Women's Fire with Michelle Thomas

Please welcome Kirsten Layer to the Fire! Kirsten was one of the first friends I made when we moved to Viroqua and she's one of my favorite people I've ever met. The two of us could talk about almost anything but I thought it would be fun to start with a conversation about sex education. Kirsten is the Healthy Relationships & Sex Ed teacher at Youth Initiative High School so we talk about our experiences with sex ed when we were in school and how things have changed since then. We also talk about why Healthy Relationships is so important to emphasize when teaching sex ed and how it is a detriment to both men and women when it's left out of the discussion.

Please give a warm welcome to Dena Eakles as she joins us around the fire today. Dena is the owner of Echo Valley Farm near Ontario, WI. We talk about Dena's journey from Pennsylvania to Chicago to rural Wisconsin and how she followed a calling to the work she does now. Dena is a deeply spiritual person and she shares how that guides her in her life and the choices she makes as the farm continues to evolve. We also talk about Dena's work as an activist and what she's looking forward to in the coming years. You can learn more about Dena and the Farm on her website: www.echovalleyfarmwisconsin.com

Please give a warm "Welcome Back!" to Martha Buche. Martha was on the podcast last year and in many ways it felt like we barely scratched the surface of Parenting, Parent Development, and Child Development. In this episode we dive a little deeper into the authoritative and interpretive stages of parenting (early elementary school thru middle school), but we touch on a little bit of everything else, too. I share what I'm learning as I move through stages of parenting and we talk about the beauty and wisdom that is on the other side of parenting challenges.

**Martha is coming back for another episode (Part 2!) next week so I'm re-releasing this episode in case you missed it the first time. 



Martha Buche (or Ms. Martha as she’s affectionately known in our house) is here today! Oh my goodness could we all use a bit of Martha in our back pocket. Martha is an early childhood educator extraordinaire and she is here to talk about child development and parenting. We talk about what children need to grow and develop but also what parents need to grow and develop. It was such a fun, informative conversation and in many ways we barely scratched the surface. I’m already calling for a Part 2!

Happy New Year everyone and Welcome back to Women's Fire. I squeezed in a recording last week because it felt important and timely. My guest is Dina Yehia. Dina is from Egypt and has had a front row seat to the Isreali-Palestinian wars since she was a child. Dina now lives here in the Driftless area and is working with others in the region to promote the Palestinian perspective and calls for peace in the region as a member of Driftless Palestinian Solidarity. Dina shares her knowledge of history and current perspective of the conflict and what she thinks is the way forward.

Vicky Reeves is a fellow female podcaster in the Driftless area, and also just so happens to be a delightful human being. Vicky shares with us her journey from being a Presbyterian elder by the age of 16, through Buddhism, to where she is now as a life coach and spiritually curious woman. We talk about burnout, how taking care of others starts with taking care of ourselves, and how embracing our pain points is the key to joy and love. I truly loved recording this episode and I hope you will love it, too. You can find out more about Vicky on her website: shinefreely.com