Moms Create Culture

Posted By Jane on July 29, 2010

A month or so ago i visited my niece and great-niece in a Sierra foothill town. We drove to a nearby lake and found it beautifully deserted. We went on a little wander, and I got wildly excited, as one after another, I encountered familiar plant friends, and found a number of others that I felt I knew in some way (friends of friends!).

Holding my great-niece to Thimbleberry and allowing her to reach for its petals, I flashed onto a similar scene, eight years before, when I carried my then-eight-month old daughter in a sling on a similar plant walk. At the time I was in an ethnobotany class, learning about the edible nature all around me. As I fed red huckleberries to myself and to my baby, and nibbled on various leaves and Douglas-fir and Western hemlock needles, and let my baby do the same–grasp bits of leaf and berry and eat them–I realized something that to me was profound.

Here was my little girl, safely in my arms, reaching for plants, exploring them with touch, smell, taste, scent–all her senses. She was gathering foods, even as I was, and developing her own special relationship with these green beings, just during our wander. Because she was in my arms and I was watchful, there was little danger of eating something that might be harmful to her. Suddenly it seemed I understood the baby’s instinct to put everything in her mouth, to explore everything that way. Ingesting the plants on our wanders, eating dirt — so much to be learned in the process, so many minerals and nutrients and life (vital force, life spirit energy, veriditas) to be ingested in the process.

In a culture where babies are passed hand to hand, or carried in slings or on one’s back, the baby can reach and explore, even as their mother or other loving relative gathers and works. If a baby is allowed to play in the dirt, there is that tactile and nurturing (and even nutritious) relationship happening there. In the protected space and under the watchful eyes of extended family, and amidst much outdoor work and play, the baby is free to explore, and taste, and grow from the beginning an intimacy with Mother Earth and with the more-than-human community of which she too is a family member.

We can offer protection to our babies while allowing them the freedom to explore. Protection does not mean that our babies live in an antiseptic environment, playing on picnic blankets, but never getting in the dirt. Mouthing on plastic toys, but never nibbling on the greens and berries and sweet abundance of a healthy earth. It means choosing places that are pollution-free in which to connect, opening to the idea that most wild plants have been food and medicines for millennia and then opening to learning what those individual plants are around us are.   It means embracing the idea that we as human beings require an intimate conversation and connection with the natural world around us to fully grow in mind, spirit, heart, and body.

And it means to open to the idea, too, that perhaps Mother Earth and the natural world need us to be in relationship with them in this way — not just to prevent us from destroying everything, but for positive, beautiful, life-giving reasons. Perhaps, we the human family–when we are in balance, have our own gifts to offer the natural world–gifts of ceremony, elebration and inspired play, artistry and communion, as well as stewardship and resource management. Certainly the first peoples of California felt strongly that an intimate interaction with the land was essential to the health, well-being, and lively energy of an ecosystem. The beauty and diversity and abundance of native plants and wildlife that the European explorers and settlers discovered certainly reveals that humans can be in relationship with the natural world in ways that serve not only themselves, but the health, well-being, and life energy of an entire region.

It pains me to witness just how much babies and children and ourselves are cut off from the very beginning from a rich, lively relationship with the natural world–our birthright as human beings. And we are in this sad place where we don’t trust the nature around us (polluted and damaged by us as it is), much less our own knowledge of what plants are “safe”– to touch, to eat. Even with my decade of dedicated plant learning, I erred far on the side of caution with my little great-niece, giving her (with her mom’s permission) a single Thimbleberry petal to nibble.  In this case, though, I was also very conscious of her mom’s comfort level with wild plants–not very much!

But at least I offered that one petal, offered my enthusiasm on the walk, tasted for myself various plants along the way and received nourishment of mind, body, spirit from them. It’s a small thing, but hopefully a seed is cast into a little good soil.

What plants might you get to know in your neighborhood? Touch it, smell it, ask yourself questions of it, ask questions of it about itself as if it might answer in your heart (as it may!)? Be curious, be open. Then at home do a little research and find out more about it.

If it’s a native plant, you might consider gathering some of its seed (leave plenty on the plant itself to do whatever it will in its own way) and sticking that seed into the earth nearby, helping tend it in a small way, and nurturing your own intimate relationship with this plant. Before you place the seed in the ground you might want to check in with the plant first. What soil does it seem to enjoy? Who are its plant companions? Where would it like to be planted? Allow images or senseations to flash in your mind and being, and go with the impulse if you can. Trust your senses, and then place the seed in the ground. Ask in your heart if the seed requires anything more. Then open and listen.

Maybe the seed will ask for a bit of ceremony or song or a word of thanksgiving or blessing. Maybe it will ask for a little water or bit of leaf or soil from nearby. Maybe it will ask for something else … or nothing, or just for you to be there for a moment, with that seed tucked into soil, a promise of new life. Whatever comes to mind and heart, do it — or at least consider what it might mean to do it.

Include your children in the adventure, wondering, and opening. What might happen then?  Your children might have a very fun and surprising gift or spontaneous ritual to offer that seed!

You and the seed and your children will be growing a new way, a renewed way of being, right where you are!

Category: Learning, Nature | No Comments »
Tags: Herbs

Posted By Jane on June 21, 2010

Here in California the First Peoples tended the wild. The beautiful expanses of wildflowers and oaks and many other plants and trees that European explorers and early settlers discovered when they arrived here had been mindfully tended for millennia. As I understand it people would carry sticks with them wherever they went, so that they could divide plants or spread seeds, planting them into the soil, encouraging the health and distribution of these beings. Animals and plants enjoyed abundance and exuberant expression, in part because of the careful cultivation and attention and intention that the these people paid to them — because of their companionable relationship with one another.

As a woman, mother, and citizen of place — in this landscape that is shaped quite differently these days, with little consideration to cultivating a wild ecology that can sustain itself, sustain humans, sustain the animals, birds, beings and plants within it, or as an expression of this particular geology, climate, natural history, and the beings within it — I feel that my main task in life is to tend the wild.

I am tending the wild as I learn about the plants that thrive in my garden, in the neighborhood, and the wild nature of our habitat. As I discover what grows in our bioregion, in the various ecosystems of the area, I consider what I might introduce to my garden, how I might bring it into an expression of this place itself as well as of our internal and cultural heritage that enjoys domestic roses and European herbs and other introduced plants. I consider which native plants would enjoy expression and cultivation in this patch of ground, that may have been oak woodland or chaparral country before it was ranched by Spaniards and later scraped clean and subdivided to become a suburb.

As a mother and wife I tend the wild by attempting everyday to nurture my family and home life with foods and practices and activities that nourish our bodies, minds, and spirits, that connect us intimately with the earth (I am more successful at this at times than at many others!). I attempt to nurture a rhythm in our household that supports each of our full expressions — the flourishing of our own wild natures — and which grounds us in responsibility, love and care for one another and for others, in healthy ways that serve the earth and ourselves, and challenges us to deepen and grow and function in true and effective ways in the world.

I tend the wild of my own nature by continuing to seek out the places in my life with the most shine, to dig for the hidden places, reveal the roots, divide the rhizomes of possibility and purpose and spread them around, look to discerning and discovering my singular rhythm with the earth, the seasons, my singular conversation with Spirit, and cultivating my relationships — with others, with the earth community, with the facets of myself — striving for the a healthful, lively, soul-nourishing music that is my ideal expression of my life.

I tend the wild in my business, seeing my professional expression as an expression of joyful service in the world and to the world. I seek to tend the wild in others by bringing forth my particular vision and voice and attempting to notice where it serves to nurture and support yours. I look to mingling systematic learning and development of skills and tools with opening to Spirit and my wild nature to discern what is needed right now to nurture the health and well-being of this particular creative expression, my work in the world.

For my work in the world is this: to tend the wild on myriad levels, and myriad ecologies from home to those who are inspired by what I voice to nature to true nature in its many forms to the Universe heart-song. My purpose is to help reawaken this singing within ourselves and effectively reintroduce it to the soil of our culture, to help inspire a powerful and many-colored reweaving to our planet that welcomes our children to flourish and to become full expressions of themselves, not just as individuals, but as citizens of healthy community, as companions and stewards of this good earth, as children and expressions of the Divine.

You too are tending the wild, in your own homes, hearts, with your loved ones, and in your businesses. How does tending the wild serve your full, effective expression in this life?

Here is a question for you, for me to ponder: how might tending the wild actually tend to the success of our businesses? Yes, I mean monetarily — for money is a flow of a certain expression of resources, and a businesses is not a business without this particular form of resource moving significantly into our lives, providing for our needs. How might “tending the wild” be not only a metaphor or guiding principle, but also a literal physical tending that actually serves and nourishes our business and helps it to flourish in its unique expression?

If I plant Evening Primrose or Sticky Monkey or Yerba Santa in my backyard and tend to their wildness how might that nourish the message and business and beauty of Moms Create Culture? How might it actually be of service to you?

I don’t need to know the answers at this time. I need only tend to the possibility: to the details and function of my business … and also tend to the wild right in my own home and discover what happens in the ecology of who I am and who we are as human beings who belong on and to this planet.

How do you tend the wild — as a mother, as an individual, as a woman of vision, as an entrepreneur? Please share your thoughts and potent possibilities!

Category: Business, Home, Nature | No Comments »
Tags: Ecology, True nature

Posted By Jane on June 15, 2010

These days my 8 1/2 year old daughter Gwynne and I head out into the garden to let the chickens into the yard, and to read, or do whatever she thinks is fun in the moment. This morning she led me in a game of “Follow The Leader” that ended up including her speaking a line of a Flower Fairies verse, and me speaking the next one, the two of us going back and forth — an activity that involved her coaching me in memorizing the poem.

Soon Gwynne retrieved one of her Flower Fairies books (this one, The Girl’s Book Of Flower Fairies), and, after I (after quite some time!) mastered Almond Blossom Fairy’s poem, we continued on to The Poppy Fairy’s verse, and to others. As we read the poems — me reading one line, Gwynne the next — or the other way around, I suddenly realized several things. The most immediate was that I could write up our whole morning so far as Apple Farm School in action!

What’s Apple Farm School? Well, we homeschool, and Apple Farm School is the name under which we registered here in California. Our family’s homeschool mostly moves between unschooling (child-directed learning), some focus on particular studies, and Waldorf-inspired homeschooling (guided by some use of resources by Christopherus). And it is very much influenced by my own work in nature-based learning and mentoring, and my husband’s and my sensibilities about what we feel is important for our daughters to learn and experience in their growth as unique individuals, as family members, and as members of concentric rings of community (our personal “village”, our bioregion, our nation, the planet, and beyond …).

In just an hour this morning, Gwynne and I noticed that the nasturtium was finally in bloom, we splinted an agapantha stalk, read to each other, and memorized poetry, and engaged in physical expression (running, jumping, dancing). And I realized that Gwynne, who hadn’t really started reading until this year, was reading quite well, expressing the ease of her reading by suggesting we read back and forth with the lines, and then doing so. I, though her teacher and mom, had not suggested any of this.

And because of her intense dedication to and fascination with the Flower Fairies, I saw how much attention Gwynne paid to various plants in the garden, noting details about the petals and leaves, and tending to them — all of which feeds my sensibility that for our health and well-being we must recover our intimate connection and conversation with the natural world. Right before my eyes, as Gwynne identified that, indeed Cornflower and the Cornflower Fairy resided in our garden in that pretty blue flower before us (part of a wildflower mix we’d scattered last year), I understood how much she’d absorbed of things botanical from her love of the books. That by looking for the Flower Fairies from the books, she was now discovering fairies everywhere in the particulars of all kinds of plants.

All this from two pop-up books that had been given by a kind–and observant–neighbor one day when Gwynne and her cousin had danced around outside one day, dressed in fairy wings.

I write all this, not so much to talk about schooling or unschooling or any other educational path and choice, but to point out that as human beings we do indeed learn all the time, in surprising ways (to our western culture sensibilities). And that learning often ignites unexpectedly. As moms of our own children, as loving and caring adults of the children in our lives, it — I believe — is vital to open to just how much children soak in learning and, on so many levels, want to learn , are wired to learn.

If we find ourselves anxious that our child is not learning his timetables on our nation’s schedule (as I fret about from time to time!), we do well to open our eyes to what he is learning right now, where his passions and interests are pulling him, and what has resulted already, thanks to genuine interest and need. Look at what happens when your child becomes crazy about, say, a sport, or horses — and starts learning and experiencing everything she can about the focus of her attention and love. Learning is happening on a variety of sensory levels, there’s an intense focus, and she is telling stories about shooting hoops or about her favorite basketball players, or about the horse she yearns for. If caring adults are in her life, they’ll ask questions about her interest, honing in on details. And, if they know nothing about the subject itself, are likely to consider who they do know that does (while still asking questions!). Who might be a good mentor? Who might have more resources or information to deepen this relationship, nurture it further?

Myself, I’m always looking to how a child’s passion — or anyone’s passion — connects with and intersects with the natural world. I feel that, not only is the natural world so diverse, rich, and complex that it opens all of us to much richer understandings and awarenesses, but that biologically, psychologically, and in a soul way, we as human beings are expanded and enhanced in ways that we absolutely need when we experience anything we love in the context of nature–of who we are within the natural world. That our brains and souls function better, in ever more alive ways.

Naturalist Jon Young told a story about a youth with reading disabilities who enrolled in one of his nature programs, who suddenly found himself passionate about animal tracking. From this place of intense interest he opened to learning everything related to tracking, and, as a side effect become a far better reader as well as extremely knowledgeable in many areas. Jon–and others who work with children and youth in nature–have many stories like this one. As human beings we are designed to learn in very complex ways — from culture and especially from nature. Our survival and well-being has depended on this interrelationship, this ongoing conversation, for eons.

I dream of a time when most of our academic learning takes place in the garden, field, and forest. Where we learn number patterns and timetables by discovering number patterns and geometry in nature, or in designing and building a chicken coop. Where we have space in our lives and nourishment to take an interest and follow it wherever it may lead.

In healthy community this is possible — whether its in afterschool hours or during school. Whether in an alternative lifestyle choice, or just in a caring family environment. We can practice it in our own lives anytime, with any child who appears. What intense interest or love is this child expressing right now? How can we most respect that devotion? Sometimes it’s by asking a question and expressing interest. Sometimes the child is best served by our being silent, witnessing. Asking questions of the child or commenting, or inviting a story can happen later.

I write all this to remind you — and myself — that we are all wired to be passionate, self-directed, curious, exploratory, and connected — to our yearnings and desires and unique path, to learning of so many kind. We are all imaginative and creative. An intense focus in one area will soon include gobbling up information and experience in others.

This said, we all want to share our story in some way, for someone to notice what we love and ask good questions about it of us. Questions that allow us to share our love enthusiastically, and … ultimately, hint at a further vista. As moms who create culture, who yearn to provide a rich tapestry, an exciting playground that nourishes our children and all children, we can begin by just noticing.

Noticing what the child is intense about in this moment, what love she is expressing. Become curious too.

And then … when it is appropriate … ask a question. Invite a story.

The Art of Questioning, and the Story-Of-The-Day are essential aspects in in healthy, whole-nature cultures. I’ll be writing more about them both in this blog.

Category: Learning | No Comments »
Tags: Art Of Questioning, Story Of The Day

Posted By Jane on May 23, 2010

One of the most simple yet potentially profound ways to weave community is through shared song.  When a group of people — be they family, play group, or any other gathering — join in song, a kind of entrainment happens.  We harmonize in that moment in some shared intent, in just plain companionship and a rhythm with each other.  When a song, such as “Porimamine, Porisamine” (shared below), is seeded into the landscape of who we are when we are with each other, then begins to change.  We start to become a people who considers and honors our ancestors, a people who might feel that an intimate relationship with nature and the earth might offer something to our hearts that we truly need and want.

I’ve heard it said that when peoples in whole-nature culture with one another don’t know what else to do, they sing a song. A song, whether consciously considered or not, carries intention. It can be a form of prayer, a cry for help, a celebration of the moment, an expression of emotion. It can subtly or overtly offer a particular way of being, a value, a vision for the future.

I have also heard that when beginning an venture of heart, anything that involves the children, that it is important to include the Elders, to consult their wisdom. As I begin Moms Create Culture I acknowledge and commit to this teaching as I offer this song to you now.

Porimamine, Porisamine

Click here to listen to Porimamine, Porisamine. (This recording is by young mom and sound healer, Starr, and myself from our CD Streaming In Stone).

Here is a teaching version of the song (which has a much smaller file size than the above!)

This is an absolutely ancient song of the Dagara people of Burkina Faso, West Africa. Porimamine is to the grandmothers, all the way back to the First Grandmother, and Porisamine is to the grandfathers, all the way back to the First Grandfather. If I remember correctly, the elders of the village would stand on one side, while the children would stand on the other. The children would sing this song (with some trepidation, because the elders see everything!) to the Elders. After singing it awhile, the children would gather up their courage, run across the open area and leap into the laps of the Elders. The song would end with a sharp — “ah!” (I’ll have to include that in a future recording of the song).

This is a fabulous song to sing for invoking the spirits of the ancestors, and for bringing a gathering together. As storyteller and mythologist Michael Meade said, after having a bunch of us sing this chant at a gathering, it’s such an old, old, song, you don’t have to worry about breaking it! (i.e., that is, you don’t have to worry about singing it wrong!).

Sing it as you start your day. Sing it with your children. Sing it to the Old Ones in your life, to your Elders! Sing it on Day Of The Dead, sing it in the New Year. Sing it whenever you need to feel connecting to something older, wiser, more rich in knowing and in nature than yourself. Just sing it — aloud or silently — whenever it springs to your heart and mind.

When we sing songs–especially old or supremely ancient ones–we are joining voices in a shared intent. We enter the river of all those who sing this song or who have sung it, and that awareness can cradle and nourish us, and soothe our spirits and sometimes awaken a much-needed-in-that-moment thought.

Don’t be afraid to sing this song for the elders in your own life. I have surprised and delighted some of the grandmothers and grandfathers in my life by introducing this song to them and singing it (both solo and leading a group singing of it) in their honor.

Category: Community Singing | 2 Comments »
Tags: Ancestors, Elders, Song

Posted By Jane on March 27, 2010

It’s always so hard to start something new — in this case, a new blog, a new expression of my thoughts and convictions.  A new business!   So I’m going to jump right in!

 What is culture?  Very simply culture is learned behavior that structures how we are with each other.  We can allow others to create it for us (business and government and who knows who all fueling and shaping our “consumer culture”–ugh, do you want to be living culturally as a consumer? Do you want to raise your children to be consumers?). Or we can consciously create it ourselves.

Huge machines are consciously creating culture right now–in the form of marketing, propaganda, in shaping beliefs about what we think we need to be healthy, happy, and secure.  Much of what is structuring our culture is hammering in the point: “We’ll take care of you.  Just give us your money, your children, your trust.    You can’t take care of  x, y, z (your health, your children’s growth and education, …. you fill in the blank) yourself.  We’ll do it for you, far better than you ever can.”  Much of the time culture is being created by individuals, groups of people who have no real interest in helping you or your family live a healthier, whole, more authentic and sustainable life. Fork over the money and the power please.

Just who do we want creating our culture anyway?

Creating culture may sound difficult but its something we as human beings do naturally.  Look at children and how readily they make up games and make-believe rich in ritual, rules, and shared realities.  Look at the shared jokes and knowing nods in any club, work environment, group.

In terms of working toward creating a positive culture–one that nourishes  our families, our communities, and beyond–my conviction is this:

Moms are really the ones who create culture.
It begins in your own home, in your daily life, even in the midst of half-done dishes,
a sleep-deprived brain, and not being able to snag a shower
when you’d like.  It begins with the intense, immense love you have for your child, and
your yearning to do all you can to nourish and protect and guide her …

Evaluations and decisions flow from there.

Will you join me in exploring this idea about how we can consciously create culture–or even just tweak it–in our own lives, our own families, in our own way of being in the larger world?

What is culture to you?  How do you create culture in your own life, with your own family every day?

I invite you to share your thoughts!

Category: Announcement | 2 Comments »
Tags: What Is Culture, Why Moms?

Posted By Jane on February 25, 2010

Soon to come:

Just what in the heck is culture anyway?

… and why does it have everything to do with Moms?

How can we tweak culture in our own family lives to create
a healthy enlivening environment for our children, partners, and ourselves that
nourishes the very best in us–our full potential and unique genius, our own right way of being in the world?

And how can doing so actually help to create a better world?

Stay tuned for a fun, practical blog with simple concepts that you can implement and play with in your own life right away!

Category: Announcement | No Comments »
Tags: