Healing with Community

10/31/2024

“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” — Helen Keller

Thanks to so many amazing parents, teachers, volunteers, and donations from near and far, Children's Garden was able to open back up quickly after massive devastation from Hurricane Helene!

Our schoolhouse, basement, parking areas, playground and garden were hit hard from the flood and many fallen trees. We sing out huge thank you's to Papa Andrew and Papa Nick for coming over those first few days after the storm and helping remove all the equipment from the mud filled basement and chainsawing many trees that had fallen on the playground. Y'all are heroes!!

We lost all of our appliances, AC, furnace, power box, hot water heater and over 30K of school supplies and tools in the basement. Then when the power came back on after being off for over 3 weeks, the power surge was so great that it fried the upstairs fridge and dishwasher as well.

Huge huge gratitude to Grandpa Jeff for donating a brand new on demand water heater!! We have been singing a ‘thank you Grandpa Jeff’ song when we wash hands :)

More huge thank you's to Mama Parham, Papa Mike, Papa Dalton, Papa Eric, and Papa Brady for hours and hours of fence rebuilding in the courtyard so the children would have a safe space to play outside!

Huge huge gratitude to Mama Ginny, Mama Yagmur, Mama JJ, Mama Allie, and many more for clearing out and beautifying the big yard so the kids could once again run free and play in the hay. We are so very grateful to report that all 13 chickens survived the storm! Slowpoke and Floppy (the bunnies) made it through with some bounce in their hop too!

Sending so much gratitude to Mama Ali for helping create our fundraiser and helping with laundry!

And overflowing gratitude to Mama Amanda and Mama Madeline for helping to rebuild our playhouse roof:

We know we have not listed all of the kind helpful parents and volunteers here but please know we love you and we appreciate you - healing this deeply this fast took the miracle of a huge village working together.

Huge thank you to the volunteers at Truth is One and Mama Brandi Lee for building this beautiful trellis fence where the tall Cypress fell, check out this sweet video of these folks in action and the before and after pics of the finished fence in the courtyard.

Deep immense gratitude to Papa Shawn, Papa Chris, Mama Miriah and her Charlie's Angels for helping turn our undrivable driveway and parking area into a completely new and improved safe space to drive and park!

And infinite gratitude to our Austin Children's Garden families, our local families, and the kind donators from near and far for showing up in such a big way for our rebuilding fundraiser. While we have had a lot of volunteer help, the financial costs of rebuilding and supplies has been high. We would not be open today without y'all. We know many of our past families still read the blog - we thank you with our whole hearts for believing in us and supporting the local children here!

We still have a long way to go in repairing the fences, gardens, schoolhouse floors, and in replacing the many school supplies, playground materials, and furniture we lost in the flood. Please help share our fundraiser with any folks you think might want to help: Children's Garden Fundraiser

HUGE HUGE gratitude to Teacher Evan for working day and night those first few weeks after the storm, knee deep in mud, saving our schoolhouse furniture, hauling tree limbs, and beaming love and positivity through all of it. He is a true hero and loved by all! We are so blessed to have his bright heart of service with the children and on the land. We love you Evan!!

And HUGE gratitude to our beloved Teacher Mariah also showed up everyday after the storm to help heal and repair the space! Thank you Mariah for your commitment, courage, and tenderness through some intense challenges!

Healing Circles

All of us here in WNC have been through a lot since Hurricane Helene. We were so grateful to be able to open back up again so quickly to create a healing environment and healthy routine for the children. We love Dr. Dan Seigel's work on child development and healing after a traumatic experience. In both his book 'Healing Trauma' and his course 'The Neurobiology of We', Seigel talks about how important our community is in our healing and offers many activities and movement based exercises that change our neurobiology and help us process a traumatic event. We highly recommend Seigel's courses with Mindsight Institute.

Circle time can help children heal from trauma by creating a sense of belonging and connection with their friends and teachers, a safe place where each child feels seen, heard, and valued.

We loved passing the pumpkin as a talking piece as we shared our experiences of the storm and talked about all the helpers who are working hard and keeping us safe. Not only is it super fun to pass the pumpkin while we are sharing, it also helps us to heal trauma by crossing the midline of our bodies as we pass it to each other. Crossing the midline helps heal trauma by promoting communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, which can lead to better integration of processing and releasing traumatic memories that may be stored in the body.

Circle time is also a great space for the healing power of storytelling with themes of resilience, healing, and personal growth. We have loved sharing some of the stories from Susan Perrow. Thank you so much Mama Allie for gifting us the new Perrow book Stories to Light the Night!

The kids love the healing stories from Slumberkins too, especially Ibex Feels Deeply.

Roleplaying out challenging scenarios is another great resource for empowerment!

And laughter may be one of the most healing expressions of all! We love to play the game "Pass the Smile" One child starts smiling at the person next to them and says, "I pass the smile to you." The next child smiles back and passes the smile to the next person. Pretty soon everyone is laughing and smiling.

“Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Someplace where we can be free.” - Starhawk

Community Helpers!

Our first project with the kids was to share some gratitude with the Barnardsville Mutual Aid, a newly formed community group that's been housing volunteer first aid, a free store, community kitchen, community acupuncture and herbal care, and food/water/supply distribution to local residents.

The hard working volunteers at Barnardsville Mutual Aid helped Children's Garden with so many vital supplies those first few days after the storm... many dehumidifiers, a generator, so many cleaning supplies, and directed many kind volunteers our way. We could not have opened so quickly without them and we are forever grateful!

We also shared our huge gratitude with the Barnardsville Fire Department. We are blessed to have them as next door neighbors. They helped us with access to clean water and a cord to their generator immediately after the storm. We have witnessed these heroes working 24/7 to help rescue folks and help repair our beautiful community!

The kids created hand made cards and a very creative banner (all while practicing their early literacy skills!), then we walked next door with a safety rope and got to say thank you to Chief Mundy and offer our banner and cards!

Community Ancestor's Feast

Thanks to all who came out and enjoyed a lovely afternoon of feasting, sharing about our varied ancestry, and celebrating together! The kids were so excited all day as we made decorations, carved pumpkins, and prepared some delicious dishes in community together.

We are so deeply grateful that Grandmother Magic Maple made it through the storm without a scratch!

Pumpkin Party Decorations

Scooping and Carving Pumpkins

Roasted Pumpkin with Fresh Zested Nutmeg

To prepare these delicious Roasted Pumpkin Wedges we marinated the wedges in freshly grated nutmeg, sprinkle of cinnamon and sea salt, then drizzled with honey. After marinating for an hour we roasted them in the oven at 350 for 22 minutes until the wedges were soft and slightly crispy around the edges.

Tamari Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

The secret to delicious toasted pumpkin seeds is to boil them first for 5 to 10 minutes in salted water, then pat dry. To make sure each seed was coated in tamari we used a dropper and counted out 10 drops each. It takes a lot of focus and fine motor control to create one drop at a time!

Once they were all covered we added some melted coconut oil and then spread them in a thin layer on parchment paper. Then we toasted them in the oven at 400 F for 10 minutes (cooking time can depend on size of seeds).

Cornbread Muffins with Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

Dry:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup oat flour
2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Wet:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 eggs, at room temperature (can use chia seed eggs for vegan version)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled (can use coconut oil for dairy vegan version)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a mini muffin tin generously with coconut oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: cornmeal, oat flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: almond milk, apple cider vinegar, eggs and honey. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir with a spoon until just combined. Finally stir in the melted butter. Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

As we mix the ingredients together we love to count! The younger kids count 1 to 10, the older kids count by 2's, 5's, and 10's.

For the buttercream frosting we mixed together softened butter and mixed in honey to taste - the kids loved taste testing to see if it was sweet enough!

For the final touch we topped each muffin with a chocolate chip!

Thank you Teacher Jacqueline for your amazing face painting!

Did y'all know that Teacher Jacqueline and her son Josh created a beautiful children's book together? We love to read Benny and the Bigfoot with the kids, you can order a copy here!