Prompted by Nature Helen Forester

I'm thrilled to announce that Prompted by Nature has been shortlisted in the podcast category for a Bookshop.org Indie Champion Award. This was completely unexpected and I immediately felt sick when I got the initial email a couple of weeks ago!



I wanted to record a quick episode to share this news, and a little about my writing sabbatical, with you.



Thank you for listening and supporting this podcast. I'm so happy you're here; I'll be back soon (and remember you can always find me on Substack www.promptedbynature.substack.com , on Instagram @prompted.by.nature and my bookshop.org shop is here: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/promptedbynature )



And of course a HUGE thank you Bookshop.org for recognising the podcast and for having it on your shortlist - it means everyhing to me.



Sending you lots of love,



Helen x

Hello, welcome to series 6, episode 5 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.  I’m your host, Helen, and this is the final episode for some time.  I’ve made the difficult decision to put the podcast on ‘indefinite sabbatical’ so that I can be more present and consistent with my writing.  I have a short solo episode coming up to talk about it but you can get all the updates on my Substack newsletter.  Just search ‘Prompted by Nature’ on the app or website.
Onto today’s episode.  Today, I’m speaking with Lucy Power from Rowanbank Environmental Arts & Education.  This is a conversation we actually had before the summer and with summer holidays taking me away from anything other than my kids it fell by the wayside a little.  I’m so happy to be releasing it now though as it’s full of hope and creativity.
Lucy is the director of Rowanbank.  Rowanbank Environmental Arts & Education CIC is a social enterprise, combining science with the arts to bring people together to enjoy and learn how to better care for their environment.  They engage people in an imaginative and inclusive way, helping them to connect with and experience the magic of nature.
Lucy is a Climate Ambassador with Climate Outreach, and has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship in creative climate communication and education. Lucy is a qualified Forest School Leader and an EcoHomes and BREEAM Assessor. Lucy is also an aerial performer and teacher for All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre and Dance Base, Scotland’s national centre for dance.  Lucy has worked successfully with schools, community organisations, government agencies and the private sector.
In this conversation we discuss:

What Rowanbank is and how it came about
How Rowanbank merges art and science to make environmental education more accessible and exciting
The Natural Flights of Steps and the part it plays in Rowanbank
The importance of carbon literacy and finding a variety of ways to teach this
Rowanbank’s commitment to sustainable transport
Rowanbank’s collaborative approach to creating stories
Sustainable costume design
The advice she would give to her younger self
What she has coming up that she’s looking forward to

You can find Lucy on her website www.rowanbank.org.uk and social media @rowanbank_environmental_arts
Episodes that would go really well with this one are:
1.13a Dawn Nelson, Rewilding the Self through Storytelling
5.6a Angeline Morrison, Folk Music as Storytelling
5,10a Moya Lloyd, Building a Creative Community at the Boundary Way Project
As always I’m on Instagram @prompted.by.nature, on my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk and on Substack, where you can become a free or paid subscriber - Prompted by Nature.
I’ll be back soon with the writing prompt that accompanies this episode.  Sending you lots of love.  Happy listening and I’ll speak to you soon.  Bye!

Hello!  Welcome series 6 episode 4 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.  I’m Helen, your host and today I’m thrilled to release a conversation I had earlier this week With Marchelle Farrell.  Long-time listeners of the podcast will remember Marchelle from series 2 episode 10 - a conversation we recorded what feels like a lifetime ago, in November 2020.



Marchelle has a new book out, Uprooting, and it was wonderful to chat up with Marchelle and talk all things gardens and writing.



In this episode, we discuss:




What Marchelle has been up for over the past two years
Her new book, Uprooting, what’s about and how it came to be
The reciprocal nature of the garden
Redefining difficult conversations
The importance of grief and mourning
Non-verbal communication and writing
The creative advice she’d give her younger self
What she’s looking forward to



Uprooting has already won an award in the shape of the Nan Shepherd prize for underrepresented voices in nature writing.  I urge you to read this book - it is profound and complex and explores Marchelle’s relationship with her garden as well as how these brings up connections to her beloved Trinidad.



Uprooting is out now in your local bookshop or library - and remember that you can always ask them to order it in if they don’t already stock it.  Marchelle is usually to be found on Instagram under the handle @afroliage and on her website www.marchellefarrell.com where you can find upcoming dates of her book tour and speaking events.



Just a little note that the connection was a little sketchy at times but I don’t think it affects meaning.



Episodes that would go well with this one:

2.10a - My Garden, My Teacher - Marchelle Farrell

6.1a - All My Wild Mothers - Victoria Bennett

5.9a Writing in Place - Kathryn Aalto



As always, I’m on instagram @prompted.by.nature or on the website www.promptedbynature.co.uk .  You can also sign up for my Substack on www.promptedbynature.substack.com



Sending you lots of love. 



Happy listening, and I’ll speak to you soon.

Hello and welcome to your writing prompt for my conversation with Katie Holten.  For this one there are a couple of invitations.

The first is to, of course, download Katie’s tree alphabet as a font to your computer and have a play.  It’s really fun turning your words into a forest and seeing that forest come alive on the page. You could write something new, inspired by the letters as trees, or translate an existing piece into the tree alphabet.

www.treealphabet.ie  

The second invitation is to put the title of this episode on a sheet of paper and see where it takes you.  The title is ‘I write with the trees.’  I love this title because it could go in any and all directions.  for me, it conjures up images of future communities and societies in which humans dream things into being in collaboration with the trees and the more-than-human world.

It might be that, having listened to the conversation, or even read the book, you have been inspired to created something totally different from these suggestions, in which case, go for it!

Have fun with it and let me know how you get on if you use this one!

Happy writing!  Bye!

Welcome to series 6, episode 3 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.  I’m Helen and I’m really happy to be back with this conversation with Katie Holten.  As I mentioned previously, because art and nature are so inextricably linked for me, this week’s action point, should you wish to get involved, is on the episode page for this conversation over on the website.

This week we’ll be hearing from the very wonderful Katie Holten.  Katie Holten is an artist and activist based in New York City and Ardee, Ireland.    For over twenty years Katie has made unconventional works that intersect art, activism, ecology, language and history. At the root of her practice is a commitment to fighting the climate and biodiversity emergency. Her collaborative research-based work explores the inextricable relationship between Humans and Nature, between organic systems and human-made systems.  Several years ago, recognizing a looming crisis of representation as our species adapts to life in the Anthropocene, Holten created a Tree Alphabet and published the book ABOUT TREES, offering readers a language beyond the Human.  During lockdown, Holten made an Irish Tree Alphabet (2020) to explore language ecosystems and the importance of our words and the stories that we share.  

In this conversation we discuss:

Her new book, the Language of trees, how it came about and Katie’s process in putting it all together

Katie’s NYC Tree Alphabet and its wider implications

The magic of the Irish Tree Ogham

Art as facilitation of ideas

The book as a merging of science, poetry, journalism and music

Art as activism

The impact that her upbringing in Ireland has had on her work

The importance of community spaces in environmental activism

The creative advice she would give to her younger self and what she’s looking forward to



I love how far-reaching art and creativity can be when it comes to communicating about the urgency of climate collapse and climate justice as well as how connected we all are in order to inspire people to get involved in whatever way they can.

The Language of Trees is a stunning book filled with the words of some incredible writers from all genres and the beautiful artwork created by Katie’s tree alphabet.  It’s out now and you can get it at your favourite independent bookshop.  I’ve also popped in the Prompted by Nature bookshop over on https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/promptedbynature . You can download the font here: http://www.nyctrees.org/

Episodes that would go well with this episode:
5.2a Amy-Jane Beer: The Flow
5.1a Bryony Benge-Abbott:  Exploring the Intersections
4.13a Jackee Holder: Writing with Trees in the Urban Landscape
3.7a Rosalind Lowry: Land Art: Celebrating our Boglands

You can find me in the usual places - on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and on the website www.promptedbynature.co.uk  You can subscribe to my Substack newsletter over on Substack by going to https://promptedbynature.substack.com/  Thank you to my paid subscribers who help support this podcast and get lots of treats like the e-zine and write-along bonus episodes.  Please do consider becoming a paid subscriber if you are able to.

I’ll be back in a few days with the writing prompt that accompanies this episode but in the meantime I’m sending you lots of love. 
Happy listening and I’ll speak to you soon! x

In my conversation with Katherine, she spoke about creativity as a form of resistance.  This is something that really resonates with me as it kind of underpins everything I do.  When we stay present and connected, think creatively and allow this to guide us through the world, we are actively shaping the world we want to see; not just that but we become active participants in our own individual lives, which then feeds into a stronger, more rounded and imaginative collective.  

Often it can feel as if being creative doesn’t contribute in any tangible ways but we only need to look at groups like Writers Rebel, Cape Farewell, Julie’s Bicycle and Human Nature (all links in the show notes) so see that creative, artistic practice can feed into the move to a better future.  Art invites us to think about topics or ideas in new and interesting ways, challenging our pre-conceptions and unconscious biases.

For this prompt, create something that explores the idea of creativity as resistance in your own work.  The first thing that comes to mind when I consider this is the word resistance and how, by just forming that word in my mind, I feel a resistance.  It evokes thoughts of anger and oppression in me, and makes me think of all the times someone has told me I couldn’t or shouldn’t do something I knew was the right thing to do, even if it wasn’t the most comfortable at the time  - or the times when I’v told myself I couldn’t do something because of imposter syndrome or not feeling good/capable/knowledgeable (fill in the blank!) enough.  Conversely though it makes me feel like what I’m doing means something; it makes me feel powerful and strong.  I am actively resisting the things I know are not right and am trying, in whatever small way I can, to make a difference.  There are so many nuances to the word ‘resistance’ and working with it as a starting point is something you might consider doing.  

What about asking what it is you are resisting?  Explore this idea to its limits and then begin.  Perhaps go through the same process with the word creativity.  Then put the two together and see what emerges.

Most of all, if you are a creative - and I imagine that you are if you’re listening to this podcast - please keep going with your creative work, whatever form that takes.  The more of us who are sharing our experience of the more-than-human world as a response to biodiversity and climate collapse, the more we inspire others to do the same.  Art as a form of expression and protest is by no means a new thing and we can all be a part of what nurtures that into the future.

Please do let me know if you use this one - even if just to share one word on my Substack or in a story, which you can tag me in on Instagram @prompted.by.nature or you can mention me in a note over on Substack if you’re a user, and I’ll restack your note.

Thank you as always for listening.  Happy writing and I’ll speak to you soon.  Bye!