Part of Heritage Open Days, the largest free festival of history and culture in England, ‘The Commons Feast’ on 18 September 2021 was the first in-person occasion at The MERL to showcase The Commons: Re-Enchanting the World. We took over the garden to host performances and workshops instigated by the main Commons artists: Sigrid Holmwood performed as her peasant painter persona transforming woad that was cultivated in the museum garden into turquoise pigment; Catherine Morland collaborated with master basketmaker, John Page and her daughter Daisy, to demonstrate and share knowledge of cordage making. Featuring the Becoming with Wheat Companions and The Mills Archive, Amanda Couch presented hands-on everyday performances and information about threshing, winnowing, dehulling and milling of the wheat grown in The MERL garden, and Sophie Haworth and Nathan Crawley-Lyons of local RISE Bakehouse came to demonstrate caring for and baking with a sourdough starter.

 

These activities were accompanied by Carl Gent who played their mixtapes of folksongs with handouts of lyrics that informed their collaborative work with Kelechi Anucha on display in the galleries. We also invited Reading Food Growing Network (RFGN) who hosted a Seed Swap, Grow Beer Reading who were signing up new hops growers, and The MERL’s Fong Scott ran a make-and-take Corn Dolly activity.

 

The day also focused around the sharing of food and ideas around local, seasonal, wild, and foraged fayre, with a table setting as a centre point. It contained runners made with our designer, Kristen Fraser’s Commons graphics, and flowers and foliage grown in The MERL garden assembled by Catherine Morland and Sarah Trillo, intermingled with baskets specially made by the Basketmakers Association and other practitioners. The baskets held bread made by RISE Bakehouse cultured with Josefin Vargö’s Levande Arkivet (The Living Archive), the commons of eighty sourdough starters from around the world accompanied by Company Drinks beverages.