š± The More Support, The More Butterflies
Seeds of Hope Are Being Sown
#TheButterflyFarmer
My feet are barely touching the ground.
I feel like a newly emerged butterflyāwings still damp, heart still tender, but finally flying. Iāve been moving from one extraordinary moment to another, carried not by strategy or schedule but by the gentle winds of kindness, community, and creative courage.
Right now, Iām writing this in the wake of visiting The Enchanted Gardens, a space blooming with possibility. Here, schools are gathering, children are listening, and something delicate is happeningāa quiet yet powerful rewilding of imagination and connection through nature-based activities, poetry, and sensory play.
Itās not just the children who are learningāwe all are.
š The Rare Breeds of Belonging
Then thereās The Rare Breeds Centreāa place that has held me with such gentle encouragement. The staff, the visitors, the team from The Oast Inclusive Experience Projectāeverywhere I turn I am met by warmth. Not performative, not transactionalāreal kindness.
š Words in Colour ā Storytime & Crafts
I'm absolutely thrilled to be part of Words in Colour: Storytime and Crafts at the Rare Breeds Centre this July! Held on Thursdays 10th, 17th, and 31st July, each day features two drop-in sessions (10āÆamā3āÆpm) in the Discovery Zone.
š¦ Iāll be reading from The Wandering Lamb and sharing sneak peeks of The Butterfly Farmer, followed by a hands-on butterfly craft session for children aged 3ā11.
Itās free with admission and open to everyoneācome and join us!
š Event Details Here
š¦ The Kickstarter Is Live!
It feels like opening a window and letting the whole world inside. What started as a whisperājust a longing to make something beautiful and safeāhas become a hum, then a chorus. One supporter. Then ten. Then thirty. Slowly but surely, this message is being passed from heart to heart, blessing to blessing.
Every backer is a butterfly. Every share is a seed of hope.
š Is It Easy? No.
There are momentsālong, sticky momentsāof imposter syndrome, of self-doubt, of fatigue. I question if Iām doing it right. If Iāve overreached. If Iāve asked too much of others and not protected enough of myself.
But Iām learning that this is the cost of pushing into new spaces.
Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the struggle is part of the becoming. And the becomingā¦ is so worth it.
š Small Wins, Big Wings
This week I celebrated a small but meaningful victoryāpublishing an academic editorial alongside my brilliant PhD supervisor, Jonathan Barnes. That too felt like a wingbeat. A reminder that I am building something that bridges both heart and mind, academy and soil, child and elder, nature and nurture.
It would be easier to stop.
To set the rock down.
To decide that the heart-song is too fragile, too unmarketable, too small.
But thatās not in my nature.
š This Is More Than a Book
This is a message.
The product comes later.
We are building spaces of safetyāfor butterflies, for children, for all of us carrying something delicate inside. We are creating something timeless. Something hopeful. Something real.
āØ How You Can Help
If this touches you:
š Back the Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tcl/the-butterfly-farmer-the-next-adventureš£ Share the link with a friend, a school, a community centre.
š¦ Speak the story out loud. Every whisper counts. Every act of support is a heartbeat.
š Together, We Bloom
The more support, the more butterflies.
The more belief, the more blossoms.
The more we hold each other in love and purpose, the more likely these dreams are to hatch.
Letās keep going. Together.
With heart and hope,
Thomas
š¦ #hobopoet #TheButterflyFarmer