Learning to fly
Here We Are
getting a bird’s eye view
The following is a reflection written by Cathy Cloudsdale about the Foodweb Education unit we created and delivered last term called Here We Are getting a bird’s eye view. Cathy’s official title is garden co-ordinator at Longford Primary School but I’m sure staff and students alike know that her real role is garden angel. I feel so blessed to have blown in and germinated amidst this flourishing ecosystem of care and elbow grease that includes Cathy and our amazing volunteers Mark Jelinek and Aidan Fleming. Every week with their support and encouragement and magical pragmatism I get to co-create the life and learning experiences that nourish me… and hopefully others. During this unit we were lucky enough to also have the support of local ornithologist Geoff Shannon, bird language expert Andrew Turbill ‘The Bird Guy’ and not only the artistic inspiration of Bridget Farmer but also her generous discount for our bird noticer badges.
Discovering the structure, uses, evolution and beauty of feathers
The sessions were filled with sit spots, bird noticing (and inpersonating), constructing bird houses for pardolotes, installing bird baths in the garden, producing bird artworks, making seed balls for guerilla revegetation, caring for and marvelling at our own living dinosaurs (chickens) as well as creating and of course eating many delicious garden dishes. Thanks to Cathy’s power of community outreach the students were provided with a rare opportunity to exhhibit and sell their artworks alongside Tasmanian artists in a bird exhibition at the South Esk Gallery.
Students had the opportunity to create watercolour depictions of birds that calls to them in some way
Our weekly story took us into the world of a grieving and injured 11 year old as she begins to notice birds and welcome them into her healing process. She becomes increasingly curious and enchanted by the birds around her as they offer guidance, inspiration as well as insight into the ecological processes like evolution, matter cycling and energy flows.
There was a beautiful blurring of fiction with non fiction where many of the birds we conjured through the story each week would appear in reality amongst the trees surrounding our story circle in the following weeks. In addition to the regular avian companions at school like magpies, starlings, sparrows and masked lapswings we found we were vistited by (or just started noticing) ravens, a little wattle bird, grey fantail, superb fairy wrens, silvereye and twice we even had a wedge tail eagle encircling us. These bewildering yet reaffirming encounters being delivered on the wind provided opporunities to expand our perception and understanding of the world and ourselves. I recommend you become a ‘bird noticer’ ASAP.
Learning to fly
by Cathy Cloudsdale
20/04/2025
It’s Easter Day. A day that starts in darkness by the banks of plipatumila/ the South Esk River, lutrawita and greets dawn with bird song and a collective remembrance of new life.
Eggs are part of the ritual too. This year, the wings that pause for the sun to rise have new power to enchant me. I’ve been part of a birding unit in the school garden at Longford Primary. Week after week I’ve been sitting amongst the trees to hear bird stories. It’s not only the one prepared for students, but it’s the students’ encounters I hear too, and sometimes I share mine.
When we’re tucked in like this, nestled between poas, eucalypts and acacias, there’s a humming stillness. In the nest we open our eyes to what surrounds us. This is the place of dreaming. A time set aside to imagine our future and what it might take to fly.
This education program has all the hallmarks of security; a defined space, clear roles, a culture of respect and reciprocity. But there is a creative energy flowing that continuously generates new possibilities, making the nest a boundless place with ever changing roles.
Our final class had students and adults alike sniffing leaves with ‘magic potion’ and tuning in to our olfactory senses. We chirped to each other about the feel of hidden objects, employing our tongues in the restraint of descriptive analysis. We flitted through the food forest with colour flags, searching for full spectrum diversity, and for the task, recreated ourselves as artists, painting with awareness.
We returned to the nest for a final feed. Students had prepared seed balls, but there was more on offer. So much more. There were gifts for resourcing and gifts for joy. Strawberries gifted from a local farmer, cookbooks, bird badges and an invitation to further learning. Time to give thanks and celebrate. There was the quiet wonder that accompanies grateful reciprocity.
Megan Floris is the woman behind the program. She is a national treasure; rare, exceptional, a true pioneer. Unlike the visionary typecast, Megan is also deeply sensitive and respectful, she is collaborative and honours the unique contribution of her team and students. I pinch myself regularly. My wildest dreams for wholistic garden education at our school come true every time she sets foot in that place. It’s like waking up to good news, a nest full of empty shells and a sky boasting the future.
