The Planting is a multi-layer festival of talks, forums, workshops, music, food, films, ceremony, and environmental projects — a weekend of community, cultural and intellectual exchange. A smaller festival by design, The Planting is all about people coming together, getting their hands dirty, making things, cooking things, singing, nurturing the environment, preserving Woodfordia’s natural beauty and being entertained by some wonderful troubadours and inspiring speakers.
And it’s held in autumn, so the weather is cool and crisp — perfect for busy days and bonfires at night. There are a hundred good reasons to join us in May, but we’ve put together a list of ten BIG reasons why you should visit us at The Planting this year.
1. Get Dirty
As the name implies, there is a lot of digging, mulching and making. Between the planting, soil restoration and the workshops, you’ll get a lot of dirt under those nails. It’s rewarding work and makes that beer at the end of the day so much more worth having.
2. Plant Trees
Since the early days of the Tree-Planting Weekends, we’ve planted over 106,000 trees at Woodfordia transforming a old dairy farm into a beautiful parkland. There’s nothing more rewarding than watching a sapling you plant grow into a lovely shade-provider over the years.
3. Learn
Packed full of intellectual, inspirational and important topics, our programme will inform and entertain. Between the environmental-focused workshops at Forest Woodfordia, to health and well-being speakers, there’s plenty of knowledge to share.
4. Make Art
Spanning a vast canvas of mediums, our workshops offer up classes ranging from traditional art to weaving to gardening and even bamboo. It’s a fantastic combination of making and learning.
5. Bonfires
Chilly nights mean toasty fires. Scattered throughout the festival precinct, we build bonfires to keep everyone warm. Grab a chair and make some new friends as we huddle around the flames. Bring your guitar and play a tune.
6. Intimate musical moments
The Planting is a much smaller festival with a family-feel which leaves more dancing room for everyone in the music tents. Get close, get sweaty, spin and stomp the night away with folky rhythms and bush-inspired jigs.
7. Delicious food & beautiful wares
Stallholders serve up yummy treats so don’t feel the pressure to bring too much food. Gorgeous wares and lovely gifts will also be in abundance for those of you keen to do a bit of shopping.
8. Hot showers
We turn on the hot water in each of our amenities blocks — yes, that’s right, flushing toilets, hot showers, what more could you need?
9. Children’s Festival
Keen to keep the kids busy for hours building a village, craft-making, launching trebuchet missiles, engaging in wild games? Bring them along for a world class creative experience at our Children’s Festival.
10. Mid-year magical Woodfordia fix
Waiting until December is way too long to spend time at Woodfordia. Get your mid-year music, fun, heart-expanding, joy and good-times fix and help make our site even more beautiful.
The Planting is held 4-6 May, book your tickets here.
To extend your Planting experience, book in for a masterclass the week before as part of the Autumn Artisan Camp Series. Hosted by world class artists and experts, spots are limited, enrol here.