Why Communities Need Creativity with Rosie Ricketson

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Rosie Ricketson is a mother and award-winning creative producer passionate about maternal well-being.  With a background in the arts, Rosie curates community-led experiences and projects with a vision for a more connected world. 

In this episode, Rosie shares:

🌱Her Thoughts Investing in Community During Uncertain Times
🌱Creativity's Role in Building Community
🌱Modern Motherhood Challenges and Needs
🌱Balancing Parenting, Education, and Work Support

This conversation served as a tapestry woven with personal anecdotes, the wisdom of voices like Maggie Dent, and the transformative ripples that stem from intentional community engagement, reminding us how vital our bonds are for growth and survival. 

Grab a cuppa, listen in, and let us know your thoughts x

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Episode Transcript

Nicki Farrell (00:00):
Rose Rickerson is a mother, creative producer and
a nerd for maternal well-being.
With a background in the arts,rose curates community-led
experiences and projects with avision for a more connected
world.
She's produced award-winningfilm and podcast projects and
writes about her life, balancingcreativity and motherhood.
We'd like to acknowledge thetraditional custodians of the

(00:25):
land on which we record todaythe Kabi, kabi and Gabi Gabi
people.
We recognize their continuedconnection to the land and
waters of this beautiful place.
We recognize Aboriginal peopleas the original custodians of
this land and acknowledge thatthey have never ceded
sovereignty.
We respect all Gabi Gabi elders, ancestors and emerging elders,
and all First Nations peoplelistening today.

(00:46):
Today we chat to Rose all aboutinvesting in community and
belonging as preparation forclimate uncertainty.
We talk about creativity as away to explore the constantly
shifting identity of motherhoodand we talk about claiming your
own creative needs as mothers.
It's a nice juicy, creativemattressence kind of episode

(01:06):
today, so I hope you lean in andI hope it resonates with you
like it did me.

Vicci Oliver (01:13):
Welcome to Raising Wildlings, a podcast about
parenting, alternative educationand stepping into the
wilderness, however that lookswith your family.

Nicki Farrell (01:22):
Each week, we'll be interviewing experts that
truly inspire us to answer yourparenting and education
questions.
We'll also be sharing storiesfrom some incredible families
that took the leap and aretaking the road less travelled.

Vicci Oliver (01:35):
Wear your hosts, Vicki and Nikki from Wildlings
Forest School Popping yourheadphones.
Settle in and join us on thisnext adventure.

Nicki Farrell (01:43):
Welcome to the show.
Rose, I am really excited tohave you on today because I've
been following you.
I don't even know how I gotonto your account, but I've been
following you on Instagram fora long time and feel like you're
a kindred spirit aroundmotherhood and creativity and
community.
It's really nice to meet youand I can't wait to speak about
these things.
How are you going today?

Rosie Ricketson (02:06):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's such an honour to be onthis podcast that I've been
listening to for so many years.
I'm good today.
My kids are happily playingaround in the garden and I can
see them out the corner of thewindow, and it's so nice to be
sitting here chatting with youabout all things community,
motherhood, creativity myfavourite topics.

Nicki Farrell (02:28):
Same same same.
So let's let's get into it.
I think one of the reasonsthere's many reasons I've got
you on, but community is a bigone for me because I have loved
watching you go from.
I can't remember when I startedfollowing you I think you had
your first child, but maybe notyour second and I could see that
you were actively buildingcommunity.

(02:50):
Could you tell me what promptedyou to do that?
How hard or easy has it been,and what does that look like for
you?

Rosie Ricketson (02:58):
Look, I think I'm the kind of person who loves
a lot of relationships in mylife.
I always have been.
I grew up with a lot of oldersiblings and cousins and family
and neighbours around.
We had a very open door kind ofhouse growing up and I would
ride my bike around the villageand felt very much connected to
my community growing up.

(03:19):
So I think it was always a partof my instinct to recreate that
and that instinct really cameonline in a hard way after
having kids.
I started studying postnatalwell-being through the innate
traditions group when I wasabout two years postpartum with
my first child and learnt thatthe impulse to create community

(03:40):
is actually kind of wired intous as postpartum women.
Our nervous system requiressocial regulation and requires a
network especially of women andother children around us to
feel a sense of safety andbelonging that is required in

(04:00):
order to raise the nextgeneration collectively.
So I really loved finding thatout.
I loved finding out that that'spart of the human story.
I loved that resonated so muchwith me.
And look on the ground.
It's not always simple becausenot everyone feels this way.
Some people are very privateand that's okay.

(04:22):
I've had to learn that peoplenot everyone's like me.
I've had to learn that peopleare also triggered by it.
People are triggered bycommunity makers, I think as
well.
So I think it's a delicateprocess making community.
There's always going to bepeople who have conflict that

(04:45):
comes up.
I feel like I've been good atavoiding that to a certain
extent.
So, yeah, I guess there's thecommunity for me that's come
online.
That has been such a source ofbelonging and creativity for me,
really connecting with anonline community and writing

(05:06):
about motherhood, writing aboutthis fright of passage and
finding so many like-mindedwomen online and learning so
much from each other.
Then there's the physicalcommunity that I live in.
So I grew up in a pretty smallsuburb of Sydney by the sea and
now I live in a town of around2,000 people in the southern

(05:28):
tablelands, west east ofCanberra.
So I really like a small townbecause I like for the
familiarity of bumping intopeople that you might not even
know their name, but they alwayssmile at your kid or they
always say good day.
That brings me a real sense ofcomfort.
There's a real because thistown is quite small.

(05:52):
There's a real sense of like.
There's just a sense ofbelonging and this was really
illuminated for me during thebushfires that we all really do
belong to each other and lookout for each other, even if we
might not, you know, get alongon the surface or we might be
quite different people, butthere is a commonality of all

(06:15):
being in this together and thatmade me feel really inspired
through the fires, even thoughit was such a hard time for our
town, so many towns and it wasso much grief, you know.
It really illuminated thatactually we can all look after
each other and we do want tolook after each other and we do

(06:35):
want to feel connected to eachother.
So that was really comfortingfor me as well, because I do
feel on a macro level, I do feeland I felt this during the
pandemic as well that there isvery much a pandemic of
loneliness going on on theplanet and that's not how I want

(06:59):
to live and that's not how Iwant my children to live.
And when I look at nature,that's not how nature lives.
And to live in harmony with theplanet, which is something I
think we're going to have toreally figure out how to do.
Moving forward, following amore interdependent system of
relating to each other andrelating to the planet is going

(07:23):
to really help us survive.
So that's really a value setfor me that informs the way I
raise my kids and the way I workin community.
Turning those values into abusiness or a lifestyle is like
for many of us.
It's a challenge, becausehaving a value and a language
around it is one thing, buthaving business now and skills

(07:45):
to sell and create a businessaround a local business or a
business around this stuff isn'tas easy.
So that's been where mycreativity has been really
pushed and stretched as well.

Nicki Farrell (07:59):
I'd love to talk about a couple of your creative
pursuits because, again, they'reso intertwined with either
community and or motherhood.
So firstly, would you like tospeak about the podcast series
that you worked on for thebushfires, and then I'd love to
talk to about care club too.

Rosie Ricketson (08:19):
Yeah, so after the bushfires there was a little
community hub bushfire hub setup where people would come and
find resources and there werecouncil workers in there and, to
be clear, our area gotseriously smashed by fires.
All the roads were closed oversummer.
Many people lost their homes.
There were fires coming at usfrom every direction.

(08:40):
As soon as one went out,another would start.
It was a very hard and dry andscary time for us.
We were showering in a bucketand then putting the water on
the garden.
Every drop of water was sosacred and it's interesting to
remember that going into anotherhot summer at the moment.

(09:02):
We were going into the bushfirehub and we were realising that
we were hearing a lot of peoplewanting to tell their stories.
And when I say we, this is mycollaborator and I, claire Young
, who's a documentary filmmaker,and a lot of the council
workers were saying lookeveryone, there's a lot of
people here with incrediblestories and they need to be

(09:24):
recorded.
So we proposed the idea of apodcast.
We got some local funding to doit.
We did one and it was anamazing story.
It's called the Good People ofNarraga.
It's about how the communitysheltered in the pub.
So Narraga is a town whichreally just has a pub and a
little museum, and the familythat owned the pub that still

(09:48):
own it sheltered the wholecommunity in there, and there
were babies and kids and thegrandmothers in the back room
with all the babies and therewere, you know, everyone mucking
in together, sheltering underthis firestorm that came through
, and it's an incredible story.
We ended up sharing that storyfor the first time with that

(10:08):
community in a little hall a fewmonths later and it was a very,
very moving event because Ithink everyone had an
opportunity to have cry togetherand feel the reality of it
together, and a lot of peoplewho were there were, you know,

(10:30):
some stoic old Aussie pharmatypes who may not have ever
cried in public I don't know butI felt like it was a real
cultural moment.
We ended up winning an awardfor that event the Citizen
Community event awards onAustralia Day because it was a
really beautiful moment toacknowledge what we'd all been

(10:52):
through and especially that.
So there were beautifulspeeches and music and a lot of
artists and musicians writingsongs about that experience and
about the grief and yeah.
So then we got funded to dofive more episodes, which we
took another two years to dobecause there were.
Claire did up to over 170interviews.

Nicki Farrell (11:15):
Wow.

Rosie Ricketson (11:16):
Long interviews with people about their
bushfire experiences, and theseare people from all walks of
life.
So the yes, there was traumaand grief in those stories, of
course, but there was also areal sense of camaraderie and
hope and working together andcollaboration and looking after
each other.
That you know.

(11:36):
One of the main reasons wewanted to do this podcast was to
make sure that we didn't forgetthat, as a community how that
felt and forget that we can putthings aside to look after each
other.
That, yeah, that's somethingthat I hope can resonate through
communities now and we don'tforget it, because we are in the

(11:57):
face of an uncertain future andwe need constant reminder.
It can work together.

Nicki Farrell (12:04):
We're going to need to.

Rosie Ricketson (12:06):
That's right.
That's right.
So reminders that we'reactually in this together, I
think, is really positivecultural step moving forward.
And it's tough in small timesbecause, you know, we fall back
into step of the way things havealways been.
I remember a friend who'd beenin the Bosnian wars and she was

(12:28):
saying, all of a sudden, youknow these towns where there was
so much history and so much, somany grudges, this person
didn't talk to that person andthat person and all of a sudden,
as soon as the war hit,everything was forgotten and
people were in it together and Irealized, you know, this is a
tragic part of the humancondition that we only remember
to look out for each other whentimes are tough.

(12:50):
So I guess this is why wereally wanted to try and capture
that moment for us as acommunity and a nation that you
know we can look out, look outfor each other and we know how
to do it.
And because we're going to needto do it again.

Nicki Farrell (13:07):
Yeah, that's what I was just going to say that
investment.
What you're doing is activelyinvesting in community, Because
we are facing an uncertainfuture with the climate war.
Who knows what's coming?
So what can that look like incommunities?

Rosie Ricketson (13:26):
I think it's focusing on solutions together.
There's a lot of energy insmall towns, I mean.
Certainly a lot of us are sobusy these days.
It's a time thing People haveless time for volunteering.
We set up a group calledSustainable Braidwood.
We have some funding and somegreat ideas and some wonderful

(13:51):
community initiatives, butfinding the time as a committee
to get together and drive thingswe're all parents juggling a
lot.
Yes, it's about time andcapacity.
I think the more we are allhustling and working as hard as
we can for the cost of living,the less time naturally we have

(14:13):
for community making, which istragic.
I noticed that a lot inpostpartum because I really
wanted to be able to help andmake food for the woman down the
road who's having a baby.
I'm also just only holding ittogether with my own family
because I'm working and I'mtrying to cook meals for my own
family.
How do I find time to bake anextra batch of cookies for her?

(14:36):
I'm proud of the women whofigure out how to do that.

Nicki Farrell (14:42):
I think you're still in that hard season,
though Maybe you might notrealise that it's still so hard
this season that you're in.
I mean, mine are nine and 11now.
I look at parents and mothers,at the children that your
children age are at.
That was the funnest time andthe hardest time and I was so

(15:04):
stretched.
Mothers, my age well, not myage, but you know, children, my
age it's our season to give now.
I don't think it's your seasonstill.
I think your season is to stillbe accepting and it's my season
now to be giving, because Ihave that capacity now and I
didn't when I was where you arenow.
You're still in the boondocks.

Rosie Ricketson (15:27):
I am.
Thank you for reminding me.
Yeah, I'm learning betterboundaries on how much energy I
can give because I don't want tocross my own boundaries with
this and I've had to learn thatthe hard way.
I think a lot of new mums whowant to become dolers and
community workers and reallygive a shit and care about women

(15:48):
in their community and alsoonly just hold into their own
household and their own healthand well-being it's really hard.
And then often I find when mumsare out of community so as soon
as their kids are old enough togo to school, the mums are way
less active in community becausethey're back at work and
they're busy.

(16:09):
So most mums with kids your ageare busy with work and
commitments so they're notreally around cooking meals for
the new mums anymore.
That's something I've reallynoticed and so that's hard.
It's like well, if it's not me,who's the one kind of hanging
out at the park seeing the mumsthat are maybe struggling with a
new baby?
Then who is it who else isgoing to do that?

(16:29):
So I've had to really soften onmy expectations of myself to
tend to other mothers in thisseason of my life, which has
been hard, because we need it,we really need it.
I know how much it's neededbecause I've needed it so badly
too.
So, yeah, I think doing what wecan collaboratively in

(16:52):
community, even if it's just anhour or a week, an hour of
fortnight, working on acollaborative project that can
affect culture, change in acommunity around education,
around nature immersion, aroundperspective shift.
So we just got funding to do aseries of five conversations,

(17:15):
live conversations with change,sustainability, change makers
and really interested inbreaking the box on what that
could be.
It doesn't necessarily need tobe someone doing regenerative
farming.
It could be someone likeyourself setting up alternative
systems for schooling andraising kids.
Sustainability looks differentfor everyone.

(17:38):
It's got a big scope of what itis.
It's about developing, step bystep, slowly, together,
developing the adaptability thatwe need for the future and
weaving that into culture.

Nicki Farrell (17:54):
Yeah, so true.
It's the adapting, isn't it?
And resilient communities needto know that they've got each
other's backs.
I think, and I think motherhood, that matrescence, is a
community and it is needing toadapt as well.
Can you talk to me aboutcreativity as a way to explore,

(18:16):
because this is what I've lovedabout your musings they feel so
authentic and so you just nailit.
Everything you've posted I mean, oh God, I was there.
I know that feeling.
I've had that thought before ofthat shifting identity as a
mother from one maiden to motherand then mother of one to
mother of more, to trying to bea partner in that as well, but

(18:39):
using creativity, like with theBushfire podcast, as a way of
therapy and community andbelonging.
Can you tell me how you'recurrently exploring that with
Care Club and any other projectsyou're working on?

Rosie Ricketson (18:52):
Yeah, so I guess I'm lucky enough to live
in a town that has a lot ofcreative people in it and one of
my key collaborators, claireYoung.
She and I made a film sevenyears ago, for example.
We were both living inBradewood and she was like, do
you want to make a film with me?
And we made that film betweenCanberra and Sydney with a
little bit of funding and slowlyClaire worked on it over years

(19:16):
of having babies and checking inwith each other and doing
another edit and honing it andhoning it and last year it got
accepted into the VeniceBiennale of film, of cinema.
So I jumped on a plane with myeight month old baby and five
other women and we all went toItaly together, which was
amazing for a little film thatwe made from a backyard studio

(19:39):
in Bradewood.
That felt very inspiring forwhat's possible when we come
together and workcollaboratively together on
projects we believe in.
Yeah, so Claire and I obviouslywe developed that podcast
together, which was an offeringfor the community and a really
complex project because there'sgrief and trauma kind of wrapped

(20:01):
up in that.
But we felt, going back to thatquickly, I was reading Maggie
Dent and she was I think she wason a podcast saying some of the
communities that bounced backthe best after the bushfires
were the ones that had thestrongest relationships and,
echoing what you were justsaying, that resilient
communities are about thestrength of relationships, and

(20:23):
what an opportunity for womenand mothers in community to take
a lead in that as well.
I think we've always beenleaders in that and I see that
as definitely something thatshould be valued very highly.
Moving forward it's not just agiven.
Relationship building,community building is not just a
given that something women willdo just because they're women.

(20:46):
It's something we all now needto learn how to do well and
value.
Moving forward, because it'sgoing to mean resilience and
survival as a human race, and Ifind that a really inspiring,
inspiring challenge.
Like what a wonderful challengefor us as humans to figure out

(21:06):
the art of relating to eachother again and how many ways
that can manifest itself incommunities.
I find that it gives me a lotof hope, like I do believe that
we can do it.
Even off the back of thisreferendum and there's a lot of
division in the air, I stillthere is a naive and big
heartedness to me that believeswe can do it.

Nicki Farrell (21:29):
And it starts in our backyards, right Like.
I can't tell you how many ofthe people in my community don't
know their neighbours.
And we have in our local, ourstreet, in our neighbourhood
have actively.
We have street parties onlytwice a year but somebody has to
put their hand up and host that.
We have a community Facebookpage where it's like I've got

(21:50):
spare eggs, I've got this, I'vegot that and part of that.
You know there is a privilegeto that, absolutely.
But I have, same as you, justactively gone after that because
I want to walk down my streetand wave hello and know that if
there's a bushfire, we've goteach other's backs or if there's
, you know, there's an emergency, I can run over to the

(22:11):
neighbour's house and look aftertheir kids and their children
will know me and feel safe in mycare, while you know the adults
are dealing with that.
So I think if we, I don't thinkwe think enough about the what
ifs and who will be there,because a lot of us are isolated
from not isolated, butgeographically isolated from our
families now.
So if we don't have ourfamilies to run to in an

(22:32):
emergency, this is it.
You know, the people in ourdirect 1K radius are who we're
going to be relying on, so wereally need to actively make
time to forge thoserelationships, and that takes
time.

Rosie Ricketson (22:44):
It does take time, it takes practice and it
takes visibility, because thereare people in crisis in our
communities now, like they arealone, you know, isolated, in
postpartum, with a new baby andstruggling, and they are
invisible.
Or they are elderly and they aredisabled, or they are disabled,
or you know it's all well andgood to reach out to each other

(23:08):
in times of serious crisis, butwhat about the gentle crisis
that's happening in people'slives all the time?
So I think it's weavingcultural models in place that
make sure that those people,instead of being pushed outside
the circle, are brought to theinside of the circle of the
community.
For example, our communitydoesn't have a community centre.

(23:31):
We don't have spaces for peoplelike that to actually gather
and go.
We don't have a town square.
Our town was set up forcommerce and for access and for
travel and for you know, it's acapitalist design.
It doesn't have a town squarewhere people would gather to be

(23:51):
visible, people who are feelinginvisible, and I think so that's
been hard.
I think, when you look at justsimply the way places have been
designed and put together, howdo we create spaces where
everyone feels welcome to comeand show their vulnerability so
others can respond?

Nicki Farrell (24:12):
That's such an important point you make.
Yeah, about the architecture ofcities to enable community and
gathering.
You're so right in a lot ofthose rural towns, now that
they're past threes, you know,stop, get your food.
Do you go the post office off?
Your go again, but don't stop.

Rosie Ricketson (24:31):
That's so important yeah and even for
community, our own communitypassing through, you know, going
to the supermarket, there'snowhere to gather other than a
cafe or a park and you don'twant to take a gaggle of wild
kids to a cafe.
You don't want to always go tothe park in a town that can be
really cold most of the year.
So it means people are pushedback into their homes and I

(24:55):
think you know in my ownpostpartum we all gathered a lot
in people's homes around thefires with babies and that sadly
dissolves when your kids getolder.
But I wonder how we can dobetter on a national level, on a
global level, to make space andmake room for the vulnerable

(25:15):
people in our communities to bemore visible.
And I think that's wherecreativity and the arts can
really come in, because throughstory, that's where those
invisible stories can be madevisible and they can be
delivered to a community, not ina way of like oh, look at those
poor people over there.
It's more like hey, this hasbeen my lived experience and

(25:37):
maybe some of it resonates withyou.
Maybe we can talk about it in aplayful way, maybe we can talk
about it in really creative ways.
You know to explore some ofthese harder topics as humans
through creativity, throughstories, through theater,
through film, and get to theheart of things, and I think

(25:57):
that's the power of art, really,isn't it?
It gets to the heart of peopleand the heart of things.
So I see that art and story isthe path towards change.
Very much so.
Even in our sustainableBredwood collective, we're all
writers, designers, filmmakers,publishers that we're all

(26:19):
creatives and we feel likesustainability and the future.
I think creative people andcreative thinking and creative
skill sets are really going tobe so valuable as we learn to
adapt creatives to how thingsare changing.
We're going to need real kindof innovative, creative
responses to the way things arechanging.

(26:40):
So it's exciting for me thatcreatives can be on the front
line and story and in order forus to adapt to a changing world.

Nicki Farrell (26:50):
It's so, so important and I think that's
what I love about your care clubconcept is I think that's what
I might have been looking for asa new mum.
Was that?
Because you know, when you'vegot a new baby and they're not,
you know, barely even crawling?
I needed connection as a mother.
But it's something like sittingaround the fire, right?

(27:10):
There's something about beingcreative where you can put your
head down and you can justscroll, you're in circle and
it's just the talking and thecommunication and the venting
and the therapy happensnaturally and it's such a
therapeutic outlet as well.
And you want their toddlers, thechildren.
You know they're off runningand that's much harder to do.
But I love this nurturing ideaof bringing mothers together in

(27:33):
creativity and babies areaccepted.
Why I just?
I get so frustrated that we arestill in a society where
children are not accepted in theworkplace.
It just cuts out half of thepopulation.
Whoever the care is in the home.
It makes things so difficultand I've loved seeing you travel

(27:54):
with your children for work andwhatnot and showing the nuance
of that.
You know it's not easy and theglaring, the glaring way that it
is discriminating us aboutbeing back in the workforce when
we're ready to be.

Rosie Ricketson (28:07):
Yeah, and I think that's why we need
creativity to create a newworkforce.

Nicki Farrell (28:11):
Yeah, I agree.

Rosie Ricketson (28:14):
We're going to need a new workforce in the face
of change and and why not weavechildren into that?
And I see a lot of women doingthat online, trying to figure
out ways to bring kids alongwith them and have at home
businesses or businessesdesigned around community.
And I think it's a beautiful,beautiful thing that we're not
financially trapped in our ownhomes with our children, because

(28:37):
that's dangerous for women.

Nicki Farrell (28:39):
Yeah.

Rosie Ricketson (28:40):
But we are financially and creatively and
intellectually engaged in theworld and we feel a sense of
purpose and belonging.
But we don't have to sacrificeour mothering in order to do it.

Nicki Farrell (28:52):
Hmm, that's, I think that's it it's.
I love your points aboutfeminism and how family and
motherhood You're allowed to bea feminist and want to be a
mother and want to work or notwant to work.
You know we're talk.
Can you talk to us about that,because I've loved your musings
on that as well.

Rosie Ricketson (29:13):
Yes, so I guess I was a bit shocked to find
like there's a view fromcontemporary kind of crunchy
alternative moms that feminismtook women away from their
children, and I see that too,and that's definitely what

(29:34):
happened.
I think it was a vital step,though, because it was us taking
up space in the workforce andit was merely saying we want
other things as well.
That's right, and it was merelya step on the long road of
feminism that we stillabsolutely require, which now
says right, we've proven that weare absolutely capable in the

(29:57):
workforce.
Now we want to also be valuedin the home, and let's have both
.
Let's be valued to be themothers we want to be and
contribute to the world like wedeserve to be able to contribute
.
And I guess it comes back tothis whole like having it all
thing.
Yes, and I do believe.
I do believe that we can haveit all if the systems are set up

(30:21):
to support it.
Currently, we're trying to haveit all in a system that does
not support it.
I don't know personally manymothers in my life who aren't on
the edge of burnout pretty muchall the time.
Yeah, this is the norm now.

(30:41):
I mean, you listen to podcasts.
I listened to one recently onmother kind podcast and she was
interviewing a psychotherapistwho was saying modern motherhood
is, you know, akin to living ina war zone on the nervous
system.
It's a constant adrenaline.
It's a constant state of fightor fly just to get everything

(31:03):
done that needs to be done.
And I myself absolutely fallinto that too.
I'm just like I've got so muchto do I'm going to have to have
another coffee.
But then I remember, you know,still setting up the systems in
my own life that can support aslower lifestyle, and there's a

(31:23):
lot of people that just don'twant that as well, because
moving fast and earning more isreally encouraged and really
supported.
So I just worry that thechildren get left behind there
because, like I love the work ofthe parents, work collective
yes for women, you know what areboth in the home and workforce,
because that's that's thefuture of feminism.

(31:44):
So that's why we still needfeminism and, like we were
saying before, I think that thetraditional wife, traditional
mom you know more Christianinfluenced dialogue around
homeschooling or mothering thesedays says we don't need
feminism anymore.
You know, we can be women wholove being in the home and it's
okay.
And of course it's okay.

(32:05):
I mean still, statistically,you know, the not the safest
place for many moms to be.

Nicki Farrell (32:16):
That's right.

Rosie Ricketson (32:17):
So we still need financial freedom, we still
need our own job security, westill need our own relationships
in the world, because otherwiseit's dangerous, like
statistically that's dangerous.
We're too vulnerable to beingkind of manipulated.
I think in that In thosesituations and I know that in my

(32:38):
own family, like I've seen thatin my own family, so that I
think we need to be constantlyaware of that that not every
mother is supported by a husbandwho deeply values her care work
Like that is a.
I think that is that's it.
Not very common.
No, and that's why I think mendo need to be at the front line

(33:00):
of valuing care work and theirown care work.
Seeing themselves as carers andvaluing that in themselves will
change systems, and so I wantto see more front men on the
front line of that.
I want to see men campaigningfor fatherhood.
Yeah taking time off thefatherhood centering their
families needs, and that's not afeminine thing at all.

(33:21):
That is a truly masculine thingto stand up family, to stick up
for your family.
Like we need that leadershipfrom men at the moment and my
husband, like, is absolutely onboard with this.
We talk a lot about it and hedoesn't find nurturing and
fathering as a feminine thing atall.
He finds care work to be adeeply masculine thing, you know

(33:45):
, because it's protective andit's accountability and it's
responsibility and it's leaninginto your own shadow work and
it's leaning into discomfort andit's taking the kind of
maturity to sit in that and beparent.
So I want to see more leadershipfrom fathers in that space,

(34:07):
because currently it's the mums.
It's the mums that are sayingyou know, we want to be more
visible, and I don't personallyfeel like much is going to
change until the men stick upfor fatherhood too.

Nicki Farrell (34:18):
Yeah, and I think that's it, isn't it.
It's not the devaluing or thelittle value in care work.
And we see that with all theearly use services that we work
in, with their low pay rates andthat they tolerate.
They have to tolerate thingslike abuse from parents and even
children, because there'snowhere for these children to go

(34:39):
If they're not with theirparents and they're not in an
early early use service.
People can't work mothers orfathers and yet they're still
fairly above minimum wage andthey're doing the hardest work
and care.
It's care, work and care, Ithink, is actually the number
one.
If you look at all the cycle,all the studies on attachment

(35:01):
theory and and whatnot, that isthe most important work and the
most important work in childabuse.
Child abuse is our biggestsocial health problem and yet
we're not paying these peopleanywhere near what they're worth
for the work that they're doingand preventing child abuse and,
in that, forming thoseattachments to these children so

(35:22):
their parents can work.
So again, until fathers standup and say, oh, my God, it's
amazing, thank you for caringfor my child, not just educating
them.
You know it's, it's care, and Ithink we're prioritizing
education over care and itreally needs to be the other way
around, because children can'tlearn without a secure
attachment.

(35:42):
So I've got an absolute tangenthere.

Rosie Ricketson (35:45):
That's right.
No, no, no.
And father's sticking up fortheir own care work, to like
saying I want to be with, I wantto be with my children like I
want to be.
I want to be riding around townwith them on a Tuesday, like
you know, yeah, and that's okay.
That's not unmanly of me, it'sactually very manly of me.
So I think it's redefining rolesthere and we have a lot of work

(36:07):
to do.
We'll have a lot of work to doin that it's breaking up the
current nine to five absolutely,and I think that needs to be
read by men too.
And also, you know if, if twoincome households now, if both
parents need to work so hard tomaintain such high cost of
living, who's in community withthe kids, like who's at home

(36:30):
with the children, is nobodyworried about that?
I mean, I heard on the radio.
You know we need more support,childcare support and their
school refusal going on.
And and then, on the other hand, there's also the highest rates
of teen anxiety at the momentand I think, is anyone thinking
about who's in community withthe kids?
I mean, and that's not an antifeminist thing to say, like I

(36:53):
don't believe in a in a world atwork.

Nicki Farrell (36:58):
No, no, that sounds awful.

Rosie Ricketson (37:02):
So I think we do need to overthrow capitalism.
Really creative, reallycreative ways to gather
conversations like this doingour work in communities,
amplifying the work of otherswho are doing care work,
amplifying the causes and the,the programs like parents work,
collective, you know, and andand believing in that we can

(37:27):
change, believing in change.
And so care club came out of abelief.
So I used to work for awonderful organization called
big heart and and big arts andarts and social change company
that essentially the premisesthat they work with community to
make invisible stories visibleso that's usually marginalized

(37:50):
communities and making wonderfularts based projects with them
that can sometimes to Australiaor two of the world films and
theater and incredible projectsreally led by by communities.
So I really cut my teeth withthat company as well, learning a
lot about that process.
And yeah, one of the premises ofthat company was visit in the

(38:13):
human rights, in theinternational human rights
charter.
This was a human right ofaccess to culture and that's
that everyone gets to haveaccess to culture making and
cultural life and culturaldialogue at all times.
And if you're locked out fromthat, if you're not included in

(38:34):
it, then that's a violation ofhuman rights.
So if that elderly person or ifthat child isn't included in in
the cultural life of theircommunity, then that's a
violation, because they need tobe not only engaged in in
cultural life but also their.
Their contribution is valuable.

(38:55):
I really saw it through thatlens of thinking.
I really saw that postpartummothers and an early parenthood
was really pushed to the edgesof society.
Like you go and you get thisdone and then when you're
feeling strong and better youcan come back in.
You know we don't want to dealwith you.

Nicki Farrell (39:16):
Yeah, we don't want to hear about it.
Keep it quiet.
You know, motherhoods areglorious, wonderful thing.
Yeah, and it is.
It's also f and hard.

Rosie Ricketson (39:24):
Yeah, and social isolation in postpartum
is huge in our country and canlead to a lot of disorders that
a lot of mums feel like is theirown fault and really it's the
consequence of being so isolatedfrom each other and isolated
from community.
I really feel that obviouslynot all mood disorders.

(39:48):
It's a complex conversation.
So that's why I set up CareClub, because I thought you know
, for me personally, my right ofpassage into motherhood gave me
insights into humanity andhuman life.
That was incredible and I waslike, wow, this is what life is

(40:10):
about, this is what humans areabout, this is what love and
connection and intimacy means.
This I had so many wonderfulinsights and reflections on
human life and is there honestlyanything more insightful into
the human experience than birth?
I mean, it's something thatunites us all.
It's such a wonderful portaland a wonderful symbol for being

(40:34):
human, the intimacy and theanimal nature of it and the.
You know.
So in my postpartum, my firstpostpartum, I was just felt so
my mind was blown and my heartwas blown and I wanted to sit
down and make meaning of thisand have conversations about it
and I wanted to be part ofculture making and I wanted to

(40:56):
my voice to be heard and Iwanted to hear what other women
were, how they were making senseof it, and there was just
nowhere to go.
So I designed Care Club to usecreativity and use kind of
dialogue and discourse to cometogether as intelligent, modern
mums and make sense of whatmotherhood means, because it's

(41:18):
obviously such a complex thingand what's coming up for them.
So Care Club we have a mother'scircle to start with and then
I've programmed like a workshopor a.
For example, we had a wonderfuldancer, alison Pleedy, who runs
the Australian Dance Companyhere in Canberra.
She came with her daughter,cora, who was around six months

(41:40):
old, and performed a dance piecedance artwork together, and all
the other mums and babieswatched and then we reflected on
that and then made a dancepiece.
Everyone made a dance piecewith their baby and then wrote
about what came up and you knowthe relationship between the
mother body and the baby bodyand we looked at that.

(42:01):
We also had a classical cellistcome and play in the room,
which was really soothing, andsome of the babies, just you
know, fell asleep to the music.
And so I wanted to create thesespaces that weren't like pink
and baby friendly and superfeminine motherly spaces, but
actually like spaces for realconversation and dialogue and

(42:22):
intellectual and creativeengagement with these big themes
that come up.

Nicki Farrell (42:28):
That's, that's what I felt, like I was missing,
like I was my very first birth.
I was part of the you know thehospital six week postpartum.
They called it the Mums Club orthe Mums Circle and I don't
know what I thought it was goingto be.
But it was also practical.
You know, here's how we getbabies to sleep.
This is what breastfeedinglooks like and it was really
helpful for a first time mother.

(42:48):
But until I saw Care Club, itwas missing because we connected
as friends like I'm stillfriends with some of those women
from 10 years ago, which isamazing.
So it did its job as community.
But it was that.
It was those bigger topics ofholy moly.
My mind has been blown.
Who am I?
Where do I fit in culture?

(43:09):
Now?
How do I express this?
Because right now I'm learningbaby massage and that is really
wonderful and really practical.
But my, these ideas, theseconversations are just going
nowhere.
So I just love that there'sthis creative outlet of this
contribution to culture.

Rosie Ricketson (43:28):
Yeah, and because I think you know what
happens in mattressence, whathappens to our brains.
We need to tap that.
Yes, yes, it's incredible whathappens to the brain and we need
to gather that energy togetherand and make meaning of it and

(43:48):
and infuse our lives with thesevalues, that that really come
from this change, and I think wecan not let go of for myself,
but allow ourselves space totransform into who we want to
transform into, and that'sthat's the ultimate creative act
as well, to say I'm going toallow my evolution here to

(44:09):
unfold into what it needs to be,because a lot of the messaging
is, you know, back to work, backin your old clothes, back to
you know, back to normal.
I want to give moms theopportunity to go.
What if I could do that thingthat I always wanted to do and
open a clothes shop?
Or, I don't know, you know,write that book?

(44:29):
Or what if, instead of goingback into the office I had, I
could use this amazing energyand the audacity of this season
to go?
I'm actually do what I want todo.
Obviously, it's complicated,because not everyone has an
empowering birth or postpartumexperience, but I do, and
alchemy is that that right ofpassage into positive growth.

(44:54):
Positive growth for our ownlives, because we are constantly
evolving and changing inmotherhood and that's where
creativity can help us makesense of that and that's I see
that, even for people who aren'tsuper creative, engaging with
poetry, engaging with ideas,engaging with creative practice

(45:15):
can help us make sense of theconstant change.
I mean, I feel like I wake up adifferent person every week and
like, right, what kind of mom?
What am I being asked of thisweek?

Nicki Farrell (45:25):
Oh God, that's the question, isn't.
It's not.
What am I?
I?

Rosie Ricketson (45:34):
love that.
I love that constant change.
I'm like sure I can.
You know, pivot, and you knowI'm not saying that everyone
needs to be like me, but I thinkit is a creative kind of
mindset.
It's a dance, isn't it?
It's a dance and it's a flowthat Can bring a little bit more
into our lives.

(45:54):
In motherhood, I think you knowsome of those structures that
we may have relied upon beforehaving kids.
We can allow them to fall awaya little bit, yeah, and like we
can fall into line with the waychildren live, which is
spontaneous and very creativeand very needs-based and very

(46:19):
Present intuitive and verypresent, and so what a gift to
allow more of that into ourlives.

Nicki Farrell (46:26):
I was about to ask you how you've navigated
being a mother with business,the starting business and
creative projects, but I thinkyou just answered it.
But was there anything elseyou'd like to add to that?
Like how?
What have been the hardestparts?
And then, how have younavigated those parts to and
what have you had to let go?
What expectations of yourselfor of motherhood or of work have

(46:49):
you had to let go to find this?
I'm not going to say balance,because I don't believe in
balance.
I believe in rollercoasters andspirals and circles and
journeys.

Rosie Ricketson (47:01):
To be honest, I'm moving through constantly
the ancestral inheritance ofself-doubt as a woman in the
workforce and as a mother takingup space, and I think a lot of
us are doing that.
I don't think it's just an easything to say I'm going to put

(47:23):
myself out there, I'm going towrite that book or tell my story
, or I'm going to bring my kid,start that business or bring my
kid.
I think the confidence that ittakes we're all slowly learning
that because we've been raisedby potentially a generation of
moms who really weren'tencouraged to do that, and then

(47:43):
the generation before them andthe generation before them.
I think we're walking a new pathand it can often feel lonely
and it can often feel isolating.
So thank God for podcasts,thank God for Instagram, and I
also, each year, I'll do amentorship or a join, an online
circle that goes for a good yearor so to have that camaraderie

(48:08):
on this journey, because themore I do that, the more I
realize that so many women andmothers are learning how to do
this, learning the confidence,learning the identity, learning
that we can actually ask for thelife that we want to ask for.
I think a lot of us havewatched our moms kind of.

(48:29):
Instead of carving the livesthey may have wanted, they felt
the weight of expectation, and Ifeel grief about that for many,
many, many women in the worldnow and in previous generations
who may have had burning dreamsinside of them that got squashed

(48:50):
by the duty of waifdom andmotherhood.
And I don't want that in theworld anymore.
I'm quite fierce about that, metoo.
I don't want that.
For motherhood to be servitude,and for motherhood to get in
the way Dreams that women aredreaming up, yeah you can do

(49:13):
both.

Nicki Farrell (49:13):
You can be a mother and dream, and you can
have needs and you can ask them.
You can demand that those needsare met or you can meet those
needs yourself and take up thatspace, and it's more than OK.
The world needs that.
The world needs your ideas andyour art and your businesses and
your creative ways of workingand changing this system that

(49:38):
has not served us and not servedour children and not served men
.
It's not working.
So be Be bros.
It is brave, but it's taking upspace, isn't it?
It's shedding that good girlthat be quiet, that servitude,
and it is serving community.
You're not even just servingyourself.
You're serving community bystepping out.

Rosie Ricketson (50:00):
Yeah, and I think it's scary to do alone,
which is why Finding other womenin our lives who are doing it
is really, really helpful tofind community to do that, to go
oh, she found a way to do that.
Maybe I can give that a go,maybe I'll reach out to her and
ask how she made that work.
You know, like really reachingout and saying, hey, we're all

(50:21):
in this together, we're alllearning together how to make
this work.
And especially because so muchof the running your own business
stuff was was tied up for along time with a kind of
corporate girl boss feminism,yes, so it had to be like put on
your office suit and chuck thekids in childcare for five days
a week and get out there in theyeah Um, you know finding other

(50:43):
ways of doing it that run.
We can be a savvy businesswomanwho works an hour a day.
You know bedroom while the kidsplay.
You know like we can still.

Nicki Farrell (50:54):
At night between this meeting.
I know I'm not encouraging that, but I'm also aware of seasons
of if you've got that burningdesire and that's what works for
you, do it if it's not going toburn you out.

Rosie Ricketson (51:06):
That's right, and I think that's why working
together, like the mentorshipI'm doing at the moment, is so
generous.
All the women are like.
This is the bookkeeper I use.
This is the mindset that Iadopt.
These are the strategies that Iuse in my week to make sure the
self doubt doesn't get in theway of my life.
You know it's.
We can learn so much from eachother because we're all figuring
it out together, and so I seethat we're learning and

(51:30):
expanding as mothers so muchthat our children and our
daughters are going to reallysee what's possible and
hopefully the systems will beset up better for them by the
time their mothers.
There's more systems of support, not only for them as mothers,
but for them as serious,creative contributors to the
world who have stories and giftsto share.

(51:53):
So I'm really the moment I'mplanning to launch a year long
mentorship next year withcreative months, because I know,
after over a few years fromdoing these, these mentorship
circles over the years, it is sovaluable to be visible to each
other.
And I just wrote a pieceactually in the motherhood space

(52:15):
book that's just come out byGabriel Nancaro.
I wrote a story in there abouthow a dear friend of mine
locally, we kind of slowlybecome more and more visible to
each other.
So at the beginning we wouldn'treally want each other to see
the mess inside our houses orsee each other on days where

(52:36):
they're not coping.
And slowly the vulnerabilityhas grown and now we can totally
be there for each other.
In our most scruffy, most youknow unkept days, we can rock up
and chuck a chucker casserolein the other person's fridge and

(52:56):
and there's no fear of judgmentand this visibility between
between women is is going to bewhat helps drive the change.
So that's why I really want toset up a container, an
accountability container, butalso, you know, let's share how
we're making this work and let'sshare what's inside our hearts

(53:17):
that's burning to be born,because this is going to change.
This is going to change things.

Nicki Farrell (53:23):
It is and it's so important.
Exactly, you can't again Ithink I've said this in the last
three or four podcasts but youcan't be what you can't see, and
so these spaces are soimportant because of that, and
they're vulnerability, butthey're authenticity.
But we're not alone.
We're not travelling this andfumbling along because we are.
I hope everybody listening heredoesn't think that I've got my

(53:44):
shit together, because I am justlearning and fumbling along,
trying to navigate this spacetoo, because I didn't have
people in my when I was growingup that I knew navigated work
and motherhood it was either oneor the other pretty clearly
where I grew up.
So this is all new.
It's all new, but we're doingit.

(54:04):
Doing it, rose.

Rosie Ricketson (54:07):
I'm proud of you.
Thank you, I'm proud of you.
Yeah, I think getting over thegetting to be honest for my own
personal journey, in thebeginning I didn't want to learn
from other women.
I had a resistance against that.
I think I grew up in a culturethat was very competitive, like

(54:28):
we competed for the boys'attention and we learned to kind
of bitch about each other toeach other and it was just gross
.
And so when I first came intothis work, I was like I had to
work through that stuff.
I think I did an online circlewith somebody about it it was
called the sister wound, healingthe sister wound, and it made

(54:49):
me front some big stuff in thepast of the way I'd hurt women
or the way women and hurt me andthere was a lot of grief there
and I feel like I'm still movingthrough that.
Maybe it's a lifelong journey,but you know it's a beautiful
journey to be on and I think alot of us are on that journey as
well.

Nicki Farrell (55:07):
Yeah, it's that collaboration over competition.
We can't thrive as a societywhen we compete as women.
We just, we just can't.
We have too many barriersalready, we have too many
systems that oppress us.
We need to be collaborating andgiving each other a handout
wherever we can, and I'm lovingthat change in the narrative too

(55:28):
, and I'm seeing that in ourspaces where, like you said,
people are being so generous andthat's.
It is going to change.
It's going to change culturally.
For this I cannot wait to seewhat this next generation does.
I mean, I don't want to pin awhole hope on one generation,
but they, the systems, are goingto be different and their
vocabulary is different.

(55:48):
They're aware of systems.
I wasn't even aware of this.
I didn't know what patriarchymeant as a teenager.
I didn't know that it was asystem.
And now I've got six and sevenand eight year olds in my life
that are very aware of it andthey know they have a voice and
they know they're allowed totake up space, and that is super
exciting to me.

Rosie Ricketson (56:10):
So cool they're not wasting their energy
chasing the boys around.

Nicki Farrell (56:16):
Yeah, that's it.
So exciting.

Rosie Ricketson (56:20):
Yeah, and so we're on a journey with our kids
too, with education.
We don't know what we're goingto do, whether we send them to
school, our little local school,or not.
Obviously, school in Australiaat the moment is in a bit of a
pickle.
Our local schools need a lot ofstaff.
That they can't find staff,they're struggling.
I've got friends who areteachers there saying, yeah, the

(56:47):
system needs a lot of love andsupport put into it.
At the moment I don't know ifit's the best time to even send
kids to these schools.
I feel like they're clunky, oldmachines, these schools that
are too slow in catching up withthe needs of modern children,
intellectually and emotionally.
So you know, we're in aposition where we're simplifying

(57:10):
our lives to the point where wecould have the kids
homeschooled.
I have to balance that with myown ambitions as a creative
woman, and my husband's also acreative, so he's a touring
performer and an artist andsongwriter.
So you know, we don't know whatit would look like and how we
figure that out, and we're justtaking it one step at a time.

(57:33):
At the moment, there areactually five of us families
currently in the process ofdeeply investigating the idea of
a community school.
It looks like there's a lot ofresources online.
There's a lot of people outthere wanting to do it.
There's local community groupson the coast near us that have

(57:53):
figured out how to do it.
The big thing seems to be thesite.
But once there's a site, youknow and then you can register.
Yeah, so we're currentlyfiguring out as a collective
what we could do as in acommunity to make you know
either our local schools moreresponsive to community need or

(58:15):
create a little community.
So we'll see where that goes.
But we're currently in theprocess of setting up as an
Incorporated Association andwe're getting mentored by a few
people and there's quite a lotof people in our groups that
have quite a broad range ofskill sets that they can
contribute to this project.
So we shall see.
That's super exciting.

Nicki Farrell (58:37):
I think there's a lot of power in small schools
Sorry, a lot of power fromparents in small schools,
because, I mean, you're verysmall, so you know each other
and you know the community, soyou have a real voice, compared
to a bigger school where yourone voice might just be one out
of a thousand parents.
So I think you're so lucky.

(58:57):
You know what a privilege to beable to go.
We could either start one or wecould really really push for
more community involvement orhomeschool.
That's what I love about thejourney it's got to suit you all
, it changes and it doesn't needto be decided upon what's going
to happen in 12 years timewhere you or your children are
going to be.
It's like you said let's betoddlers, let's just be present

(59:18):
and go with the flow and seewhere we end up.

Rosie Ricketson (59:21):
Totally, I love it.
I love it.
Isn't it a journey of constantlearning?

Nicki Farrell (59:27):
and trust, I think as well Trust in.
Yeah, it's exciting.
All right, rose, I've taken upa lot of your time, so I'm going
to get into our rapid firequestions, if that's OK.
Yeah, so what's your favoritebook of all time or podcast, and
why, or what are you currentlyreading?

Rosie Ricketson (59:47):
to be very relevant to this conversation.
I'm currently reading a bookcalled Dissolve by Nikki Gemmell
.
Oh, it is a memoir.
It is about self-belief as awoman and a mother, giving her
self-permission for creativityand the full expression of
herself, and not lettingmotherhood or wife would become
a kind of service.
It gets in the way of hercreative potential.

(01:00:07):
I highly recommend that book.
I'm actually going down to theHeadland Writers Festival at the
end of the month to facilitatea panel discussion with her
about this book and a number ofother creative moms and about
creative motherhood.
So I'm reading that forresearch at the moment in order
to have confidence on this panelabout her work.

(01:00:29):
And also it's deeply moving forme.
I find myself moved to tearsquite a lot reading it because
it's you know, it touches on agrief that I think a lot of us
carry about silencing ourselvesfor the needs of others, and
there's grief that needs to befelt around that in order to
move forward.

Nicki Farrell (01:00:50):
Oh, so good she was, I think my early 20s.
She was a real game changer forme as a young woman forging my
way into the world.
She worked really importantculturally for us.
So how exciting to be inconversation.

Rosie Ricketson (01:01:05):
No, I'm a little bit starstruck.

Nicki Farrell (01:01:09):
I can understand that, all right.
Where do you go or what do youdo to reset after a rough day?

Rosie Ricketson (01:01:16):
Oh, you know, probably to the river.
We've got a beautiful riverspot here in nature.
Is is always good on the floorin a cuddle, puddle.
Yeah, probably in nature or onthe floor.
Cooking and food is always agood one.

(01:01:37):
Sometimes, you know, instead ofcooking up on the bench, I'll
just get the kids and we'll cooksomething on the floor, like
we'll do all the clean the floorand we'll prepare a meal
together on the floor.
And I feel like the sensoryprocess of peeling carrots and
mashing potatoes kind of on thefloor together feels really
grounding and yeah that's great.

(01:02:00):
I love that yeah that's a morelate attack and I remember being
in India and they have little,their kitchens on the floor and
they all squat around the littlestove on the floor and in our
Western culture it's kind oflike you know, isn't that dirty,
but you can do it in a totallyhygienic and playful way.

Nicki Farrell (01:02:17):
Absolutely.
I remember baking biscuits, youknow, mixing biscuits on the
floor and thinking why didn't Ido this all the time?
I just had to sweep.
This is genius All the way.
So good, all right.
This one's our loaded question.
If you had to choose just onething to change about the
education system, what would itbe?

Rosie Ricketson (01:02:35):
Center relationships.

Nicki Farrell (01:02:38):
Yeah, which I think is hard to do in giant and
normal schools.
I get why we do it Resourceingbudgets, funding, you know,
community resources but it ishard to do in a really big
school.

Rosie Ricketson (01:02:51):
I think as mothers we can say parents of
children a lot of us can seethat if we were running a
country, a healthy economy and ahealthy country could totally
be achieved by investing in thewell-being of children.

Nicki Farrell (01:03:07):
Yeah.

Rosie Ricketson (01:03:08):
Like it's just like a no brainer.

Nicki Farrell (01:03:12):
Yeah, but there's a saying or that mean going
around that you can tell thehelpful priorities of a country
by how they treat their children.
And I look at you know theincarceration of our young
people and First Nations people,and I just think we've got a
long way to go, australia, butwe shall do it, we shall keep

(01:03:32):
working and fighting the goodfight.
And last of all, where can wefind out more about your work or
someone would like to join yourmentorship next year or care
club or any of your beautifulcreative projects?
Where can we find you?

Rosie Ricketson (01:03:47):
Mostly on Instagram.
You know, it's been interestingas a mum on Instagram.
It's been blurry.
The public private life thing.
I'm like how much do I share?
I used to share very vulnerableon there and I feel like I'm
pulling back a little bit morenow that my kids are older.
It's a tricky space.
Right, it's really a trickyspace.
Yeah, the public private thing.

(01:04:08):
But yeah, so Instagram isdefinitely the place.
And then, yeah, I will link tomy upcoming mentorship.
I'm putting out a wait list inthe next month and currently
working on kind of the containerand what that's going to look
like and I'll share all aboutthat on my Instagram.
If people are interested incare club as well, there's a
link on my Instagram.
It is in Canberra for a monthlyon a Tuesday.

(01:04:30):
Currently I'm creating a bit ofa different, more regular care
club program for 2024.
All of that will be up onlineas well as soon as it's released
.
Yeah, but still send it around.
Community and creativity.

Nicki Farrell (01:04:49):
I just love all of the things that you do, rose,
and I can't wait to see whereyour wiggly, squiggly, spirally
toddler like journey takes youas a family and community.
And thank you for continuallybeing someone I regularly go to
for like I seek you out onInstagram because what you say

(01:05:10):
to me is inspiring and authenticand creative and those musings
just really hit home.
But it's followed by action.
So thank you for for puttingaction behind your words,
because I think in a spacethat's you know can be so
beautiful and just a highlightreal, you're very authentic.
When things are frustrating orthe world is.

(01:05:31):
You know the injustices of theworld, are you feeling those
injustices?
And I really appreciate thatand your voice behind those as
well.
So thank you for being awonderful voice to turn to,
Thank you so much and thanks forhaving me today.

Rosie Ricketson (01:05:46):
It's been such a pleasure.

Nicki Farrell (01:05:47):
Amazing, so we'll link all of our show notes and
everything.
If you'd like to work with Rosein a show notes and till next
week, stay wild.
I love when these interviewsbecome more conversations.
They feel more authentic andthey feel more accessible and
vulnerable as well.
I really love watching Rose andthe way she really invests her

(01:06:11):
time in community and belongingand how her slant on it is also
being aware that we are going toneed our community with the way
our climate is going.
It's a very, very hot and drysummer this season in Australia
and we may need to lean on ourneighbors.
If you take nothing else fromthis episode, I hope that you
can go and knock on the door ofyour neighbor and make

(01:06:32):
connection.
I love watching her find andbalance and spiral her way
through motherhood andcreativity and how she's helping
others in our community forthat time to contribute to
culture and hear the voices ofwomen in this really important
time of their lives.
And I love how she speaks abouthow prioritizing family and

(01:06:57):
motherhood isn't letting downthe feminist cause, that we are
free to change and move and growand to really lean into this
season or lean into work andcreativity in this season.
Or do both.
That feminism is all aboutletting the individual choose
the path that they want.

(01:07:18):
So, years to community, yearsto matressants, years to
creativity.
May you find your village, mayyou work to find your village,
and may you work to carve outspace for your creative needs.
And, until next week, stay wild.