New Album Listen to the Land AVAILABLE NOW

I am absolutely thrilled to announce my newest collection of tales & songs, Listen to the Land is available now and bursting with earthy goodness for you and your little ones to share.

Listen to the Land is a full length album (72 mins) featuring 6 heartwarming audio tales and 7 fun family folk songs celebrating a child’s sensory connection to the natural world, farm life, growing food and caring for the earth.

And to celebrate I’m writing a post for each of the stories including accompanying nature activities to really bring the tales to life in your child’s hands, head and heart. My first post includes a FREE STORY DOWNLOAD of the tale of The Panicum Tin plus activities and you can read it here or purchase the album on CD or digital download here.

What ancient secrets lie hidden within Gran’s old story tin? Will wombat ever really take to farm life? And can Molly & Poppy create their own farm in the middle of the city?

From the magic of bees to hardworking mother hen, from traditional farming to bustling permaculture gardens, from green rolling hills to wild bushland – Listen to the Land explores our connection to Mother Earth, inviting everyone – big & little – to find our own ways to listen.

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The new album was inspired by my young family’s life on the land together, as well as my own childhood growing up on a farm and each story and song is written with the intention of re-connecting our little ones (and ourselves!) with nature’s rhythms.

 “Once upon a time, in a little valley at the foot of a great mountain, there lived a Tree…..”

The new collection was written here on Djiringanj country on the far south coast of Australia and begins with the short story of an ancient tree who stands tall and strong, watching the many stories wash across the land.

“….And if you listen hard – on a certain type of day, in a certain type of wind, in a certain type of way – you might just hear a secret or two whispering its way across the land. Let’s see what we can hear now…..”

From there we journey into songs and stories rich in metaphors about our relationship to agriculture, animals and the bush. The first story on the album acknowledges the traditional custodians of the Australian continent, our first farmers, the Aboriginal People and you can find out more about Indigenous agriculture plus FREE STORY DOWNLOAD of The Panicum Tin on my latest blog here.

The album continues with funny meetings between farm and bush animals, city farmers, beautiful old trees somehow seen as ‘weeds’, and of course, the magic of bees and the life they bring to the earth.

 “Each song & story brought a tear to my eye. Thank you for bringing so much joy into my little girl’s world, and mine as well.” Bridget & Ava (7)

“After listening to The Panicum Tin, the boys set up a seed store with native millet, threshers & rock grinders while singing ‘I Want to be a Farmer’. Your work has such a lasting effect Annie.” Bec & Charlie (8) and Liam (6) 

Listen to the Land was officially launched in the Storytent last weekend in a field filled with food, at the foot of a great mountain range, on the wonderful PEACE Farm in Yarra Junction. After we sang and story-ied through the richness of Mother Earth, it was so perfect to then pipe the children out into the gardens filled with bees, food, flowers and healthy soil. We then came back together – a group of like-minded families – and shared soup and stories around the campfire before one last story in the Storytent to say goodbye. 

“…you really created such magic for my family today, thank you” 

So please enjoy listening to a sample of the new album above or purchase your own CD or digital download from the store and I look forward to singing with you in the Storytent very soon x Annie

{Read the next blog here}

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