Soul Food Fridays
Each Friday we host children of all ages for an informally educational experience at the farm.
Children come in comfy clothes, ready to be free outside with their friends, get messy, and be creative.
We share a potluck, picnic style lunch together, and the children all engage in an art project of some nature (mask-making, working with plant/vegetable dyes, food fermentation and preparation, painting, drawing, fairy house building, fort-building, drama games and trust exercises); play together in the woodlands; work on their balance, climbing, fire-building; feed the goats, horse, and chickens; gather eggs, plant seeds, harvest vegetables and fruits; be themselves.
These Friday sessions began as a response to the immediate aftermath of hurricane Maria, to provide local children with a place to come and be children, to blow off steam and process the fear they had experienced through play and connection, and to transform the energy of the hurricane for positive growth and change.
The immediate aftermath – a period spanning two months – was a time when telecommunications, electricity, and mains-water were all down. We were harvesting our rainwater, cooking over an open fire or in our passive solar oven, we were using candles, gas lamps and solar lanterns for light, and had no refrigeration. For the initial month, stores were mostly closed, and those supermarkets that were open were selling canned and dried goods only, gasoline was scarce or unavailable, and the population was experiencing some sense of post-trauma (although, I am glad to say, the general vibe was supportive, cooperative, united, and gracious).
Soul Food Friday meant sharing and normalizing that
Soul Food has remained an important punctuation point to our week here at the farm. It is a true family day, where a group of now primarily home-educated children comes together in an environment where they feel relaxed, nurtured, inspired, and free.
Where the day was once totally unstructured, flowing
Most children are dropped off by their parents now, giving the parents a chance to focus on their own needs, and the children the opportunity to form their own group identity.
Children arrive at 12.30 and, after a sense of welcome and coming together, and the carrying out of whatever may be the most pressing farm jobs of the day, we all eat lunch together, before a play break, and then the commencement of the afternoon’s creative activity. No one is compelled to take part in the art project, although it is encouraged. Specific needs and preferences are always catered for, however, so children who may have certain sensual aversions, or who may prefer to work more individually are always given the opportunity to find their ease in the moment, and provision is made for everyone to get their own sense of satisfaction from the event, without the need to take on the prevailing action. Harmony, balance
Outdoor roaming and playtime are also a big part of the afternoon, where the children can form their own cohesive social structures and identities outside of the dynamic of ‘class and teacher’. It is important for children to be free of adult orchestration, to have time to be amongst themselves. This builds confidence, trust, natural self-awareness, and understanding. The children, however, always know that, as with ‘mother’, ‘teacher’ is never far away.
Soul Food Friday is available to all children, by donation, from 12.30-4.00 every Friday.
The focus of the week is announced on Monday, and families have until Wednesday afternoon to sign up their children for the Friday.