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Layla Levy

@beneatheleaf

3.5K

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2624

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Trauma informed social ecology
Occasional garden designs and many other thoughts.
▫️Cultural connections & Umthombo trust

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I woke up feeling sad that so many people I know don’t have time / space / capacity to experience magic. Magic being the mysterious, captivating enchantment that can be felt, seen and heard in certain moments of every day. I’ve been through periods of sadness and grief and with retrospect and reflection I’ve realised how grey the world was, how my senses were dulled and I stopped feeling that tingly curiosity for the world that gets me up everyday.
Stress also dulls magic, the routine of falling asleep stressed and waking up stressed - or in fear. And so many people can’t seem to avoid stress (also sometimes me!), so many live in survival stress constantly and so perhaps have less capacity (note - not ability, we all have the ability) to feel or see magic. This is so unfair. We all deserve freedom, we all deserve magic.

Magic requires you to be in your body, true magic is felt through all your senses and to feel all of your senses you need to be completely present and with those sensations.

So much easier said than done.

Magic waxes and wanes for me and that’s okay, but this photo I took of a sea urchin exoskeleton that @whenna.jose found earlier this year while we played in the magic of the undersea world reminded me of the complete wonder we felt while looking at it.

Go find / create / watch out for some magic this weekend. by @beneatheleaf

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2 years ago

I know there are so many people out there who need support, if you have the means to donate anything to Sue Lynn and her family to help them rebuild their home and the game shop you would be impacting far more than one family.

In a youth conference recently a young man from a challenging background shared a speech and in it he said “there was an aunty in my community growing up with a game shop - that aunty kept me sane and helped me shape who I am today”. It stuck with me, Aunty Sue is that aunty. Selfless, caring, so deeply full of love. And now we want to give back to her and her lovely family.

You can donate directly to her bank with the reference REBUILD :
Sue Lynn Botha
62386800942
First National Bank

You’re welcome to DM with any questions. Please share if you feel to. by @beneatheleaf

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2 days ago

We had such fun putting together a Karoo Careers exposure day for the high school youth of Pearston! So many of the Pearston youth have huge dreams but aren’t always sure how to get there, this event aims to give insight into career fields they may not have thought of before as well as for the Pearston team to build relationships with local industries to create more opportunities for the youth going forward. Thank you to everyone who joined us - hopefully we see many more professions there next year!

#youthdevelopment #southafrica by @beneatheleaf

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7 days ago

When you ‘farm people’ hard.

@six_kingdoms Matty has been a pivotal friend for both of us in the last seven years and with his wit and magic he married us (the official signing happened just after the ceremony) and set the tone for the most hilarious, loving, magical day we could ever have imagined. Thank you Matty you mad plant and pool guy 💙

Shaking with excitement and overwhelming love (well, me, Jake solid as a rock as always) listening to all the people we love so much asking us - we said I do!
Till we both become compost. by @beneatheleaf

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14 days ago

It’s true I have not stopped thinking about and reliving the experience of marrying farmer Jake and bringing our people into two magnificent gardens last weekend. They filled them like flowers and the sun turned our faces to the light. I have all sorts of intricate things to write about, I’m itching to do it, and I’ll get there. But right now all I can think about is how much I love this guy (in between napping, watching intently as he farms on and coming to terms with life continuing)

And @samanthamillerphotography is the most amazing and efficient photographer out and has me looking at all of these on repeat so I’ll continue to spam you all as I float about with my jaw still hurting from smiling, laughing and insisting on smothering every person in kisses. taken in Woodcutters Forest Cottages by @beneatheleaf

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22 days ago

We stepped through a doorway, into a field, and our hearts flew above us with buzzards soaring, listening to baboons barking, loved ones singing and eyes that didn’t stop leaking. A weekend we could never, ever imagine being this explosive with love swirling in every direction.
I’m going to be saying thank you - I love you - for a long time.

The venue of our dreams who made our homegrown flowers and artichokes feel like celebrities amongst the flowers they were put with by @ecozest_dp and supported by @ecozest_hannes at the breathtaking @highacregarden that they have created!

Music carried us through the day by @marleneboyce and @waldemarwildy and then the king of steeze, our geez @samuelmillermusic ending with a heaving dance floor thanks to friends who are family @jarydcohen and @byronkaplan and @jaybonemusic

Boy did we eat, all of our favourites from @wild_oats_farmers_market put together by @maillardbakingco , lamb from our neighbour, chicken from Jake, salads from friends @cookedcook touches on every table, pizzas rolled and precooked by us with @tristan__kriel (who also did THE most all weekend keeping everything going) and @rynomakriel
Tiny tarts of perfection fuelled us from our friends at @princeoftartsofficial
Bar was well stocked with @numuti.za thanks to big boss Dflo

I felt like a fairy mermaid artwork thanks to @bestersbridalboutique and my mom and sister who embroidered the whole thing!

Our ceremony was everything we could ever have wanted and more with baboons shouting, birds flying high and the forest all around us and most special of all was our dear friend @six_kingdoms marrying us with theatrical wonder and some farming advice 😅 our perfect signet rings were handmade by my exceptional sister in law @kirafoodandveg

These first few photos are just a sneak peak from the person who makes me feel the easiest and most beautiful on camera the darling @samanthamillerphotography and other photos were taken by more talented friends @mitchsohn, @thatfilmguy.tv and @robertwisniewski_

We are in awe of our community, human and non human and floating on this wave of love into the next chapter of our lives. Thank you ten million times. by @beneatheleaf

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24 days ago

He got with my friends, and I with his
Our families joined and now it’s this
A love overflowing exploding out of our chests
A weekend of joy with all of our bests
I’m not sure how to move on from this day that we had
What we can say for sure is that we love you all like mad
Thank you are words that just don’t say enough
Jake, it’s you. You’re my diamond in the rough. by @beneatheleaf

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24 days ago

I’ve said it all to all of you - thank you doesn’t do it. It’s bigger, wider, deeper than the words thank you could hold. Female friendships hold my life together, the softest place to come home to. Before marrying the love of my life - almost all the other loves of my life came together.
If you have them - hold them close. Your romantic partner was never meant to be everything, you have a whole galaxy to keep turning.

“And when I look up again the whole river runs through me. you’re all in it and I in yours, it grows vast, sparkling black from fynbos women, clean from frog women, nurtured by bird women, ending in the gushing, fierce ocean where we all float”
- Layla (almost) Levy by @beneatheleaf

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a month ago

Today I gardened with the new group in the Homtini Umthombo Allotment garden and I was overwhelmed with inspiration from this young legend, Denovan. The way he talks about himself, how able he is and how much his schooling at Carpe Diem meant to him, how he wishes for young people to seize the day as his school taught him, to try no matter what and seeing him pushing himself into the middle of the garden to plant beetroot - despite his challenges - made me wonder at the absolute resilience of the human spirit and how some of us are so determined and others lose their way and the fire in their spirit.
Come and spend a day in the garden and reignite your fire.

It would be so grand for this to be shared and somehow we get some garden clothes / workwear for this group so they can get even more down and dirty!

Spring is springing! by @beneatheleaf

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a month ago

It’s spring! The birds are singing, the El Niño is making us all anxious, but we shall push on! This platform is becoming increasingly ridiculous and I had all sorts of things I wanted to say over these flowers but decided they say enough on their own. My tiny garden of trendsetters, butter yellow satin, ruffles, chartreuse tones and polka dots, all setting the dress code for our wedding in a few weeks. I can’t stop staring at them and kissing them and yakking away telling them how gorgeous they are.
I planted a bunch more that didn’t come up so the garden has decided what will be!

Happy spring, dance more, care more in real life and less on here and grow yourself some flowers. by @beneatheleaf

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a month ago

Rich beyond measure.
A time of deep work, stretching visions, spring flowers and so much love. by @beneatheleaf

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2 months ago

This year is going fast. Too fast! Time shrinks and morphs and contracts and suddenly its august in a few days and then it’ll be New Year’s Eve and you’ll still be scrolling and wondering where all the time went and why you didn’t do all the things you wanted to do.
I have a ridiculous new habit of deleting instagram and re-downloading it once a week to manage our work socials so that my time doesn’t get eaten up and spat out by the nothingness! My home is filled with half finished art projects, lists of things to do and make for our spring wedding and the garden is bursting with yellow from these calendulas which self seed every year and make the winter shine. I sit and stare at them every day - time way better spent switching off than scrolling - and harvesting them for tea and confetti. Yesterday’s basket was so yellow and beautiful that it hurt to look at and I wanting to eat it! So I stuffed my face into the petals and inhaled the grey rain and the sunny days and felt much better for it.

Get weirder! It’s so enjoyable! For more mid winter thoughts follow the link in bio to my substack 🌼 by @beneatheleaf

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3 months ago