Adele Jarrett-Kerr

Writing, thinking and parenting for compassionate living
Seven acts of revillaging for Christmas
Community

Seven acts of revillaging for Christmas

[Image description: flat lay of mince pies, apples, pine cones, evergreen branches and a hot drink. Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash] Christmas is often sold to us as a time of togetherness. Perhaps this has a practical function, especially in cold climates where dark, frigid days are prone to leaving us feeling disconnected and less energetic. But “sold” is the operative word when commercial entities max on our natural longing for real community. We are encouraged to overspend in order to connect or to buy distraction as a plaster for our pain. Yet because it’s a time where we’re…

November 16, 2019
Having a snack with the Gruffalo
Family

Having a snack with the Gruffalo

Sponsored by Organix I’m really aware that we’ve been rushing about a lot lately, despite our best intentions. With two road trips in two weekends, recently we really needed to put some thought into slowing down and creating opportunities to quietly connect, preferably outdoors where nature absorbs any excess. Weekend before last we were up in Bristol all doing things separately: a friend’s hen party, a farming workshop and recording another episode of my launching soon podcast. So it made sense to replace a service station stop or bombing down the motorway in one go with a family walk somewhere.…

October 29, 2019
We’ve talked about rewilding. Let’s talk about revillaging.
Family

We’ve talked about rewilding. Let’s talk about revillaging.

[image description: Adele sits in an arm chair, holding a mug] When my first child was a baby, someone close to me asked whether I thought attachment parenting was hard on mothers. I couldn’t deny that keeping our baby close and mothering her responsively was demanding. At times I felt like more of me was being wrung out than not. The question put me on the defensive if I’m honest. Was I really making life harder for myself by choosing to do the things that felt so instinctive in this new relationship with this person my body, soul and mind…

October 14, 2019
Showing up as myself
Family

Showing up as myself

[image description: Adele and her youngest child sit in the greenhouse, looking at the camera] You may have noticed that I’ve changed this website’s name and URL to my own: Adele Jarrett-Kerr. When I started this blog nine years ago, it was called Circus Queen, bringing the chaotic and performative together as I blogged about new motherhood. In the last few years it’s seen a re-incarnation as Beautiful Tribe, which was meant to denote bringing likeminded people together in an online space but I just haven’t had the energy to really bring that to fruition. It’s been what it’s been…

September 26, 2019
Moving from “having it all” to “sharing it all”
Family

Moving from “having it all” to “sharing it all”

Last night we had the fun of speaking at a Stranger Collective Firelight at an off grid escape in North Cornwall called Kudhva. We were invited to tell the story of what we’re doing, setting up a farm so we can share the parenting, home educating and paid work more equally. The farm’s been going for a good while now and I haven’t explained much about what we’ve been up to on the blog so I thought I’d stick the vague script on here. I say “vague” because this is just what we discussed beforehand – we didn’t necessarily keep…

September 20, 2019
Preparing for the new home education year
Learning at home

Preparing for the new home education year

We don’t always follow the school terms because we generally don’t need the respite of holidays. But I burned out in a big way this last year, trying to do too many things at once. We started the farm and I upped my freelancing, I also simultaneously increased my volunteering as a breastfeeding counsellor and wrote and performed a collection of poems at a literary festival. All amazing things but a lot to take on all at once. We also had the busiest year in terms of activities the kids were doing outside the home. It’s meant a lot of…

August 20, 2019
The village takes vulnerability
Family

The village takes vulnerability

“What’s wrong with the baby?” a child asked at a music event when my youngest was a few weeks old. The question innocently reminded me that the intense rash all over her face and body was unmissable. I kept telling myself it would go on its own. I hoped it would. I also hoped her bubbly poo would settle down. It was the right colour so I was confused about what it could be and I wondered whether the two symptoms might be connected, along with the colicky evenings. By then, I’d been a breastfeeding peer supporter for four and…

June 20, 2019

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