Janet Auty - Carlisle

I love to travel and learn new things. When I first realized my spirit was fulfilled with travel I made every effort to go to many places and experience the ambience of the area. I ate the food, met the folks, rode the local transit, sat with the "real people" of the area and just had fun. I loved to hear their stories and share in a piece of their joy.

Many roads later I have come to realize that travel takes on many forms. Life offers us a journey, puts paths in front of us and then it's up to us to choose which we will take. Robert Frost speaks of this as follows: "There were two paths up ahead. I took the one less travelled and that, my friend, has made all the difference." I too have taken the path less travelled and I have loved every step of the journey. I have suffered and overcome the childhood trauma of sexual abuse, I have suffered and overcome the diagnosis and, ultimately mis-diagnosis, of Parkinson's disease after 7 years and I made the decision, at 48 years old, to return to school to get my coaching certificate. I graduated on Sept 11, 2008: apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks. There is not one thing I would change about this journey and I revel in the passions in my life.

One of the things I love to do is collect fabric, especially if it has beads on it and even better if it's brightly coloured. When my collection began to overtake my studio, and, as the environmental issues again resurfaced in the media, I took a look at my collection and made a decision. They would be sacrificed and recycled into custom made reusable cloth bags. Thus was the birthing of Mama Earth bags. I offered them to friends and family. When people began to stop be at the markets to ask me if they could buy them I decided to offer them to the rest of the world. So, here you go, and enjoy!

Proceeds of the Mama Earth bags are donated to a local women and childrens' shelter. Feels like a win/win/win to me. Thanks for your help in making Mama Earth cared for as well as the mothers at the shelters.

See and meet the friends and faces behind Hippy Grandma.