next year.

We have been busy sowing overwintering Broad Beans for a nice early crop in the spring. They will definitely need some protection from the birds here.
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In between harvesting and planting out our overwintering crops, now is the perfect time to top up the beds with compost.

As we practise ‘No dig' growing here, it is a really important moment because it is from this annual mulching of compost that our plants will be able to access all of the nutrients they need throughout the whole year.

By not mashing up the soil underfoot we are not destroying the HUGE network of biodiversity that lives within our soil and spewing out CO2 as we go ... Bloody obvious when you put it like that!

X POLLINATION

One of the special things that come from being close to a project like DARES is that you get to meet so many great people who are doing great things, which is why I want to dedicate this section to some of the groups that have used our shared space recently.

Time To Grow has the solution London needs to tackle hunger in its communities whilst bringing people together. Based in and around Walthamstow, they are establishing a network of community food growers that empower ordinary people to grow healthy, organic food in previously unused gardens.

Nearly half a million children in London face hunger during school holidays and yet the city relies on a broken food system that leaves it no choice but to import 99% of its food.

All the while England saw a 22% loss in wheat production compared to last year due to the wettest autumn and winter on record.

'Time To Grow' have joined the dots between the need for social and climate justice and their grassroots campaign is not afraid to face the bigger picture. It is bold initiatives like these that will help climate and social resilience to grow in our communities and free ourselves from the thorny grip of corporate food chains.

It is a pleasure to know that DARES could offer 'Time to Grow' the space they needed for their annual strategy weekend. It was grand hanging out with a bunch of lovely growers that are dedicated to doing some good in the world!

Safe Landing is campaigning for a sustainable, independent worker-led future for the aviation industry. They are going out there and connecting with workers within the aviation sector and empowering them to take the lead in their own ‘just transition’.

Safe Landing (apart from being a stella campaign name), is genuine in their ambitions for a sustainable future. One of their key demands of industry leaders is that they be realistic about

the limitations of technology to solve the problem, which I believe is a really crucial point that carbon intensive industries tend to shy away from.
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​Todd, part of the Safe Landing crew, was recently on LBC with James O’Brien and I was really moved to hear him talk about the grieving process he went through for the life of a pilot he once dreamed of and his acceptance of where we are at.

Sadly I wasn't around much to hang out with the 'Safe Landing' crew on their team building week at DARES, which was a shame because I am shit-scared of flying and I (perhaps naively) thought I would have liked to of interrogated some pilots over how rational my fears were - “WTF does that DING mean?!”
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Here is a picture of the crew working on their human powered flying concept which mostly involves ferociously flapping one's arms up and down whilst legging it full speed down an improv runway.

Patches for Palestine was a workshop put together by some amazing members of the local West Kent PSC (Palestine Solidarity Campaign). Our indoor communal space momentarily transitioned into a bustling crafts workshop as people cut, printed and stitched an array of beautiful patches and banners together.

We knew DARES had the space to share for a crafts workshop, but to also hold a space for deeper discussion, connection and relationship building. Something that cannot really be achieved out on the picket line.

GRAVY AKA GRATITUDES

It has been a whirlwind year for me personally. One which has left me at times with the same feelings I had the first time I witnessed the brutal Orca vs Seal ping pong commercial for Tango on the TV… It's been a bit of a mindfuck to say the least!

I guess what I'm saying is that; regardless of the headache, I have never felt like I was facing it alone. Getting whipped up into the first ever trial of the new Tory anti-protest law was not in my plans, but the incredible support from everyone has been really special. Thank you.

However, the battle against the anti-protest law isn't over yet. We are heading up to the Court of Appeal this December for the next showdown. If we win, I am going to ask for a written apology from Judge Hehir so that I can frame and auction it … slim chances I know!

I am especially grateful to Alexia and our resilient children Molly and Francis for being my anchor through the storm, and Rosie, Phil and the DARES Groundskeepers Crew who have done so much to hold me and my family throughout.
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I still haven't spilled the beans about my Crown Court trial to my Nan yet … if the support network could just remain on stand-by, I might need you yet!

MIGRATING BEYOND NEOLIBERALISM "...U WOT M8?"​

Community Service is everything I expected it to be. Mostly disillusioned men (but not exclusively), forced to do incredibly monotonous jobs, for free. As a socialist, I hate the concept of forced unpaid labour, for anyone.

In my minds eye, Community Service is supposed to be a programme for rehabilitation, yet in practice it is effectively punishment. When I raised the idea to turn this flower bed into a community food growing patch for the local food bank, I was advised that the council has already rejected that idea twice … With 82 hours of unpaid work to go, I look forward to doing my level best to make it happen!

As many reading this will be already aware, Barclays have quietly divested from slaughterhouse Elbit Systems. This is an enormous win for Palestine, the movement and human decency, but note how it happened quietly offstage.

I have this recurring realisation about the protest slogan ‘Not here to be liked’ and how it means that - protesters who risk their liberty and fight tirelessly in line with their moral conscience rarely ever get the credit or the recognition they deserve (in their lifetimes). For example; Barclays are never going to stand up with their tail between their legs and admit they were wrong. It's power play and to concede victory would give a higher moral conscience a seat at their table, and they can't afford to do that.

The victory for Trump is terrifying and particularly so now that he has absolute control of the senate and less Republican rebels worth worrying about. At this point, despair feels appropriate.
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But against the odds, attritional protest action against Barclays forced them to back off.*

Palestine Action vowed "to make investing in Elbit cost more than any potential gain the bank could receive”, and they did.

*Barclays are still likely doing financial services for Elbit Systems but nonetheless it is a victory.​
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In my opinion, for what it's worth, when global leaders seem to have completely abandoned reason, our movement needs to target their pockets. Materialism is the only language they understand and I am looking forward to doing all that I can to reject the impending rise of fascism.

BUT HEY! What do I know? .. Crash landing back to DARES. I can't wait to plumb in what is to be our new Reed bed filtration system for all of our grey water on-site.

…And they call us Soap Dodgers!

Get in touch: oakhavencollective@gmail.com

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