~ Equinox brings Balance ~

Dear Reader,

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This late summer and early autumn season has felt ripe and full, and we have been blessed to receive such generous support from near and far as we began to gather in the first harvests... Our vision of cultivating a culture of collective care has been deeply experienced and embodied here at Bryn y Blodau, WellMama's HQ, over these last months.

In the background Katharine, Isa and I, alongside the WellMama collective, have been tending to the bare bones of WellMama as an organisation and seeking support to sustain and nourish her over the years ahead. We have been encouraged to apply for an Awards for All grant to sustain WellMama Wednesdays, and a small Eco grant to nurture the Gardd Mamau, the Mothers' Garden. This funding will enable us to continue to offer WellMama Wednesdays throughout the winter, and hold a warm and welcome space for mothers and families. We are also exploring beginning a Membership Circle for WellMama, cultivating a culture of collective care, so let us know if you would like to be part of that!

Overall, this season has carried a lot of change and growth, and I am now sinking gratefully and softly towards autumn, enjoying the darker nights, the clearer stars, and the warm fire in the hearth.

I am so delighted to be sharing these few days with Ruth Ehrhardt, as she arrived from South Africa a few days ago, and we are enjoying these autumnal days together as we make final preparations for our retreat at the end of the week.

The balance of the year, the light and the dark, the stars and the sun, the roots and the fruits, feels welcome and well received... 🧡

Summer on the Land 💚

The last few months have been a beautiful and full season for WellMama here at Bryn Y Blodau. The land has been generous, the garden abundant, and we have welcomed mothers, children, families, elders, growers, healers and visitors from near and far.

Team WellMama at Eisteddfod At the beginning of August, members of our team were invited to attend the Eisteddfod, representing WellMama and the Porth Gwyrdd scheme. We were fortunate to meet Dame Julia and share more about our vision for the Mothers' Garden. Her encouragement, alongside conversations with others working across ecology, community and wellbeing, gave renewed energy to what we are building and to the possibilities for developing our WellMama Wednesday gatherings.

Our Gardd Mamau Open Day on 20 August welcomed families from the wider community. Through shared food, conversation and time on the land, we spoke about pregnancy, birth, postpartum and women's wellbeing. It became increasingly clear how much women need safe spaces where they can find community, share knowledge and explore more holistic approaches to care. In our gatherings, we have been exploring some of the less familiar parts of plants, particularly the seeds of ancestral wild plants. We have been learning about the nourishment held in seeds, the medicinal qualities of wild plants and the ways our ancestors gathered and used what grew around them. We hope to nurture a living, practical education rooted in the land — learning to notice, gather, eat wild and develop a deeper relationship with the natural world.

We have also been honoured to welcome Huni Kuin women from the Brazilian Amazon for the Womb Wisdom of the Forest offering. They shared plant wisdom and traditional medicine from their community and guided local women through a womb bathing ceremony of renewal and fertility. Plants from their lands were used alongside plants from our own, creating a profound meeting of plant traditions. The experience reminded us that our relationships with plants, our bodies and the earth can connect us across lands, cultures and generations. We feel blessed to have met this experience with love and respect 🙏🏾

Our September gathering brought together women from the local community across generations and different paths. We harvested nettle seeds, fat hen seeds and hawthorn berries, gathered squashes and squash leaves, and made soup to share. Around the food, stories and conversations flowed. Once again, gathering food became a doorway into connection and community. These experiences continue to shape our understanding of what WellMama is here to offer. The land can be a place of nourishment, but also a place of learning, healing, confidence and belonging. Through plants, food, women's knowledge and coming together, we are creating space to remember things that can easily be lost — how to gather, how to share, how to listen to the land, and how to support one another.

The land here produces more than just food. It produces knowledge, confidence, connection, resilience and belonging. To everybody who has visited, listened, read and contributed — thank you for being part of what is taking root here!

Much love, Katharine xx

Our upcoming offerings:

Body, Birth & Beyond - October

Body, Birth & Beyond is a group programme for women who want to prepare for birth in community, guided by embodied wisdom and informed choice. ​Enrolment is open, and we start with our first module on Friday, October 9th. As a complimentary practice, our weekly Essence Movement Meditation sessions with Samara (Wednesday mornings, online) are also included in this programme.

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.

Tending Birth ~ Tending Life women's retreat

This very special gathering at Trefacwn (Pembrokeshire) is now just around the corner! 🧡

This last weekend, Ruth arrived at Bryn y Blodau and is now spending some time with us for Equinox here on the land, where we begin to ignite the retreat together before travelling to Trefawcn to welcome the women who are journeying from near and far to gather with us.

We're delighted that Caia is also able to join us and will take care of us with nourishing food during the retreat.

The circle is complete, and we're so looking forward to welcoming everyone!

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

Grandmothers' Circle with Samara

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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with Deborah (Debs) Rhodes:

"Freebirth: How Do We Who Serve Birth Feel About It?"

Exploring autonomy, trust, and our inner landscape as birthworkers

Thursday, October 1st | 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 to everyone who joined us this summer and who contributed to this abundant season on the land! We look forward to welcoming you as we continue with cosy in-person gatherings into the autumn and winter months, or in one of our courses or journeys in our online Educational Hub! 🌸

With love and gratitude,

The WellMama Collective

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Tending a Hearth of Maternal Health and Wellbeing

With Heart and Hands