Earth School Aotearoa

22/07/2026

Thank you to all the lovely caregivers and their little ones who joined us for our very first Peaceful Play Circle today at Wallaceville Church. Together we enjoyed a gentle morning of child-led play and nourishing connection! We look forward to seeing you next Wednesday.

07/07/2026

Join our wonderful Suzi, for Earth Schools Peaceful Play circle, for under 2's.

06/07/2026

We celebrated Yule at Earth School a few weeks ago. It was a great time for our famlies and friends to get together and mingle, new connections were made, old friendships re kindled and lots of laughter.

The Monday and Thursday children put on a play about the Oak King and Holy King, and why we must have seasons.

We were fortunate to have farm fresh pumpkin soup and venison for supper, non alcoholic Wassail and mulled wine for adults to sample.

The children the following week then made whistles with Dane Scott from the bones of the deer along with Elder and sunflower ones marking a new tradition of being able to blow on our whistles at future celebrations (including this weekend).

The days grow longer now, and we're looking forward to what this season brings.

01/07/2026

We're excited for this one, and proud that we can say we're part of it. Earth School Children walk this trail, and in future years will have plenty of fruit to forage. It will form a fantastic educational experience for them.

This platform is a little different, funds are matched not on amount donated, but on the amount of donations. Meaning $5 is as valuable a donation as $50 for matched funds . Please donate if you can.

Mangaroa Farms is exploring the creation of a publicly accessible heritage harvest trail woven throughout our existing 3km farm loop that is nestled alongside the Mangaroa river in Whitemans Valley,...

30/04/2026

Last week we celebrated Earth Day !

We sang, we read and we listened as the children read poems they had wrote with the Earth in mind.

Clear streams were played in and we had a story around the fire, we planted a Kōwhai tree in honor of Earth Day and started a food forest area that neighbors can share in.

Finally! We ate roasted Chestnuts from our foraging and learning adventures over the last few weeks.

We experienced the land, and listened.

Earth Day - by Jane Yolen

I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Each bit of mud,
And stick and stone
Is blood and muscle,
Skin and bone.

And just as I
Need every bit
Of me to make
My body fit,
So Earth needs
Grass and stone and tree
And things that grow here
Naturally.

That’s why we
Celebrate this day.
That’s why across
The world we say:
As long as life,
As dear, as free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.

27/04/2026

Sweet verse Horse Chestnuts and there differences continued last Monday when we explored their casings, seed shape and leaves.

We learned that Sweet Chestnuts have simple leaves and Horse Chestnuts have complex leaves. That these leaves can have parallel or netted veins. Amongst the rain we gathered some leaves, netted leaves were more common than the parallel ones.

We made soap! Did you know that horse chestnuts contain saponins? Learning is everywhere, and exploring what a saponin is and comparing it to commercial soap was a great experience. Although toxic, they're part of the same family as Soap berries and a truly sustainable seasonal alternative for natural laundry.

It was a very STEM rich day.

23/04/2026

Apples:

Apples are unseen storytellers.

Apple trees have grown and evolved alongside humans for 10,000 years. They have witnessed changing seasons, shifting generations, and long human lineages. And here at Earth School, we’re fortunate to be surrounded by them — trees quietly watching, quietly teaching.

How do apples teach us?

In Greek mythology, the Golden Apple of Discord helped sparked the Trojan War — a symbol of strife and temptation. In Celtic lore, apples represented the afterlife and eternity. Sir Isaac Newton watched one fall and began articulating the laws of gravity. Even the star revealed when you cut an apple crosswise has become a small moment of magic in many Waldorf-inspired stories.

But apples also teach through ecology.

They show us how water moves — why one side blushes red in the sun, why fungi appear after damp weather, how fruit swells after rain, how a tree’s roots search for moisture beneath the soil. They tell stories of season, soil, sunlight, and time.

Harvesting and foraging often open lessons we didn’t plan.

So next time you hold an apple, pause.
Look closely.
And ask what it might be teaching you.

23/04/2026

Family friendly foraging event were hosting

Join Mangaroa Farms for Foraging with Earth School Aotearoa Explore the taonga of our local environment with this family-friendly wild forage walk. Timed perfectly with the late autumn/winter season, we'll discover medicinal and edible plants growing right under our noses. We believe learning alongs...

20/04/2026

We transition out of harvest learning and into seed over this week, however like nature, these themes are not linear and spiral back to each other.

Last week we decided to explore the seed theme in our own backyard, exploring farm land as we went. The aim of exploration was finding a chestnut tree, harvesting nuts and comparing them with similar looking, but toxic nuts ( horse chestnuts) .

While there, the children discovered how to forage the edible nuts without gloves and that of the nuts found, most were flat!

This looped to an earlier exploration theme around pollination and water and how wet seasons can affect pollination.

We will be exploring nuts and seed over the following weeks, including roasting our yummy harvest over our outdoor fire pit.

16/04/2026

Our second home herbal workshop is booked in, for May 16th.

Like the last designed as a per family ticket price, you do not have to pay per person. The time it takes to make remedies is approximately an hour, so feel free to come at any point that suits around other commitments.

https://store.mangaroa.org/products/community-home-herbalism-sat-7th-march-11-30am-2-00pm-copy