COLUMNISTS: KATRINA & CLAYTON
Experience the world of gardening and mindful growing with us, through our joyful stories showing how beneficial working with nature can be to calm the mind and body.
'Clayton's New Garden Journey: A Story of Autism and Growing’ shares stories about our life together as an autism family, and as the gardening duo Katrina & Clayton.
It shows how nature supports understanding of the world around us, the seasons, the weather patterns, the stages of growth, the joys of harvesting and cooking what those tiny seeds have produced. Take a step inside our lives, enjoy learning about flowers, fruit and veg and checking in on Clayton’s emotions throughout.
My aim for this book is to bring together a community of parents who want to share gardening with their children through a character they can connect with. Seeing a child with ear defenders, and focusing on his emotions throughout the story, is opening up topics of conversation amongst families and support groups.
It prompts questions, such as:
There are so many open discussions to be had, helping children explore difference experiences, senses, and emotions. We’re encouraging families to enjoy the benefits of being out in nature; we feel it as adults and can see it in children too. Those with autism, sensory processing disorder, or any extra needs can really benefit - it can make a huge impact on their mind, body and wellbeing.
Connecting with other families through this book has been a wonderful experience, with parents not only being able to read the book to their children but being able to find us on social media and see the ‘real Clayton’ working in his garden daily, giving hope to those starting out on their autism journey.
I want to show them that this different, nature-based lifestyle they are about to embark on can become a beautiful way to live.
I’m a mother to three teenage children and for the past five years I have also taken on the challenge of homeschooling my autistic son, Clayton. I’m proud to say my efforts have helped Clayton to thrive through gardening and real life skills.
In addition to my parenting responsibilities, I am a creative permaculture gardener and I love to repurpose old materials and transform them into functional pieces for our garden. As a gardening duo, Katrina & Clayton’s innovative projects have earned a dedicated following on social media, where we share tips and ideas with other gardening enthusiasts.
We love to look at creative ways to build our projects using items we have to hand, have collected for free, or use in different ways to make something that we need. You can see some of our repurposing ideas in previous articles in Scotland Grows, such as a large cold frame made from an old metal bed, scrap wood, pallets and shower curtains, or the raspberry supports made from pallets which were detailed in the last issue.
Katrina and Clayton Gelderbloem, live with their family in East Ayrshire, and share their daily life in the garden on Instagram. They practice permaculture principles in the garden, reducing and repurposing waste whenever they can.
Clayton is 15, autistic, non-verbal, and has been home-educated for the last 5 years. Katrina believes home-educating in nature has helped Clayton thrive. He completed the ‘Grow and Learn’ Course with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society last year, and this year has started the Level 2 ‘Nurture Course’.
You can keep up with Katrina and Clayton on Instagram, Facebook, and on their website, and all the news on their children’s book: 'Clayton's New Garden Journey: A Story of Autism and Growing'.