Some days it seems that everything just falls in line. Where typically our ideas and dreams seem fragmented and unrelated, here comes a day when a silver thread seems to move unseen to link everything together.  This morning I received an email from Jeremy Hastings from the Islay Wildwood Collective, located on a small island off the coast of Scottland. Jeremy contacted us simply to connect, he had seen our interview with Path Less Pedaled and the connections between our project management and inspirations were strong enough for him to write. Thank goodness! When I opened the link to the collective website I didn’t know if I should nod in affirmation or shake my head in disbelief. Here is a conglomeration of projects that at first glance may seem unrelated: a cycling program, youth forestry camps, a wool (cycle) clothing company, and more. Spend only a few minutes on their site, and you’ll see that the various efforst are inextricably linked.

Let me articulate why this email spoke so clearly to me! For those of you who read Cycle Swift from time to time it is familiar that I lead Wilderness and Outdoor Trips with High School Youth. I just returned from a forestry project outside of Portland Oregon called Hyla Woods. We spent a week with Peter Hayes, the forester, looking at the complexities of sustainable timber production, and worked to imagine the potential of ecological and social conservation while making money. Big questions always come to the table, and Peter turns to the likes of Aldo Leaopold and Wendell Berry for guidance. So, that’s link number 1: youth, eco forestry, and sustainable stewardship. (For an archive Hyla Woods write up on Cycle Swift click here.)

Link number two is still very ephemeral for us at Swift. I won’t say much, but Goods and I are really excited to design a Cycle Touring Program that visits sustainable agriculture projects here in the Puget Sound. We spent a great deal of our honeymoon in the high Olympic Mountains brainstorming and dreaming.

Link number three is the most evident: they are stitchers and cyclist as well! The collective offer simply beautiful Highland Tweed clothing, some specifically designed for cyclists! 

So, thanks Jeremy, for getting in touch–it’s made for an inspiring afternoon!

And readers: the links to Hyla Woods, The Wildwood Collective, and our interview are live, so please look around–it’s really inpsiring.

Back to sewing,

–Martina