A CENTER FOR 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:
Where the wisdom of the past, present, and future of leadership comes together for the dignity and benefit of all.
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Your Donations are Tax Deductible.
April 2023
First Nature Notes: April Showers
Dear Friends of First Nature Foundation,
​We’ve finally had some much needed rain here in Central Florida, and our gardens and the grass are getting happier. The grazing in some of our pastures had gotten sparse, but will hopefully fill in soon, especially with our rotational grazing protocol, designed to maximize the health of our grazing forage. Now that we are in the rainy season and thunderstorms will be more frequent, our new walled sheds will get more use. Yesterday we had a contractor come to level and slope the ground inside the sheds in preparation for the interconnecting mats, which just arrived today. Pictures will appear on Facebook soon, but it’s too early for them at this point…it’s a lot of work to get them in the sheds, fitted in place, and cut to accommodate the shed posts. Each mat is 100 lbs. and there are 24 of them in each shed!
This coming Saturday our first 2023 cohort of veterans in the Horse Wisdom for Heroes program will graduate and get their graduation certificates. We also started our Horses Healing Hearts program this month. Due to predicted thunderstorms, we’ve had to reschedule our program for Rebuild Yourself heir until next month. We’re also scheduled to welcome kids from the Pathways to Hope program put on by Help Now of Osceola. Our PASOS Grief Support group has gotten more attention as we are now listed on the AFSP website as a national group. We do need sponsors to continue running these programs in order to cover costs, so please consider a sponsorship or donation that will help us keep them going.
We are full up for riding lessons at the ranch, and are now making a waiting list, so let us know if you want us to add you, too! These lessons are designed to not only teach riding, but also how the lessons learned in partnering with a horse through riding have wide applications in other areas of life.
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At our board meeting this month we ratified two new board members, Sue Weidner and Lisandra Gonzales. We will be updating our website when we get their photos and bios, and will announce that in our next newsletter.
Our visitors and program participants often marvel at how our horses can help them improve their self-leadership and shared leadership skills. They excel at showing us how to enhance our communication, self-awareness, team-building, using conflict productively, and other leadership skills.
Do you know of any teams or organizations that might be interested in our Horseplay for Leaders programs? You can find our more about them here. Or maybe you know of groups or experts who might want to run a program (either ours or their own) at the ranch? Please refer them to us. Our facility is also open to host events as long as there is some alignment with our mission. Please email us for availability and details: kerul@firstnaturefoundation.org.
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Almost everyone who visits the ranch mentions how peaceful it is there. Come on out! Tours are the best way to understand our nonprofit’s mission and vision, so please reach out to schedule one. Feel free to share my information with those you think might be interested: kerul@firstnaturefoundation.org or message me on Facebook to set up a time.
As always, stay healthy and take care!
Kerul and Crew
First Nature Ranch / First Nature Foundation
“Where the past, present, and future of leadership come together for the dignity and benefit of all.”
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