About me

It's hard to talk about me out of context 

with the big mob of kids and man that go 

just about everywhere

 I am

interjecting in conversations and glittering around the outskirts of 
everything I do.

Inspiring me with their learning and their experiences and their ideas.

Creating endless messes and noises and paradoxes and conundrums

Driving me occasionally crazy with their hijinks and tantrums

BUT ALIVE!!

And reminding me all the time about what an 
amazing thing that is.  
And how it can look when it happens

in a fairly free range manner, or as free range as you can get 

in our overly structured society.

I guess.....

when it comes down to it, I was born in a sheltered religion, and when I came into my own life, I was so incredibly judgemental and full of fear, that I had to either face my fears and challenge my judgements......

Or have a very small life.

And I've always had far too much of an urge for freedom, and imaginings of a big life to have ever been happy with that, so off I went, into the wild blue.

I came from Friesian parents, and a big family.....

That's me right down the front

And then from the age of 14 struck out on my own,

Trying really hard to work it all out.

Which involved being

a young groover

getting funky haircuts and hanging out with University students

and exploring the country round Bathurst

Going backpacking around Europe

Selling Life Insurance in North Sydney.......

And then becoming a single mother with a daughter. 

The beautiful Jess

Living in the Blue Mountains at the height of it's bohemian, 

feral, alternative period. 

Which really woke me up

To a whole bunch of things....

Feminism, Paganism, Alternative Culture, Other Women

And led to

becoming a bit of a sexual, philosophical, radical kinda womans woman.

I spent my twenties exploring.....

Then I moved to South Australia

and on a trip back to the mountains for a visit

Met The Love Of My Life

soulmate, lover, best friend

squeeze, main man, fella

Currawong

Me at the time

And we both started fresh in our new SA setting 

spending our thirties

Having Babies!

Pregnant with Griffyn Flux

Baby Griff with me and my mum

Me with Lilly, or rather, Lilith Magenta De'ath

With the incredible Spiral-Moon

With beautiful Balthazar Pheonix or Mr B

Merlin Radbod and Maxamillion Hercules.......

what a trip they've been, and still are!

And finally.......Zarrathustra Cyrus Wildcat

I learnt a huge amount from all these births and babies

About how birth, sex, and death 

are our cultural taboos, fears, and phantasms

while they are actually totally indivisible, and can be

our greatest gifts and lessons

And between them all, can create a path to enlightenment

as good as any other, and in my opinion........far superior to any other path I've known

Another thing that happened when I was 30

was that my mother gave me a spinning wheel.

Interestingly enough, at the same age that she got her first spinning wheel........

And she sat me at it, said 

"Spin clockwise, ply anti-clockwise, and learn when to stop"

and then left me to it

After staying up till 2am every morning for a week teaching myself how to spin

I started to feel like I had a flow to my spinning 

and took myself out to the rest of the world....

I WAS HOOKED!!

And inspired, and realised that spinning filled a hole that I didn't even know I had.

The hole left by an industrial revolution that took us human folk away from our anciently evolved pastimes and pursuits

And started our great migration towards the cities and city life

Away from our agrarian and close to the earth trades and skills

And closer to picking up the disease of separation.

Spinning has taught me a lot.

Not least being 

The value of self taught knowledge!!

And how incredible it can feel to be able to tuck a skill under your belt that is practical, beautiful, multipurpose, functional, sustainable, and able to be done self sufficiently.....

I quickly got onto crochet, and started making hats

And then around the time I got my first spinning wheel 

another amazing thing happened

We started a Growers Market 

in Macclesfield, South Australia

A hotbed of passion, freedom, sovereignty, and the only true home I've ever known 

for the fringe-dweller.  The odd bod.  The misfit.

I could tell you a million stories and one day I will, 

but by far the most profound thing I learnt,

along with a whole bunch of other people, was....

what being hierarchy free 

feels, looks, and tastes like, 

and the power of 

 organically created chaos 

finding its own way

to harmonious order...... 

We also learnt a lot about

the gentle art of hanging out

without any requirements or rules or memberships

loving everyone for exactly who they were (are)

These two events - spinning and starting a market

kinda collided in a really interesting way

Spurred on by a growing audience of folk who'd turn up every sunday 

just to see what kooky thing I'd created during the week

I grew wings and flew into tripped out funkdom

I made a corset with boobs and nipples

A wedding veil out of handspun and undyed alpaca

Needle felted people, starting with Ursula

Kooky hats....this one went for a trip to the Beanie Festival in Alice Springs

and is called 'We're all sheep, except me, I'm a ram...'

Cute little things called 'Slats'....that were sleeves, leg warmers, and hats

Clothes bags for travelling that doubled up as cushions

Tails....

Spiderwebs.....

Clothing stands.....these are a pair of sleeves on a sculptural stand

Mantles were very popular

Clothes hangers.....this is a skirt or poncho hung on wrapped wire and a stick

I even crocheted our van interior with ripped sheets.....

I took part in exhibitions.....

And I did the backdrop, and was part of an amazing event called

Tribal Fibres 

Where gorgeous belly dancers wore my creations 

dancing to Currawong drumming and other improvising musicians

and I made a wool cave that one dancer emerged from

Meanwhile Currawong......

as well as being the battery of energy that fuels us all

with seemingly endless enthusiasm and passion for life and his family

in his spare time when he has some

loves to drum to his own rhythm

Is totally gorgeous and the most authentic father I know

And does a lot of driving......

And at the moment

we're chasing the dream of a flowmadic life

with a home base that we travel to markets and festivals from

Taking our little big mob on adventures so they can

naturally learn from life

That's enough for now

but you know I could go on......