What’s Emerging:
Oh Dandelion! • Playnotes • This Week's Rhythm • Upcoming and The Great Give
Hello friends!
These two weeks, our Nests circles have been planting, transplanting, tending, and wondering alongside the garden. We've asked ourselves: How would a plant paint? What does migration feel like? How do we care for what is fragile and new? The children have answered with mud cookies, magnolia petal soup, shared ukulele songs, and patient guidance as friends learn to climb into rhododendron branches together.
We hope you are staying well. The air has really thickened with pollen dust—an atmospheric event, a "super pollen" moment that makes us sneeze and also marvel. We're close to the tender end of April now, where every warm day coaxes new shoots from the soil and every cold night reminds the seedlings what they're made of.
Oh dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all day?
“I wait here in the tall, green grass, ‘til the children come play.”
Oh dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all night?
“I wait and wait as cool dew falls, and my hair grows long and white.”
And what do you do when your hair grows white and the children come to play?
“They take me in their little hands and blow my hair away!”
Mid-April brought more warm days bookended by less freezing nights. Friends painted with pine cones and flower stems, wondering how would a plant paint? We planted pea sprouts, worried through a cold night, then found them reaching for something to climb. Under canopies we wove grasses and yarn while caregivers shared migration stories.
We made magnolia petal soup, read Grumpy Pants in the mesh tent, and stomped out some big feelings. We rolled down hills, fished with sticks at the fountain, and sang Love is a Circle under warming sun.
Ongoing at Edgerton Park
Sunday & Tuesday: Nests - Community Circle (Drop-in Sunday 9–11 AM)
Wednesday: Baila! - Community Dance Circle (Drop-in 3:30-4:30 PM)
If you’ve been curious about a child-led, consent-centered after-school space that’s growing with intention, we’re building it! We’re working toward a full week of programming. Each day carrying its own theme through guided exploration and self-directed learning. Think: storytelling and histories, gardening and science, music and movement, art and culture.
Kids Only! is open to children in all educational settings—public school, private school, and homeschool. Want to learn more or invest in building this circle for your kids?
Sign up for our interest list to receive updates and our original vision overview if you haven't seen it yet. As we grow, our vision is to expand toward full-day options for families seeking alternatives to conventional schooling.
This gathering is for anyone who wants to explore learning outside inherited scripts, who is curious about child-led frameworks, or who wants to build community with others committed to resisting adultism.
Two options to join us and learn more:
Tuesday, May 13 @ 8:30 PM (via Zoom)
Wednesday, May 14 @ 4:30 PM (via Zoom)
Hear the vision, connect with the guides, ask questions, and decide if this circle is for you! Join our interest list to receive the Zoom link.
Connecticut’s largest giving event is coming! Join us on May 3 for a Community Barn Day as we celebrate Brave Nature’s work as a budding 501(c)(3) outdoor learning organization. There are many ways to support us:
🛠️ Join our Community Barn Day and help us clean out and restock our space. We will have an invitation to play for kids (but they’re welcome to pitch in!)
📦 Donate items from our wishlist to help restock the barn
💚 Make a donation through Connecticut’s Great Give (many employers will match your gift!) or become a BNC sustaining member!
🌟 Have even more capacity? Sign up to fundraise on our behalf!
Excited for our future circles and Gathering space? We can’t wait to build it together with you!
These two weeks have been thick with life—peas pushing through soil, children painting like plants and climbing like explorers. We’ve transplanted seedlings, woven small nests, and rolled down hills with full-bodied glee. We’ve talked about migration and what it means to move, to arrive, to grow roots in new soil.
Thank you for being part of this unfolding rhythm. For showing up on drizzly mornings and sunny afternoons. For going deeper, putting your hands in the soil, and practicing listening to your children. We can't wait for you to continue learning in our adult circles this July.
With warmth and gratitude,
The Brave Nature Team
Brave Nature Collaborative is a 501(c)(3) outdoor learning commons rooted in Greater New Haven, Connecticut.
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