Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: connection

Music, Nature and Storytelling

I spent last week camping in the bush at Hawks Nest in New South Wales. I was there with my daughters to attend the Jon Young Music, Nature and Storytelling Workshop. Jon Young is a naturalist, tracker and mentor from North America. He's also an author (What the Robin Knows and Coyote's Guide to Connecting With Nature), musician and gifted storyteller who held us enthralled with his tales of tracking and connecting to nature.

We were surrounded by gums and banksias, beautiful wildflowers and birds swooping in and out of the trees. Goannas foraged in the compost heap and dingo tracks headed south along beach which was a ten minute walk from the camp along a sandy path.

It was an incredible five days of sharing story, singing songs and walking barefoot on the land. The incredible team in the kitchen, led by Nicki and assisted by Meat Master Fuzz kept us all fed with three delicious meals a day. There was a program for kids running alongside the program for adults. And in the evenings we sang and danced around the campfire held by the majesty of the stars.

My head is full of songs and words.

My heart is full of gladness and gratitude.

My soul is filled with friendship and connection.

October 28, 2019
Weaving Together

Each year I dread winter and what is coming. It's the time of year when I struggle to create and to remain positive. August is my worst month. I always think it will be the winter solstice in June with the longest night when the blues hit. But June with its crisp days for exploring and cold nights for snuggling is fine. Then I think it's going to be July when I crash. July sees me writing up a storm and baking tasty winter teats to fill our bellies. I manage to get through June and July with a sense of wonder and gratitude. Then comes August.

It's August when I unravel. When I find myself bursting into tears over the smallest things. When I run out of inspiration and have no creative ideas. When despair makes its home in my heart. When I feel as if I cannot go on, cannot take another step. When I am done.

I thought this year I would be immune as I was spending part of August in the tropics. I was wrong. Oh boy was I wrong. The tears still came and swept me away. Not wanting to come home certainly didn't help with the August blues.

And yet…

even in the darkest times, there is still light

and in the dark there is hope

and warmth

and friendship

and love.

In the middle of the despair, I made a basket with harakeke (a New Zealand flax plant) and lomandra (a native Australian grass). Slowly weaving myself back together with craft and companionship and sunshine and blue skies and an open fire in the bush with my daughter sitting by my side, weaving her own story from grass and hope and truth. And love. Always love.

Big love to Mel from Firekeepers for harvesting the harakeke from her friend's garden and bringing it along. Huge gratitude to Mel mentoring our weekly nature gatherings in the Darebin Parklands (an incredible urban wilderness in the heart of Melbourne). Mel also runs a rewilding session for adults in Melbourne on Fridays with the incredible Claire Dunn.

August 27, 2018
Weaving Together

Each year I dread winter and what is coming. It's the time of year when I struggle to create and to remain positive. August is my worst month. I always think it will be the winter solstice in June with the longest night when the blues hit. But June with its crisp days for exploring and cold nights for snuggling is fine. Then I think it's going to be July when I crash. July sees me writing up a storm and baking tasty winter teats to fill our bellies. I manage to get through June and July with a sense of wonder and gratitude. Then comes August.

It's August when I unravel. When I find myself bursting into tears over the smallest things. When I run out of inspiration and have no creative ideas. When despair makes its home in my heart. When I feel as if I cannot go on, cannot take another step. When I am done.

I thought this year I would be immune as I was spending part of August in the tropics. I was wrong. Oh boy was I wrong. The tears still came and swept me away. Not wanting to come home certainly didn't help with the August blues.

And yet…

even in the darkest times, there is still light

and in the dark there is hope

and warmth

and friendship

and love.

In the middle of the despair, I made a basket with harakeke (a New Zealand flax plant) and lomandra (a native Australian grass). Slowly weaving myself back together with craft and companionship and sunshine and blue skies and an open fire in the bush with my daughter sitting by my side, weaving her own story from grass and hope and truth. And love. Always love.

Big love to Mel from Firekeepers for harvesting the harakeke from her friend's garden and bringing it along. Huge gratitude to Mel mentoring our weekly nature gatherings in the Darebin Parklands (an incredible urban wilderness in the heart of Melbourne). Mel also runs a rewilding session for adults in Melbourne on Fridays with the incredible Claire Dunn.

August 27, 2018
Happy Solstice!

Happy winter solstice beautiful people!

Last week I took my dye pots and bits of rusty metal along to the Darebin Parklands. My girls and I taught some friends how to eco dye. We then boiled our solstice paper bundles outdoors with water from the creek over an open fire. Today we will be back at the creek opening our bundles. Can't wait!

Tonight will be our family solstice celebrations with pumpkin soup, hot chocolate, rice pudding and a candle lantern walk around our city block of flats. It's our annual tradition and looked forward to in our house by everyone.

I hope you have a beautiful day (and night!) celebrating the longest night of the year with warmth, light , laughter, song and loved ones.

June 21, 2018
Happy Solstice!

Happy winter solstice beautiful people!

Last week I took my dye pots and bits of rusty metal along to the Darebin Parklands. My girls and I taught some friends how to eco dye. We then boiled our solstice paper bundles outdoors with water from the creek over an open fire. Today we will be back at the creek opening our bundles. Can't wait!

Tonight will be our family solstice celebrations with pumpkin soup, hot chocolate, rice pudding and a candle lantern walk around our city block of flats. It's our annual tradition and looked forward to in our house by everyone.

I hope you have a beautiful day (and night!) celebrating the longest night of the year with warmth, light , laughter, song and loved ones.

June 21, 2018
Village Time

I've just come back from spending an amazing five days with my girls out bush at the Wild By Nature Village Camp run by Firekeepers.

You know it's village time when:

There are so many people offering to help set up your tent that you have to turn some of them down.

A five minute trip to the loo takes half an hour cause you stop and chat to everyone you see on the way.

You find yourself being given a leg up a tree and then sit wondering how on earth you're going to get down.

You hardly see your kids because they're off somewhere having the time of their lives with space to roam, friends to play with and freedom.

Your kids go squishing in mud and proudly announce their first leech bite.

You leave your phone in the tent most of the time and hardly have any photos for your blog.

The kids race to dinner as soon as the dinner call goes out and they wolf down everything with no complaints.

You gather around a fire to eat a delicious meal (prepared and cooked by someone else) and sing and tell stories.

You stay up late singing songs around the camp fire.

You're sitting around the campfire and it's dark and you think it's really late but it's only 7.15pm.

You fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow.

You go home with a full and grateful heart and a head full of songs.

April 16, 2018
Making Do

The cold weather has me yearning for walks in the lush forests of the mountains and returning to a roaring open fire with some crochet or knitting in my lap while the girls play board games. This urge is so strong that I've even been looking for houses to buy in the nearby hills. I imagine the warmth of the fire warming my bones as I gaze out of the window at the view, knitting forgotten on my lap. There's also steaming cups of hot herbal tea in my dream. It's a deep yearning for hygge – for cosiness, warmth and companionship.

Yesterday I had a breakthrough. After a visit to the local botanic gardens to meet some friends I grabbed my crochet and sat in my red vintage chair in front of the heater with my cup of peppermint tea. The girls played lego at my feet while I gazed out the lounge room window at the sun shining on the palm tree in my neighbour's garden.

While my heater is not as romantic or as compelling as a roaring open fire it is warm and a whole lot less smokey! It filled my need for warmth and cosiness and I didn't have to pack up my whole house and move.

This moment stolen from a busy life filled my heart with filled with satisfaction and content. I'm profoundly grateful for living in this time and place. I'm so lucky to be here, doing what I love with the people that I love. Sure there's still struggle but moments like these make the struggle bearable and fill my soul with the rest it needs to continue the journey.

Sometimes you don't need to go anywhere. Sometimes by staying still you can find just what you need.

July 27, 2017
I’m Still Here!

Hello? … Hello!

Oh good. You’re still there. And I’m still here! Although it may have looked like I was doing a disappearing act, I’m still here at the other end of this keyboard. Being part of the crew organising the Village Continuum festival was huge and it kind of took over my whole life. Actually, it did take over my whole life! All my keyboard time was spent working on the festival.

While there was still some crafting going on (there’s always some crafting going on!), I didn’t have any spare time to share it here. I know, terrible isn’t it? No time to write and share. But the festival is over and I’m back! Although for how long, who knows? The warmer weather always gets me about and about more…

I did manage to keep posting on Instagram so if you want to check out what I’ve been making for the last few months you can – @indraniperera.

As well as being part of the organising crew, I also ran a leather craft workshop at the festival. I was so pleased and humbled at the number of people who turned up to do my workshop. Before the workshop I had cut out 20 pouches and I was thinking that I would be going home with some. Boy was I wrong. There were over thirty kids and adults crammed into the tiny tent, all eager to learn about leather craft and make their very own vegetable tanned kangaroo skin pouch!

I'm grateful to the lovely Kate Horne for coming to help and cut out more pouches for all the people patiently waiting for their leather. The time went by so quickly as they all sat and crafted. Marking stitches, making holes and sewing leather. Watching them teach other what they already knew or had just learnt was wonderful. The synergy and energy of workshops and people creating together is always inspiring. A community of crafters – that’s the world I want to live in.

These are some of the pouches that were made. The others went off with their very excited owners before I could get a snap!

I love giving people a template and the basic skills needed to complete a project and then sitting back and watching them unleash their creativity. Options – it’s all about having different options and allowing people to have some choice. It’s so empowering to be able to customise something and make it truly your own. Looking at the pouches, you can see the owner’s personalities and style peeping though.

There were two choices of pouch – the round coin purse and the note & card wallet. A few simple choices such as coloured cotton thread for embroidery, black or white waxed linen for sewing and some coconut shell buttons made 27 very unique pouches.

It's so rewarding to be teaching people so hungry for traditional crafts and mindful making. I've still got a big grin from ear to ear and a bounce in my walk!

November 17, 2016