Nurturing our girls into womanhood

I recently took my daughter to a stepping into womanhood workshop, talking about  puberty and what  menstruation means to a girl.It was a wonderful day filled with craft, making mandalas whilst taking about their bodies.
She was was mortified, distraught at the thought of going to such a thing, she wanted to kill me.
I was ok with that because I knew what she was going to learn so much.
It was a gentle introduction to menstruation and how puberty changes a girls body.
She learnt a lot that day, and so did I.

I have always said our children are our teachers, and at that workshop, my daughter taught me.
Being feminine is about showing your vulnerability, not needing saving just sitting with that emotion and being ok with it.
That day I became aware I had some wounds of my own I needed to heal when it came to my relationship with my mother.

All throughout my parenting I have guided my children, I have been able to nurture and protect them. I have felt so much fear, I can no longer protect my little girl, life is changing for her at a rapid pace and I once again have to learn to let her go.
Recently I have come to the conclusion that I can still do these things for her, just in a different way.
She does not want to kill me anymore, instead it has taken our relationship to a new level of openness, acceptance and understanding.

Talking worms

A while ago now, I finished my incursions with a kinder in the inner north of Melbourne.I set up the compost system for them. I gathered my resources and over a few weeks, I spoke to the children about worms,what they like to eat, how we can take care of them, and most importantly how we can harvest their wee, oh that was a great talking point!
The information was so well received by the children, in the end instead of calling me by my name, they named me the worm lady! Kids, they can be so straightforward!
We ventured to CERES to collect our worms and also check out the composting systems there and their worm farms.
It has been a great journey for me. I have created a program that has worked so well for this center.It  has made me feel,  that I can create that connectedness with children, and teaching them about their food is such a important message, it is something we can all be doing.
Here are a few pictures of our worms.

Incursion on tomatoes

 I have been doing an incursion program with a kinder in the inner north of Melbourne. It was a term incursion introducing the center to sustainability practices focusing on composting systems.
At the same time I was educating the children on all things wormie, as well as some natural based crafts. The incursions started with tomatoes. I wanted to introduce the children to the varieties of tomatoes, when in season. We talked about seasons, and when things grow best, this is my fundamental message to the kids. The children were surprised that tomatoes came in such shapes,sizes and colors. They commented on the flavor and juiciness. I walked in with a bag full of tomatoes and I walked out empty handed, it really made me feel like I had made a difference.

Incursion

I have begun working within centers,introducing sustainability. Due to regulations I can not post pictures of the children, but here I have posted one child's work work after the session. The children have been very receptive and engaged, they loved talking about the worms. Hopefully before the end of term we will have the worm farm set up.

New adventures,exciting times

I know there would be a lot of you out there that will resonate with what I am going to write. The emotion of feeling like you are not moving, you are not progressing anywhere whether it is in your career or personal life or you spiritual journey. You feel stagnant and you feel like you have been making a effort to stay positive and believe with every ounce of your body that there is something new. Around the corner, any minute now its all going to change and what seems like a eternity,change finally comes.

It's like breathing in the ocean air. Its unexplainable calmness knowing your manifestation has finally come to fruition.

I am trying to hold onto that feeling for as long as I can.

And what I have wanted is to be to go it on my own, to share the knowledge of gardening that I have, to the people that want it.
To ignite the passion of growing your own food and taking that journey to wellness,fresh home grown produce, living sustainably,giving children valuable life skills and crafting with nature as your resource.

And so I am giving up my outdoor job, my garden for a while, but as a friend said to me, its to instill the same knowledge just in a different way.
I have to help little people understand the beauty of what mother nature has to offer.

I am hoping to create awareness that we are all part of a global community, small people and big people can be active participants in nurturing our earth and in-turn ourselves.