Family on the Farm
Family on the Farm
Now open for enrollment!
We are excited to offer several new programs for various ages to create community opportunities for children and their families to share in experiences of meaningful nature-connection on the farm. All of our programs are rooted in a holistic, ecotherapeutic orientation. We believe children learn, grow, and thrive best when in deep relationship with self, nature, and community. We hold a vision of a cultural reunion between children and the natural world, and seek to facilitate experiences that foster a lifelong sense of belonging— an unshakeable knowing that we are an inseparable thread in the the great sacred web of all of life.
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*FULL* Mommy & Me on the Farm: Ages 0-5
The Mama & Me seasonal series are open to all mamas and their little ones ages 5 and under. Shae will guide these sessions, integrating ecotherapeutic storytelling, exploration prompts, song shares, making with our hands, gardening, and nature-based emotional regulation techniques.
Every Thursday 9:30a-11a
April 4 -May 2, 2024
$100 for 5 sessions for Mama and 1 child
$140 for 5 sessions for Mama and 2+ children
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Heart & Hands on the Land: Ages 3.5-6
Shae Keane and Margaret Hilton, both therapists and nature-connection facilitators, are launching this program series in service to the cultivation of emotional wellness and resilience in young children. Program days will take place seasonally, on Fridays.
These program days will be offered once per season and focus on exploration of emotions, mindful movement, creative expression, ecotherapeutic storytelling, and nature-connected play.
This program will open up for enrollment once there are 15 sign ups on the interest list. Register your interest today.
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Community Story Tree Events: All Ages!
Join us one Friday a month for a community storytelling at the Earth School’s beloved “Story Tree” — a beautiful old Grandmother Maple Tree who inspires imagination and magic as we listen to a storytelling while gathered under her branches.
Suggested donation: $12-25 per family
Date: Friday, May 17th at 10:15a
About Us
Both therapists, we (Shae and Margaret) met while working as facilitators for a nature connection summer program, and soon discovered shared heart and vision for resourcing young people to support them in the many passages and transformations of the human life journey. In addition to our work as therapists, we feel called to serve as guides for young children in this developmental stage of curiosity and exploration of their inner and outer landscape. We recognize that, just as the natural world offers unique challenges and beauty, so does the inner world of emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and intuitions. Just as humans can become lost in a wild natural landscape, so can we humans find ourselves feeling so very lost inside. We believe that compassionate guides assisting in the laying of an emotionally regulated foundation in a child’s early years are an important part of this journey. We are also aware of how supportive to emotional regulation the natural world is— for adults and children alike.
Our Heart and Hands day programs are born out of this knowing— that every human deserves to be deeply nourished and resourced early on in life with the support of therapeutic guides and the nurturance of the natural world. We recognize that a child’s experiences in their early years are incredibly formative and lay a foundation that has lifelong physical, social, and emotional impacts. For this reason, this program is designed to offer children the experience of sanctuary in nature— weaving a nest of safety, joy, play, movement, community, compassionate attunement, awe, and wonder. We envision these experiences contributing to a blueprint upon the heart in service to each child’s thriving and life-long emotional wellness: a deep-rooted knowing that they are as resilient as the earth itself..
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Shae is an ecotherapeutic guide and therapist who holds a Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and a graduate certificate in Ecopsychology. She has a passion for the revitalization of the human relationship with the natural world, and the integration of relationship with plants, animals, wild landscape, and authentic community in the therapeutic process. She is particularly inspired by the meaningful impact not only the land, but also the animals, have on people and loves partnering with them in educational and therapeutic processes.
Shae is committed to contributing to the cultural movement of reconnecting self and community with nature. She understands a healthy relationship with the natural world to be foundational to mental and psychospiritual health and overall wellness. In 2019, Shae co-founded Seedkeepers Forest School, and served as a Co-Director and Instructor from 2019-2022, serving children ages 3-9. Prior to this, Shae worked as a senior field guide in the field of wilderness therapy, working with children and adolescents, and supported the launch of Emerald Arrow, a wilderness therapy program for young adults ages 18-30.
Following this, Shae developed and led trainings for wilderness therapy field guides with Blue Ridge Therapeutic Wilderness, where she worked as Program Developer. Shae now serves as Co-Director of the Earth School at Fauna Forest Farm, as well an adjunct professor in ETSU’s Nature-Based Therapy graduate certificate program. She has long had a love of supporting children and adults on their journey of remembering their roots in the earth, and specializes in facilitating nature-based therapeutic experiences.
During her counseling internship, Shae was grateful to have had the opportunity to work as a counselor with the Journey Center for Healing Arts in Johnson City. A particular highlight of her Counseling graduate program was collaborating with Dr. Bethany Novotny to co-found the ETSU Nature-Based Therapy graduate certificate.
She continues to pursue a vision of making nature-based therapy and nature-connection experiences accessible to all in East Tennessee.
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Margaret grew up on her grandparent’s land in South Carolina, picking blueberries and collecting pecans. Her connection with nature as a young child lives as an inspiration in her work today. As a daughter of educators, a deep curiosity and respect for children has been central on her path. She has been working with children and families in different regions for the past 15 years.
Now nestled in Appalachia, her private psychotherapy practice serves youth, adults, and families. She is honored to be an advocate for youth to have creative outlets to support their mental health and heart paths. She has taught movement, mindfulness, theatre, and emotional regulation tools in several different environments to youth of all ages. Some of her favorites include Montessori school settings and In Motion Nosara, a dance company she Co-Directed in Costa Rica. She has been a facilitator/ guide for nature-based youth programs in North Carolina. She was a counselor (as well as a mentor to counselors) for seven summers in the pine trees of Camp Augusta, an intentional community in California steeped in the philosophies of Non-Violent Communication.
She has a Masters Degree in Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling from Naropa University. She went on to study Expressive Arts and Eco Therapy at Appalachian State University. She has completed The Matrona Birth Doula Training and additional coursework focusing on physiologic baby care.
She believes children are our teachers, as much as we are their guides.
Margaret is honored and excited to be joining the Fauna Forest Farm team this year!
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