CBC called us for an interview after hearing about the Soup & Connections: Building a Community Folkschool Together event being held later that month in Cape Breton.

“An organization on the mainland is trying to branch into Cape Breton to empower residents to learn new skills but also get to know their community better.”

Have a listen here:

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-24-information-morning-cape-breton/clip/16109505-folk-school-spreading-word-cape-breton

Late November plays host to one of my favorite days all year. After the excess of Black Friday and Cyber Monday during which all my friends in retail work themselves to the point of exhaustion, comes Giving Tuesday. Beginning in 2012 this movement of radical generosity has done so much to rally folks around the world in acts of mutuality, solidarity, and reciprocity. Giving Tuesday is a global platform for all kinds of efforts to balance consumer culture with an organized time and place to give, support, and engage. From a purely social media perspective it may seem like a day of fundraising, (and platforms like Facebook have been helpful in directing and matching billions of dollars for charitable causes in the last few years) but the deeper purpose of Giving Tuesday is to “unleash the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world”. I’m drawn to this because it is very much values-aligned with the LifeSchoolHouse movement and the way we are approaching this work in the world.

 There is also a lesser known but Canadian connection to Giving Tuesday: Buy Nothing Day actually began first, launching in Vancouver in 1992 as an alternative approach to Black Friday, sharing the same date but offering very different activities. Organized by artist Ted Dave, the Buy Nothing movement offers gatherings and peaceful protests like the Credit Card Cut Up stations set up in malls, Zombie Walk demonstrations, and has sparked a recent rise in Buy Nothing projects that are popping up locally too - check here to see if there is a Buy Nothing group near you: https://buynothingproject.org/

 Every year when I see Giving Tuesday/Buy Nothing activities I reflect on the resources we have been assembling at LifeSchoolHouse to honor and carry forward this tradition in our own way. Repair Cafes, skills swaps and shares, and of course our monthly Makers Swaps where upcycled and handmade creations have become the main source of gifts for family and friends. This year tea made from locally dried herbs, homemade soaps, socks, and notebooks, beach glass art, macrame, and ceramics will be under my tree, and I know every one of these talented makers personally, which is a gift in and of itself!

 One of the newest LifeSchoolHouse activities inspiring a sense of ‘giving back’ and ‘community support’ has been the work of the “Action in Community Team”. The ACT group is a self-organizing handful of community folks who have decided to work together on independent projects like the Community Gardens, Tool Libraries and more. Each of the classes, swaps, gardens and cafes are powerful examples of community acts of mutuality, solidarity, and reciprocity too!

 Now that we are moving into the holiday season and thinking about gifts for friends and neighbours, teachers, and other caring folks in our circles, perhaps the greatest gift we can give this holiday season is hope. Hope that small acts of kindness, support, exchange, and attributing value to labours of art and love IS enough to change the world. One garden, swap, skills exchange, and cup of tea at a time we can be the change we want to see in the world - more than just one day a year!

“The best way to DO is to BE” - Lao Tzu

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

LifeSchoolHouse kid members having a circle discussion

I remember when she walked in the door - another new face, a young mom, and I remember thinking she seemed slightly less nervous than most first-time attendees. Maybe she was drawing courage from the little baby in the car seat she had looped over one arm while in the other arm she was lugging a bag of mason jars full of jam and pickles to contribute to the community Makers Swap. I couldn’t help myself, I scooped up that tiny baby with almond brown eyes and springy black hair. In my memory she was smiling because she’s been smiling every time I’ve seen her since. As mom got absorbed into the crowd that baby and I greeted everyone, one by one. “So glad you are here. Yes, isn’t she sweet? No, she’s not mine - go say hi to her mom, she just arrived and she is new here.”

Dancing around the room already was Iris, a vivacious 4 year old who already knew how to own a crowd. When space permitted she twirled in the middle of my living room and fell down on the carpet. When she could catch someone’s eye she would tell them exactly what was on her mind at that moment. She knew how to make instant friends. Her energy was a wonderful ice breaker and somehow made it easier for folks who needed a distraction to focus on while conversations swirled around them.

My own two children were standing behind the swapper’s tables; the 10 year old was curious and brave because he was safe, in his own home. My 6 year old was keeping an eye on the cookies but tuning out the crowd as much as possible because he is much more shy. They are growing up in this space so they knew that once all the adults were done talking, there would be treats to eat so they weren’t going far. They couldn’t have known it at the time but this community is their inheritance.

Several years have passed and those babies are now putting on their own shoes and heading off to school and older kids are now teenagers looking after the younger ones but when we gather, learn, swap and connect - we are doing it for them. We want things to be different, for us, for them. We are imagining a world together, where gatherings like this are not so unusual because we are better at taking care of each other. As our children grow and leave the nest to build communities of their own they will know in their hearts that resilience comes from sharing, not hoarding, because they have seen it in action. They will know, innately, that finding each other and hearing each other and recognizing each other’s skills and ability to contribute something, anything, changes the way we look at each other and the world, and that this is good and important work. 

That’s why we meet to learn and swap and connect. This is a gift that we are giving to our children. Community building is long-game work but in our folkschools we are building the kind of world we want to leave behind for generations to come. 

-Written by Jennifer DeCoste

LifeSchoolHouse is a learning community. We share what skills we have in the form of classes, swapped items, and helpful hints offered to our community in posts and emails and conversations with friends. We are also learning all the time about how to do this work in the world - how to host each other, how to solve problems together, how to come together to create something beautiful. Learning is a part of who we are and to quote the ever inspiring Maya Angelou, “When you get, give. When you learn, teach.”

From January to August this year we were fortunate enough to have an intern working with us from Dalhousie University. Ally Sue had many questions about how we do our work, why ‘this’ and not ‘that’ and by exploring LifeSchoolHouse through her eyes we grew together - in fact this newsletter was her initiative! When she returned to school we missed the energy of the internship and wanted to keep students involved in this work - the more people we can teach about grassroots community building the better, and the energy of students refreshes our whole team’s interest in lifelong learning. 

I’m happy to announce that the LifeSchoolHouse is hosting a team of six senior students from the College of Sustainability from October until May 2022. The students are engaged in a Capstone Project which gives them 6 hours every week to actively apply their knowledge to a community project aligned with their personal interests. These students all choose to work with the LifeSchoolHouse and will be active participants in upcoming classes/swaps, will start to get their own programming organized on campus too, and will have an opportunity to meet and interview community members and hosts to learn more about the spirit of this project. By the end of the year they will document their experience and share it back with our community - reflecting our own stories back to us so we can see what they see and use their reflections to pivot, change, and keep growing.

We have learned so much in the last four years but we’ve barely scratched the surface of all the talents and wisdom of our community. We are so fortunate to have young and enthusiastic partners in this work and we look forward to sharing their observations and innovations with you all as these contributions help us keep evolving together. Welcome Florence, Israel, Maddie, Maija, Rebecca and Victoria!

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

Change can be tough, especially as we get older, but it can also inspire growth and sometimes even reinvention. Many of us have been through a lot of change these last few winters and some of us have reinvented ourselves several times. New jobs, new homes, shifts in relationships - new babies!  Each time a major shift happens in our lives we have a choice - replicate the patterns we’ve had going or forge a whole new path. 

LifeSchoolHouse hasn’t been immune to change. Our home on Portland St was the original LifeSchoolHouse location and the spot for classes, concerts, birthday parties, swaps, meals and so many laughs. This fall, our family decided to leave the city, to homeschool and build a smaller more sustainable lifestyle in rural Nova Scotia. When we first started thinking about leaving our community behind it was sad, confusing, scary. It raised more questions than answers: “how can we leave this wonderful community,” “what will happen to everything we have built up if we leave?”. 

One of the biggest gifts and challenges of volunteering in a project like LifeSchoolHouse is that you get quite deeply connected and the work takes on a bit of a routine as it weaves its way into your everyday way of being in community. Leading up to this big move we got lost in fear of what might be because we really loved how our lives were linked with the LifeSchoolHouse community in such an active way. We pondered and debated, got nowhere, and then just waited for the universe to point out the right next step rather than making the decision for ourselves. We were stuck until we finally realized that the confusion came from spending too much time looking backward rather than thinking about what potential the future held. 

As soon as we announced our intention to move, the solutions started presenting themselves. The community pantry that was such a big part of our work in the world became a gift to the Center for Early Childhood Development who immediately put it to use in supporting their program’s families and surrounding neighbourhood. Two new hosts popped into our last few workshops and offered up their own space so that our programming could continue close to home in Dartmouth. The icing on the cake was when a long standing community member offered to take on the role of coordinating our work in the city. Serving as the glue to hold this all together, the LifeSchoolHouse community in Dartmouth has become bigger than our original space, bigger than the original vision of our family, and a space for new ideas to grow. 

A similar story is playing out in New Brunswick as LSH Host Elaine Mandrona is chasing a long standing dream to move further east and will be leaving the LifeSchoolHouse in Moncton behind in the care of two new coordinators. This new partnership means Moncton will see new classes on the schedule that will build immediately on the programming that has been happening thanks to Elaine’s efforts in 2021. 

Over the last few weeks we’ve watched as new program venues and new coordinators have invited in greater diversity, how new leaders have stepped up confidently, and how long standing members have taken charge of inviting people and ideas into the community. I’m so pleased when I see things that don’t look quite the same as they’ve been for the last few years. I love when I realize that things the original hosts never thought about are now the community’s new normal. A project of this nature survives by constantly reinventing itself and is best served by hosts who know they can pass the baton and be confident that in doing so, new patterns can emerge. 

Change can indeed be tough, but once you find a way through the fear of the unknown, the potential for beauty can emerge. What a perfect season for these shifts - fall has a wonderful way of how important it is to let things go!

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

We think a lot about space in the LifeSchoolHouse movement. There is a lot of thought put into the physical spaces we use: cleaning up, bringing in extra chairs and tables, throwing a colorful cloth on a table and setting out a pot of tea so that the space is warm and welcoming when people arrive. We also think about emotional space: how much space are we giving folks who need time to ease into the workshop, what questions can we ask when people are introducing themselves so that we reduce the space between neighbours and making real connections quickly. Space really matters - it shapes how we gather, how we feel when we are together and how we feel when we leave, too.

We started the LifeSchoolHouse in a home on Portland Street in Dartmouth and that space has become a primary location for community gatherings and a nesting place for many new hosts and community projects, but next month we will be moving. We will lose this space as a gathering spot and our last events in this space in August will be poignant with a sense of nostalgia for the hundreds of workshops, swaps, and meals we have shared here. The interesting thing about physical space in community though, is that it evolves into an emotional state over time - we won’t gather in this physical space any longer but the spirit of this space can move out into the world. It can continue to grow and take on many new shapes too. We talked about community gardens, food pantries, repair cafes, makers’ swaps, meal swaps, book swaps and more, and they all started here in the Portland St location. Now that all of these things have come into being, they have left the nest and are growing well, elsewhere in our community. As a host you can start, build and pass this project back to the community because the LifeSchoolHouse is a shared commitment to generosity and true connection between neighbours; the spirit outlives the space. 

We have convened a large community with diverse talents and a passion for learning and sharing and supporting each other. We know that there is a strong commitment to keeping connected and engaged and we cannot wait to see what happens when even more space is gifted back to this community. Best wishes for an expansive transition for LifeSchoolHouse in Dartmouth!

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

Colourful poppies blooming in Jennifer’s father’s garden

The poppies, the lillies, the strawberries, raspberries and tiny tim’s are growing all around us; a feast for our eyes and for our bellies. This rich season of growing and harvest comes only when the time and conditions are right, after a long period of rest and quiet. The soil is warm, the rains come and go, then the sun breaks through and we all receive the gifts of a shady path in the park on a hot day or the delight of a snack picked fresh off the vine. 

So many of us have been limiting our own movement these long months. Life has been quiet and there have been storms, but the spirit was always there, just waiting for the right time to emerge. As restrictions lift, the energy in our little community has been bursting forth, colourful and delicious! We have seen richness exchanged at makers swaps where the fresh jams and winter knitting projects are gifts but secondary to the wealth of conversation and connection after such a long social drought. We’ve financial fertilized great ideas growing in community - launching garden spaces reimagining empty parking lots and unused green spaces, building community pantries and book libraries to nourish the mind and the body. New folks engaging as facilitators, sharing skills, and new hosts opening up their homes and hearts to an eager community. 

What can we learn from the natural cycles around us? Perhaps it is essential to pause and rest for generous stretches of time so we have the energy we need for action? Maybe we had to be forced to slow down so that we could appreciate the joy of a stretch after a period of confinement. What we can see right now is that the growing and harvesting season is upon us! If you have an idea for a community project you’d like to seed in the LifeSchoolHouse garden we are ready to grow

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

Ours is a learning community. We gather to share skills, put our hands to a new task or craft and we know that the first attempt will certainly not be perfect. When we make pottery, several pieces will explode – too thick or too thin. Dishes we cook together might be oversalted, boards we cut in a carpentry class may end up as a slightly crooked box.

 The greatest thing about embracing the learning is that we get to keep tweaking every time. Adjusting until it looks right, feels right. Putting our own stamp on it in the end.

 Interestingly, the same thing is happening as our community grows. We have new hosts who are linking up with our network and starting LifeSchoolHouse spaces for their own communities. Each time, a new twist is introduced. A flavour that enhances the dish.

 Sarah is a skilled videographer so she is capturing content and building an online community. Elaine is partnering with food banks to engage their communities in LSH programming. Erica is starting with outdoor activities - each innovative adaptation of our project demonstrates what is possible and inspires further creativity and growth. Community-led and community-inspired.

 A few weeks ago I had a wonderful front porch chat with one of our core volunteers. We were exchanging plants and pots for our latest project – a community garden that will fill the community pantry this fall. Our garden coordinator has been an active participant in our Dartmouth community for a while but found the model asked for a lot of extroverted energy, even from our introverted attendees. Teaching or hosting a class is vulnerable work and the swaps are boisterous and while some of us miss the crowds others are quite happy to have the option to participate in the virtual swaps instead! When we launched a community garden we both observed that there became space for people to pop in when the timing was right for them, to quietly dig and weed and water, and to enjoy short impromptu visits with neighbours as folks began to treat the garden as a community gathering place. A haven for introverts to engage in a comfortable way. On the porch that afternoon we talked about what we have learned from this new project: allowing space for the model to adapt and re-form allows us to find ways to better serve all the members of our community and make use of the unique gifts and interests of our volunteer hosts too.

 There is great opportunity for a ‘learning organization’ like ours to never stop re-moulding the clay or adding new spice – aren’t we lucky to be able to follow our community’s lead on new ideas and projects? As always I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next and who might be able to join in as our model opens up and makes space for everyone.

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

It is safe to assume there won’t be any street parties this year, no huge concerts and no fireworks in the park because it is still not safe for large crowds to gather. So what does that mean for the spirit and hearts of our community? Many of us are struggling to keep hopeful when so much is still uncertain. In early 2020 we heard people talking about this pandemic as a marathon, not a sprint, but we could not have known it was in fact, the Trancendance Marathon - where we keep looping around the same block 6am-midnight, day after day.
Most days I’m done with screens and I just want to sit in a circle around a real fire with friends and neighbours and make a plan for a community gathering that won’t be postponed or delayed. So what IS possible? 

It is safe to say that it will take time to build back trust and confidence in group activities but when we can meet again, small group gatherings are going to be the best way forward and this actually gives me great hope. Here at the LifeSchoolHouse we thrive in small groups - this is our happy place! When a few people come together to learn or swap and share, we can have real conversations and get to know each other. I do miss the larger Makers Swaps but it is the small group classes where I knew we were making real connections and starting conversations that would continue after the gathering. These are the events that will begin again, in earnest, as soon as it is safe to gather once again and remember, there is space for many folks to join us in making this happen!

For now, we are quiet and holding onto a vision for a future where we can gather again to learn and swap, and just enjoy each other’s company. Today I draw courage from the “Keep Going On Song” so I share it with you today and hope that it buoys your spirits as well. 

Stay safe and see you soon.

-Jennifer DeCoste

“And I pray that when we meet again
That the world has changed
Into the world that we are imaging now together
And I pray that the world has become the world
That we are planting inside of ourselves for each other
And for our ancestors and for our kids

And we’re gonna start
We’re gonna start
This is rough beginning
That’s all I’ve got is a rough beginning to offer you
We’re just gonna start by singing some songs
We’re just gonna sing some sings for you
In this tiny space together
And we hope that when you hear them
You will feel a little bit less alone"

-Lyrics from the Bengsons “Keep Going on Song”

I was speaking with a colleague in Ontario this afternoon. She is an extremely active community organizer and she helps other local neighbourhood groups get set up and get access to the resources they need to pull together street parties, concerts, community gardens, and more. Or, at least that’s what she used to do, before the pandemic. 

This week in Ontario, they are under “stay at home” orders. Again. The schools are closed, the restaurants are shuttered and my friend was reminiscing about the months when people would go out into the street and bang on pots and pans to show their support for essential workers. They don’t do that anymore - she can’t remember when they stopped.  More than anything our conversation centered around the fact that even the most engaged community organizers in her community seem to have lost their enthusiasm to plan ahead, likely because so much remains unknown. There almost certainly won’t be street parties this summer but we wondered, even if events were organized and approved, would anybody come? 

The LifeSchoolHouse in NS has had a unique opportunity to test the act of community reintegration before many other provinces. When we started gathering in person again we noticed that there were several different reactions. Many folks jumped at the chance to sit six feet apart in sanitized chairs in a chilly backyard just to be able to talk to people they weren’t related to! Others trickled back slowly over the next few months, eager to join in but needing time to build back the trust. Some even spoke to us about how they felt they needed to “practice” their social skills again. Turns out it isn’t like riding a bike. Just last Sunday I spoke to a woman who joined a Cheese Making 101 session at LifeSchoolHouse in Dartmouth who said this was the first time she had been outside her home/backyard in 11 months but she knew she needed to re-engage because the longer she waited the harder it was going to be. She was glad she came.

This week we have prepared our Annual Report from 2020 which you can read HERE. We are really proud of all we have accomplished in service of our community and feeling quite fortunate that we’ve been able to draw people back together, in person, when so many others cannot. Based on what we have learned and continue to learn from our community it really feels like small, intimate gatherings need to keep (start?) happening everywhere, soon! Reintegrating, building trust, working out the social cobwebs takes time and we all need safe spaces to practice being in community again. It is my hope that many of you reading this will find a way to use your space, your energy, your time and your talents to create the healing spaces our communities need. Anything we can do to help - just reach out!

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

Members of the LifeSchoolHouse community gather in the backyard as COVID restrictions begin to ease in NS.

When I look back over the last month at LifeSchoolHouse I’ve seen programming in three provinces, urban and rural workshops, and classes that covered everything from birch tree tapping and root cellar building to Chinese Dumpling making, felting, greeting cards and crochet. After all that, guess what we have learned... the workshop topic is not nearly as important as we thought! 

When speaking with attendees of LifeSchoolHouse gatherings we’ve heard that class topics tend to draw people in but the greatest takeaway is simply being together, however we can in the moment, to reconnect and feel like we are a part of a community. Would it surprise you to know that in a recent study from MIT and University of Toronto, regions with higher than average ‘social capital’ (ie: relationships that bind us together as a community, based on trust, connection, and care), are showing direct links to lower infection rates and fewer deaths from COVID?

“... the more that people in a community can be kind and loving of one another, the more they’ll be able to mitigate the transmission of the virus without extra resources [or in spite of crowding].” 

According to this study, it was ultimately “collective efficacy” (or the likelihood that people would lean in, help out, reach out) that was linked with healthiest communities during the pandemic. If that’s the case, then our community of ‘helpful’ hosts, volunteer facilitators and brave participants are leading the charge for #buildingbackbetter 

When we gather to learn to make moccasins or construct a community pantry/free library, we are trusting each other, sharing stories and learning about each other - building bridges and friendships too. It might seem relatively insignificant in terms of larger work we are called into in this world, but I’m starting to see evidence that connection and caretaking is actually one of the most effective ways to build stronger and physically, socially, AND emotionally healthier communities. Looking back over all we have done this month, I’m so proud of the LifeSchoolHouse hosts and the work that we are able to do every day in our communities. Many thanks for your ongoing trust and support.

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

LifeSchoolHouse community members participate in a COVID friendly backyard swap- Fall 2020

The gracious members of the LifeSchoolHouse in HRM have crafted extra goodies for a fundraiser to help raise funds to pay for space to offer swaps using local community centres. By contributing to this fundraiser you are putting your name in the hat for wonderful prizes! $5 per ticket and 3 tickets for $12 - chances of winning are EXCELLENT because we have 16 prize items to give away and only 100 tickets will be sold. Winners will be chosen at random, you cannot buy a ticket for specific items, your prize will be a surprise!

Prizes include: Homemade donair spice, crochet dishcloths, felted mittens, zucchini pickles, grape jam, chutney, sugar body scrub, handmade lace, hand painted wine glass, paper bag scrapbook, garden seeds, hot chocolate mix, beautiful wall art made with textiles, earring pegboard, cinnamon, oatmeal and honey soap, polar fleece heating pad, green knit toque, reversible pillow case and more!

Thanks for helping us raise funds to keep doing these wonderful events for our community in COVID-safe spaces.

I was making coffee and thinking about what the community has meant to me and realized this…“any day I may write something different about my experience with L.S.H. Today I want to express the pleasure and solace making things has brought to me.

This would be pertinent any time, but I feel especially so during COVID when there has been so much devastation and worry. Because our community if a group of ‘lovers of making things’ and who appreciate the work of others I have felt encouraged to explore materials and return to my love of working with cloth and words.

After years of guiding children through difficulties with language, having time to work with a needle and thread has been especially uplifting. It’s especially fun to offer some of my ‘products’ to my students and their families. Though without people from this community, I don’t know if I would have carried on making. I certainly did not want to make things to sit in a closet. I am a person who thrives on feedback. Each time someone likes or wants something I have made – it’s sort of a validation and feeling of love. What could be better than a group of people who can do that for one another?

Written by Noreen Battaglia

The news is rarely good news these days. The world seems at odds and divides are widening so I wonder, could there ever be a better time to be thinking together, sharing resources, learning and trying new things? This is our first newsletter and will be a place to share more about the efforts we make to take care of each other in the LifeSchoolHouse community; sharing our food, our stories and our time as an anecdote to loneliness and isolation. Together we are building peace and community connections every day and are eager to share our stories with you.

Yesterday was the “pick up” day for a Virtual Makers Swap that happened in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia - makers have been stuck at home but keeping their hands busy knitting, baking, carving, weaving, planting and building. Last week they dropped off 6 handmade items and today they will receive a gift bag with 6 curated items in return thanks to wonderful volunteers. These items might be whimsical or useful  (or both!) but their value is truly tied up with the sense of connection to community they will create for each participant. While we might not see each other as often, we are in this together and can still have shared experiences! Similar swaps have been held across NS and are popping up in New Brunswick and Ontario next month as well - our seeds have been scattered and a field of 'folkschool flowers' is blooming across Canada.

Despite the limitations on gatherings we have decided that building community is an “essential service” so we have been creative and resourceful enough to keep the spirit of folkschooling alive at this complicated time. When I think back over the last few months I realize that so many of my most joyful moments have come about because of connections and engagements that link back to you, the LifeSchoolHouse community. I look forward to watching what more is created when hearts and hands come together in this way. Want to find out more about programming in your neighbourhood or looking to get something similar started in your hometown? Visit us at https://www.lifeschoolhouse.com

Written by Jennifer DeCoste