Seedlings

Last night, very late (perhaps because we're a little nervous and excited about it and wanted to start with a whisper…) Huz pressed post and we shared something pretty big that we've been working on. We moved from that excited limbo state where your project is still an idea, onto that OMG moment where your work is out there for all the world to see. Within an hour we had our first participant sign up (a gorgeous, supportive friend who we're ever so grateful for) and we headed off to bed. This is real now. It's a thing. This morning we were joking that we might have to make up a bunch of fake Facebook identities to follow through with the whole online community we're aiming to create for our lovely participant - oh we're going to be busy alright! Haha! I hope she's not the only one. I hope… 

After Huz's Permaculture Design Certificate finished, we found ourselves to be a pair of passionate, optimistic permaculturalists, looking for ways to get our hands dirty, and not just in our own backyards. Big Owlet saw us gardening and talking and planning and wanted in on it. She wanted to know what we knew. So she asked us to teach her. This unschooled kid, who's never really asked to be taught much at all, wanted to know all about permaculture too. A seed was planted and so we began. 

Over a number of weeks, we picnicked and talked and began with the permaculture principles, using some fun activities to back up our discussion. All the owlets took to it like ducks to water. We heard phrases and words entering their vocabulary and saw their confidence and understanding of our own permaculture design begin to make sense to them… So we wanted to share our experience with others and the Spiral Garden Seedlings program was born. 

Looking at the experience and backgrounds we have combined, I know we've come up with something that draws on all our strengths and knowledge to date. We're hoping to share a little of our experience as home educators, an ecologist, a designer, gardeners, parents and custodians of the earth. And we're hoping to inspire some connection and nurturing experiences for others. To help pass on some important life skills and welcome a whole new generation of earth custodians to the fray. 

We discovered that in the process of passing on information to our owlets, we were revising our own permaculture learning and reinforcing it. We realised that by reaching out to families, we can not only pass this information onto children, but to their parents too. And as my mum just called to tell us, their grandparents as well! Three generations of wonderful humans working to look at the world and nurture it in a way that can only be good. I'm looking forward to getting to know them and work with them too.  It's a big job, so let's begin… xx

You can find the Spiral Garden Seedlings website and more information here.