Greetings! My name is Marie, and here with the thriving roots community I also go by Sweetpea! I use the pronouns She/Her. I grew up on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, where the salty air fills the lungs and the ocean horizon is abundant. In my youth I found refuge in streaming up mossy bluff trails and unfurling in cool lakes. I loved to play with woodlice, ants and beetles. I would race them with my sister, and build little tropical islands for them!

In 2016, in my early 20s, I tried on Vancouver’s urban setting and evoked my inner city rat. I pursued years of study with master clown teacher David MacMurray Smith in “pochinko clown technique’ mask, clown, performance training. Vancouver’s vibrant culture led me to work in youth instructing. I worked at community centers teaching physical literacy and school field nature exploration for kindergarteners.

Over time my community threads grew, I worked in Vancouver’s Arts and Cultural as festival management, I facilitated arts for connection workshops for vulnerable populations in Yaletown, and I became a roving parade clown and puppeteer at night! In 2018 I traveled to the foothills of Colorado and trained in nature-based expressive arts using the LifeArt Process of Tamalpa Institute.

In 2020 my thirst to get my little country mouse toes dirty again led me into nature based education through the 8 Petals and Coyote Mentoring. I signed up for Wild & Alive adult program and the Tend the Fire apprenticeship (a year long children’s nature mentoring apprenticeship) with Thriving Roots Wilderness School. I loved it so much that in 2021 I enrolled in the Wisdom of the Earth Wilderness School Immersion followed by the 2nd year Apprenticeship on Salt Spring Island. I became a youth mentor for Cahoots Outdoor Youth Programs and ran nature craft workshops at Heartwood Learning Community.

I continue to grow my naturalist skills and live them. I particularly love spending nights under the stars and sleeping on the earth, fire making, animal processing, butchering, skin tanning, foraging plants, awareness and opening senses in nature, song circles, storytelling, and community building. I value creativity as a gateway to growth, especially for our youth. I adore listening and making space for nature’s invisible school. My community reflects to me that I share the gifts of sunlight warmth, loads of laughter, therapeutic care, nature mentoring, and theatrical play.