Venture with us into the kitchen, garden, and beyond, as Alicia Garcia breathes new life into the concept of home economics—a subject that's evolved from mere household management to an indispensable toolkit for life, motherhood and education.
Alicia is a chef, designer, and novice urban gardener who's passionate about building community through a love of nature, foodways, and sustainable living. Project Flourish is my opportunity to honor these beautiful connections—Find out more about the work Alicia is doing at Project Flourish!
If you feel inspired please consider sharing this episode with a friend, writing a 5⭐️ review or becoming a Raising Wild Hearts Member here!
Venture with us into the kitchen, garden, and beyond, as Alicia Garcia breathes new life into the concept of home economics—a subject that's evolved from mere household management to an indispensable toolkit for life, motherhood and education.
Alicia is a chef, designer, and novice urban gardener who's passionate about building community through a love of nature, foodways, and sustainable living. Project Flourish is my opportunity to honor these beautiful connections—Find out more about the work Alicia is doing at Project Flourish!
If you feel inspired please consider sharing this episode with a friend, writing a 5⭐️ review or becoming a Raising Wild Hearts Member here!
I love nature. It soothes me, it's accessible. I have four children, two girls, two boys different ages. Nature is something that everybody can agree on, so it just and it fills me up, it fills us all up in so many ways.
Speaker 2:Welcome, Revolutionary Mama, to the Raising Wild Hearts podcast. I'm Ryan Watkin, educator and a member of the family of three. Revel at heart and passionate soul, on a mission to empower and inspire you.
Speaker 2:Here we'll explore psychology, spirituality, parenthood and the intersection where they all come together. We'll discover how challenges can be fertile soil for growth and that even in the messy middle of motherhood, we can find magic in the mundane. Join me on my own personal journey as I talk to experts and share resources on education, creativity, self care, family, culture and more. I believe we can change the world by starting at home, in our own minds and hearts, and that when we do, we'll be passing down the most important legacy there is Healing, and so it is. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Raising Wild Hearts podcast. So happy you're here and joining me for today's amazing conversation. Today I'm talking to Alicia Garcia. Alicia is a chef, a designer and a novice urban gardener. She's rather unlikely in your typical educational spaces, but she says learning happens everywhere, right. She's passionate about building community through love of nature, foodways and sustainable living. Project flourish is her opportunity to honor those beautiful connections. And through project flourish, Alicia is staying committed to her vision and purpose through offering educational opportunities for kids and parents alike, which offer opportunities to learn about nourishing your body, nourishing your mind and establishing successful rhythms for life. This conversation is really so filled with wisdom and I'm so excited to share it with you. Alicia had me speechless at a few points of the interview because she's just so intertwined with the mission that her and project flourish have created. And I get so excited when I hear somebody talk about revolutionizing the way we educate, revolutionizing the way we raise our families and really creating a new way for how we work and live and show up in this life. And if you enjoy this conversation as much as I did, please share the link with a friend and if you have an extra minute, hop down on Spotify or Apple podcasts and leave a five star review with some words about why you love listening and showing up every week. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Let's dive in to today's interview, Alicia, welcome to the Raising Wild Hearts podcast. Hello, hello. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, I'm so excited that you're here and I'm so excited that we crossed paths. You are a beacon of hope, I might call you, in our community, and I don't know how we ended up coming into each other's fears, but I'm glad that we did. And I took a class with you a few weeks plus back and I left your class feeling really inspired and really hopeful, for a number of different reasons. You're so brilliant at what you do, so I'm really excited to just like pick your brain and have a conversation about your passion and your skills and the beautiful service that you're bringing to our community. So let's start with Project Flourish. Why Project Flourish? How did you come up with the idea and what's the purpose that it serves for you and for the ones that you serve.
Speaker 1:My heart is full. Thank you for all those kind words. It means a lot.
Speaker 1:Project Flourish came about through some major transition from my family. We were just in a really busy season. My husband and I owned a catering company that was really successful and wonderful but led to just a lot of burnout trying to navigate life with four kiddos. And we just had an opportunity and took a leap of faith and moved our family to this organic farm in the middle of nowhere not in the middle of nowhere in Athens, Georgia, but coming from Metro Atlanta, it just seemed like such a departure from all of the city life that we had known. Prior to.
Speaker 1:I was managing a farmer's market and that came with building a lot of relationships with the local community, obviously the farmers.
Speaker 1:One piece of that was entrepreneurship and just like being the vessel of these local foodies and artisans trying to cultivate their skill set into business at the farmer's market and that was that aspect.
Speaker 1:But just like the culture shock that it was for my family and so many beautiful ways of just living off the land, making observations about wow, this food tastes so much better than the food that was available to us from the grocery store and how like building these relationships with this community, like we didn't even need a grocery store, but also, at the same time, we're really taking a leap of faith into homeschooling full time. And that was, of course, beautiful and overwhelming and messy as you learn new things, but bridging the gap between what I was doing work wise and homeschooling, it just was like let's do them together. And that's kind of where Project Floorish came from, because my family was flourishing in a way that we just based on environment and based on just this connection to nature and community and land and service. So it's just kind of like the intersection of all those things is basically how Project Floorish started.
Speaker 2:Wow. So I'm having this like strange deja vu moment, like in the moment, which is like always to me, like this, like higher self going like yes, you're on the right path, so that, yay for that. That was really interesting. As you were talking, it brought up all these like familiar feelings. I believe that we can like have these things in our lives that we're passionate about. I believe we can have them all intersect.
Speaker 2:I'm like such on that path right now, like intersecting our homeschooling experience with this podcast, with, you know, creating a family and raising children and, you know, becoming more mindful and all these things like they're, they're all there's like a through line for all of it and for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when we can connect those dots in our house, in our homes. It really helps the world, like I say in the podcast, like we can change the world by starting at home, in our own minds and hearts, and like I just I really believe that that's possible and to me, I see you doing that through Project Flourish and the education and the skills that you're bringing to the table in the service. So that's so beautiful, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I took a class with you around rhythms and the reason I like went to your website, read about the class and was like sign up like full stop, like, and because I am a flowy person.
Speaker 2:I wake up in the day. I wake up in the morning and I go oh, what do I feel like doing today? And let me tell you, as a mom of three kids a homeschooling mom of three kids, not to mention, doesn't really always work out for the most like efficient or organized day. It can get really messy and you know just really all sorts of things. Yeah. So, as someone who's like more in the flow, I'm like I need to embrace a little bit more of this structure, this rhythm, so that class in particular, and the way that you work with daily rhythms in your life. How did you come to embrace that, how did you learn about it and why are you teaching that to other people now?
Speaker 1:I too, am a flowy person. I love this label. I too am a flowy person. I too like to march to my own rhythm and for kids and life doesn't always dictate, like, doesn't allow for that, and I was like, but it needs to, but it needs to. So how can I put, like the infrastructure in place that like supports this all? And so it's just like.
Speaker 1:Rhythm is adjacent to a schedule, you know, but it's not, it's not so rigid as a schedule, which I feel like can set you up for failure sometimes. And who, like who, needs that pressure and a daily basis? Like kids are a lot, life is a lot, just being, just being, is a lot. So, like can we have some grace in how we go through the motions of all of these things that we have to do? And so, as I just slowly figure that out and, as you know, like very much through my kitchen mindset of just kind of like preparing for the rush, because that's what your, that's what chefs are doing, I just wanted to apply that to daily life and then, once I kind of got it into a good place, that kind of worked for me and my family, and then just continue to have conversations with other, like families in the community or moms at my class who were like how are you doing this? I just wanted to share. I just wanted to share because everybody needs grace. Like, yeah, what are we doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so approachable, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I was like.
Speaker 2:I could, like I can, dig a rhythm. It's so much less like daunting than like a checklist or like a schedule. Like I hate on checklists and check boxes all the time because I can't do them like there's nothing wrong with those. Like you might be a checklisty or a check off the box person, but I'm just not, and so I love that. You said a rhythm is adjacent to a schedule, so I think we need to have a still room to flow within said container.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Correct, correct and like there's still these objectives and things that we have to accomplish and we give ourselves some bandwidth about when they need to be done. But number one, we've kind of actualized and set the attention that these things need to happen and there are some parameters around the time frame, but it's just not so rigid where you're set up for success or failure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, I love that. So prepare for the rush is one of the things that we talked about in the class and I love that. You said it just now, because I haven't written down prepare for the rush, and you explained it to me in a way that I was like, yeah, that makes so much sense. If you know what dinner is going to be four nights a week, then you already are just like ahead of the game.
Speaker 2:Like it's Tuesday night at 430 is not the time to plan for Tuesday night dinner at five, like it's not, and I think that's the trap we get into At least I know I do. We think that like, oh, it's fine, I've got 30 minutes to prepare. But when you have like an intention and a thought beforehand, I think that was a beautiful, a beautiful lesson. So I want to talk about specifically to involving kids into meal planning, because what we talked about in class was like brilliant in that you're involving everybody in the family in this conversation. So let's talk about that a little. How do we involve everybody, not just us?
Speaker 1:Right, because everyone should be an active participant. Number one you're not like, this whole illusion of head of household is just like so much pressure, like we're all stakeholders and all doing life together, and so if we can just set the intention and make that like the norm, we are already ahead of the game. And kids are picky eaters, okay. So if we can give them a sense of agency and being a part of the process, like that's huge, that is really huge. So, as far as meal planning goes, I have the parameters and a structure of we know that we need so many meals per day, per week. What have you? We have an inventory or a database of the proteins or just the different staple items that we typically shop or grow or have.
Speaker 1:Then now let's just play Tetris. Let's play Tetris and with things that you guys like, things that you're interested in, things that you may have tried at Grandma's house or out at the grocery I don't know restaurant per se and just kind of evoke that into our weekly meal plans, and so it's really fun for them to be a part of the process. There's agency and there's a buy-in and now you're that much more apt to try it because you've been a part of the process to create it. So it's a win-win and it takes something off of your plate while teaching them a skill in the process that's gonna serve them for a lifetime.
Speaker 2:Totally. And then they don't just think like, oh mom is just gonna serve me dinner every single night of my life and then get to a point where they need to serve themselves dinner, whatever age that might be, whether it's like 14 or 16 or 20, whatever. They're understanding what goes into preparing for a meal, the economics of it, the money of it.
Speaker 2:The shopping of it, the choosing, the putting it together, the cleanup, like I think it's so important for them to see how our households work behind the scenes, correct, and it's something that's missing right now from culture. You like said the phrase home economics and I was like, yeah, we used to do that. It's like I used to be a thing, and so let's dive a little into that. Like, why home economics? Where did that come from? For you, like, how was that phrase reborn in your world, or did it never go away? For you?
Speaker 1:It never went away for me. My family is a big Jamaican family and it's just centered around music and food, like that's what our gatherings just consist of. Those are the boxes that you would check, like those are the things that need to happen. And so I think I've always just had a really deep love language with food and connection.
Speaker 1:Home economics I took it in high school just thinking, oh, it's just a cooking class like most of us do, like okay, we like to eat, sign me up. And then just realized it was so much more Like that. It was about personal development. It was about budgeting, which led to independence for me, like just to be able to advocate for myself on a number of levels and navigate, you know, a larger sense of the world. And also just like my mom was a working mom, like a powerhouse, which I loved her for it, but it also meant that we needed more support at home and I didn't ever. And then me as a mom myself, like I never liked this like silent suffering thing of we're always doing it all. So home economics for me just like I loved it in school, I loved I got a scholarship based on my affiliation with like clubs and what I did in high school for home economics and that's what led me to culinary arts school.
Speaker 1:I also have a degree in fashion design and that very much just lends itself to just kind of the textiles and just living.
Speaker 1:Both of these things are areas of dressing a life really, and so that's kind of where home economics, just kind of my love and passion for it came, and then just being able to grow with that, see it in my household, see that we were all caretakers and equally responsible for that pride of place in our home, and then, obviously, how we presented ourselves out in the world, like it was just something that I knew I wanted to kind of instill in my children.
Speaker 1:I feel like not, I feel like I know it's more important than a lot of the stuff that we're being taught in a textbook that's not really applicable and relevant to real life. I feel like this is I can learn. I can learn algebra, and that's wonderful, and I should, however, like balancing maybe not balancing a checkbook, but knowing how to reconcile my checking account like is more applicable and knowing how to kind of a lot, how much I need for finances versus a fund, budget versus savings, Like all of these things affect us on a daily level and just home economics, I just feel like, is really core subject matter, so I wanted to just bring that to more people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as far as you know, is that being taught anywhere? Like, do you have your finger on the pulse of that?
Speaker 1:It is Well, no, I can't, it is, but it's more just culinary arts. Some of it is still labeled home economics, but for the most part it is mostly just cooking, which is very much a part of it, but it is also very much like personal development.
Speaker 1:It's also about how you're doing your laundry. It's also about what you need to wear for an interview. It's very much a development of self and more than just the cooking aspect of it. No, I see versions of it in different places. We see like financial literacy classes, okay. We see professional development like specialties, depending on whatever that niche is, and we see cooking classes. We definitely don't see anybody helping you mend any textile. So there are versions of it that have been kind of dissected out, but no, I'm not seeing home economics anywhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm remembering it. I mean, I think that culinary arts was the most memorable part of it, but I think that we also had to, like, take care of, like an egg baby and make sure you crack. I'm pretty sure sewing was involved and I'm pretty sure budgeting. So it was like this more holistic, I guess, version of what it is now. So I guess that brings me to as parents like we in a sense. I don't like to use the word obligated, because we're not obligated to do anything that we don't wanna do, really, but I think that there's some sense of necessity, that it means to come from home and that home, regardless of how you choose to educate your children, whether it's homeschooling or public school, private school, whatever like home, is still a place of learning.
Speaker 2:It's not. It doesn't turn off.
Speaker 1:It never turns off and it's still like our greatest teacher. Well, part of I mean nature, of course, to me is the greatest teacher. But home, like, yes, home, we're always learning. So, people, even when you're asking me about like how I'm choosing to educate my kids, I'm like we're still all learning at home, at whatever age we're modeling it never it's always primary, it's always home first. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's double click on the nature piece. Like you said, nature is the best teacher. Let's get into that a little bit. Where did that come from for you, and how do you bring nature into your life on a daily basis?
Speaker 1:I love nature, it suits me, it's accessible. I have four children, two girls, two boys, different ages. Nature is something that everybody can agree on, if you're right. So it just, and it fills me up, it fills us all up in so many ways. And then if we're talking about my love of food and community, like you can't have those two pieces without like talking about nature and starting with why and where and how it connects so many dots. So that is the nature piece for me, for sure.
Speaker 1:But then that time on the farm, like just really surrendering to the land, like and our emotions of just my husband and I particularly just coming down off of just that really energy charge situation of our business, it just healed us and that, even when that was in Atlanta, and then moving to Florida, back to Florida, because this is where I grew up Just being by the beach, like nature's medicine, it's just, it's everything. So I love to incorporate it in as much as I possibly can. I just feel like it's soothing for kids and everyone on so many levels. And again, if we're talking about self care, there's no way to not like highlight nature. If we're talking about quality food, again nature. If we're talking about natural apothecary. It still comes back to nature. So always trying to highlight it, celebrate it and just further build awareness for others that I have the opportunity to reach with just kind of connecting those dots.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you have a sense that we as humans are nature like that? We are nature too. Is that kind of like the belief system you carry, that we're a part of the ecosystem?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. Somewhat of agitators right now, but some of us, but yes, in the big scheme of things, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we have a tendency to like see ourselves as separate from nature, like something outside of us. But if we like kind of think about it a little deeper and like that we are nature, then of course, like it's a rejuvenating force, it's a, like you said, accessible. We can all go outside. I mean, if you have young kids and you're like at home with them at any point in the week and if things are just going a little off the wall and everybody goes outside, like you can sense that something is different.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right it, just it is just like this balm, I think.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about I'm trying to figure out where I want to go, because I have a lot of questions for you. Let's talk a little bit about motherhood and business ownership, entrepreneurship, that realm and because you mentioned burnout before your story, before moving to the farm and healing from that so how do you A be a mom and an entrepreneur and, b also make sure that there's a slowness and a stillness to it and that you're not getting caught up in that burnout again?
Speaker 1:By never paying attention to what anybody else is doing, by being lawless, like honestly, by being like job crafting. Job crafting, like whenever I've worked outside of the home and people are like you have four kids, I'm like you pay me to rest, you just. But job crafting is the answer, like because society is not, we're not set up for success, just to. I mean, that's a whole rabbit hole, but I just feel like I feel like we're not set up for success as far as just support to work full time or to care, take, like I just on so many levels. So job crafting is my answer and that's very much like I needed to build a business that supported my passions but also made sense financially, that I was able, like it made sense to step away from my family in certain regards to pursue these things. I just I don't think that I just feel like it's job crafting, it's constantly filtering. I've constantly filtered to figure out, like, where my strengths lie, what my family's threshold is, what our schedule needs to be, that makes sense for us, if paying attention to my children's emotions about how much time I'm away and are the things that I'm doing serving me and does it make sense to be away in certain regards and always kind of setting myself up for success in a situation where there are scenarios and environments and spaces that my family is always welcome, because that's important to me and knowing that I can do my best work. I know that my family is cared for and well.
Speaker 1:So it's just been a matter of job crafting and that's really just like filtering, figuring out which things I like, which things serve me, figuring out a schedule, figuring out the financials of it to make it make sense, and just kind of trial and erroring. All of that until I figure out a suitable scenario and is constantly an evolution still now, as my kids grow, as their needs change, as our schedules change. So it's constantly a living, breathing working practice. But I have to do that for myself through entrepreneurship because no, no job is going to give me that grace. No regular nine to five is going to give me that grace. So it came from entrepreneurship. I just it had to and I feel like as mothers we're already executive functioning. So I don't think that there is anybody more suited to run businesses than us.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I mean you had me at lawless First. Of all it's just so good. What I'm hearing you say is you're making your own damn path because the systems that we have set up are not set up to support mothers period, let alone a mother who wants to pursue financial.
Speaker 2:You know independence, or like yes, providing financially like, let alone financial, independence. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh my gosh, I'm obsessed with that. That's so inspiring right now, as somebody who feels like culture is saying no, you can't have it all. You can't homeschool your kids and do the podcast and have a business, and the amount of times that I've heard that I can't have it all is like fueling this fire for me to go like the hell.
Speaker 2:I can't like right, show you and that's what I'm seeing you do and what I'm hearing you say, and thank you for paving the way, because we are here and we are following you many of us and looking to you, going that like I want that she's doing what I want and it's so important. So, thank you.
Speaker 1:You're so welcome. I'm just. I'm figuring it out as I go as I've seen other mothers and inspiring women do the same, and it's been a beautiful process supported by other women like I can't tell you how many times I needed to rely on mommy, friends to be in spaces that I needed to be in a professional capacity where I didn't have childcare, and they held me down and I held them down like it's just. I mean, the future is female, but one thing at a time yes, right.
Speaker 2:There's so much, there's so much, there's so much so good, just like picturing you at an event with your mom, friends, like just like watching your kids, or like wrangling them for you, or just you know, like that's, that's I use this word so much, but it's revolutionary to have this choice of like I'm going to go make money while doing what I love and having my family with me.
Speaker 2:Like that sink in, because it's a possibility, you know, and so many of us don't know that until we see it, and it's just, it's a beautiful testament to where we're going. Yeah, as a culture, I believe you know. Oh, it's so good, it's so good. I get caught up in like limitations a lot and I think a lot of us do. So to have this like expanding conversation surrounding what's possible is just like I can't say it enough. This is so important it's, it's big.
Speaker 1:My thing is always it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of how. So I apply that If I realize that it serves me and it's something that I want to do, like there's always the questions of does it serve me, does it serve my family, and then it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of how, and then you have your stakeholders to help you figure out the how. But yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:So who are your stakeholders? Like? Where and how do we find said stakeholders in our own lives?
Speaker 1:Your stakeholders are your village, and that is just a combination of. My husband, of course, is my biggest cheerleader and I couldn't. You know, so many of these things aren't possible without him. But aside from him, it's also just like some really dear mommy, friends, my brother, my brother-in-law, my mom it's just those people who are there for you, like at your messiest, at your greatest, and every gamut in between, yeah, that just see you in all of your authentic like beauty, for all the things that you want to pursue, and are there just in your corner. And that's professionally, personally, and you know everything in between, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so big. Is that how you, is that how you developed? Your love for community is like through this sense that there is a village and that, like that's a real thing in life. Is that why Project Flourish is like a lot of community as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think that I think that's very much like the kitchen mentality though. Like, if you're a chef, you know that it's, it's just kitchen chemistry. Like you can't, you're not even as a brilliant chef, you can't do anything by yourself. There's a brigade, there's a brigade, there's a whole team behind you in that kitchen that's working together like in a rhythm to create whatever the successful dish service of the night is, and then you also get to break bread together and have a staff meal together and just kind of that sense of chosen family. It's just this mentality of chosen family and, yes, I think that I've carried that with me. Just feeling that and being charged and loved through that is just so wonderful and empowering to be able to have your family plus, like all this bonus love, Like yeah, once you feel that natural high, like wouldn't you evoke that everywhere you go if you could? So yes, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think this is a good point to start talking about food a little bit. We've hinted at it. It's like it's behind and intertwined and it looks like everything you do. So let's talk about food you mentioned. Like food that's freshly grown from a farm actually tastes different. So I guess maybe what's the significance you see in food in our lives? Because I think it's become like a thing that we have to do, like we have to eat, or like eating breakfast on the go where there's drive-thrus, there's all these like convenience and packaged meals and like what's your take on food? What's the symbolism in our daily lives of it and how do we, maybe as busy moms, like just come back to the sacredness of what food is?
Speaker 1:Oh, this is a good one. Food is an energy exchange for me and I feel like people apply that like notion of thought when having an exchange with other beings. But food you engage more than people, like multiple times a day and depending on how you interact with it, it's either helping or hurting. So that relationship should really be beautiful. It should really be beautiful. It has the effect like to like bring you to the doctor more or less okay, which now changes the trajectory of your lifestyle and your finances based on your medical needs, like your ability to have movement and play with your kids or have energy or capacity. It affects your like cognitive functioning. It affects, like, your emotions on so many levels and if we're like talking about I'm just on so many levels, so it's an energy exchange, I just feel like it deserves the highest attention.
Speaker 2:I was not expecting you to say that. Out of all the things I was like oh my God, it's an energy exchange.
Speaker 1:It's an energy exchange multiple times a day, multiple times a day that affects other energy exchanges that you have.
Speaker 2:It's a really, really powerful way to frame it. God, that's interesting.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to talk about food for me for a second and then like we'll start to wrap up and I'll ask you the three questions I ask everybody at the end of the interview. So here's what I noticed. For me and food it feels like and I wonder if you have a take on this like where we get our, the way we think about food, like is it something that culture gives us, or growing up or whatever and for me, food has always been like kind of a burden or something that's like like to give me like a little hit till the next time, like a little dopamine hit. It's always been like a little like oh, I just need like a little pick me up, like kind of a thing. And it's when I have, over the past number of years, like explored and just like dove a little deeper into where's this coming from, like I love nothing more than like this plate with like colors and textures and flavors, and I'm like not giving myself that daily and this is all like connected.
Speaker 2:And we're like circle, because if I'm not prepared for it like I know that that's what I want and need to nourish my body, yet If I'm not prepared for the rush with the cabbage chopped up and the chicken already cooked and the dressing made and all these things, then I'm like keeping that from myself, I'm like holding a need off from myself that I know I need, I know I want it, I know it's gonna make me feel good, I know it's gonna make me feel nourished, I know it's gonna give me energy, yet I still don't do it. And it's like this fascinating thing that we know what's good for us as humans and yet we still don't do it. And so I don't even know if there's a question in there.
Speaker 2:That's just like what's coming to me with like food and the way that we nourish ourselves as mothers, like just ourselves before anybody else. So maybe you have some thoughts on that, on how. Maybe the question is like how do we nourish ourselves first as mamas?
Speaker 1:We can't over complicate it and, like society has taught us and marketed us to like over complicate the entire process and like, as you just talked about not having the dressing made or the vegetables chopped and the chicken prepped, like sure, but there are a million like fruits and nuts and snacky things that you could snack on in the interim that are just equally fast food that serve us rather than us feel like we have to have this whole put together meal, like we talked about in the class, like this grazing board that I put out every morning and that we just grazed from throughout the day. And a lot of the times it's not things that have been like I don't know beautifully crafted and thought out, but it's just like. No, it's just like dried apricots and nuts and some apples and pita chips and what have you. But the point is everything on there is something that I'm deliriously happy with, because I put the intention to buy things that serve us right and just put it out easily. We don't have to.
Speaker 1:Maybe you don't have the time for a whole complicated meal, but there's still like nourishing little bits of grazing that you can do, that will serve you. And again, it's about like it being accessible. So if it's just like I don't know, some fruits and some protein shakes and some nuts or things that like and also like we always snack in our car. So if it's because that's when you're still and you realize you're hungry, so if it's a matter of having a mason jar of almonds or whatever, a trail mix or some things or some protein bars or whatever in your bag, like, make it accessible for you.
Speaker 1:But again with the thought that every time you put something in your mouth you're helping or hurting. And I don't say that to like, that's just a reminder for me. I don't want it to be like a guilt producing kind of like notion. But if we just kind of keep that mentality and that mindset, you know, somewhere close by, it can be super helpful. Because then, when you do and then you shift to eating like that avocado, like slabbed on a piece of bread, real quick, versus something else that wasn't as nutritious, like again, there's that energy exchange. It gives you more energy and fuels you in the right way to just have a better capacity to go through the motions of your day. So I think it's just about again being lawless, like we don't have to have this beautiful meal in front of us. We just have to have some things that are accessible, that serve us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. It's beautiful. It's like it's so simple and we don't have to be. For me, it's like perfect. It doesn't have to be the perfect meal with all the colors and the macros and whatever. It's just making a different choice of now what to put in my body and also for me, like not getting to the point of so hungry I'm gonna die.
Speaker 2:Like because I think sometimes you know for myself, I'll like, oh my God, I'm so hungry, like two hours ago, and I just realized it. So, and that's when we get into the like, grab whatever's closest. And then we realized like, oh, that was from like a frantic energy or that was from like a lack energy of oh God, I didn't have enough and there's not gonna be enough. And so, like I think that's what's coming up for me is like paying attention to your energy when you're eating. How hungry are you? Are you hungry at all?
Speaker 2:Cause sometimes we snack and we're not hungry Like so, just really starting to become aware of that. Your wisdom is helpful, Alicia. I could talk to you all day. I just like so appreciate your perspective.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're gonna start to wrap up, though, and I'm gonna ask you first what's bringing you joy today?
Speaker 1:Oh, what's bringing me joy today? My view. I have this beautiful view of these trees that are in my front yard and there's just like a slight breeze and so they're dancing just a little bit and the sun is just sprinkling in between the leaves, so, like there's, it's just really beautiful to look at Sunshine and greenery.
Speaker 2:Love it. Two of my favorites as well. What, if anything, are you reading right now? What?
Speaker 1:if anything, start with why which I've read before and I just always go back to it at different times in life and business wise, just to kind of like reground me. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good one. I've got my board right here the why in the middle, and then the how and then the what. I haven't always hear just like tweaking that middle portion, which is like the purpose, the cause, the belief of why you do what you do. But it's such a powerful read I'm gonna put that in the show notes in case you haven't read it yet. It's a good one, it's a goodie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a goodie. And then the last question I have for you is who or what have you learned the most from?
Speaker 1:Who or what have I learned the most from? I feel like it's definitely my children. It's definitely my like. They just bring me out of my comfort zone in so many beautiful, challenging, what in the world kind of ways that I learned so much about the world compassion, boundaries, sense of self, creating beautiful, beautiful, productive citizens that I want to be in this world because you're not just raising kids like you're raising future adults, but they are my greatest teacher for sure, for sure that's so beautiful.
Speaker 2:How can we find you, follow you and learn more about what you do?
Speaker 1:Projectflourishcommunitycom, and there also has my links for Facebook as well as Instagram. Yeah, so Project Flourish Community, you'll look for the knife and the fork and the sprig of rosemary, my favorite herb in between.
Speaker 2:Rosemary is one of my favorite too, and you are a beautiful and creative, talented visual storyteller. Your visuals and your images, your photos, are always just so beautiful and they really embody, I think, the sense of what you're doing at Project Flourish. So everybody go follow Alicia in Project Flourish. It's really really a wonderful organization with a wonderful mission behind it. So thank you again, alicia, for being here.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me. This was really cool. Really cool, yeah, قinformalcom.