Tonight was an example of spontaneous free range learning. Inspired by a random Facebook post we hopped on a bus and headed into the city to attend a free lecture on Indigenous Astronomy at the MCA. Why?

Why not.

The lecture started with the embarrassing quite from 'some silly prime minister' on what our country was like prior to white settlement.

I liked the lecturer immediately.

He went on to talk about aboriginal sites which reflect the Milky Way (rainbow serpent/ river/) and other stellar formations which all have various dreamtime stories. The interesting thing is many if the stories coincide with the Greek legends we know...like pliedes being a group of sisters. Weird huh?

After the lecture we participated in a fun craft activity which had us making up constellations and building paper sculptures out of them. Delightful - even for the boys who were super reluctant at first ;)

We were so full of joie de vivre after our crafting we decided to have ice cream sundaes for dinner, and after that we were so full of sugar we decided to walk around and look at the newly erected Christmas trees in Martin place and Pitt at mall.

Disco tree was kinda tacky but the Lego tree was as cute as, well a huge tree made out of Lego!

Love this city and love this off the grid education!!!

We enjoyed a special Farmschool today led by our friend and neighbour Sheryl. Sheryl is a cracker of a lady - fierce and funny, smart and sassy, clever and kind. She also happens to be an expert on wetlands and salt marsh ecosystems and freely shared her vast knowledge with us Farmschoolers on all things 'mangrove'.

We learnt about these magnificent trees and their very special role in the river environment. From being a nursery for 80% of the creatures that inhabit the water to filtering out salt and pollutants, the mangroves are integral to the health of the whole ecosystem. They have funky seeds who have perfectly adapted to fall from the tree viveperous ('alive'), float on the water and grow very quickly when they find mud.

We wandered along the rivers edge, marvelling at the pneumatophores ('carry breath') sticking out of the mud like craggy little snorkels. We tasted the leaves which exude salt which the plant can't use. We looked at flowers and air roots and the beautiful bendy shapes of the mangroves' trunks and branches.

We adventured along, crossing a narrow bridge and climbing over a fence - all in the name of education ;)

We also examined a patch of highly endangered samphire.

The whole botany lesson was peppered with fascinating Aboriginal history and bush tucker.

And wonderful questions.

And enlightening answers.

And interesting conversations.

And children falling in love with plants.

Respect to the mighty mangroves!! We are so lucky to have this unique ecosystem in our backyard, and such wonderful members of our community willing to share their knowledge in our backyard too!

I have to give kudos to the kids as well. They were totally involved and present and even enthusiastic about their 'worksheets' at the end.

Love these Farmschoolers!