In this moment I am grateful for being gifted nourishing, homemade bread and for getting to celebrate my 36th year with so many kind folk.
This is going to be short. I’ve been pushing myself extremely hard, neglecting self care and ended up burnt out. I’m giving myself a few days more at my mum’s in Berkshire to rest and recover as best I can and work out where to go next. This blog may go quiet for a short time while I do that work. I’ll be back and will continue to build on the amazing progress I feel I’ve made over the last few weeks with The Lovely Fungus Company. I really want to start empowering people to work with the fungi to produce mushrooms to nourish themselves and their communities. If that’s something that interests you in any way then send me a message.
The video above is one of many songs from the lovely Paul Izak that I enjoy listening to and inspiring myself with. Being authentic and looking after yourself are common themes I get from his music. I intend to do just that and hope to be revitalised soon.
In this moment I am grateful for witnessing how much effort my Mum puts in to recovering from her stroke and that she has her partner Colin to support her on that journey.I’m also grateful to Kerry and my Dad for timely financial support that means I have enough cash for a little restock of my nourishing food supplies and the diesel to get myself back to Dartmoor.
The video above was recorded at the end of a support session I held for the lovely Kerry Lane earlier today. We wanted to create a free resource to support people to mitigate the stress of focusing on a screen for long periods of time. I certainly need that support at the moment and am already feeling significantly more settled. Part of the inspiration and intention for the video is to offer it as a gift to my fellow Rebel Business School online course participants, so I will be passing on the link to those lovely folk tomorrow to support them through the next week.
I will be back on the course tomorrow and will be getting myself ready to leave Berkshire by Thursday. I’ve received a lot of value and made good progress from engaging with the course. I will drop into future events for support and networking opportunities.
The dream to get myself to Hartlepool for the in-person course has been an interesting ride and I’ve ended up at the point where I’m ready to let go and give space for a new dream to emerge. If by some miracle of good fortune (I’ve had plenty of things happen to me that could be classed as such) I end up with the financial resources to get up there by Wednesday (my birthday) I may still go for it. Failing that I will be flowing on down to Glastonbury and then back to my home territory of South West Dartmoor to focus on fully launching The Lovely Fungus Company down there. I’ve done a lot of networking and have some very promising collaborations to follow up down in the South West. I’m also feeling a lot more resourced from my time here in Berkshire, despite the challenges. I look forward to reconnecting with people and places that I’ve been away from for what seems like a long time now. I’m looking forward to being with my old Yew tree friend in Tavistock, wandering the wilder places of Dartmoor and I hope to visit the ocean with some friends when I’ve got the cash for that trip.
In this moment I am grateful for seeking out some inspirational and supportive music to lift my spirits and keep me going. Thanks to all the artists who create the music that resonates with me.
This week on the online Rebel Business School has been full of inspiration and motivation to build The Lovely Fungus Company. I’ve connected with some amazing people, written a lot of blog posts and found a little more focus on my journey of creating offerings. I’ve really pushed myself to get outside of my comfort zone with so much screen time, very little sleep and facing the many obstacles encountered on this journey to create a beautiful business. I’m feeling proud of myself for the effort I’ve put in and I’m grateful for all the support I’ve been given in various ways.
I’m on a rollercoaster ride with my dream of getting to Hartlepool for the in-person event. My heart still feels like it would be a place for me to really shine and make massive progress on my entrepreneurial journey. My head wants to believe I can do it and isn’t letting go of the story that I don’t have the capacity to really push to make it happen. I’ve still got at least a week to manifest the resources for the trip so I’m not giving up. If I don’t make it up to Hartlepool I will have other options to make progress and I’m in no doubt that this is my year to shine. I’ve found my adult life a pretty tough journey to navigate, trying to find my authentic self and fully embody it, in a culture that often feels hostile to that. I’ve had (and am still on) an incredibly challenging, though equally rewarding, journey to recover my health over the last 6 or 7 years. The last 6 months have felt like the ‘darkest hour before the dawn’ and I’m grateful to still be here and catching the first hints of sunlight to bless a new day of abundance in my life. An abundance of fun, laughter and joy. An abundance of community, connection and being of service. An abundance of resource that I can continue my healing, growth and to support others with. I hope I tip myself over the line soon and earn myself the opportunity to slow down and properly recover from pushing myself so hard recently.
I’m looking forward to a lot less screen time over the weekend, though I still intend to keep up my efforts with this blog. I’m actually getting a lot of value from the process of crafting these posts and reflecting for myself, as well as you, on where I am on my journey. A couple of years ago my aunt Genny’s husband, John, suggested that I could write about my life as he thought a lot of people could get value from it. That suggestion stuck with me and I’m grateful to have found this platform to have a go. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the folk who’ve had a read which has been quite empowering. At the moment my focus is on sharing the stories of my journey. I have many ideas for other things I could write about and offer through this blog so we’ll see how they land when I start bringing them in. I’d really love suggestions of what you’d like to see here so please get in touch if you have any ideas or requests.
In this moment I am grateful for everyone who has visited my websites and read my blogs, its so supportive knowing that you kind folk are giving me your attention.
I’m on a journey with being focused and have been feeling that writing two blogs at the same time may be spreading my stories a bit too thin. I’ll feel into how to move forward with that and for now I felt called to post the links to the story of joining the online Rebel Business School course for Berkshire and the dream of going to Hartlepool for the in-person event. I shared these on my other blog that is part of an experiment in offering some of my work in the spirit of the gift.
I feel that getting myself to Hartlepool for this 2 week, in-person course, which is offered for free, is the opportunity for intensive support I need to push myself over the line and fully launch The Lovely Fungus Company. So here’s what I wrote on Spores of Abundance and perhaps, for now, I’ll focus on posting here. They are in order as you scroll down – starting with “Rebel Business School – Free Courses”.
I love seeing the red kites soaring in the Berkshire sky – They haven’t made it down to Dartmoor yet.
In this moment I am grateful for making new connections, in person, with some lovely folk running shops selling nourishing food in Reading. I’m also grateful to my Dad for gifting me the diesel money to get me over there.
Today I went on a mission to Reading and the surrounding area (to the west) to pick up a couple of supplies and make connections with some people.
First stop was to pick up a part for my van that my mum is kindly paying for, along with the fitting, as a birthday present. It should sort out the intermittent fault with my headlights that means I’m not able to drive at night. It’ll make a massive difference to me so thanks Mum!
After a long stint in traffic I landed at True Food Coop where I treated myself to a lovely rye sourdough bread, baked by Astons Bakehouse. The part I got actually cost me a little less than I’d been quoted over the phone so I decided to treat myself and support these businesses. As I write this I’m realising that my loaf of bread is a beautiful example of people (the bakers) and fungi (the wild yeasts) working together to provide nourishment for me. Thanks everyone 🙂 I also got a celeriac, one of my favourite vegetables, and a couple of onions from a local organic farm – Tolhurst Organic. I’m very grateful for a bit of vegetable diversity in my diet having mostly been living off a stash of organic carrots I picked up cheap last week.
I then popped into the heart of Reading and found another nourishing food seller – Global Refill based at Reading International Solidarity Centre. They’re based on the ‘Zero Waste’ model and also sell some fresh organic veg and other supplies. I wish I’d had some more money to support them with a sale.
On my way back to my van I stopped and admired an amazing little old truck that’s been converted into a street food outlet. I forgot the name of the business but had a lovely chat with the person working in there and I will go back to check out the other vans they have around Reading. I got excited about my visions for converting vehicles into food outlets and event support spaces. That’s something to focus on later in the year 🙂
My last stop was Vicars Game to pick up some deer bones to make a nourishing bone broth/stock with. I’ve never done it before so we’ll see how it turns out and what my body thinks of it. I was vegetarian for 16 years and broke my fast almost 2 years ago as I could no longer ignore my body asking for some meat nourishment. I eat very little meat now and strive to source it well.
I’m feeling very tired after a busy day, very poor sleep for the last couple of months and the constant stress and anxiety that comes from living hand to mouth. I also feel nourished by the food and connections I gathered today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings as I work towards my current goal of getting to Hartlepool for an in-person Rebel Business School course that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I’ve written more about that on the other blog I’ve been sharing stories through. A bit confusing and unfocused perhaps? I’m working on improving my ability to focus and feel like I am making good progress 🙂
Thanks to everyone from the online Rebel Business School course for Berkshire who’s made an effort to connect with me and checked out this website. I got the motivation to sit and create this post from looking at my stats and realising people are actually reading my writing. Special shout out to Haze Riddle I connected with on the course who took the time to offer some ideas and feedback about this website and my offerings. She’s also offered practical support on taking photos of mushrooms (she’s a great photographer) and I’ve also simply enjoyed having someone chat with me over email as I’m getting very little social contact at the moment. Thanks also to anyone not on the course who’s dropped by here.
In this moment I’m grateful for the value I’ve received from engaging with Charles Eisenstein’s work and that he makes it so freely available.
I had a little emotional trigger come up today, reading a friend’s website, and then ended up reading a short essay by Charles Eisenstein, titled: Reunion.
I strongly resonated with what he’s written. So, if you’re interested in where I’m at with COVID stuff please do have a read and feel free to message me with any questions you have.
I’m currently looking to focus my work with The Lovely Fungus Company on offering workshops, events and experiences. Probably a bit of online and mostly in-person. My intention at this point, with these offerings, is to support people to learn, be inspired and cultivate a connection with fungi that nourishes us all. Me, those who take up my offerings and the lovely fungi.
If you’re interested in following more of my stories and particularly if you dream of building a livelihood from doing what you truly love then check out Spores of Abundance. I’m offering support, and hopefully, inspiration as a gift. Check it out and send me a message.
More posts and developments on this website coming soon. This mycelium is growing…
In this moment I’m grateful for finding the work of people who are cultivating beautiful relationships with the fungi and supporting us all to step into that. I hope to connect with these kind of folk in person and for now am grateful that technology provides some opportunity.
I really enjoyed this video which explores a lot of very interesting areas of the human-fungi relationship. Merlin Sheldrake gives a great definition of fungi and shares some of his perspective on individualism, shaped by learning with fungi. There’s a piece about mycelium materials which raises some great questions about relationship with fungi and then flows into psychedelic fungi with some focus on indigenous issues which I appreciated. Lots more in there than I’ve summarised. If you watch it and have any reflections or inspirations you’d like to share with me, send me a message.
In this moment I am grateful for all the people collaborating and learning with fungi in a humble and respectful way.
I felt called to share this interview with Merlin Sheldrake as it speaks to a lot of the learnings and approach to being in relationship with fungi that I resonate with. An approach I’m looking to bring and cultivate with my work and offerings to you. I also really appreciated the interviewer’s manor and quality, questions. Merlin’s book Entangled Life is a great resource for learning and inspiration if you’re curious about fungi. If you’ve read the book or watch this video then I’d love to hear your thoughts, reflections or any inspiration that came from doing so. Send me a message from the bottom of the home page.
In this moment I am grateful for my resilience and perseverance in the face of what often feels like a relentless barrage of challenges. Thanks also to my mum and her partner for giving me and Ivan a sanctuary space to gather some resource and keep moving forward.
Me and Ivan (the van) have been in beautiful Berkshire for a week now and I’m very grateful to be here. I’ve made a few connections with local business owners and a friendly volunteer at the Greenham Common Control Tower café. The view from the tower was lovely and I was amazed at how flat the area is compared to the landscape of Dartmoor where I’m usually based. After a chat about the café’s food waste strategy I was gifted a spicy bean pastry that was leftover at the end of the day. Thank you for that warm and tasty gift of support. I’m pretty low on social contact at the moment so I appreciate that there are places I can go to have at least a little conversation and human connection in my day.
I’ve had quite a few ideas for ways me and the fungi could collaborate and create with people, projects and businesses in this area. With my mum here and me living (or trying to live) a nomadic lifestyle it’d be great to set up some work for myself in this area as a way of funding and making the most of spending time with her. At the moment I’m wondering how much energy to put into that right now. I feel a strong need to focus on what it is I can offer or do at this point to start making some sales or gather in some financial resource another way.
For me this time of year is about dreaming into the year ahead and building up resource for more of a push into manifestation and movement around May or Beltane. Working with natural cycles such as the cycle of the year, moon and each day is very important to me and I intend to share more in future posts of how I do that and why I feel it so supportive of me and my work. At the moment I’m finding it very challenging feeling like I’m not able to honour the natural energy of this time. I believe I am incredibly close to manifesting a modest income and life situation that gives me the foundation to grow and thrive as the year progresses all in a way that I can be authentic to myself. It’s a dream I’ve held for a long time and put an enormous amount of work and effort into getting myself to the point I’m at in this moment. I know there is plenty more work to do and I’m so up for it but right now I feel very low on capacity having made it through one of the most challenging 6 months of my life. I could really do with a couple of months to tend to myself, get back into the natural rhythms that I find so supportive and super charge my vitality ready for that springtime push that I get very excited about, when I allow myself to dream into it.
A valuable opportunity on the developing a business side of things is that Rebel Business School are running their 2 week online training (its free and I highly recommend checking out their podcast) for Berkshire folk starting next week. Part of me feels like it could be an amazing opportunity to dive deep into the Rebel start up process alongside, and even working with, fellow participants who will mostly be fairly near by. A big part of me knows it would be very high impact on me to spend so much time on a screen and I’m unsure as to whether continuing to be based here with my mum for that time is the right thing for me. I’ve gotten in touch with Rebel Business School in case there is a way of doing the Berkshire event in person or getting some ideas/support from them to find a way to access their training in a way that works for me. We’ll see what comes back and I potentially could find a way to get up to Hartlepool in a couple of weeks for a course they are offering in person there. I love the idea of me and Ivan traveling up the country to attend the course, though at this point I’ve no idea how I would actually make that happen. We’ll see. Everything can, and does, change.
Thanks for reading this and catching some of my stories. I’m finding the opportunity to write and post on this blog to be a big support. If you feel like reaching out to connect, giving me some feedback or sharing some of your own stories then please do send me a message using the contact form on the home page.
In this moment I am grateful to be fully road legal and for this being the first time I’ve had a first time pass on an MOT for a van. Boom!
Apologies for the break in posts and thank you for dropping by. With money running out and an MOT looming that I had expected to need to get at least a few repairs done to a pass, I decided to go claim sanctuary on my mum’s driveway. I had a great adventure in Glastonbury, visiting a friend and meeting new ones, on my way up to Berkshire and felt a lot of relief at being able to simply meet my basic needs and focus on getting some cash together. I managed to get a test with a local garage for today so I could work out what money I needed to raise to get a pass and was very pleasantly surprised to have passed first time. I have a list of advisories that I can attend to at a more gentle pace than I had been expecting to need to get things done which feels good. I think I’m still integrating the fact that I don’t have the major challenge on my plate I was expecting and when I do I suspect I’ll get very excited about the opportunities that come from this situation.
I have been working on some collaboration ideas with a few people and I’m curious and excited to see where they go. I’ve also launched another website for my enterprise and project support service which you can have a look at here: Spores of Abundance. I’m working with a couple of people already and would love to find more people or organisations to offer my support to. So far no one I’m supporting is doing a mushroom or fungi project but I’d like to focus some attention and promotion to find those opportunities. Get in touch if you need support launching or developing a project or business that supports people, and the rest of life, to be well and thriving.
Time to rest for the evening and recharge ready for whatever tomorrow brings. I look forward to getting some more posts out now things are a little more settled for me and I sense some fruitful times getting close. I’m curious to see where this journey goes next and I thank you for joining me on it.
🍄 The Lovely Fungus Company ❤ 