Following on from my earlier posts geeking out about soil , my husband David has started a new ‘Substack section’ called ‘The Soil Web’ over on his Substack
.The Soil Web is a £11,000 project in our allotment garden space. We’ve funded the project from a variety of sources and will be investing savings into building a new studio there next year.
Pretty exciting hey? I thought so and I thought I’d rewind a few years to frame up some pandemic reflections and update you about how this all fits into my Big Dream here on the Northumberland Coast!
Let’s rewind…all we can do is step back in time…
In 2019 (the year before the pandemic hit) I was working full time on multiple arts development projects across our county. I was clocking up hours of driving (and podcasts) each week and my husband was here working in our home yoga studio or on the local beach with clients.
It’s a bizarre thought now, but neither of us were ‘working online’ other than sending emails and posting the odd instagram update.
I still remember my first zoom call session with my London based pal Amy who was using it to chat with me about a project I was Creative Producer for.
More on that world and project here.
I was well used to this ‘time for money’ way of working, commuting and plugging into different communities with my arts development projects but I was (slowly) approaching 40 and feeling pretty burnt out in giving out so much to so so many people. I managed artists, passionate communities who wanted to make art happen, engaged audiences and participants - it was a lot.
When I fell pregnant the following year at the very start of the pandemic, I knew I wanted to slow down and make a real change in how I earnt money as a creative.
Frogspawn, Goals and Home School
It’s easy to look back through rose tinted glasses isn’t it but honestly 2020 was one of my favourite years ever - because the demands on my time simplified my creativity went off the map.
When we were ‘home schooling’ our son when schools were closed in the pandemic, we quickly learnt the reams and reams of printed worksheets school were emailing and sending were both un-inspiring and dysfunctional for his learning.
The balance we were looking for to manage our family dynamic and work balance needed to be found somewhere else. Time to get creative!
Sometime around early April 2020, we were invited to take some frogspawn from a friend’s pond and my 5 year old son couldn’t have been MORE delighted.
Pets and a live learning experience! How grateful we felt for outdoor spaces. (We have three gardens here).
We transplanted the frogspawn into our tiny front garden container pond, printed out the life cycle of a frog and waited patiently. We talked about it most days.
We went out each day and stared into the murky depths of the pond.
We looked for life in there, for answers in the water to ALL of our questions. We didn’t turn the news bulletins on - not once. I don’t like the news anyway - it’s not true to real life, it’s sensationalist and sad and I couldn’t have filtered the information and continued grocery shopping through pregnancy if I’d have heard it.
It became a little ‘sit spot’ to observe this tiny part of nature, of magic, of hope. It closed out the outside world and brought us into the present.
One or two frogspawn survived and later in summer we had two quite noisy large frogs in our front garden.
My awful morning sickness shifted and the baby girl I was growing in my womb began kicking at force to try and meet her brother’s loneliness.
Pandemic restrictions started to lift and my son was allowed to play a little with friends he’s only been able to see through iron bars of the garden gate for months.
Being separated from life as he knew it and his friends he saw everyday was heartbreaking and confusing for him. It was a strange and beautiful time for us as a family. I went hard in on his Pokemon obsession to pass the days and fuel his creativity. I made books and wrote and did lot’s of gardening and cooking- it was nice.
He had a bumpy start with school as a four year old. I have lots of regrets there but we can only do what we have the resource and tools to do at the time.
We’d craved time together to try home ed and here we were with our wish granted. Everything became smaller, more manageable and I can confirm curiosity did indeed kill the cat metaphorically speaking. It was bloody hard work to teach him.
And now in 2023…
We now have a medium sized pond with pond lilies and other plants in our allotment garden. My husband dug it and kitted it out in those lockdown days.
It’s really beautiful to sit by in summer. School is easier, things work better, conversations about neurodivergence flow.
AND - Just the other day, Dave let me know the FABULOUS news that we actually have a tonne of frog spawn in our pond already! Yay!
I want to do everything I can to give the ‘wanna be’ frogs the best possible chance of survival… it’s going to be tricky with a curious neighbour’s cat and our chickens loose but we are hopeful.
As we put pen to paper and start working with a range of specialists to transform our current allotment space into a ‘Permaculture Palace’ I recognise this is exactly the work I dreamt up during the pandemic year when we were home every day.
Gentle observations fuel quiet ambitions fuel Big Dreams
Three years to the day - that’s my big vision here in visual form and projected timeline.
The funding is in place and we are raring to watch the life cycle of a frog once more…
We are creating much more around that lifecycle too. Would you like to see my vision board for The Permaculture Palace? Want to know more about how we’ve embedded permaculture in our days - let’s chat in the comments.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend of dreaming and collecting memories if you are using this time to reflect on your pandemic experiences like me?
Claire x
PS - If you liked this post you might be interested in this one too -
I love this so much, Claire! The pandemic did bring some beautiful moments of clarity even amidst the hard parts of it. I'd love to hear more about you and your husband taking your jobs online (I also love the name of his substack 😂), and I can't wait to see your permaculture updates!
I love the Pokémon wall! 🥰