Marchelle Farrell's guest appearances

Marchelle Farrell

my garden, my life

Prompted by Nature

Sue Biggs

Avni Trivedi

Ben Myers

Annabel Abbs

Nick Hayes

Laetitia Maklouf

Jane Perrone

Annabelle Padwick

Nathaniel Hughes

Benjamin Myers

Sara Venn

Alice Vincent

Rebecca Schiller

Elizabeth Cairns

Bex Partridge

OwlTail

Find yourself in a comfortable, seated position somewhere quiet.   We’re going to begin this meditation and writing prompt with some breath work and then do a little bullet journalling.   If you want to download the full transcript and questions for later they are up in the show notes on Marchelle’s episode on the website - just go to the series two page at www.promptedbynature.co.uk Otherwise, just have your notebook or journal to hand.  I’ll guide you through the meditation and questions and then leave you to write whatever these inspire, whether these are connected to the questions or not. Enjoy! Helen x

Find yourself in a comfortable, seated position somewhere quiet.   We’re going to begin this meditation and writing prompt with some breath work and then do a little bullet journalling.   If you want to download the full transcript and questions for later they are up in the show notes on Marchelle’s episode on the website - just go to the series two page at <a href="http://www.promptedbynature.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.promptedbynature.co.uk</a> Otherwise, just have your notebook or journal to hand.  I’ll guide you through the meditation and questions and then leave you to write whatever these inspire, whether these are connected to the questions or not. Enjoy! Helen x

2.10b Meditation and Writing Prompt for my Conversation with Marchelle Farrell, Creating Space in Nature

Hello! Welcome to series two, episode 10 of Prompted by Nature. I hope this one finds you well. It definitely feels like we’re well on the way to winter here in the UK, with cold snaps aplenty and lots of my favourite cold, crisp, sunny days I can spend outside. Today’s episode is all about the wonderful Marchelle Farrell, also known as @Afroliage on Instagram. Marchelle Farrell is a gardener, writer and mother, born in Trinidad and Tobago, but has spent the last 20 years attempting to become hardy here in the UK. She has worked as a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist in the NHS, and currently spends much of her time getting to know her country garden, and writing about the things the garden teaches her about herself. In this conversation, we discuss:  Her relationship with and connection to her garden Allowing herself to listen to her garden What houseplants taught her about working with her garden The connection between her work in her garden and her work as a psychotherapist Gardening as a creative practice The importance of listening to the land The garden as a metaphor The need to face certain patterns in order to change them The garden as a transitional space  And so much more - honestly, that summary doesn’t even scratch the surface of our chat! I first connected Marchelle after following her on social media and becoming inspired by the words and images she posts about her work with and relationship with her garden. As we discuss in the episode, Marchelle’s work has played a big part in my own learning and understanding of gardens as spaces of privilege as well as empowerment and her words around the place that colonialism plays in each of our relationships with nature and green spaces have deepened my own understanding of the role I can play in helping to dismantle the systems that we have all, in one way or another, inherited from our ancestors. Marchelle is humble, wise and always thought-provoking and I’m so grateful to her for agreeing to be a part of this podcast. You can find her on her Instagram, where she posts images of her garden accompanied by the insights that come from her work in it, on @Afroliage and you can also sign up to her wonderful newsletter through the link in her bio there. As always, I’m on @prompted.by.nature on Instagram or or your can find me over at my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can sign up for my weekly online nature-inspired meditation and creative writing sessions (bit of a mouthful!) and find out more about my work. Remember to stick around until the end of the episode, when I’ll give you an insight into the meditation and writing prompt that follows the conversation.  Happy listening, and I’ll speak to you after! ————————————————— Thank you so much for listening - wasn’t Marchelle just wonderful! In the meditation and writing prompt that follows this episode, you’ll be looking into your own relationship with green spaces and asking questions around how you (and I!) can listen more deeply and play a bigger role in ensuring that nature is an enriching and accessible space for us all. As always, I’m sending you lots of love.  Happy writing, and I’ll speak to you soon!

Hello! Welcome to series two, episode 10 of Prompted by Nature. I hope this one finds you well. It definitely feels like we’re well on the way to winter here in the UK, with cold snaps aplenty and lots of my favourite cold, crisp, sunny days I can spend outside. Today’s episode is all about the wonderful Marchelle Farrell, also known as <a href="//www.instagram.com/afroliage" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@Afroliage</a> on Instagram. Marchelle Farrell is a gardener, writer and mother, born in Trinidad and Tobago, but has spent the last 20 years attempting to become hardy here in the UK. She has worked as a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist in the NHS, and currently spends much of her time getting to know her country garden, and writing about the things the garden teaches her about herself. In this conversation, we discuss: <ul> <li>Her relationship with and connection to her garden</li> <li>Allowing herself to listen to her garden</li> <li>What houseplants taught her about working with her garden</li> <li>The connection between her work in her garden and her work as a psychotherapist</li> <li>Gardening as a creative practice</li> <li>The importance of listening to the land</li> <li>The garden as a metaphor</li> <li>The need to face certain patterns in order to change them</li> <li>The garden as a transitional space</li> </ul> And so much more - honestly, that summary doesn’t even scratch the surface of our chat! I first connected Marchelle after following her on social media and becoming inspired by the words and images she posts about her work with and relationship with her garden. As we discuss in the episode, Marchelle’s work has played a big part in my own learning and understanding of gardens as spaces of privilege as well as empowerment and her words around the place that colonialism plays in each of our relationships with nature and green spaces have deepened my own understanding of the role I can play in helping to dismantle the systems that we have all, in one way or another, inherited from our ancestors. Marchelle is humble, wise and always thought-provoking and I’m so grateful to her for agreeing to be a part of this podcast. You can find her on her Instagram, where she posts images of her garden accompanied by the insights that come from her work in it, on <a href="//www.instagram.com/afroliage" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@Afroliage</a> and you can also sign up to her wonderful newsletter through the link in her bio there. As always, I’m on <a href="//www.instagram.com/prompted.by.nature" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@prompted.by.nature</a> on Instagram or or your can find me over at my website <a href="http://www.promptedbynature.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.promptedbynature.co.uk</a> where you can sign up for my weekly online nature-inspired meditation and creative writing sessions (bit of a mouthful!) and find out more about my work. Remember to stick around until the end of the episode, when I’ll give you an insight into the meditation and writing prompt that follows the conversation.  Happy listening, and I’ll speak to you after! ————————————————— Thank you so much for listening - wasn’t Marchelle just wonderful! In the meditation and writing prompt that follows this episode, you’ll be looking into your own relationship with green spaces and asking questions around how you (and I!) can listen more deeply and play a bigger role in ensuring that nature is an enriching and accessible space for us all. As always, I’m sending you lots of love.  Happy writing, and I’ll speak to you soon!

2.10a Marchelle Farrell: My Garden, My Teacher

I first encountered Marchelle through Instagram (her handle is @afroliage) where I was struck by her poetic and expressive use of the garden/life metaphor and her Bio which read ‘Gardening as a subversive act.  These are the things my garden told me.’We connected over a post in which she said she was ‘her ancestor’s wildest dream’ which particularly touched something in me as I imagine I am too, as the descendent of 2 young jewish men who made their way to England from Eastern Europe in the mid 19th Century looking for a new, safer life.I was interested to discover that, as well as being a gardener, she is both a psychotherapist and psychiatrist and,, currently, stay-at-home Mum who is enjoying getting to know her new garden in Somerset.We had a thought provoking and moving conversation in which we gently explored what it means to her as a black woman of mixed heritage to be gardening in Somerset in the UK, and how she comes to terms with her heritage - that she has both ancestors who were slaves and ancestors who were, mostly likely, slave owners - and how she makes sense of this.Our conversation flowed through her delightful sounding garden on a hill with a stream all the way to ancestry and slavery with many interesting stops along the way.

I first encountered Marchelle through Instagram (her handle is @afroliage) where I was struck by her poetic and expressive use of the garden/life metaphor and her Bio which read ‘Gardening as a subversive act. These are the things my garden told me.’We connected over a post in which she said she was ‘her ancestor’s wildest dream’ which particularly touched something in me as I imagine I am too, as the descendent of 2 young jewish men who made their way to England from Eastern Europe in the mid 19th Century looking for a new, safer life.I was interested to discover that, as well as being a gardener, she is both a psychotherapist and psychiatrist and,, currently, stay-at-home Mum who is enjoying getting to know her new garden in Somerset.We had a thought provoking and moving conversation in which we gently explored what it means to her as a black woman of mixed heritage to be gardening in Somerset in the UK, and how she comes to terms with her heritage - that she has both ancestors who were slaves and ancestors who were, mostly likely, slave owners - and how she makes sense of this.Our conversation flowed through her delightful sounding garden on a hill with a stream all the way to ancestry and slavery with many interesting stops along the way.