Leadership
Please note: This is Kathleen’s blog. I have posted it for her so it lists me as author. Once we have time, I’ll show her the blogging ropes and she’ll be able to post herself.
Being asked to teach a Leadership class for the 2nd grade, seemed like an intriguing opportunity and challenge, and I wasn't sure where to begin or what to present. I needed to get acquainted with the children first. It became obvious to me that they needed a clear focus and an engaging task to unify them towards a goal.
I started with questions regarding Leadership. What is a leader? What does it take to be a good leader? What qualities should a leader possess? How do we find the leader within us? The children came up with all kinds of good ideas that I wrote them on the board. We settled on one word ,one quality, Kindness. A good leader should possess kindness, be caring, understanding, help others and perform Good Deeds.
What does it mean to perform Good Deeds? I knew we needed to find a project to work on as a class, that would embody all of this, and engage their hearts, minds, and wills towards a real purpose.
I have always held a deep reverence for the healing gifts that Nature so graciously offers us. One day at Orchard School, after I had nursed multiple scrapes and bruises on little legs and feet, I looked around our beautifully abundant campus, and became inspired.
The garden and grounds are rich with resources of healing plants, and the opportunity to share in this journey with this group of children seemed right. I mentioned it to Kenza, and she offered me a wonderful guide book for children, written by a local couple, who are healers and herbalists, Lesley and Michael Tierra. It is a wonderful curriculum resource, on getting to know the plant kingdom, and learning how to process the different plants , and what healing properties they provide.
In this day and age, more than ever, it seems important for children to be resourceful and wise and learn how to make use of the natural world. Nature is waiting for us to recognize her abundance. This is ancient wisdom, and my hope is to open the portal to this wisdom, to inspire your children on their life's journey, and empower them in their abilities to help others and their self.
On that note, I am excited to share with you, that they have completed their first project, successfully may I add, by making a Comfrey-Plantain Salve. This initial process took us four weeks, and they have been documenting it as well ,in books that they have made. First we harvested the comfrey from the garden, and plantain from the grounds. We hung it up to dry for a week then crushed it. Each child took one oz. of herbs, to 3/4 cup of olive oil, adding them to individual jars, and infused the herbs for three weeks. They sat in the garden and drew the comfrey plant for possible labels later on. Last friday, we strained the herbs and oil, warming them and adding them to melted beeswax, adding vitamin E and lavender oil. Each child filled smaller 4oz. mason jars with the brew, and we watched it solidify into a beautiful healing salve. A jar has now been distributed to each building / first aid kit at Orchard School. We have a dozen more that we'd like to sell for $5.00 each, to reimburse costs, and start an investment fund, for our next project.
The garden building is available for our use and I'd love to see it become our Apothecary Workshop space. We will need to enlist the help of families to prepare it, and any donations of needed supplies would be most welcome. Ive looked up sites online for proper containers, Id like to have 1oz or 2oz. jars, and I can make a list of other supplies as families show interest. Thank you to Cambria for providing the beeswax.
I think we have the possibility and potential for a real community project here, and our 2nd graders are leading the way. Thank you All, I look forward to working with you, and adore working with your children.
Sincerely, Kathleen