About Crickhollow

Crickhollow is the home of Rosemary Crick and Ken, Ronan, & Jasmine Bryson. Crickhollow is located in beautiful Grey County, Ontario, close to the village of Neustadt. Crickhollow is also known as a biodynamic farm, event venue, and now a place of energy healing.

Since 2007, we have run many enterprises through our property – family cows, ducks, goats, and a one acre market garden, selling biodynamic vegetables locally. Rosemary is currently offering Reiki as part of our healing center. Ken works from home as part of the creative industry. Ronan and Jasmine have grown up and moved on to their own lives in North Vancouver, and Toronto respectively.

About Rosemary

Until 2021 I grew a market garden here at Crickhollow and until 2019 I helped run the Eat Well Market in Hanover Ontario. I garden Biodynamically with a particular interest in the life force energy of plants. To understand this energy further I studied reiki. I grew to love offering reiki to clients!

Reiki is all about relaxation. I have started incorporating music into my reiki practice. Cello, drum, koshi bells and overtone singing deepens the relaxing experience.

I offer reiki here on the farm. Sessions end with a cup of tea made with herbs grown here and an invitation to take a grounding walk through the pines.

I look forward to meeting you too! Feel free to send me a message or introduce yourself.

Rosemary’s Education

Rosemary’s training and education span many influences. This is what it’s about.

Land Acknowledgement

My name is Rosemary Crick and I am of British heritage. I am curious to learn more about my heritage and how in previous generations my ancestors lived in harmony with the earth. Were we pagan? Were we part of building any of the stone circles that can still be visited in Britain? I yearn to know more about the past – when the mysteries of the earth and of heaven were not so mysterious rather were part of our daily lives – through festivals and simple rituals around eating, growing food, and life transitions. I long for a time when my extended family was close together and marriages, births, educations, rites of passage, death, were embraced.

While researching for this land acknowledgement, I learned about my last name, Crick. The word Crick comes from the Norse word kriki, likely brought from Norse into English through the Vikings’ Scottish colonization. The Norse colonized the outer islands of Scotland for about 600 years. My last name does not mean creek rather it means nook. The word nook is used to describe a ‘creek’ because creeks have a ‘nook’ (pond/deep hole) where the creek meets the lake/shoreline. From a boat on the lake the pond looks like a nook. That’s where everyone swims or fishes.

Somewhere along the way my family disconnected from life on the land.  Was it the industrial revolution? What brought my family to Birmingham and London? I am grateful that even though we were disconnected from the earth my mother carried the line of gardening from her parents and was passed on to me. This passion for beauty and impulse to put hands in soil has brought me to where I am now. 

In the 1960s my parents decided to move to North America. The place that is also called turtle island became my forever home. I am not a visitor, I choose to put down roots.  

I acknowledge that the place where I live and teach is Saugeen Ojibway Territory and they are the traditional keepers of this land. The Saugeen people have lived here from time immemorial. I honour this rich heritage. I am grateful for the way they have tended the earth. I continue to learn more about this culture and how I can be a part of reconciliation. 

Saugeen means at the mouth of the river. I feel connected to our watershed and lucky to live in this area where there are so many springs, tributaries and lakes. Since moving to this area 17 years ago, when people ask me where I am from I have said the Saugeen watershed. Since I have learned that Crick means where the creek meets the lake I feel an even deeper spiritual connection to the word Saugeen.  

The place where I live and the place where I teach is currently agricultural land. I am grateful to the farmers who tend this land and grow our food. I am grateful for all the people who have cared for the earth before me. I am curious to observe how this acknowledgement evolves over time.  

This land acknowledgement is a continual work in progress. Going forward I vow to:

• Teach my students in an authentic way that they feel valuable, confident and self assured. I want them to feel like their actions matter and make a difference and that they are powerful enough to care for mother earth and help to heal her.  They have the right to be here and feel safe here no matter where they are from, what gender they choose, what they look like or what their abilities are.
  
• Continue to understand my heritage and to work on my self-esteem and confidence so that I feel worthy of the beauty of the land that I live on and all the gifts that I enjoy.
  
• Continue to participate in the sweat lodge to learn from the grandfathers and to be part of my community
  
• Refer to plant and animals as people in our family. For example when we see footprints ask “whose footprints are those?” Teach how to relate to our animal brothers and sisters. For example Bear teaches us about food and shelter, Wolf protects us and Rabbit is our playmate.  Trees and rocks are grandparents who have much to teach us. 
  
• I am learning the anishnaabe stories of this area. Creation stories. Trickster stories. Teaching stories.
  
• Attend events offered by M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre and Neyaashiinigmiing
  
• When teaching the names of plants I will place more importance on the anishnaabe name than the latin. I will learn from the Earth Goddess how plants can be used to heal us. 
  
• I will continue to honour the spirit of the place. Before we enter the forest we ask the gnomes and fairies, the little people, if we may enter. We will leave them little gifts! 
  
• Foster a deep love for Mother Earth
  

References:

Mkomose (Dr. Andrew Judge)  Today we have gardens but before we designed… entire landscapes.  https://wwf.ca/stories/indigenous-food-forests-traditional-knowledge-conservation/

Saugeenojibwaynation.ca

M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre, Owen Sound. https://mwikwedong.com/

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