Life Recipes

What is a life recipe? 

An illustrated life recipe is a brainchild of mine that surfaced when I realized that the single way to instantaneously absorb pertinent information worldwide is to see it in an image, and that we can prolifically and profoundly teach one another through simple, illustrated nonfiction. Multimedia may be used. It is important that the life recipe is seen less as a "how to" and more as a "'this-is-one-way-to-do-it-and-I-know-it-works" kind of framework, although concise and well-founded. I'll soon offer a framework so that these life recipes may be created by any author-student for nearly any work-period or project. 

Adolescent Erdkinder* from 2017-18 wrote the descriptions for the book we published in hopes to evolve into a publication that can benefit the school garden at Casa de Niños, Puerto Rico. They were on the farm approximately 6-10 times, and several chose to do their internship there. Our Erdkinder wrote - 

• Working with the land is so beneficial when learning. When we are outside and using our hands we are really experiencing and learning about whatever it is we are learning about. Like when we went to a farm for our Spanish class we got to garden and really got to experience what we were learning about. Getting out and playing in the dirt and being one with nature teaches us the life skills we don't experiences today. We rely on people to do things for us. We can get things with the tap of a button on our phone. Doing things for ourselves is something we all need to do more. Getting out and breathing fresh air and working - that is the importance of Erdkinder. 
• The importance of life recipes is giving you the ability to do things on your own.
• Working with the land is a very important part of healthy human life, perhaps especially for children. Rather than sitting inside a classroom or office, those who work with the land are doing relaxing practical work while learning essential life skills.
• I like when we do things with our hands. 
• In today's world we have forgotten how to do the simple things in life. This book is full of great tips and tricks to teach us how to "go back" and learn how to survive and thrive in nature. 
• Erdkinder life recipes can help people learn how to live without heavily relying on others. Knowing how to feed yourself is very valuable, especially if something were to happen. Erdkinder Life Recipes can help you want to be outside and play around and try new things.
• The importance is that people can learn differently.

What more needs to be said before we roll up our sleeves and grow some gardens with these children? Hopefully they won't "need" to grow their own food, but they'll live healthier lives if they do. 

Pura vida, 
Elise  


*Dr. Maria Montessori said that adolescents were Erdkinder, or children of the land, because of the nature of their developmental needs.