All posts by Manda Aufochs Gillespie

Manda Aufochs Gillespie is a writer. She’s the author of the Green Mama series of books (https://thegreenmama.com/books/) and the publisher of the award-winning website thegreenmama.com. She is also a mother, neighbour, and founder of Folk University (folku.ca) on Cortes Island.
Finances

Invest In Your Community: Using Your Money For The Benefit Of Cortes

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Originally published on Cortes Radio.ca

Small business owners and entrepreneurs struggle for money everywhere. Yet, this is perhaps more true in rural communities than anywhere in the developed world. Adam McKenty, head of Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA), shared a creative solution that is allowing people to invest their money in their local communities while providing capital for small businesses and entrepreneurs. 

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Family

A Practical Understanding Of Play & Some Gardening Tips

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On today’s Folk University Talk Show, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor, Hayley Newell shares with us a deeper scientific and practical understanding of play. By definition play serves no practical purpose. Yet, it is anything but valueless. It lays the foundation of a child’s cognitive development, contributes to their physical health, services an opportunity to work through traumatic experiences and develop emotional resources, and helps kids practice healthy social interactions. The brain doesn’t know the different between real and imagined experiences so play can set the foundation for a great deal of future development. 

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Community

Karen Mahon Carrington Talks About Climate Hope

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On June 5th at Folk U Talk Show, Karen Mahon Carrington joined host Manda Aufochs Gillespie to talk about her climate hope: what it is and how it inspired a new organization and movement. 

Karen defines hope as: “the refusal to give up on love.” This idea inspired an essay I wrote called The Alchemy of Hope (https://mandagillespie.com/hope/)

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Forests, Health

Forest Therapy And Its Many Benefits.

Originally published on Cortes Radio.ca

In this addition of the Folk U Talk Show, Sobhana Dilani Hippola, certified forest therapy guide, joins host Manda Aufochs Gillespie to discuss forest therapy and its many benefits. This was part of the Nature is Good For You series on CKTZ done in partnership with Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI), Folk University, and the Cortes radio partners Cortes Currents and Cortes Community Radio.

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Health

Being In Nature Is Good For Us

Originally published on Cortes Radio.ca

Most of us intuitive understand that being in nature is good for us. On Friday May 22 Helen Hall joined Manda Aufochs Gillespie on Folk University’s Friday Folk U Talk Show on CKTZ 89.5 FM to explain just how true this is according to the research. 

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