Why Mary Poppins?
As a social artist, I am interested in how gift economies create and sustain communities of care. 

A gift economy is an economy in which goods and services are given to one another without specific agreements for immediate or future returns. Unlike transactions using currency, in which there are no future obligations, gifts imply future gifts and therefore can establish new and meaningful relations and a sense of community.

When I started Nature Song in 2016, I had planned on charging parents to attend my parent/child program. It was a big endeavor to get Nature Song up and running and being paid for my time and effort seemed reasonable. I also wanted to be a part of a community of families who did cool things together.

Once I started to build relationships with the mothers and children joining my weekly gathering, I realized I had a choice to make. I could charge for what I was doing and create a one-sided relationship in which parents paid me for my services or I could stop doing all the work and ask for help and create the community that I desired. (Thank you, Cassi, for having the awkward talk with me!) :) 

I noticed that the exchange of money was preventing the circular nature of giving and receiving that naturally occurred in a stable communities and building community was far more important to me than being paid. I decided to ask for help to share the facilitation role with others parents. It was an interesting balance to hold and I often struggled to ask for help but in the end, we created an amazing little community of mothers and kids. I look back to those times with envy and wish that I had something similar now as a parent of a teen and almost tween! 

The decision I made has had a lasting impression on my life. I wish for others to experience this type of community and I’m starting to see my role in helping others form something similar. Moving from one group of families to another will play a big role in spreading the idea of the gift economy and I’m curious how many little nature-based communities will be formed.