Dear Reader,

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here at WellMama, we are receiving and celebrating the first harvests, the fruits of our labours! Our Mothers' Garden (Gardd Mamau) is a beautiful reflection of all that has been sown grown and tended both on the land and within WellMama CIC.

The dedication of the three WellMama directors Tariqua, Caia and Samara through the depths of winter, to clarify the structure and the vision of WellMamaCIC, cultivated deep roots from which the implementation of new projects could grow, and beautiful offerings are now blooming at Bryn y Blodau, our HQ, and in our online hub in collaboration with True Midwifery.

Caia is settling on the land with her family, and recently Katharine joined us at Bryn y Blodau, too, and is coordinating the Mothers' Garden (more from our new team member Katharine below!👇🏼💚)

Everybody who's here at Bryn y Blodau HQ is contributing to the Mothers' Garden, cultivating a culture of collective care and welcoming more mothers to the Wellmama Wellbeing Wednesdays and our Open Day on August 20th, which will also be attended by the community of the Parenthood Hub.

We have entered a cycle of returning, renewed and resourced, to wider community life, after a long cycle of rebirth and survival during and after the pandemic. Through many personal and professional challenges, we've now come to a place of stability and maturity, ready to expand our community projects and the Mothers' Garden, leaning into our links with other Mothers' Gardens around the world, like our partner project Love Zimbabwe. We're feeling the roots growing deep and wide into this land and into many other lands... Intentionally and internationally weaving webs of connection, communication, coherence, protection and provision around land and lineage, body, birth and beyond...

A message from Katharine, our new arrival to the WellMama Collective 💚

Hi, my name is Katharine, I have been living on the land here at Bryn Y Blodau for a year now. I first came to these lands of Pembrokeshire for the Birth Summer School in 2025. This was such a beautiful gathering of women from many backgrounds, sharing in the celebration of birth, and it helped me to solidify my commitment to walking the birth path.

In the Spring I began supporting WellMama’s 13 Moons Journey, which continues to weave through my life. I have also recently completed True Midwifery’s Birth First Aid Course with Ruth and Lana. I have recently begun training as a doula and offering pregnancy and women centred care in my local community. I am a student of birth and life and I wish to continue to grow and expand alongside WellMama.

My main role with WellMama is as an Assistant Coordinator for the Gardd Mamau (Mother’s Garden) Project, offering produce to local postpartum families. I also assist in facilitating the WellMama Wellbeing Wednesdays, bringing mothers, children and the wider community together every Wednesday, to share, grow and tend one another as well as the garden which nourishes us so well.

We are very fortunate that Porth Gwyrdd, a charity run sector of the National Lottery, are sponsoring WellMama with employment opportunities for young people here on the land, so we will be working alongside to grow and nurture new and existing WellMama projects here on the land and beyond.

This coming Wednesday, find us at Eisteddfod y Carreg Las, with Dame Julie… representing WellMama CIC and the Porth Gwyrdd scheme.

At our most recent WellMama Wellbeing Wednesday, women gathered around the harvesting of summer produce from our abundant garden that continues to bless our lands here at Bryn y Blodau. Plenty of vibrant salad greens, mustard and bitter leaves, fat hen and nasturtium, sage, and carrot tops were collected ready for the sharing and distribution with the wider community. This bitter, zesty array of greens collected together feels symbolic of the time of year, peaking in its hight of fertility and vibrancy.

Our peaches have been abundant this July, it is unreal to imagine that such sweetness has been transformed from the water collected from its root, and the sun which continues to shine. Recently we pulled up our garlic which is drying in the poly tunnel, ready to be tied and distribution later this season. We have been continuing our rose collection ready for the making and creating of our Bryn y Blodau Botanical rose products, coming soon!

We look forward to our future autumn harvests, as the grapes begin to ripen and the potatoes, squash and corn stand tall and proud above ground, making magic in the earth below.

Within our bioregion and beyond, we are remembering and restoring knowledge, skills, resources and relationships that sustain us through periods of disruption, change and transformation - sacred seeds from which life-affirming culture grows 💚🌱

Our upcoming offerings:

Body, Birth & Beyond - October

After a period of rest and integration from the previous Body, Birth & Beyond circle, with the arrival of the new season, we have now started preparing to host this offering again for a new group of pregnant women, starting Friday, October 9th. If you're currently pregnant or trying to conceive, you can join our waiting list to stay up to date with free info calls and details about enrolment 👇🏼

Body, Birth & Beyond is a group programme for women who want to prepare for birth in community, guided by embodied wisdom and informed choice. A four-week journey moving through pregnancy, labour, birth, and postpartum — combining weekly live sessions, online modules released weekly on Teachable, guided practices, and daily community conversation through a Telegram group. Includes a complimentary one-to-one session with Samara. This programme cultivates informed confidence, instinctual trust, and the conditions for a physiological birth. It is for women who are ready to return to their body and prepare for the threshold ahead, held in the warmth of a circle. As a complimentary practice, our weekly Essence Movement Meditation sessions with Samara (Wednesday mornings, online) are also included in this programme.

Tending Birth ~ Tending Life women's retreat

We're very happy to announce that we have only four places left in the circle this September at Trefacwn (Pembrokeshire) so feeling the call? This is your invitation to join us now!

Samara and Ruth are so delighted to be offering this rare opportunity to come together in person, please check out the details here on our event page, or get in touch directly!

The new 13 Moons Journey: We will be offering monthly open Community Calls with Samara and guest speakers on a variety of topics along the 13 Moons Journey, as well as a WellMama Birth Companion training with a new and updated curriculum, starting early 2027. Join the waiting list

Ancestral Transmission from the Huni Kui women

A reminder of this special opportunity that will be offered on our land on August 28th! This is a traditional immersion for women who want to learn from indigenous voices, to connect with their womb, to gather in sisterhood, who are conceiving or want to conceive, who want to receive guidance from the Huni Kuin women, Ayani and Maxi... You can find full information about the content, schedule and exchange here: Womb Wisdom of the Forest.pdf​

Grandmothers' Circle with Samara

Samara recently held a wonderful study spiral on "Becoming a Grandmother" together with Nicola Thompson, where they opened a tender and expansive conversation about this profound rite of passage that deepens our understanding of love legacy and belonging. For Samara, grandmotherhood marked an initiation into elderhood, a call to tend to the wellbeing of future generations and walk the Earth with far-sighted care.

Beginning this autumn, Samara is going to host regular monthly Grandmothers' Circles where she and other grandmothers will continue to weave stories, wisdom and reflections on this threshold and this multigenerational vision... If you're interested in joining this online circle, you can register your interest here.

🌺 Upcoming True Midwifery Study Spiral

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"The Reluctant Midwife" with Joy Horner

Thursday, August 27th | 11am–2pm SAST / CET ​

You are invited to dip your toe into the warm and nourishing waters of True Midwifery by joining these monthly study spirals. These monthly gatherings are a safe space for birth keepers from around the world to gather, share, study, discuss and learn in a non judgemental and oxytocin rich space.

Thank you so much for your continued support through this period of transformation and growth that we have gone through, personally and collectively! We look forward to welcoming you on the land for one of our in-person gatherings, or in one of our courses or journeys in our online Educational Hub! 🌸

With love,

The WellMama Collective

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Tending a Hearth of Maternal Health and Wellbeing

With Heart and Hands