We’re back sharing another thoughtful and super creative graduate colloquium project! This time from grad students Allison and Pat. Read on to learn about their work, The Curried Carrots!

What did you create and present for the fall colloquium?

We created an EP of educational science songs called Wisdom of the Woods as a singer-songwriter folk duo, The Curried Carrots.

Allison and Pat on The Curried Carrots album cover

What inspired the project?

Our technology integration class had us create a project that felt meaningful, and we both felt drawn to music as a way of representing our learning. The songs each had inspiration in the environment of IslandWood – ‘Browns and Greens’ was based on a compost lesson we saw our fellow grad, Will, teach; ‘Mighty Mycelium’ came from a week of learning about mushrooms; ‘Big Leaf’ refers to the maple trees all around campus; ‘Wisdom of the Woods’ was inspired by plant id lessons and place-based observation.

Had you both played music together prior to the creation of this album?

We had played together one time at the open mic night at Seabold Community Hall and found that our voices blended together very naturally. We became friends and wanted to make even more music together. Deciding to write a full album was definitely a leap of faith, but fortunately it worked out!

What was/is your goal for this work?

We want this album to give others as much joy as it has given us, and we hope it provides an accessible format for learning about ecological science.

What did you learn along the way of creating this (awesome!) album?

We learned that we really like collaborating with one another! And recording is really, really, really hard – for every hour we spent composing, we spent 8 hours on recording and editing.

Anything else you’d like to share?

We’re continuing to play and write music together, so keep an eye out for more songs from The Curried Carrots in the future!

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Learn more about IslandWood’s Graduate program in partnership with the University of Washington here.  

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