As another school year comes to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about the moments that stay with me. This year, Bougie Birch had the privilege of facilitating 44 live dreamcatcher workshops through Connected North, creating with students in remote Indigenous communities across Canada.

We were honoured to receive a Certificate of Appreciation from the Connected North team, and I’m truly grateful for that recognition. But what I keep coming back to most are the conversations that happen while we create together: the laughter, the questions, and the moment someone holds up their dreamcatcher and says, “Mine doesn’t look like theirs.”

That moment is one of my favourites because that’s where the teaching begins.



A lot of people think our workshops are about making a dreamcatcher, and they are, but they are also about so much more. As we create, we talk about the Medicine Wheel and how it reminds us to return to balance. Balance is not something we achieve once and then never think about again. It takes consistency, focus, and care, and in many ways, the craft asks for the same things.

Each stitch is small. One by one, they might not seem like much, but together they begin to form something more complex, more beautiful, and more meaningful than what we started with. I often invite students to think about each stitch like an intention, a thought, a choice, or a small decision. In life, our choices can feel small in the moment too, but over time, they shape what we are creating.

That is what I love about teaching through making. The lesson is not separate from the craft. It is inside the process.

And then comes that moment of comparison. Someone looks around and notices that their dreamcatcher looks different from someone else’s, and I always remind them that it is supposed to. There is no single “right” way for a dreamcatcher to look. Each one reflects the person who made it, just like people.

The only thing every one of us truly has in common is that we are all different. That is why our differences matter so much. They are not something to hide or fix. They are something to understand, honour, and celebrate.

We all carry different strengths, and where one person may struggle, another person may be strong. That is why community matters. We are not meant to carry everything alone. We support one another, fill in the spaces for each other, and become stronger together. That is reciprocity. That is relationship. That is part of living in balance.

In many ways, the dreamcatcher becomes a reminder that no single stitch creates the whole. It is the way each stitch connects to the next that creates something strong enough to hold, and community works the same way.

This is why Bougie Birch does what it does. Our workshops are not just about the finished piece. They are about how people feel while they are making it: comfortable enough to try, encouraged enough to keep going, open enough to learn something new, and safe enough to be themselves.

To the Connected North team, thank you for continuing to create meaningful learning opportunities for students across the country. To the educators who welcomed us into your classrooms, nia:wen. And to every student who created with us this year, thank you for your curiosity, your laughter, your questions, and your creativity.

I cannot wait to create together again next school year.