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Giveaway! Three (or more) Storytelling Festival Tickets and a Book

***Congratulations to Stacy, Jude, Sharleen, Natalia, and Susan — winners of this year’s Storytelling Festival ticket Giveaway ***

VWP Storytelling Festival Poster
Vashon Wilderness Program Storytelling Festival Poster

It’s that time of year again when the Vashon Wilderness Program holds its annual Storytelling Festival. Forest Halls, with its mission to keep magic alive in our world, is proud to help sponsor this fun-filled, family-friendly event.

When: Sunday, January 31, 2016. Event starts at 1:30, with Storytelling beginning at 2PM.  Where:  At the Open Space for Arts And Community, Vashon, WA. Tickets: Advance – $40/family, $20/individual. Door: $45/family, $25/individual

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post and elsewhere in this blog, storytelling is part of our nature, and indeed can be thought of as an expression of nature herself. This year VWP is delighted to have the following storytellers take the stage:

Roger Fernandes, a Coast Salish storyteller who entranced Vashon islanders a year or so ago with his rich, resonant, heartful and generous tales. I am eager to experience him!

Bonny Moss, a VWP parent and teller. The first story I ever heard from her — a rollicking Coyote tale — remains woven into my storymind. The wild and wondrous is her playground!

Ted Packard, a VWP instructor skilled in bringing young and old along a trail of mischief, deep-rooted wise ways, and the truly unexpected.wonders of our world.

The Vashon Wilderness Program has given out over $100,000 in scholarships to help children connect to nature, and the Storytelling Festival has been essential in helping support VWP’s commitment to never turn a child away due to lack of funds. In addition to the storytelling, this year’s event will feature a Dessert Auction, a Sensory Forest with nature crafts and games,  complimentary food and drink, and — as always — an opportunity to connect with family, friends, and nature-rooted community. Please read more about the event here. You can expect some serious fun and magic at this year’s Storytelling Festival!

Giveaway Details.

I will be giving away $120 worth of tickets in a drawing on my blog. That $120 translates to either 3 family tickets, 6 individual tickets, or a combination each! I’m also giving away a copy of my book, Because of the Red Fox, to one of  you who can’t come to the Storytelling Festival. Drawing closes at 11:59pm on Thursday, January 28, with the winners being chosen and notified on Friday, January 29. Only one prize per family.  Winners’ names will be added to the event’s Will Call list.

 To enter the Giveaway please read my post Discover the Earth of Your Story, consider how you’ve told stories today, and how, today, the world has lived a story into you, and leave a comment there or here (I’ll be checking both places). Please specify if you’d like to win a Family ticket, an Individual ticket, or a book.

For more chances to win, leave a separate comment below each time you do the following. Again, note in at least one comment whether you’d like to win a Family ticket, Individual ticket, or a book:

  1. Check out the description of Coyote Mentoring on the Vashon Wilderness Program web site and tell me what you think is most compelling to you about Coyote Mentoring.
  2. Sign up for the Vashon Wilderness Program’s newsletter and receive their free booklet “10 Awesome Practices to Make Nature a Natural Part of Your Family Life.” Tell me which of the 10 Practices you’re excited to introduce to your family or into your own life.
  3. “Like” the Vashon Wilderness Program on Facebook
  4. On Wed. Jan. 27, at 10am PST, Voice Of Vashon/KVSH 101.9 FM will interview VWP’s Executive Director, Stacey Hinden and with Storytelling Festival teller, Ted Packard. Listen to this live streaming interview with Stacey and Ted  about story, nature connection and children, and hear Ted tell a story. Share something in your comment that you learned, or found exciting or fun from the interview.

And here are even more chances to win!

  • Sign up for Forest Hall’s ezine. Are you already on my mailing list? Then please share something you enjoy about my ezine or blog.
  • Read my article When an Island Tells a Story and respond to the questions about Geographical Story either there or here. (I’ll be checking both places)
  • Follow Forest Halls on Twitter and tweet this Giveaway with hashtags #foresthalls #familymagicgiveaway . (Please list your Twitter ID in the comment so we can find you)
  • Post about this Giveaway on your Facebook page

Again, sign ups for the Giveaway end at 11:59PM PST on Thursday, January 28, 2016. I’ll draw the winners on Friday, January 29. There will be only one prize per family. Good luck, everyone, and thanks for entering!

Final note: Even if you don’t win, come to the event anyway. I guarantee you a fun and nourishing time!

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Giveaway! 3 StoryFest Family Tickets and 2 of Jane’s Books

***The Giveaway is over. Congratulations to Stacy and Sharene!

We have a Giveaway! Without further ado, here are the details.

storytelling-poster-2015-1-1Coyote Tales – the Vashon Wilderness Program‘s Annual Storytelling Festival is so much fun. Fabulous tellers and a warm, welcoming community within which to enjoy the tales. As an instructor in VWP, I can tell you that storytelling is essential to our mentoring of youth in nature, and helping to deepen their connections with the natural world, each other, and themselves. Storytelling is truly what we call a core routine, and we aim to “catch” our students’ stories as often as we offer stories of our own.

The Coyote Tales Storytelling Festival is VWP’s only live event fundraiser. VWP aims to never turn any child away due to a family’s lack of funds, and to that end, has given over $95,000 in scholarships in its eight year history. Wow!

When: Sunday, Feb. 8, 2PM. Where: At the Open Space for Arts And Community, Vashon, WA. Tickets: Advance – $40/family, $20/individual. Door: $45/family, $25/individual

If you live on the island, do consider joining us at this family friendly event. Forest Halls is a proud sponsor! And do enter our drawing.

For those of you who don’t live on the island, you can still enter the Giveaway and be part of story magic fun. I’m giving away two copies of my children’s fantasy novel Because Of The Red Fox to you!  Stories (from myth and elsewhere) thread through this tale, as do magical nature ways. Be sure to note in your comments that you are entering the drawing for the book.

 Want a Chance to win a StoryFest family ticket or a copy of my book? Here’s how!

  • Read my blog post about how We (humans) are a Story People. Comment here about how you share story in your family or a special experience of when your family shared story (in any form!).

For more chances to win, leave a separate comment each time you do the following. Note in at least one comment whether you are a Vashon Islander or not:

  1. check out the description of Coyote Mentoring on the  Vashon Wilderness Program web site and tell me what you think is most compelling to you about Coyote Mentoring.
  2. blog about a Coyote Mentoring idea or about storytelling (please leave a reference link in the comment)
  3. Sign up for the Vashon Wilderness Program’s newsletter and receive their free booklet “10 Awesome Practices to Make Nature a Natural Part of Your Family Life.”
  4. Tell me about one of the “10 Awesome Practices” you’re going to introduce to your family
  5. “Like” the Vashon Wilderness Program on Facebook
  6. On Wed. Feb. 4, at 8:30am PST, Voice Of Vashon/KVSH 101.9 FM will interview VWP’s Executive Director, Stacey Hinden. Listen to this live streaming interview with Stacey about story, nature connection and children, and more, and share something you learned or found exciting from the interview in your comment.

And here are even more chances to win!

  • Sign up for Forest Hall’s ezine, Acorn To Oak. Are you already on my mailing list? Then please share something you enjoy about my ezine (newest edition will be out by Tues. 2/3) or blog.
  • Read my blog post Magical Doors, about reading aloud to children, which is another kind of story enchantment. Share here about a book you enjoyed as a kid or that you’ve enjoyed reading to kids
  • Follow Forest Halls on Twitter and tweet this Giveaway with hashtags #foresthalls #familymagicgiveaway . (Please list your Twitter ID in the comment so we can find you)
  • Post about this Giveaway on your Facebook page

Sign ups for the Giveaway end at 11:59PM PST on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015. I’ll draw the winners on Thursday, Feb. 5. There will be only one prize per family. Good luck, everyone, and thanks for entering!

***Note about the Comments capsha: Just in case it’s not clear from the instructions below, you need to click on the little images until they turn right side up.

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Win A Copy Of Our Book!

This blog is devoted to the fantastic and fun. Today, two characters from Because Of The Red Fox introduce a giveaway of their book … Deadline for entering the drawing is Sunday, Nov. 11!

oakgypsy
Oak and Gypsy Belle – dolls made by Lisa Mathias of Journey School Stories (http://www.luckyfarm.us/)

Oak: Greetings! Oak and Gypsy Belle here. We’re two characters in the magical nature novel, Because Of The Red Fox. We won’t tell you exactly who we are, because, well … that might be considered a spoiler! In any case, we wanted to let you know about Herbal Roots zine and a cool giveaway they are hosting of our book.

Herbal Roots zine is an amazing monthly ezine that shares an herb a month with kids and kids at heart.  It’s full of fun projects, enchanting artwork, lots of herbal knowledge and wisdom, stories, games, and so much more. Each month features a particular herb or tree and its medicine.

My partner Gypsy Belle is an herbalist and wise woman, and she just loves this ezine. She co-teaches a Forest Kids camp in the Otherworld, and always has an issue or two on hand to share with the kids who attend. You can often hear them singing the songs about the herbs and their medicine. I’m looking forward to hearing them sing the song of this month’s medicine plant!

Gypsy Belle: That’s because this month’s Herbal Roots zine is devoted to Oak! (she starts to sing “Harvest Oak Bark Now”). I never thought of you asbeing  very plant-y, Oak!

Oak: Hm, yes. You might call that my understory …

Gypsy Belle: Ugh! Leave the bad puns to Shell!

Oak: A-corny Shell?

Gypsy Belle: No. Oak. No. More. So, Readers, what Oak has been trying to tell you is that right now you can enter a giveaway to win a copy of Because Of The Red Fox.  You can also read a lovely review of our book. How cool is that!

Oak: Readers, head on over to Herbal Roots zine, and check out the scene. And be sure to enter the giveaway! Maybe you’ll be the one who wins us (well, in the book).

Gypsy Belle: Jane will autograph the copy, too!

Oak and Gypsy Belle: Good luck!

Click here to find out about the Because Of The Red Fox giveaway at Herbal Roots zine. Enter the drawing by Sunday, Nov. 11!