IN THE NEWS:

MARCH 2025

A central focus for Healing Roots Collaborative in 2025 has been to connect with environmental educators in the area around Teejop, the four-lakes region of lands of the Ho-Chunk people, known as Madison, WI. Executive Director, Ellen Sims, has been meeting 1:1 with various educators who have their own businesses offering nature-based programs to children and families. In March, Ellen met in person with the broader group who collectively wanted to connect and explore possibilities for collaboration in connecting people with nature.

Members of this gathering included leaders of Outdoors We Learn (OWL), Naturing in Madison, Playful Acorns, Hike and Heal Wellness, Camp Wingra, OASIS, and Wild Harmony Nature Connection. It was a collective process focused on working together with each person bringing their own gifts and talents to serve our community and the natural world.

Ellen shared their excitement about making these connections, “We will continue to meet and further this collaboration. It was a great first step and action is already taking place. It’s such a joy to work together and not be in competition!” Healing Roots Collaborative is living into the “collaborative” part of our mission by providing structure for communication among the group. Next steps include planning a Nature Everywhere Day on June 1st for anyone who wants to come out and play, learn, and hear stories in nature. Stay tuned for more details.

Our Executive Director, Ellen Sims, attended the Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference in February 2025 and made many important connections to support the growth of Healing Roots Collaborative. One connection from Marbleseed was with a student leader from the Sustainable Lawrence University Garden (SLUG) at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. SLUG invited Healing Roots Collaborative to help them learn how to tend their small orchard. In March, Ellen developed and offered a workshop to SLUG members on a holistic approach to honoring and caring for fruit trees. 

The workshop began with taking time to honor the Indigenous peoples who were the original stewards of the land on which the SLUG garden now operates, and on which the students currently live. Gratitude was given to the people of the Menominee and Ho-Chunk Nations, with recognition of the land having been stolen from them through U.S. colonialism. Ellen shared, “It was a powerful experience and the students shared they had not done a land acknowledgement in this way before. We spoke about the interconnectedness of all the beings present, including ourselves.” 

Following this practice of grounding with gratitude, the workshop included a process to clarify shared goals for the orchard, time to observe the whole ecosystem, as well as the path of the sun, and then to figure out how to prune the trees for the best outcome of all. Each person was shown the proper pruning techniques and methods for least harm and then had a chance to practice pruning.

Ellen described, “throughout our time together in the SLUG garden, we questioned, observed, and made decisions through group consensus, considering the non-human kin with whom we were relating. There were smiles and laughter throughout the workshop. I’ve never felt happier than to share these skills and orientation to relating with the natural world with young people such as those from SLUG who are incredibly thoughtful and caring.”

Ava of SLUG said after the workshop, “Ellen, thank you again for all the time you gave us yesterday and I want to let you know you left us all feeling so inspired and connected to our land! You’re an excellent and gentle teacher and I saw you inspire agency in my friends and it left me feeling so emotional. A big big thank you from SLUG!”

Healing Roots Collaborative has been asked to come back to SLUG to support continued learning and maintenance of the orchard. We are grateful for this growing collaboration!