Agraria Journal Winter 2021

silence outside during Nature School programs, where we challenge our youth to think outside the boxes of standards, of systems, to build a more egalitarian relationship with earth, land, water, and elements. And when we see ourselves as equals, we are inspired to act with reciprocity and tend to the other beings around us. And when we tend to the beings around us—squirrel nests, spiders, goldenrod, soil, fire, water—we connect. And when we connect, like the vast underground mycelial network that connects the cottonwood trees around us, we belong. We belong WITHIN the very ecosystem. Our hearts swell, and then we act with care, again and again, so that we might feel the warmth of connection within us, again and again. Water Meditation Exercise: Where is the closest water to you right now? Can you imagine yourself as that water being? Now, as you embody that water being, notice yourself from the water’s perspective. Survey yourself, now a different being from your water self. Drink this human in. How are they feeling today, just based upon their posture? How are they holding themselves? How do they come to you today? With doubts like clouds hanging over them, or perhaps looking and sensing with ears, eyes and skin open? Maybe somewhere in between? How does this human see you? Now, come back into your human body. Send your hopes for good health to the water. Send your gratitude to the water. Take a deep breath in, and out. Thank the space around you for this moment to become present. Emily Foubert is a Nature School educator and naturalist at Agraria. EMILY FOUBERT Agraria partnered with Kids in New Directions (KIND), a Dayton-area nonprofit, to host a summer camp this year for children in the program. 20 AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021