TO LEARN TO LIVE, LOOK AT THE LIVING
Mangroves
Four lessons in remaining alive to a changing world
Mangroves live where the ground is always swaying. Rooted between land and sea, they breathe through flooded soil, build new ground from what remains, and shelter lives beyond counting. Their survival is one continuous act of relationship with water, sediment, weather, and the communities gathered among their roots.
This four part field-study asks what their ways of living might teach us about remaining attentive, responsive, and open to aworld that is always changing.
What might mangroves teach us about remaining alive to the world?
THE LESSONS
Four weekly lessons, available exclusively to paid Patreon members beginning at $3 per month.
THE WORKBOOKS
Optional digital companions with expanded science, photographs, field notes, practices, and space to write. Sold separately.
FOUR WEEKLY LESSONS - AUGUST 2026 - EXCLUSIVELY ON PATREON - FROM $3/MONTH
THE PATREON FIELD STUDY
Four ways of remaining alive to the world
01
ORIENT
Adaptation - Living at the Edge
How mangroves meet tides, salt, unstable ground, and constant change.
02
ROOT
Memory- Learning to Carry What Remains
How roots gather sediment from peat, store carbon, and build land from what has accumulated.
03
COMMUNITY
Interdependence - Learning to Belong
How mangrove forests become nurseries, shelters, and meeting places for communities of living beings.
04
TEND
Stewardship- Learning to Protect What We Love
What mangrove survival requires and how attention deepens into responsibility.
OPTIONAL DIGITAL COMPANIONS
Go deeper into the mangroves
Designed as participatory companions to the Patreon lessons, the four digital field workbooks combine original photographs, in-depth mangrove science, ecological diagrams, and field observations with guided practices, journal prompts, and dedicated pages for reflection.
INDIVIDUAL DIGITAL WORKBOOK - $8
COMPLETE FOUR-WORKBOOK COLLECTION - $25
Optional digital downloads. Sold separately from Patreon membership.
YOUR FIELD GUIDE
I’m learning alongside the mangroves too
I’m Michelle Carrera, a Puerto Rican writer, death doula, grief educator, living in Borikén. My work explores what grief, death, ancestry, and the more-than-human world can teach us about staying open-hearted during changing times.
This field-study grew from my time spent paddling, listening, and learning among the mangrove forests near my home. I created it as an invitation to study them more closely, and to consider what becomes possible when attention deepens into relationship.
