It is not what you learn but how you learn
When you are in tune with your natural learning ability, your learning flows easily and your eyes shine. When your natural learning ability is at work it is accompanied by interest, laughter and confidence. You will enjoy watching your own intelligence and interest at work.
Together we honour your learning while you learn life skills for well-being.
School Vegetable Gardening in Christchurch
Mary began teaching school gardening at Richmond School in 2012. Out of this grew “Kids Grow Futures” which was a Richmond wide vegetable gardening programme that involved Barnardoes Early Learning Centre, Shirley Primary School, Shirley Intermediate School and Shirley Boys High School. Delta Community House sourced funding for this programme.
In 2016 Mary taught at Aranui Primary School. This programme was funded by the World Wild Life Fund. In the large school garden the children learned to trench compost, maintain soil, water, sow seeds, grow plants and harvest. The soil was primarily sand, yet we grew such an abundant potato crop that we had a school wide potato lunch day.
Orchards in Schools 2015 – 2022 – This programme was supported and funded by The Canterbury Horticultural Society. As of August 2022 ,thirty seven schools participated in the programme. At each school the children planted their own fruit trees and learned to maintain them. The children harvested their fruit .
Community Gardening in Christchurch
Delta Community Garden 2010 - 2021
Mary was the foundation member fort he garden, which was grown from a wasteland. It came to thrive producing fresh organic vegetables for the community meal and food store. The garden was a growing home for hundreds of people over the years. The garden was the inspiration for the “Grow Your Own Free Lunch” course which was set up to teach growing and cooking skills 2011 - 2022.
Churchill Park Community Garden 2011 -2021
This garden was a post erthquake pop-up garden. The ‘soil’ was basically sand and stones. A local lawn mower man delivered us all his clippings. We mulched the gardens and mulched the gardens. We added everything we coudl find; inlcuding peastraw and hedge clippings . After a year our first worm appeared . After three years the soil turned a delicious black. Also the stones disppeared; we dont know how. We grew excellent crops which inluded carrots, herbs, chinese cabbages, pumpkins, cherry tomatoes.
Packe St Comunity Garden
This neighbourhood garden had been establised in the 1980s . It produced huge quantities of fruit, herns , flowers and vegetables . Mary coordinated the garden from 2016 - 2018.
Richmond Community Garden https://richmondcommunitygarden.co.nz/
Mary worked as a volunteer 2020 - 2022. This garden was established on Red Zone land. It included memorials to previous inhabitants of the area, a mud brick summer house, a shop, vegtable gardens and fruit trees. A composting operation was in full swing in 2022 gathering raw materials from local businesses. https://richmondcommunitygarden.co.nz/
I have a Master of Arts in Psychology from the University of Auckland and a Post Graduate Diploma of Teaching. I have practiced teaching as a professional for over 30 years. I have taught people of all ages from preschool to adulthood.
To widen my teaching knowledge and practice I studied the Montessori Method of teaching and gained my Diploma of Teaching Montessori. I taught in a Montessori primary school for four years where the children were respected and able to learn joyfully and easily.
I observed the immense power of Natural Learning when my three children were little. They happily learned to walk, talk, gain knowledge of their world and socialise. I realised that hidden in adults were all the learning abilities needed to create happy and fulfilling lives. I wanted to open up the world of learning for adults.
I am always honoured to be part of person’s learning process and to share in the excitement of discovery. Feel free to contact me about your learning needs.