This past autumn brought a merging, or a reuniting perhaps, of Mothers Moon & The Barefoot Storyteller. It was an understanding that the two parts of my life could actually exist together quite nicely after a few readjustments. (which are really still ongoing) What sense it made, as I am, as always, simply one person afterall... though my son has indeed been a wonderfull part of all I have done since his birth, and my greatest influence.

Most folks that know me, know of my doula practice & natural products business Mothers Moon. Time spent beneath the full moon by myself or with others has always been very centering, peaceful, renewing & inspiring for me…. especially as it reflects over the water here at Freedom Pond. Because of that, when we first moved here in 1996, the art that I was doing, the herbal blends I made, the beeswax candles I dipped, the women’s gatherings, and all that sprang forth from me, I half jokingly called “Freedom Pond Moon-works“... long before I had any ideas of having a business. (being anti-establishment, the idea of registering an actual business was something that I had avoided for many years) . Then it came that my women's circle honored a very special full moon here one May, called the “Mothers Moon”, which I simply thought was just so beautiful and inspiring... and Mothers Moon was born.

Some folks know that The Barefoot Storyteller is a name I was given much longer ago, in my traveling days...of gathering children for stories and daisy-chain making. It was as my son grew out of his early childhood, that my persona as The Barefoot Storyteller seemed to be growing as well, and it too became a business. Quite a few folks of more recent years assume there is a direct connection to the name and my association with Barefoot Books, but that was no more than a happy accident.

Now in coming full circle, it may be in 2011 that, with my son's serious involvement in creating more of the arts and products, there is a chance of a return to being Freedom Pond Moonworks, for it could prove to be a fitting title for all that we do, together. I'm proud to have my son working at my side, and continuing to inspire me....hopefully I inspire him too! I am looking forward to whatever projects we may collaborate on in the coming year, and hopefully beyond.

Creating Collaborative Communities

Syntiro will be having their annual Winter Retreat at Point Lookout in Northport on January 28th-29th, 2011. And I am so happy to be a part of it again! Please stop by The Barefoot Storyteller booth, and join us to learn about using arts integration and technology.
Many of the presenters are your arts education colleagues!
There is $3-4,000 available for each superintendents region in Maine for educators to attend. To learn more about this professional development opportunity click on www.syntiro.org/events/winter-retreat.html.

First Book

I'm still distributing free books across Waldo County to elementary, middle schools, high schools, homeschoolers, and community centers from my First Book* grant! So far in 2010, books were given out at Mt. View High School, Belfast High School, RSU#3 4th & 5th grades, Mt. View Middle School & Jr. High, Mt. View Elementary, Mt. View Elementary PTA, Unity Barn Raisers, Waterfall Arts, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Waldo County, Clifford Performing Arts Center, Twice Loved Boutique, Waldo County Broadreach, Belfast Area Adult Ed, Granny Goat Daycare, Michelle's Daycare, and the Unity College Performing Arts Center.

*First Book works through existing community programs and literacy efforts such as myself to provide a steady stream of new free or low cost books that elevate educational programming and improve access to reading materials. All books from this grant become the personal property of the children. I'm so glad to be a part of it! If you belong to an organization (or know of one) for kids in Waldo County, please get in touch with me.

Season's Greetings!

Please click here for a Season's Greetings message from me, and Cleo the Cat!

Santa is bringing books!

Santa Claus is coming to town in Unity! And he's giving out free books! All good children please come by the Unity Community Center Holiday Party from 5pm to 7pm on Tuesday December 7th to visit with Santa and receive a free book! In addition there will be a coats for kids box, and they are accepting canned food to give to the Regional Food Pantry. The Unity Community Center is located at 32 School Street in Unity. You are also invited to the lighting of the three pergolas in Triplet Park before the Holiday Party, at 4:45pm. The trees will remain lit during the nighttime through January in memory of Joshua, Marcus, and Brydon and Jonesy.

The Mitten

Working with the MSAD# 3 Elementary Afterschool Performing Arts Program on a Winter recital and decided to throw in a readers' theater of Jan Brett's "The Mitten"...really looking forward to it!

Money Raised for Toys for Kids!

A big Thank You goes out to Alicia McCormick who ran my Barefoot Storyteller booth at the Mount View Christmas Craft Fair and raised money for the Waldo County United Bikers of Maine Christmas Toy Collection for Wings of Love!

Wings of Love

Waldo County United Bikers of Maine is collecting toys for Wings of Love. Please help by donating a new unwrapped toy, or even a few dollars toward the purchase of some. The Barefoot Storyteller will be donating 20% of all it's proceeds from the craft fair at Mt. View High School on December 4th (9am - 3pm) AND you can also shop the Barefoot Books web-site and click on the link to give 20% of the cost of your shopping basket to this cause!

The holidays can be tough for everyone but as we all know it is a time for shaing, caring and loving everyone. We need to all do what we can to make sure each & every child in our community has a gift to open on Christmas morning. Please do what you can to help.

Storytelling Event

On Saturday October 30th, at 1:30pm and then again at 3pm, The Barefoot Storyteller (& company) will be sharing "Tales of Mystery and Magic" during Twice Loved Boutique's First Annual Fall Festival in Belfast!

See you then!

Mad Hatter Tea Party!

Come and join us for an evening of fun and refreshments as we collect hats for Maine children undergoing cancer treatment. Silly costumes are encouraged. There will be some prizes for those with the "Maddest" Costumes!

Admission: NEW UNUSED* hat to be donated to the Maine Children's Cancer Program. Hats for all ages are needed from Toddler to Teenager. All types of hats may be donated, from baseball hats to silly caps! Monetary donations will also be accepted in lieu of a hat.

*Hat donations must be BRAND-NEW due to the low immune systems of the children receiving hats.

Mt. View High School Cafeteria

577 Mt. View Rd

Thorndike, ME

Wednesday, October 6th · 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Common Ground Fair

The Barefoot Storyteller will be performing on the Sunflower Stage in the children's area, Friday September 24th at 1pm. Come see me! :)

Free books for kids!

The "Summer Shipment" of books from First Book has begun to arrive! I am so excited to be in the middle of taking delivery of more than *6,000* books (I'll give an acurate count when I'm done) to distribute for FREE to children ages pre-K to 10th grade across Waldo County. These books, made available by a grant through First Book are coming in case after case and I may still be sorting them in September! I will be delivering them to school districts, community centers, and home schoolers. Keep posted for more updates!

Maine Artisan Bread Fair

The Barefoot Storyteller will be at the Maine Artisan Bread Fair in Skowhegan, July 31st, with a small variety of books for sale... and 20% of all sales will be going to the Maine Farmland Trust! Come see me!

Upcoming event

The Barefoot Storyteller will be at the Skowhegan Nursery School, on July 27th from 9am - 11am as part of "Community Connections" camp week July 26th - 30th. Join people from the neighborhood to share gymnastics, dance, storytelling, arts & crafts, and music & movement; this camp week will end with a field trip to the L.C. Bates Museum where we will explore parts of our Native Maine and wrap up with a picnic.

This is a unique day camp opportunity for preschool children in the Skowhegan area. These 3, one-week day camps will provide an opportunity for children ages 3 to 5 years old to experience some summer-time fun. Program days run from 8:30-11:30 a.m. at $55 per week which includes a daily snack and a field trip relating to the camp week theme. Register early; space is limited!

"Guardians" opens June 5th

Please join me for this amazing art opening on June 4th. The subject matter close enough to my heart, I am further elated that a number of Kelly Desrosier's elementary school students' works are to be part of the show. Any one who knows me is aware of the extensive advocating I do for arts in schools...Kelly is one of the amazing examples of how a good arts program, and moreover an involved art teacher, is such an importaint part of educating and enriching the lives of youth.

Excerpted from the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce News:

Friday evening June 4th (5-8pm), Maine Farmland Trust Gallery is welcoming the public to join the celebratory opening of a new group exhibit titled Guardians, featuring paintings, sculptures, photographs, collagraph prints and multimedia books. Seven Maine artists from Portland to Eastport are participating in this show, as well as 13 students and their art teacher from the Mount View Elementary school in Thorndike.

The dictionary defines "guardian" as a keeper - a person who guards, protects or preserves.

"Guardians aims to create a visual statement about the real and imagined keepers of our land," says Anna Abaldo, Gallery Coordinator for Maine Farmland Trust. "It's been very exciting reigning in the different artists for this show, and picking the particular artworks to create a poetic suggestion about "guardians" of the land - the art in this exhibit represents both mythical, archetypal figures from folklore and our collective imagination, and every day farmers as being those incarnated "guardians" in this lifetime. Guardians is really an attempt to honor our farmers, the immensely important work they do which often goes unseen or gets taken for granted, and the intimate way they are connected to their land and the animals they care for."

Learning to be guardians are the students from Mount View Elementary. Under the wing of their art teacher Kelly Desrosiers, the students researched the interplay of sun, soil, water, air, plants and animals and created multimedia Earthbooks reflecting what they learned. Thirteen of these books will be on display as part of the exhibit at Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, as well as a digital video documenting this inspiring interdisciplinary project. Desrosiers firmly believes in teaching the joyful process of creation as a way of observing and understanding the magnificent natural world. She sees an analogy between the generative process of art and that of nature itself. She comments: "We are growing a new crop of stewards in our children, who will create our future, hopefully with deep appreciation for nature and their own role as co-creators."

Maine Farmland Trust Gallery is open weekdays from 9-4, and during July and August for Belfast Art Walks, Friday evenings from 5-8pm. The gallery is located in the front office of Maine Farmland Trust, 97 Main Street, Belfast.

Maine Farmland Trust is a statewide non-profit organization working to permanently preserve and protect Maine's agricultural lands, and to keep Maine's farms farming. Maine Farmland Trust created its gallery to celebrate agriculture through art, and to inspire and inform visitors regarding the vibrancy of farming in Maine.

For more information about Maine Farmland Trust and current events and programs, please visit www.mainefarmlandtrust.org, or call 338.6575.

Scot Cannon

Up before the rest of the house, herbal tea not yet fully steeped, I wanted to take a few moments to pass along a web-site I encourage everyone to visit (then I'll get back to trying to draft a grant letter of intent to submit to the Jim Henson Foundation for a childrens' program I'd like to do with the Friends of Unity Wetlands )

When you visit the site, I'd like you to especially look at the Songwriting Residency. I can never say it enough, please support the arts in schools. Okay, so here it is: Scot Cannon Music

You'll find this elsewhere there, but I wanted to mention it here as well, that Scot will be performing at the Belfast (Maine) Farmers Market on July 23rd, along with what I have read will be marvelous juggling by Morty Hanson... I plan to be stopping by, and hope you do too.

Scot's music link was listed on another web-site I have visited *several* times in the last six months...innocently listed on the left hand side, and I never clicked on it before. Sad. This other site is ScotCannon.com which everyone should also check out. It was one of his performances (Open the Door) that I saw at the Maine Arts Conference last October, which I then had been trying to schedule for the students at Mt. View Elementary School to see. And just this past Wednesday it happened. I should "blog" about that sometime too.

Etsy Shop

Added some items to my storyteller etsy shop today...

Roots

Everyone who knows me, knows I wear many hats...literally and metaphorically. It has happened before that I have arrived at a venue wearing the wrong "hat" so to speak. Rest assured though that I have never shown up while a woman was in labor thinking that I was there to do anything that didn't have to do with the birth of her child into the family.

It's mostly usually a retail faux pax. Having set up a display of childrens' books and crafts to find the organizers were thinking I was bringing my natural products. Or having brought handcrafts to places that were expecting music cds and instruments.

For a while I tried to separate everything, and regularly carried at least three different business cards with me, more often four. Then I realized that no matter how many hats I had, I really was indeed just one person, so I had business cards made up that pretty much listed what I offered professionally/retail-wise... more than twenty headings.

So it was just recently, that I was set up behind a display of books, and costume props, small toys, and a stack of cards advertising storytelling workshops that I give, when out of a hundred or more passers-by, two people struck a chord in me...looking for me to be wearing a different hat.

One was looking for those natural handmade products of mine...from my garden grown herbs, and local wool. The other had this magnificently brilliant idea about a children's circus...that reminded me the kinds of things I used to do in my "traveling" days before I became a *professional* storyteller. Both of these people made me wonder what I was doing sitting inside on a beautiful Spring day. I felt encouraged, understood, revitalized. I am hoping to keep that feeling going.

It reminded me of a project I began a few years ago, from a dream I first had a few decades ago.. that I seemingly abandoned. Maybe it's time to give it another look. I haven't updated the web-site in a couple of years, but you are welcome to please visit Mother Moon Music

I've also been one to talk at length upon the adage of there being a differenace between making a life and making a living...maybe I need to listen to myself a little more.