Grow Outside

In May, I listened more.
And the beings answered.

A butterfly mid-thought 🦋
A lizard basking without urgency 🦎
Gary the Snake - calm & presence 🐍
Beetles crawling steady across tangled emotion 🪲
Water holding reflection and release 💧
Birdsong anchoring me to this breath 🐦

Each one offered a skill.
Each one held space.
Presence. Play. Protection. Grief. Joy.

This is DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) in the wild.
I practiced:
🌿 observing without judgment
🌿 letting go of control
🌿 receiving what was offered without rushing it away

Some beings stayed a while.
Some were gone in a blink.
All of them mattered.
All of them became part of my healing.

Thank you, May, for your sacred company. 🌱

Some weekends are for the trail.
This one is for remembering.

The pack stays still.
The flags ride quietly.
And the poppy speaks without saying a word.

For those who shouldered more than weight -
who didn’t come home -
we carry their memory into every place they can no longer go.

“We’ll be riding the train without you tonight.”
– Bruce Springsteen

Mother’s Day Forest Bathing with Kids: A Wishing Forest Adventure

Each May, while spring is in full bloom, we gather to celebrate the bond between mothers, children, and the Earth herself.

This year’s adventure led us into the Wishing Forest… a magical place where giant dandelions towered above us and the grasses whispered with life.

We wandered slowly, letting our senses guide us. The children explored texture, the soft down of dandelions, the bristle of grasses, the velvet of petals. Tiny discoveries… seeds, clever plants, little beings became treasures along the way.

Together, we picked wildflower bouquets for our mothers, weaving the colors of the land into small vases filled with love.

We closed with a tea ceremony under the trees. Sipping, sharing, and offering gratitude for the simple, beautiful moments.

Forest Bathing with children is not about reaching a destination. It’s about slowing down enough to notice the magic all around. Connecting deeply and sweetly, with each other.

This Mother’s Day gathering has become an annual tradition. One of my most cherished events of the year.

If you’re part of a homeschool family, pod, microschool, or would love to create a meaningful outdoor experience for your group, I’d love to help.

Let’s Grow Outside together and celebrate the beauty of slowing down, noticing, and being present with those we love.

(Swipe through 13 glimpses of wonder, connection, and celebration.)

Discover the Magic of Vernal Pools:
A Hands-On Homeschool Field Trip Experience

As California’s vernal pools begin their slow transition from shimmering wetlands to golden grasslands, we stepped into one of nature’s rarest ecosystems-
a fleeting world where fairy shrimp hatch, frogs take their first leaps, dragonflies dance across the surface, and wildflowers bloom in colorful rings.

No two vernal pools are ever the same. Some still held water and life; others had already given way to golden grasses. This beautiful variability is part of their magic.

Our homeschool group spent the morning journaling, sketching, creating nature zines, and connecting with the delicate ecosystems around us. Tiny frogs hid among the grasses, butterflies flitted by, and the children wove a living web of connection between plants, insects, pools, and themselves.

Vernal pools are a vanishing habitat. Over 90% have been lost to development, yet they are home to species found nowhere else on Earth.

Experiences like these foster lasting love for the natural world.
Hands-on exploration, sensory learning, and quiet observation. These are the gifts of nature-based education.

If you’re part of a homeschool family, pod, co-op, or microschool in Greater Sacramento and would like to create a customized outdoor adventure, I’d love to help.

Experiences are tailored by season and group needs, and may include nature journaling, storytelling, citizen science, sensory invitations, and creative arts.

Let’s Grow Outside… and give our children the chance to learn not just about nature, but within it.

Send a message to start planning your Vernal Pool Field Trip or seasonal nature walk!

Mother’s Day Forest Bathing & Tea Party
🗓️ Saturday, May 3 | ⏰ 9:00–11:30 AM | 📍 Carmichael, CA

Let the morning be slow.
Let the tea be warm.
Let your little one hand you a flower, a smile, or a surprise from the earth. 🌸🍵

This special forest bathing experience is designed for moms and kids to pause together, to notice together, and to feel the magic of spring blooming all around. 🌿💞

We’ll move gently through nature, follow sensory invitations, and gather for a tea party beneath the trees. Expect laughter, love, and moments that will root into your heart. 🌳👩‍👧

✨ Open to children ages 4–12 (younger welcome with support)
💰 $20 first child | $5 per sibling | Parents attend free
🔗 Link in bio to register! Space is limited.

There’s something about the way the light hits this plant… this Spokepod… something sacred.

At first glance, she blends into the grasslands. But with the setting sun behind her, her details become luminous. Each translucent seed pod, veined like fingerprints, catches the light and suddenly… she is seen. Not just as a plant, but as a whole story.

She reminds me of a mother.
Not flashy or loud.
Her bloom is small, almost unnoticed at the top.
But beneath that, she holds so many gifts- delicate, intentional, full of potential.

Each pod a piece of her love 💕carried into the world to root and rise. 🌱

Connection 🕸️ works like this too.
It’s always there… woven between us quietly.

But sometimes it takes light, awareness, attention, presence - to really notice how deep the web 🕸️runs.

This Spokepod, this moment, is a reminder:
Even when we’re unseen,
Even when our offerings feel small,
Even when our seeds scatter far -
There is beauty, there is legacy, there is light. ☀️

Let’s notice each other more.
Let’s see the spokes that connect us.

💡❓What lights you up enough to be seen, and what connections do you only notice when the light hits just right?

Slow down. Sip tea. Savor the wonder of the season—together.

Join us on Saturday, May 3 for a nature-based celebration of connection, presence, and the joy of moving slowly through the natural world with your child.

This Mother’s Day Forest Bathing & Tea experience is designed for parents and children to spend meaningful time together, honoring both Mother Earth and the caregivers who lovingly hold space in our lives.

We’ll begin with a gentle Forest Bathing walk filled with sensory invitations to awaken curiosity and calm. Then we’ll gather for a whimsical tea ceremony under the trees, sipping from lovely teacups and sharing stillness and laughter in good company.

This event is for moms, aunties, grandmothers, bonus moms… and the children who walk beside them.

⸻

Location & Registration

🗓️ Date: Saturday, May 3, 2025
⏰ Time: 9:00–11:30 AM
📍 Location: Carmichael, CA (exact spot shared after registration)
🎟️ Investment: $20 for the first child | $5 for each sibling
Parents attend free. Ages 4–12 recommended (younger kids welcome with support).

Register at the link in bio. Space is limited.

⸻

🔥 Beltane Forest Bathing + Sound Bath
Wednesday, April 30 | 5:15–8:15 PM
$35 | Limited to 10 participants

Beltane is the ancient Celtic festival that honors fire, light, and life—a time when spring reaches its peak and we begin the sacred turning toward summer.

This 3-hour experience weaves together:
• Forest Bathing invitations to deepen your connection with the land
• A fire-inspired ceremony to honor your inner flame
• A sound bath under the evening sky

Together, we’ll walk gently, breathe deeply, and celebrate the warmth blooming around—and within—us.

This is a small group event held in a protected grassland near the Mather Vernal Pools. It’s more than a walk—it’s a ritual return to rhythm, presence, and the wisdom of the season.

Let yourself bloom. Let yourself burn bright.

Register at the link in bio.
Registration closes April 29 at 5:00 PM.

🌍 Earth Day Forest Bathing Walk
Tuesday, April 22 | 6:00–8:15 PM
Donation-Based | Supports Sacramento Splash

Let this Earth Day be an invitation to slow down, soften, and listen.

We’ll gather in the vernal pool grasslands as the light shifts from gold to dusk, guided through a series of mindful, sensory invitations. This is not a hike—it’s a journey of presence and gratitude.

100% of proceeds go to for the Big Day of Giving, supporting environmental education and the protection of this rare, beautiful ecosystem.

Support the land that raised you.

✨ Exact location shared upon registration
🔗 Link in bio to sign up

The GO Club is back… and your kid’s art could lead the way!

I’m thrilled to relaunch Grow Outside’s kids nature club with a special LOGO CONTEST—open to young artists who love banana slugs, bugs, puddles, leaves, and everything wild and wonderful.

The original GO Club began on Earth Day 2012, and we’re honoring that by collecting submissions until April 22nd – Earth Day 2025!

The winner will receive:
• Their art featured on GO Club stickers and t-shirts
• A nature prize pack (including their winning tee!)
• And a big artist shoutout at our first spring gathering

To enter:
Have your child (ages 4–12) draw their design in a circle shape, and send a photo of it to me via DM or email.

Let’s grow outside—and celebrate creativity, connection, and the return of something truly special.

Tag a parent who should know about this!

Soft moments, loud textures.
Water droplets, veiny leaves, wild blooms, brick, grass, and reflection—
a reminder that the natural world is always offering something to notice,
if we just pause long enough to see it.

What detail catches your eye first?