Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay

Akiva Silver has been studying and working with nature for the past 20 years. His endeavors have ranged from primitive wilderness survival to planting and maintaining diverse fruit and nut orchards, and to running his nursery business at Twisted Tree Farm. Akiva raises tens of thousands of trees every year, propagating from seeds and cuttings. He is an avid forager and observer of wildlife. Akiva has written three books, Trees of Power, The Conversation, and The Ocean of Dreams. In this episode… An approach to creating change through inspiration and alternative solutions rather than opposition…Bringing opposition to those in service only to self can interrupt their agenda, but building new and better systems lays the groundwork for change from a place of love. What we put our focus on often grows, and that includes world problems as well as alternative solutions. One alternative solution Akiva has been working on is cooking oil…using the oft-maligned bitternut hickory as a source of cooking oil, instead of relying on an annual monocrop like canola whose production creates a biological desert on the land. The story about Akiva's experience with wilderness and survival skills, how the guilt of taking from the earth, the plant and animal bodies to fuel his own body, was transformed into gratitude, paired with a realization that we are part of nature and the carbon cycle, we have the same value and right to be here…”you are taking life to have life. Something is killed for you to have energy. When I kill a deer and eat it, I have that energy in my body. What I do with that energy matters more to me when I remember this.” You can take that energy and wallow in self pity and self doubt, or you can take that life in order to create beauty and kindness and propagate life. A certain responsibility enters the picture. The joy of doing work that is directed by the seasons, the patterns of nature, instead of by a human schedule. “Having an attitude of curiosity would lead to a totally different world” The best way to be mentally healthy and happy is to know that you have a purpose, know that you're helping others…finding how you can be of service is the best thing you can do for yourself and the world. Resources Twisted Tree Farm website and nursery online store Akiva Silver - Twisted Tree Farm YouTube channel Trees of Power, The Conversation, and The Ocean of Dreams by Akiva Silver Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America; The Forager's Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants; and Nature's Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden by Lee Reich Books by Robert Moss

Some people do things the way things have always been done. Others develop that curiosity muscle and are able to take in new information, weigh it against experience and, yes, intuition, and ultimately create new systems that work. The first thing Jared teaches a new farmer is “know thyself.” Jared and Selena have been married 26 years and are the parents of nine children and one grandchild. They are 3rd generation ranchers, managing the operation Jared's grandfather and father built in Secret Pass and Clover Valley, Nevada. Jared is a life-long learner and has been applying and teaching principles of holistic management, soil regeneration, and biodynamics. Jared has mentored many young people seeking to get a start in agriculture. The Sorensens raise and market grass fed beef, teach onsite and virtual classes, and offer internships on the ranch. In this episode… partnering with his father and grandfather at age 16 making the shift to holistic, regenerative practices grazing management: mob grazing, the principle of thirds bringing the microscope to the farm: measuring the effectiveness of new practices by tracking the presence of a balanced microbial population healing the water cycle biologically—beavers as permaculture designers!; keyline systems the importance of knowing your why, knowing yourself…don't set yourself up for failure by adopting a system that's not yours, without taking the time to get to know yourself and what YOU were created to do here on this earth, your unique why…and then having the courage to embody that truth introducing a biodynamic approach to the ranch, being the human connection between heaven and earth to be better stewards of the earth, we need to increase our awareness, get past our “know it all” egoic tendency, moving past judgement and getting curious, knowing there's something we can learn from everyone and every situation. A big dose of humility will serve us well it IS possible to break into agriculture without inheriting a farm Nature is more resilient than we give it credit for. There's so much grace and forgiveness in trying to do the right thing, in getting past our arrogance and our ego. Progress can be made! Your self worth is infinite, it is separate from your net worth. Resources Ruby Mountain Nourishing Foods (Sorensen Ranch) Sustainable Settings (Biodynamic Ranch in Colorado) The Profitable Regeneration Virtual Summit Searching for Home, Finding Grace free ebook from Jared Sorensen Searching for Home, Finding Grace hard copy

Amy Dempster helps others understand the healing power of the earth. What began as openly sharing her spiritual journey on her popular blog Following Hawks, has become a resource for others wanting to learn how to communicate with nature and share their own unique healing gifts with the earth. Together with the Spirits of the Land in the mountains of northwest Montana, she tends seven portals on the land where she lives, along with any grid keeping work she is assigned. She also leads the Earth Tenders Academy, an immersive online journey to help others reestablish their connection with their ancient ancestors, learn to communicate with the seen and unseen forces in their environment, and respectfully offer their healing energy to places in need. In this episode… The experience of waking up to one's spiritual gifts, what it's like to exchange energy and information with the unseen world Ways people can attune themselves to have a deeper relationship and experience with Nature What is sound healing, how singing bowls and toning affect reality Plant medicine, Amanita renaissance, the energetics of sitting in ceremony with a plant ally Resources www.followinghawks.com The Amanita Experience  

Asia Suler is a writer, teacher, earth intuitive and ecological philosopher who lives in the folds of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the founder of One Willow Apothecaries, an Appalachian-grown company that offers handcrafted herbal medicines and educational experiences in herbalism, animism, ancestral healing and earth-centered personal growth. Asia has guided over 20,000 students in 70+ countries through her immersive online programs. With her writings and teachings, Asia helps people embrace their own unique medicine through a joyful engagement with the natural world. Asia's first book Mirrors in the Earth: Reflections on Self-Healing from the Living World is available now. In this episode… The experience of waking up to Nature and exchanging information and energy with the unseen world Ways people can attune themselves in order to have a deeper experience with the natural world Gardening as a practice of setting boundaries When we come home to our own inner world, the world as we know it changes How the Earth helps us heal from trauma How valuing our smallness, and the details of everyday life, helps us heal our lives and the Earth Healing self judgement Resources www.asiasuler.com Mirrors in the Earth: Reflections on Self-Healing from the Living World by Asia Suler

“Our sense of ‘the individual', which really began with the rise of capitalism and the forceful severing of people from land and community, led to the concept that there are categories of being that do and do not have consciousness, that are and are not alive, that do and do not have their own right to existence…and when we actually drop into our senses and allow ourselves to experience the living world, we discover that so many of the things that were not supposed to be intelligent, or sentient, are speaking to us and with us. And that changes everything.” Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue is an herbalist, writer, and teacher, and an initiated Priest in two traditions. He lives in the mountains of western Maine. Seán's approach to healing weaves together the insights of traditional western herbalism, animism, and contemporary science. He regards physical, spiritual, and emotional healing as deeply intertwined. He is the author of The Forest Reminds Us Who We Are. In this episode… Early influences and experiences working with plant and animal consciousnesses How becoming more fully embodied opens awareness and the capacity to connect with nature The aromatic scents of plants are recognized as kinship signals within our bodies; when we can direct our attention to a specific plant, tension is released within our bodies so that we can connect more openly The near-constant barrage and sensory overload of modern living and its effect on our ability to deeply listen to subtle information in our natural surroundings Some simple practices that can help us open our awareness and refine our senses What's most permanent about us is our threefold nature…the “Talking” or “Human” self that interacts with abstractions and language (our persona and ego), our “Animal” self that experiences sensation and emotions, responding to rhythm and ritual and love, and our “God” self or “Infinite” self that knows our divinity and infinity Examining our own programming and conditioning and reclaiming our body's innate wisdom, through the senses, to convey information about the world around us Indigenous vs. colonizers, and the worldview of “we” vs. “I” “To die healed is to die while being in right relation with all things in your inner world and your outer worlds. That can happen only in the context where we recognize and experience the world as alive. We cannot come into this full expression of who we are without letting our consciousness to fully enter and fill our bodies.” “6,000 years of patriarchal civilization has created rigid patterns within humans where we are armoring ourselves against our own eros, our own nature, our own desire for life, as well as armoring ourselves against the feelings and experiences of those around us. When we are in that place of being cut off from ourselves and each other, we can more easily become the instruments of ideologies that try to tell us what's right and wrong, and who does and doesn't have a right to exist.” Resources The Forest Reminds Us Who We Are: Connecting to the Living Medicine of Wild Plants by Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue https://otherworldwell.com/ Victor H. Anderson: An American Shaman by Cornelia Benavidez Invoking Ireland by John Moriarty The Gary Snyder Reader: Prose, Poetry, and Translations by Gary Snyder The Collected Poems of Denise Levertov

75% of the world’s human population relies on traditional healing practices, most of which is herbal medicine. Herbs and other plants have shaped human culture and traditions since the beginning of time. The Ashkenazim of Eastern Europe’s Pale of Settlement have a well documented history dating back to the Middle Ages, but until now, accounts of their herbal healing practices have been absent from public record. Deatra and Adam have put together a snapshot of not only the herbs used by this culture, but also tell the story of its healers. Deatra Cohen is an author, herbalist, master gardener and artist. She was a reference librarian for many years and always had an interest in nature, plants and medicinal herbs. When she began to study herbalism formally, she discovered there was no written record of the medicinal plant knowledge of her ancestors, the Ashkenazi Jews from the Pale of Settlement in Eastern Europe.  Adam Siegel is an author, translator, and bibliographer. He studied linguistics at the University of Minnesota and the University of California, and library and information science at San José State University.  His translations from German, Russian, Serbian, and Croatian papers have been published widely, and he is a past recipient of the NEA Literary Translation Fellowship. In this episode… How enrolling in an herbalism course prompted Deatra to explore the herbal traditions of her ancestors The investigative process of digging for clues about traditional Ashkenazi herbalism, a topic with very little previously published information Researching the narrative of this culture and how it led to deeper conversations within Deatra’s family regarding World War II, displacement, and immigration Use of cupping, protection against evil eye, and magico-religious medicine Herbal cultural appropriation: from the perspective of the plants, this concept doesn’t exist! The magic of tending and caring for herbs that take care of you   Resources Ashkenazi Herbalism: Rediscovering the Herbal Traditions of Eastern European Jews by Deatra Cohen and Adam Siegel Contact Deatra: artaed@gmail.com ashkenaziherbalism.net    

Amy Dempster helps others understand the healing power of the earth. What began as openly sharing her spiritual journey on her popular blog Following Hawks, has become a resource for others wanting to learn how to communicate with nature and share their own unique healing gifts with the earth. Together with the Spirits of the Land in the mountains of northwest Montana, she tends seven portals on the land where she lives, along with any grid keeping work she is assigned. She also leads the Earth Tenders Academy, an immersive online journey to help others reestablish their connection with their ancient ancestors, learn to communicate with the seen and unseen forces in their environment, and respectfully offer their healing energy to places in need. In this episode… Amy’s experience opening up to this work—the moment when she realized Nature was trying to get her attention, and the process of teasing apart communication from Nature from thoughts of the mind What it means to be a gridkeeper—what Earth’s grids are and what they do, and how the global ascension process affects them Humans are an integral part of the process of anchoring cosmic light into the Earth through our physical bodies, often without our conscious awareness “The Great Migration”—why people are being called to relocate all over the globe Energy vortexes and portals—what they are, what they do Suggestions for individuals who feel called to work with Earth energies The role of agriculture in the human-nature dynamic; factory farming is missing the co-creative relationship between human and plant. The intention of the grower is everything. Earth’s living library How valuable and precious our bodies are and the role of emotions in accessing our potential Resources https://followinghawks.com/ Earth: Pleiadian Keys to the Living Library by Barbara Marciniak Bringers of the Dawn: Teachings from the Pleiadians by Barbara Marciniak The Earth Keepers Podcast The Following Hawks Earthkeepers Community Facebook group The Earth Tenders Academy

David O’Carroll has been educating growers in the United Kingdom in Korean Natural Farming methods for the last 6 years at Ballagh Micro Farm, based in Devon, where beneficial microbes are being used to create healthy soil through powerful natural fertilizers. Having used Korean Natural Farming for a number of years on a smaller scale, such as establishing an agroforestry project and learning centre, he combined Korean Natural Farming and other methods of natural farming to accelerate the change in soil biology to showcase how healthy soil can be created. Working closely with many United Kingdom Hemp farms both locally and nationwide he has developed both organic pest management solutions, and adoption of Korean Natural Farming practices, in addition to further product developments within the hemp industry. In these episodes… Korean Natural Farming is a path for those who are put off by the high cost of outside agricultural inputs; KNF offers a local, renewable, sustainable source of fertility that aims to build soil that mimics a forest ecosystem KNF has allowed David to diversify his farm products and give him a revenue stream year-round and increase his resilience and small-farm sustainability Do as nature does (her methods are inexpensive and easy); understand the good and the bad are one (values are relative) The benefit of collecting indigenous microorganisms within the local vicinity (a 50 mile radius is a good reference point); microbes will teach each other how to adapt to different conditions I and others are one (understand crops by understanding your own body); you are what you eat, eats Applying KNF principles and techniques for waste management at large gatherings and festivals Lactic acid bacteria is the emergency response team that can correct both soil and gastrointestinal imbalance How the COVID lockdowns are affecting the way people think about food, farming, and gardening Indigenous microorganisms for no-smell compost toilets and hog operations Looking for the different phases of plant development in order to supplement the needed nutrients: leaf growth, root and flower, seed and fruit Utilizing KNF techniques in the developing world using locally available rice, sugar, fruit, plant matter, animal bones, and dairy or bean milk, and some form of alcohol Oriental Herbal Nutrient: a tincture of fermented garlic, ginger, cinnamon, licorice, and angelica Natural pest management

David O’Carroll has been educating growers in the United Kingdom in Korean Natural Farming methods for the last 6 years at Ballagh Micro Farm, based in Devon, where beneficial microbes are being used to create healthy soil through powerful natural fertilizers. Having used Korean Natural Farming for a number of years on a smaller scale, such as establishing an agroforestry project and learning centre, he combined Korean Natural Farming and other methods of natural farming to accelerate the change in soil biology to showcase how healthy soil can be created. Working closely with many United Kingdom Hemp farms both locally and nationwide he has developed both organic pest management solutions, and adoption of Korean Natural Farming practices, in addition to further product developments within the hemp industry. In these episodes… Korean Natural Farming is a path for those who are put off by the high cost of outside agricultural inputs; KNF offers a local, renewable, sustainable source of fertility that aims to build soil that mimics a forest ecosystem KNF has allowed David to diversify his farm products and give him a revenue stream year-round and increase his resilience and small-farm sustainability Do as nature does (her methods are inexpensive and easy); understand the good and the bad are one (values are relative) The benefit of collecting indigenous microorganisms within the local vicinity (a 50 mile radius is a good reference point); microbes will teach each other how to adapt to different conditions I and others are one (understand crops by understanding your own body); you are what you eat, eats Applying KNF principles and techniques for waste management at large gatherings and festivals Lactic acid bacteria is the emergency response team that can correct both soil and gastrointestinal imbalance How the COVID lockdowns are affecting the way people think about food, farming, and gardening Indigenous microorganisms for no-smell compost toilets and hog operations Looking for the different phases of plant development in order to supplement the needed nutrients: leaf growth, root and flower, seed and fruit Utilizing KNF techniques in the developing world using locally available rice, sugar, fruit, plant matter, animal bones, and dairy or bean milk, and some form of alcohol Oriental Herbal Nutrient: a tincture of fermented garlic, ginger, cinnamon, licorice, and angelica Natural pest management Resources David’s website: https://www.ballaghbotanicals.co.uk/ for access to a free online course in how to make Korean Natural Farming preparations The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming by Masanobu Fukuoka Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening by Sepp Holzer Cho’s Global Natural Farming An Introduction to Korean Natural Farming Chris Trump Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses by Daniel Chamovitz Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops by Martin Crawford Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible by Jorge Cervantes

“In order to rise to the challenge of addressing the global emergency known as climate change, we need to access and build a relationship with our higher soul. This connection fosters a life where we truly take stewardship of the planet and our relationship with other beings, and to the best of our ability, manifest love, kindness, and compassion for self, others, and the world. This leads us all to a better life.” Dr. Eben Alexander spent over 25 years as an academic neurosurgeon, including 15 years at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, the Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.  Over those years he personally dealt with hundreds of patients suffering from severe alterations in their level of consciousness. Many of those patients were rendered comatose by trauma, brain tumors, ruptured aneurysms, infections, or stroke. He thought he had a very good idea of how the brain generates consciousness, mind and spirit. In the predawn hours of November 10, 2008, he was driven into coma by a rare and mysterious bacterial meningo-encephalitis of unknown cause. He spent a week in coma on a ventilator, his prospects for survival diminishing rapidly. On the seventh day, to the surprise of everyone, he started to awaken. Memories of his life had been completely deleted inside of the coma, yet he awoke with memories of a fantastic odyssey deep into another realm – more real than this earthly one! His older son advised him to write down everything he could remember about his journey, before he read anything about near-death experiences, physics or cosmology. Six weeks later, he completed his initial recording of his remarkable journey, totaling over 20,000 words in length. Then he started reading, and was astonished by the commonalities between his journey and so many others reported throughout all cultures, continents and millennia. His journey brought key insights to the mind-body discussion and to our human understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. His experience clearly revealed that we are conscious in spite of our brain – that, in fact, consciousness is at the root of all existence. His story offers a crucial key to the understanding of reality and human consciousness. It will have a major effect on how we view spirituality, soul and the non-material realm. In analyzing his experience, including the scientific possibilities and grand implications, he envisions a more complete reconciliation of modern science and spirituality as a natural product. He has been blessed with a complete recovery that is inexplicable from the viewpoint of modern Western medicine. In this episode… The story of Dr. Alexander’s near-death experience and the subsequent journey into the nature of reality, the mind-brain connection, free will, and debunking conventional science’s denial of the existence of consciousness Dr. Alexander’s most powerful lesson since coming out of his coma has been the power of going within. Meditation is the first step to putting the little “ego-mind” in time-out, and helps us get in touch with aspects of ourselves that are more connected with other beings, and connected with the universe at large. That’s the best way to manifest the loftiest world of the dreams of our higher soul. The Life Review: a common feature of reported Near-Death Experiences where boundaries of self disappear and your life is presented to you from the emotional perspective of those around you (reinforcing the Golden Rule) Past-life accounts from children have been validated through historical research This material world is where our souls actually make progress, not the in-between spiritual realm Reincarnation was very accepted in the early days of Christianity, but the concept was written out by Constantine at the Council of Nicaea Several examples of people having NDEs and making miraculous full recoveries from deadly traumas and illnesses Darwinian concepts of evolution through competition (ideas that bled into our social and economic systems) versus evolution via collaboration and cooperation Meditation as a technique to get in touch with our higher souls, as well as a scientifically proven tool to lower stress and blood pressure, improve sleep and productivity, enhance the immune system, generate inner peace and assist with interpersonal conflict Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s vision—echoed by those from the NDE world and the meditating community— of the evolution of all consciousness toward a higher level of oneness and connectedness and love, a utopian world for all of life on Earth—shifting the focus from the “ego-mind” toward the universal higher good It’s time to shift our identification away from individual nation-states and toward a global vision focused on the highest good of all beings; it’s time for us to wake up and care for each other and realize that a polarized society isn’t healthy and will sooner or later collapse under its own weight Resources http://ebenalexander.com/ Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife by Eben Alexander Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Heart of Consciousness by Eben Alexander and Karen Newell Seeking Heaven: Sound Journeys into the Beyond Audio CD by Eben Alexander and Karen Newell of Sacred Acoustics https://galileocommission.org/ The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer https://www.sacredacoustics.com/ University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies Inner Sanctum Center (One Mind: United in Hope and Healing) Why Jesus Taught Reincarnation by Herbert Bruce Puryear Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda Dying To Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing by Anita Moorjani My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin The Science of Near-Death Experiences by John C. Hagan III Efficacy of Binaural Beat Meditation Technology for Treating Anxiety Symptoms: A Pilot Study (abstract)

“Your food just feels good when I eat it”…this is the refrain Jennifer Maynard hears again and again from customers eating the meals she produces from her regenerative agriculture farm and assembles through her meal kit business—meals based on the Longevity Diet. Jennifer has done her homework when it comes to food that works with the human body. She has traveled to several of the blue zones—areas with a high concentration of people over 100 years old—and discovered not just what they eat, but how they live and grow their food as well. Jennifer worked in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical specialty medicine areas for over 20 years. After putting two decades of her passion into changing people's lives through modern medicine, she felt her knowledge and experience would be better served focusing on "Food as Medicine." Even though progress has been made with medicine, the battle with chronic illness is being lost. In order to address this, she founded Greater Greens, a regenerative organic farm, as the first step to bringing this movement front and center and to help focus on the root of our health challenges. Once the farm was fully operational, she co-founded Nutrition for Longevity, a farm-to-fork meal kitting company that focuses on bringing nutritionally tailored meals to the masses direct from her farm. In this episode… Phytonutrients and the connection between soil and human health, including our response to stress The soil microbiome is the plant’s immune system, much as the human gut microbiome makes up a huge part of the human immune system Practices that have led to the reduction of organic matter in U.S. soils from 11% to 1% Techniques Jennifer uses on her farm, Greater Greens, to produce high quality, phytonutrient-rich foods The critical role of native insect populations in maintaining agroecological balance The power of the consumer in making the shift toward regenerative agriculture Ways to get more nutrient-dense foods into our local communities How farms with healthy soils are far more resilient with regard to climate change We can begin to support farmers interested in transitioning to regenerative agriculture using carbon credits Kids actually WILL eat vegetables…produce that is grown in living soil is far more appealing than conventional veggies! Centenarians in the Blue Zones tend to be regenerative agriculture farmers, utilizing ancient techniques practiced by the indigenous populations Resources Nutrition for Longevity, Jennifer’s meal kit service Greater Greens on Facebook and Instagram Jennifer Maynard on Instagram Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight by Valter Longo

Microbes make the world go ‘round. In regenerative agriculture, we rely on microbes to supply our crops to with the nutrients they need to flourish. On a larger scale, microbes play the role of the Earth’s immune system, springing into action when disasters such as petroleum spills assault her waters. Today we talk about the magic of microbes in the soil, oceans, and human body. Dr. Patricia Tavormina is a research scientist who's worked on the Human Genome Project at the University of California, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill at Caltech, and a dozen things in between. She's an occasional educator at local community colleges and a passionate advocate for greater science communication. When there's not a global pandemic underway, you can catch her doing outreach at Earth Day events, K-8 classrooms, and library lecture series. In this episode… How environmental microbes act as the planet’s immune system, supporting the Gaia theory that the Earth is intelligent Patricia’s work at petroleum spill sites The human microbiome Symbiants in the body and in the soil Metaorganisms The Porter Ranch gas leak near Los Angeles, California Speculations on our ecological future Resources Aerovoyant: The Industrial Age, Volume One by Patricia Tavormina Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Patricia on Twitter: @pltavormina Giuliana Viglione: What did we learn from the Deepwater Horizon disaster? Sharon McNary: After Aliso John J. Berger: Can soil microbes slow climate change? Anthony Finbow: How Microbiomes could save the planet Ram Swaroop Meena et al: Impact of Agrochemicals on Soil Microbiota and Management: A Review Anne Armstrong, Marianne Krasny, and Jonathan Schuldt: Communicating Climate Change: A Guide for Educators

We are wired to perceive information from the natural world around us— it’s how we have survived as a species. The problem is we have shut it off, influenced at an early age by the adults in our lives. We all have the ability to tend our reciprocal relationship with the plants and the Earth. Kami McBride is the author of The Herbal Kitchen and has developed several online courses that facilitate the skills and confidence building to use herbs in day-to-day life for health and self-care. Kami’s 30+ years of teaching herbal medicine is steeped in her calling to inspire culture that embraces taking care of our bodies with healing herbs, a deep connection with the earth and a lifestyle that passes this knowledge on to our children. Kami has taught herbal medicine at University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing, and the Integral Health Masters’ program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has helped thousands of families gain confidence using herbs for disease prevention and self-care.  In this episode… Accessibility of herbal medicine versus the pharmaceutical model Effect of the disconnect from ancestral lands and foods Plant and earth communication is a continuum Our ability to connect with and see the world is incredibly profound between ages 1 and 3 Remembering our own “door”, the unique way we experience and interpret information from the natural world Ways to begin opening ourselves to plant communication—and the role of gratitude We can’t protect what we don’t deeply love Including Mother Earth in decision-making—listening to the land and including her voice in the discussion Full-spectrum herbal learning Bringing forth the Earth’s message for humanity When you make a deep connection with a plant, herbal medicine becomes personal embodied experience that goes so far beyond memorization People are being called to bring our culture back into right relationship with Nature Resources Kami’s plant communication course: www.plantwisdom.online Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer https://bioneers.org/ The Herbal Kitchen by Kami McBride

Have you ever tried to experience your yard, a garden, a woodland…the way a child does? Have you ever had a simple experience of a tree or insect without naming it or judging it or creating a narrative around it? Brigit Strawbridge Howard has rediscovered the pure delight and joy of doing just that—tuning in to the frequency of the natural world and experiencing nature on nature’s terms. Brigit Strawbridge Howard is a wildlife gardener, naturalist, and bee advocate. She writes and campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, and is the author of Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Nature. Brigit lives with her husband, Rob, in rural Dorset, England. With regard to designing your garden or property, according to Brigit…”If you’re benefiting bees, you’re benefiting EVERYTHING in your garden!” In this episode… The moment Brigit realized she had more than an average passing interest in bees… Pollination via Sonication There are 350,000 species of flowering plants on the planet—each with their own pollination needs The art of experiencing Nature like children do—with presence, without analysis or the need to label The role of bees as teachers Bee alchemy Tuning into the bees—a different state of mind Industrial beekeeping What we can do to support bees and other pollinating insects Brigit’s wildlife garden Resources The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Nature by Brigit Strawbridge Howard The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees by Joseph Wilson Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Soul Soil Podcast Patreon Page Soul Soil Grow and Glow package

“Parenthood is EASY!” said no one, ever. Raising children to be conscious, kind, sustainably-minded adults can be extra challenging in an age of global ecological collapse, and in a country characterized by immediate gratification, polarization, and single-use EVERYTHING. Today we talk with Shannon Brescher Shea about how to bridge our desire to be part of the solution, with being caretakers and models for the little people in our lives. Shannon Brescher Shea is devoted to telling authentic stories about green living and parenting. She's the author of the environmental parenting advice book Growing Sustainable Together: Practical Resources to Raise Kind, Engaged, Resilient Children and writes the parenting blog We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So. After receiving a master's degree from Oxford University in Nature, Society, and Environmental Policy, she worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and U.S. Department of Energy. She biked from New York City to Washington D.C. to raise money for climate change advocacy, protested the Keystone XL pipeline when she was pregnant, and led family community bike rides. Shea has bylines in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Sierra Magazine, Scary Mommy, and Romper. She lives in the Washington D.C. suburbs with her husband and two kids. In this episode… Mom Guilt: the struggle between spending time on climate activism vs. being present for your children The many aspects of sustainability that arise in a family’s daily life that are all teachable moments Lessons children can learn from working in gardens (see article below) Kids who garden are more likely to try new foods! Psychological benefits to spending time outdoors (especially for children diagnosed with ADHD) Teaching kindness to children in words and action, especially regarding those who are different or have different circumstances Introducing children to environmental action in a playful way that empowers them to influence the power structures that affect us all Helping kids want less stuff by limiting their exposure to advertisements and helping them think critically about them Bringing awareness to the way the activities we choose to engage in impact the people, community, and world around us; making conscious choices Resources Growing Sustainable Together: Practical Resources to Raise Kind, Engaged, Resilient Children by Shannon Brescher Shea https://welleatyouupweloveyouso.com/ How gardening can help build healthier, happier kids by Shannon Brescher Shea (Washington Post) Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner Soul Soil Podcast Patreon Page Soul Soil Grow and Glow package

If you can commit to serving fresh fruits and vegetables every time you serve food— to yourself, to others, and especially to children, you will feel better, you will look better, and your community and loved ones will thrive. Food security is national security, and supporting the US farmers who grow our produce is a vote for healthy bodies and healthy economies. Today we talk with Lori Taylor of The Produce Moms, a community of passionate fresh produce advocates with a mission to inspire everyone, especially children, to eat more fruits and vegetables. For ten years Lori sold fresh produce to over 300 grocery stores throughout the US. Today, Lori and her team are fully focused on educating consumers about fresh produce, introducing them to produce brands, engaging the produce industry with consumers in inspiring conversations, and promoting public policy to protect and increase the availability of fresh produce at American schools. Lori is a top child nutrition lobbyist and grassroots activist in the US with a staunch focus on bringing more fresh-form fruits and vegetables to USDA School Meals as well as food insecurity nutrition programs such as SNAP and WIC. Her policy work in D.C. includes Farm Bill and Child Nutrition Reauthorization. Lori is the host of The Produce Moms Podcast, a seasoned Keynote Speaker and is currently writing her first book. Lori resides in Indianapolis, IN with her husband Chip, their two sons Joe and Mac, and their Great Dane. In this episode… How The Produce Moms got started Don’t overthink it—one step in the right direction is how you start addressing these issues 94% of the farms in the US are family-owned Food security is national security The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program within the Federal School Nutrition Program Food is culture Producing more using less is the secret to sustainability in our agriculture systems No one cares about the planet the way that growers do Technology in agriculture Whole Foods named “regenerative agriculture” the top food trend of 2020 Double up food bucks—stretching the SNAP and WIC dollars at farmers’ markets Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program empowers both students and the local food economy Only 2% of the fruits and vegetables served in schools are “fresh form” or raw Monthly produce challenge calendar Resources The Produce Moms website The Produce Moms Podcast The Produce Challenge Calendar lori@theproducemoms.com Soul Soil Podcast Patreon Page Soul Soil Grow and Glow package  

Today we have the opportunity to glimpse what it means to stand for community and healing in the midst of the fallout of Western extractive corporate interests. Lexie Gropper is a biologist dedicated to deepening her understanding of the life cycles, with a passion for the processes of decomposition leading to fertile grounds and new opportunities. She dedicates her energy to the cultivation of plants, fungi, bacteria, relationships, community, and healing. Lexie has been living in the Ecuadorian Amazon since 2014. She lives on her family's reforested edible jungle, a literal island in the middle of a sea of deforestation and ongoing contamination from petroleum extraction, cattle ranching, and cash crop monocultures. The name of their project is Amisacho Restauración, where they've dedicated themselves to three direct lines of action with communities in their region: restoring ecosystems, restoring health, restoring community.  In this episode… About Amisacho Restauración, reforestation, and education Rescuing ancient soil building practices such as terra preta The history of resource extraction in Sucumbios, Ecuador The ongoing 27-year legal battle between the indigenous population of Ecuador and Texaco (formerly Chevron) for the crime of ecocide and challenges of watching a corporation exploit loopholes in the legal system to avoid responsibility for damages Involvement with Environmental Reparations Committee, organizing social approaches to environmental restoration and reparations The health therapy program which sends health specialists trained in permaculture, biomagnetism, and holistic psychotherapies to support cancer patients in areas affected by the contamination of the waterways by petroleum industry byproducts Growing mycomedicinals (medicinal mushrooms) and donating tinctures to help support the remote indigenous population Offering courses in soil regeneration and returning indigenous forest microbes to the land The magickal mystickal Wood Wide Web, bokashi and biochar Biomagnetism Resources Support Amisacho Restauración in donating seeds and mushroom medicinal tinctures to Sucumbios Reparation Committees. Paypal: abgropper@yahoo.com www.amisacho.com; email: info@amisacho.com; facebook: amisacho https://www.facebook.com/AmisachoRestauracion/ Instagram: amisacho_restauracion https://www.instagram.com/amisacho_restauracion/ Amazon Frontlines Reusing the Resource: Adventures in Ecological Wastewater Recycling by Carol Steinfeld  Toolbox for Sustainable City Living: A do-it-Ourselves Guide by Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew Earth Repair: A Grassroots Guide to Healing Toxic and Damaged Landscapes by Leila Darwish Radical Mycology: A Treatise On Seeing And Working With Fungi by Peter McCoy Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Ellix Katz The Soil Keepers: Interviews With Practitioners on the Ground Beneath Our Feet and The Ground Rules: A Manual To Reconnect Soil and Soul by Nance Klehm Soul Soil Podcast Patreon Page Soul Soil Grow and Glow package  

How do you feel when you get out in nature? What happens to your mental state when you spend some time in your garden? Today we chat with Heather Kelejian about her role as Executive Director of the Ability Garden, a place where horticulture therapy is available to a number of populations for the purpose of supporting the healing of emotional wounds, motor skill development, sensory stimulation, improving social interactions, navigating life changes and trauma, and connection with nature. Heather is a North Carolina native, growing up in Chapel Hill and Charlotte who has called Wilmington home for 23 years. A love of plants and being outside came from a childhood spent with her Grandmother, who had a bountiful garden every year. Heather has an English degree from UNC – Chapel Hill and has pursued graduate studies in both Gerontology and Public Administration. She has worked with the Ability Garden since 2003, initially as a Master Gardener Volunteer, a Horticultural Therapy Intern and Program Director, and eventually as Executive Director. Heather is a member of the Coastal Compost Council, the Carolinas Horticultural Therapy Network, and the Voyage and Wellness Committee. Her passion is finding ways to bring people and plants together. In This Episode… Heather’s path to horticulture therapy The populations she serves and skills they foster through the Ability Garden—socialization, vocational experience, nutrition and water quality education, fostering connections, learning how to nurture a living being Working with students flagged for behavior issues Using garden tasks as metaphors for life Addressing grief, instilling a sense of accomplishment and ownership Gardens to bring community members together and help establish a group identity Bringing all the senses into the garden, using the garden space for physical therapy patients Exposing urban individuals to nature; addressing fears of dirt, bugs, snakes, etc Importance of observing the inherently abundant nature of a natural system Resources https://abilitygarden.org/ https://therapeutic-hort.ces.ncsu.edu/ Walt Whitman Tulipmania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age by Anne Goldgar The Overstory by Richard Powers Soul Soil Podcast Patreon Page Soul Soil Grow and Glow package

In today’s episode, we talk to Coordinator Stephanie Morningstar and John Deloatch (JD) Giraldo of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust. Their vision is to advance land sovereignty in the northeast region through permanent and secure land tenure for Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian farmers and land stewards who will use the land in a sacred manner that honors our ancestors dreams - for sustainable farming, human habitat, ceremony, native ecosystem restoration, and cultural preservation. Stephanie Morningstar, of the Oneida Nation, is an herbalist, soil and seed steward, scholar, student, and Earth Worker dedicated to decolonizing and liberating minds, hearts, and land- one plant, person, ecosystem, and non-human being at a time. Stephanie is the Coordinator of the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, grows medicines and food for her community at Sky World Apothecary & Farm; and mobilizes knowledge for Indigenous-led climate change and food sovereignty research projects for Global Water Futures. John Deloatch Giraldo is an Earthworker that focuses on connection to the land, healing with the land and education of how natural systems work. He is guided by Freedom Loving Plants, also known as weeds, and the stories of ancestral plants. His dream is to have green spaces where people can pass on family and cultural traditions as well as create new experiences. He believes it’s critical to have spaces where people can pass on their stories and ways of being in respect to Mother Nature, especially for people who are migrating from different Mother Lands to those who are being raised here so they can maintain a sense of culture, tradition and sovereignty. Resources https://nefoclandtrust.org/ Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman Lilith's Brood: The Complete Xenogenesis Trilogy and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood  by Margaret Atwood The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a Market Scale by Jeff and Melanie Carpenter To learn more about the Grow and Glow package mentioned in today's episode, visit https://www.soulsoilpodcast.com/offerings/grow-and-glow-package To learn how to become a Patreon and support the show while getting extra resources and support, visit https://www.patreon.com/soulsoil  

Nature is inherently abundant. No one has to spray the forests or plant the wetlands in order for them to thrive in perfect balance. As such, food gathered from the wild has the highest potential to nourish us on a deep level. When we realize that we have access to this bounty without having to intervene and sweat and toil (the original definition of agriculture!)…when we truly know this, then we can begin to release our scarcity mentality, relax our grip, our need to control. This shift is particularly liberating. Katrina Blair began studying wild plants in her teens when she camped out alone for a summer to embrace a wild foods diet.  She later wrote “The Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants of the San Juan Mountains” for her senior project at Colorado College.  She completed a MA at John F Kennedy University in Holistic Health Education.  She founded Turtle Lake Refuge in 1998, a non-profit, whose mission is to celebrate the connection between personal health and wild lands.  Turtle Lake Refuge includes a wild living foods café, sustainable education center and community farm.  Katrina teaches permaculture and wild edible and medicinal classes locally and globally.   She is author of several books including: “Local Wild Life- Turtle Lake Refuge’s Recipes for Living Deep” and “ The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival. In this episode… Early influences and experiences with plants On beginning a conservation-focused nonprofit that manages parks and open spaces organically How plants can teach us from the inside out The life-changing impact of cultivating space — in your day, in your diet, in your mind How wild foods affect your mind, body, and spirit When we realize that we’re part of Nature, and Nature is inherently abundant…something shifts inside us and we can release our scarcity story Resources Turtle Lake Refuge The Wild Wisdom of Weeds: 13 Essential Plants for Human Survival by Katrina Blair The Essene Gospel of Peace The Hippocrates Diet and Health Program by Ann Wigmore

How the world would be different if politics were rooted in radical love? This is the question being asked by Heather Mizeur, CEO + Founder of Soul Force Politics, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the cultivation, empowerment, and alignment of inner wisdom and external engagement as a catalyst for individual and community transformation. Mizeur teaches heart-centered mindfulness and resilient leadership to strengthen democracy and soften political divides.   After a successful career as a health care policy analyst in Congress, a Maryland State Manager of a U.S. Presidential campaign, and a stint on her local City Council, Mizeur was elected to serve two four-year terms as a Democratic member of the House of Delegates in the Maryland General Assembly (2007-2015).  She was also a Democratic candidate for Governor of Maryland in 2014 and became one of the state’s most recognized voices promoting progressive change. She lives with her wife, Deborah Mizeur, on a 34-acre organic herbal medicine farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. How would the environment be different if we radically loved our planet? How would we be different if we knew that the planet radically loves us?   In this episode… Heather’s path as a social justice advocate in politics, and how all the external engagement led to a desire to dive into internal work There’s so much power in the Pause that allows heart-based inner wisdom to emerge The choice to love each other even when it’s hard or when our opinions differ…the choice to embrace the Unity Consciousness that we are all One Becoming comfortable with stillness in a world rife with distraction and numbing vices, in bringing forth healing and heart-wisdom Going against the flow of Western culture where emptiness, need, lack, and scarcity fuel our economy, and instead, opting to find the wholeness inside us How caring enough to unveil our own best self first, leads to a vibrational connection to others doing similar work…leading to opportunities to collaborate and impact our world and remake it through the lens of love Sitting with WHAT IS, observing what circumstances come our way, instead of getting swept up in the emotions those circumstances generate How our connection with Mother Earth reflects our relationship to ourselves   Resources https://www.soulforcepolitics.org

If there were one enterprise that addresses environmental degradation, chronic illness, depression, and poverty, would you be willing to learn about it? Today, we speak to someone who seems to have hit the jackpot…he and his family have developed a highly productive, dense nutrient-producing farming style that feeds people like medicine. They have reached a point with their fields where weeds, pests, and disease issues are all but null, and the life and vitality that reaches well beyond their farm is rewarded with a community that supports and celebrates their efforts. Bryan O’Hara has been growing vegetables for a livelihood since 1990 at Tobacco Road Farm in Lebanon, Connecticut. He works with natural systems to build complex and balanced soil life, resulting in a highly productive, vibrant growing system. Bryan was named Northeast Organic Farming Association’s Farmer of the Year in 2016, and is the author of No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture. It’s easy to fall into the mentality that humans are bad for the Earth…but the Earth is actually overjoyed to have humans work with her, and are in fact the Earth’s best allies in bringing about health, vitality and increase of life and abundance for not only ourselves, but all of nature around us.   In this episode… How declining environmental conditions caused Bryan to explore the way he raised his vegetables How he transitioned to a no-till growing system Weeds, insects and disease show the farmer what kind of imbalance exists in the environment; when plants are a state of health and vitality, insects and diseases do not attack those plants We are currently experiencing a global pandemic that we can view as an indicator that our planetary environment is likewise imbalanced If a crop is experiencing lack of fertility or vitality, it will experience pest and disease pressure. Typically, a pesticide is applied to protect that crop, but if that plant lacked the vitality to survive, it will not confer vitality to the animal (or human) that consumes that crop. …conversely, a crop that is full of vitality that doesn’t attract insects and diseases, has the vital compounds that readily transfer to the consumer and produces higher-functioning humans or animals. Many of Bryan’s customers have been with him for 3 decades…over that time, the impacts of consuming highly vital, nutrient dense food have had profound effects on their health, vitality, and even their medical conditions. How operating within the community with the goal of “love for the other” creates a culture of cooperation, goodwill, and success Growing 4 acres’ worth of produce in one acre…the efficiencies of crop intensification Layering composting materials with living plant cover and other no-till techniques How to identify nutrient-dense food without equipment Some think that humans are fundamentally bad for the Earth…but working this way with natural forces, creating this kind of vibrancy, gives human life tremendous meaning…once you see the potential, the heights of health and vitality and increase of life and abundance for not only you, but all of nature around you. The Earth is actually overjoyed to have humans work with her, and are in fact the Earth’s best allies in bringing out more vibrancy and life.   Resources No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture by Bryan O’Hara      

What motivates the biodynamic farmer? What perceptions do they hold that are a little bit different than those in the mainstream? So many of us yearn for connection—with Nature, with the Divine, with each other. When you can view each living thing as an expression of its Divine nature, our connections have a different meaning. M Mueller is the Biodynamic specialist on Against the Grain Farm in Zionville, NC. He has held positions most recently in Williamsburg, VA, as Gardener in Residence for Grove Community Garden and as orchard keeper and part time milker on Gospel Spreading Church Farm, operated by descendants of M. O. Smith and supported by the Church of God at Williamsburg. M began using Biodynamic principles in his gardening in 2011 and has been a member of the Biodynamic Association since 2012. He is an approved mentor of the Spikenard Beekeeping Method. “Whatever we do, if we do it with love, we are being fully human”. In this episode… Soil: the earth’s magical skin! The on-farm community Spikenard Beekeeping: a bee-centered method The easiest access to the spiritual world might be through the growing of plants Seeing the eternal nature manifested in each living thing The nature of biodynamics as a technology that puts living elements together to strengthen the whole Biodynamic observations and resources Resources Farmacology: Total Health from the Ground Up by Daphne Miller Biodynamic Association Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics Agriculture: Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture by Rudolf Steiner; notes by Malcolm Gardner The Philosophy Of Freedom by Rudolf Steiner Theosophy : An Introduction to the Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos by Rudolf Steiner Pablo Neruda Check out our Patreon page where you can support the show and see our offerings!

Just as pests don’t attack healthy crops, disease doesn’t take hold in a human body that is nutritionally balanced. With one foot in the world of agriculture and the other in medicine, Dr. Arden Andersen is in a unique position to observe the connections between soil health, food nutrient density, and human health. Dr. Andersen is a holistic family and occupational medicine physician in Gladstone, MO. Dr. Andersen possesses a unique understanding of the link between soil/ crop health and human health.  He works both as an integrative family doctor and a soil and crop consultant with clients and speaking engagements across the US, 8 countries and two languages.  Dr. Andersen has authored several books including Real Medicine-Real Health, Science In Agriculture, The Anatomy of Life and Energy In Agriculture, and Food Plague. He lectures around the world on the link between soil and human health, on public health issues and real preventive medicine.  He has firm grasp of the underlying causes of illness and disease, environmental health and the contribution to human and animal illness and disease, the link between soil/human health and climatic issues, pandemics and the underlying solutions needed to return harmony and health to all living systems. This is a wonderful time to be alive…the equipment, products, and people that we have now that we didn’t have, even 30 years ago…we CAN have better quality food, and we do have the capability to completely reverse the problems on the planet today.   In this episode… Dr. Andersen’s background and early influences connecting nutrition with health, from the soil to the doctor’s office Nutrition in food is influenced not only by the condition of the soil, but also by the presence of toxins which interfere with our nutrition With a higher nutritional balance of soil (and resulting food), the amount of environmental toxins present in the plants grown in those conditions decreases Municipalities sell their “biosolids” to farmers, who are attracted by the cheap NPK source, and end up poisoning their farms and soils with pathogens, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, degrading the soil further Electromagnetic qualities of plants and how that affects their nutrient uptake If we can maintain an appropriate nutrient balance in the soil, paramagnetism helps to stimulate biological activity—beneficial bacteria and fungi—root growth, and overall health and vigor Ancient paramagnetic limestone towers of Ireland Sometimes the biggest issue isn’t on the farm, it’s between the ears How to determine the nutrient density of produce The only reason we have weeds, diseases, and insect problems is nutrient imbalance; likewise, the only reason humans have disease is lack of nutritional balance Resources Science for Sale: How the US Government Uses Powerful Corporations and Leading Universities to Support Government Policies, Silence Top Scientists, Jeopardize Our Health, and Protect Corporate Profits by David Lewis, Ph.D John Kempf’s regenerative agriculture workshops and courses: https://johnkempf.com/ Healthy Crops: A New Agricultural Revolution by Francis Chaboussou Tuning Into Nature by Philip Callahan Food Plague: Could our daily bread be our most life threatening exposure? by Arden Andersen, Ph.D Real Medicine Real Health by Arden Andersen, Ph.D Science in Agriculture: Advanced Methods for Sustainable Farming by Arden Andersen, Ph.D Anatomy of Life & Energy in Agriculture by Arden Andersen, Ph.D Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease by Don Huber et. al. Rudolf Steiner

We are living through a time when the entire world is taking a good, hard look at itself. This has given humanity an incredible opportunity to shift focus and choose systems that feed life, that create biological resources, rather than only financial resources. We have a chance to turn away from systems that marginalize, extract, and degrade…and choose what we want to cultivate for ourselves and for future generations. Trained as a cultural anthropologist and skilled in four languages, Juliana Birnbaum has lived and worked in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Nepal, Costa Rica and Brazil. She is the co-author of Sustainable [R]evolution: Permaculture in Ecovillages, Urban Farms and Communities Worldwide and CBD: A Patient’s Guide to Medicinal Cannabis. She is also the mother of two daughters and has attended over 100 births as a doula and assistant midwife. Juliana currently coordinates the Volunteer and Faculty departments at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. In this episode… Juliana’s fascinating background Far-reaching effects of consumerism Seeing life through the lens of permaculture What a sustainable city looks like How the Coronavirus pandemic is revealing the flaws in our societal structures The cost of industrial agriculture Relocalization of food Relocalization of energy Co-housing and ecovillage communities Impact of our diet choices Force and violence against Life that is inherent in our modern societal structures De-commodifying humans’ basic needs The need to develop communication skills that support the sustainable community   Resources Sustainable [R}evolution: Permaculture in Ecovillages, Urban Farms and Communities Worldwide CBD: A Patient’s Guide to Medicinal Cannabis Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken Mary Oliver www.cultureofpermaculture.org

The Coronavirus pandemic is catalyzing many things…and forcing us to take a good look at the systems we depend on. During this period of isolation, we have the opportunity to disconnect from large systems that do harm, and redesign our lives with the help of systems aligned with life and love. Do our communities have enough resources to support everyone to live their lives with dignity and allow for the spirit that lives within them to emerge and benefit the rest of the community? This situation can be viewed through a lens of fear, or it can be an opportunity to tune into our higher spirit and connect with the vibration of our creation song, Sherri Mitchell, Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset (meaning “she who brings the light”), is an Indigenous rights activist, spiritual teacher, and transformational change maker. Sherri was born and raised on the Penobscot Indian reservation (Penawahpskek).  She speaks and teaches around the world on issues of Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and spiritual change. Sherri has been actively involved with Indigenous rights and environmental justice work for more than 25 years, and she is the Founding Director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the global protection of Indigenous land and water rights and the preservation of the Indigenous way of life.  The key to being able to adapt, overcome and integrate the lessons of the day is to be able to approach everything we’re facing from a perspective of love. We have the chance to make an evolutionary leap of consciousness and come through this to the other side as better representations of our humanity. In this episode… How an illness contracted in Guatemala led to a spiritual awakening that set the course for her spiritual work The opportunity that this period of isolation is affording humankind at this time in history The connection between the physical and emotional experience of Mother Earth to what humans are currently experiencing The Wabanaki web of life creation story and how the fact that we are all made of the same matter parallels the phenomenon of quantum entanglement The Wabanaki story of the first illness and how it foreshadows current global events Getting our human minds out of the way so that we can hear the messages coming from plants and animals—guidance from the starlings Actions communities need to take in order to be resilient in the face of system collapse What’s being exposed to us at this time How we can bring the benefits of this time—the introspection, time with family, examination of community and cultural systems—into the future with us? Aligning the three fires, the vibrational frequencies of the minds of the brain, heart, and gut—is when we’re able to open up to the collective unconsciousness, to ancestral memory We are all constantly creating, we just aren’t conscious of what it is that we’ve created…we are now being asked to take responsibility for what humans have collectively created and to clean it up the mess Tools for embodiment and grounding We are here at this time, in these bodies, for a specific purpose…tune into your body and spirit daily and connect with the vibration of your own creation song Resources The Dandelion Insurrection: - love and revolution by Rivera Sun Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer My Beloved Kin by Lisa Brooks Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change by Sherri Mitchell Sherri’s website: sacredinstructions.life facebook.com/sacredinstructions IG: @sacredinstructions Twitter: @sacred411  

Today Brooke speaks to the listeners directly about things that have helped ease her transition to the new circumstances in which the global population finds itself... Resources "Blessing for Earth-Healers" from The Earth Path: Grounding your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature by Starhawk How to Grow Vibrant Food and Connect to your Land webinar series 

"Eating is not simply filling some gustatory hole, eating is knitting yourself into the fabric of life that's going on all the time, all around you...and how you knit yourself in can either make that fabric a beautiful thing, or it can make it tattered. Right now, I think a lot of our eating is creating tatters all across the world. What would be great is if the kinds of eating we do, beginning with the growing of food and the harvesting of food and the distribution and the cooking and sharing of food...could create a beautiful tapestry."   Dr. Norman Wirzba is a Gilbert T. Rowe Distinguished Professor of Theology, Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and the Senior Associate Dean for Institutional & Faculty Advancement at Duke School of Divinity. Dr. Wirzba pursues research and teaching interests at the intersections of theology, philosophy, ecology, and agrarian and environmental studies, and has published several books on food and land. He serves as Series Editor for a group of books called “Culture of the Land”. As an editor, Dr. Wirzba contributed to Wendell Berry’s work in The Art of the Commonplace. He is the director of a project called “Facing the Anthropocene” wherein he works with an international team of scholars to rethink several academic disciplines in light of challenges like climate change, food insecurity, biotechnology and genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, species extinction, and the built environment.   In this episode... How connecting with the land fosters empathy and stewardship Why the environmental preservation movement has seen so little progress How children model Presence and show us how to be in the Now Restlessness that is inherent in the social condition Examining sacrifice How the world economy thrives on ingratitude How operating in a world where speed, homogeneity, and mechanization are the production norm, ultimately degrades life at every level Our human creaturely condition Nurturing the world that nurtures us The importance of moving cautiously in a world that we don't fully understand The mental health benefits of growing food, cooking, and eating in community Food as the ultimate cross-disciplinary subject   Resources Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Wendell Berry Mary Oliver normanwirzba.com https://divinity.duke.edu/faculty/norman-wirzba

“Creation isn’t something that happened all at once, a long time ago…creation is something that happens every day, and humans are meant to be stewards of this creation instead of dominating it. We are co—creators of this reality every day, and as such, we need to learn to work with natural systems instead of fighting them. The degree of our success as a society is going to be in direct correlation with our ability to adopt this ‘heartset’.” John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture, a plant nutrition and biostimulant consulting company. A top expert in the field of biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who are growing that supply. John is the host of the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, where he interviews top scientists and growers about the science and principles of implementing regenerative agriculture on a large scale. “Change doesn’t happen in the soil, change doesn’t happen with plants, change occurs within your heart and your mind. The only difference between a farm that is doing extraordinarily well and one that is not, is in the decisions and choices that the farm manager makes.” In this episode… Events that led John to explore alternatives to the conventional agriculture model Regenerative agriculture can and should deliver three things: disease and pest-resistant plants, plants that transfer their immunity to the people and animals that consume them, and vibrant, healthy soils that produce organic matter and sequester carbon. The dominating, war-like mentality in contemporary large-scale agriculture that is embraced by big agribusiness The modern fallacy that we need genetically modified organisms, pesticides, and fertilizers to “feed the world” and the overwhelming evidence that regenerative agroecosystems outperform and outyield modern agricultural systems Why “sustainable agriculture” isn’t enough for our current needs and goals The perspective shift that differentiates modern agronomy from regenerative agriculture with regard to plant nutrition Scientific research is now demonstrating that soil biology has more impact on soil and crop health than soil chemistry Up to 70% of a plant’s photosynthate production can be sent out through the roots to feed soil biology, and the more efficient that process becomes, the more exudates are released in the rhizosphere…so the fastest way to build healthy soil is to grown healthy plants Since the mid 1800s, prominent figures have concluded that soils have been degraded to the point that they are no longer able to support the physical, mental and spiritual potential of humans The world needs us to shift from the role of dominating and fighting natural systems to becoming co-creators working with these systems Openness, awareness, and desire will facilitate connection with this stewardship perspective Resources Nutrition and Your Mind by George Watson The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs by Joel Salatin johnkempf.com Advancing Eco Agriculture The Regenerative Agriculture Podcast regen.ag Academy

In today's episode, Stacia Nordin shares her experiences assisting the Malawian government with food insecurity and nutrition through a permaculture lens. The open-door policy at her education center/homestead located in a village near the capital is real-world demonstration of the Garden of Eden Malawi can actually be. Stacia Nordin is a Registered Dietitian working on issues of environment, agriculture, food systems and healthy living for optimal nutrition. With a background in nutrition education in the States and Jamaica, she and her husband moved to Malawi in 1997, where they still live and work today. Stacia has studied hundreds of locally available foods, which she and her family have collected, multiplied around their home and shared. Working with World Food Programme Malawi, she compiled a Sustainable Nutrition manual, which is used in homes, schools and churches around the country. Stacia has worked with the Malawi Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture on Nutrition, Food and Agriculture projects and programs. She is now on a 5-year USAID Feed the Future project led by University of Illinois to support Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture to strengthen Agricultural Extension Systems for improving income, food security and nutrition. To realize the vision of a just and equitable world, we need to make the shift to systems thinking...thinking in cycles...while valuing the land and all of its people. In this episode... How Stacia and husband Kristof got involved in international food security work How listening and observing needs and resources at the village level led to the work of using permaculture principles and ethics to address water and food insecurity Purchasing land and beginning a permaculture homestead in the middle of the village Cultural diet challenges and effects on nutrition and health How nutrition education, markets, agriculture, and seed availability are all connected in the move toward healthy bodies, soils, and ecosystems Major barriers to food security are seed supply (or seed-saving education/legality), and land ownership (so the soil healing can begin). Envisioning a healthy, robust Malawi Nature is always moving toward healing Resources... The Kitchen Garden by June Walker http://www.neverendingfood.org/ The Sustainable Nutrition Manual Frances Moore Lappe

In part 2 of this series, Vail opens up about new ways to approach business, our relationship with ourselves, and seeing the world through a holistic lens and how that opens up possibilities unavailable to the linear cause-and-effect thinking of scientific logic. Vail Dixon is a regenerative farmer and holistic grazing mentor. Founder of Simple Soil Solutions, Grazing Power and ABC Beef, Vail grew up working on farms, climbing mountains and enjoying nature. While training to represent her country in the Olympics, a life threatening accident gave Vail an opportunity to experience healing through healthy food and natural methods – even when doctors told her it was impossible. This deeper understanding of our food and farming systems instilled in Vail a passion for healing our soils as a way to rejuvenate our ecology, economy and health. Vail conducts research on how humans affect the soil biology and how that impacts productivity. Learning about ways to repair damaged soil biologically led Vail to understand how animals and humans play a vital role in soil regeneration. Vail is passionate about joining with Nature to heal the land, our economy and ourselves. Besides farming full time, she connects with open-minded farmers who want to become successful adaptive managers and create abundance on their land. To this end she is building a Holistic grazing mentorship program called Grazing Power, on-farm Grow Your Soil workshops, and Living Soils biological soil-building mentorship program.   In this episode... A new (or...ancient) perspective on the role of humans in natural systems Holistic business management How Vail's work lines up with the work of the Bionutrient Food Association Vail's Four Season mentorship program Working to craft a business that feels more like a human relationship than a transaction Transcending the limitations of present-day science by embracing cellular potential and healing ability How doing business differently, relating to ourselves differently...using our energy and time more intentionally...will transcend science's projection of the Earth's ability to heal The current ecological and humanitarian crises are inviting us to tap into the human potential, into why we are here Tips and tricks for moving energy around when we feel stuck Resources simplesoilsolutions.com Leadership Co. Bionutrient Food Association (see episode 001, Dan Kittredge) TTouch with Dr. Linda Tellington-Jones The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World by Brian Robertson Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen Holistic Management: a Commonsense Revolution to Restore our Environment by Allan Savory and Jody Butterfield Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing; Advanced Energy Anatomy: The Science of Co-Creation and Your Power of Choice; Entering the Castle: Finding the Inner Path to God and Your Soul's Purpose by Carolyn Myss The Five Roles of a Master Herder: A Revolutionary Model for Socially Intelligent Leadership by Linda Kohanov

Vail Dixon is a regenerative farmer and holistic grazing mentor. Founder of Simple Soil Solutions, Grazing Power and ABC Beef, Vail grew up working on farms, climbing mountains and enjoying nature. While training to represent her country in the Olympics, a life threatening accident gave Vail an opportunity to experience healing through healthy food and natural methods – even when doctors told her it was impossible. This deeper understanding of our food and farming systems instilled in Vail a passion for healing our soils as a way to rejuvenate our ecology, economy and health.   Vail conducts research on how humans affect the soil biology and how that impacts productivity. Learning about ways to repair damaged soil biologically led Vail to understand how animals and humans play a vital role in soil regeneration.   Vail is passionate about joining with Nature to heal the land, our economy and ourselves. Besides farming full time, she connects with open-minded farmers who want to become successful adaptive managers and create abundance on their land. To this end she is building a Holistic grazing mentorship program called Grazing Power, on-farm Grow Your Soil workshops, and Living Soils biological soil-building mentorship program. In this episode... Vail's journey to the work of soil regeneration How the soil is the key to so many of the cultural and environmental problems we face The power of high quality food to heal the body and mind Learning how to heal the soil Facing the health and economic challenges of a conventional agriculture-based county Real-life experimentation with rehabilitating soils and changing an extractive enterprise into a regenerative one The realization that a well managed livestock system can improve the soil as well as manual application of biological compost teas Harvesting plants and animals consciously Most of the water that cows use is getting served back to the soil with a side of beneficial microbes Well-managed regenerative agriculture systems that incorporate animals can sequester a significant amount of carbon Resources http://simplesoilsolutions.com/ Contact Reflex Analysis (CRA) Vail Dixon MP3: Is Your Soil Really Covered? Unearth Your Own Blind Spots to Radically Improve Your Soil  

It's a dream farm story...Holly and Andy met on a farm, were married on a farm, started a family on a farm and make their living on a farm. When Holly and Andy purchased land in 2013 to begin their dream farm, they realized that the initial focus was going to be rehabilitating the soil. They decided that biodynamic agriculture would be the way they would address their soil building needs, and went on to create a vibrant farm system that nourishes so many in the community. Holly Whitesides, along with husband Andy Bryant, and their two daughters, farm on 35 acres in western NC, where they raise certified Biodynamic and Organic vegetables on about 2 acres of crop land and Animal Welfare Approved pork, chicken, beef and turkey on the rest.  Holly and Andy have been studying and practicing Biodynamic agriculture since 2013 and feel passionate about raising nutritious food for their community. "No matter how small your property is, you can engage with it in a co-creative way...a way that builds relationship and allows you to be a voice for your farm."   In this episode... About Against the Grain Farm What led Holly to embark on the farming journey Why biodynamic? Early challenges, how our values inform our actions Being fully present while working the land Nourishing the local community High-quality, nutrient-dense food is a basic human right What surprised Holly about this work   Resources Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships by Marshall B. Rosenberg The No-Till Market Farmer Podcast Jesse with Farmer Jesse Online Biodynamic courses taught by Cory Eichman Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary Earth Legacy Agriculture Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics

Humans are unique creatures for many reasons. One of those is our long list of disorders, specifically Nature Deficit Disorder. Most of us are so far removed from our original habitat that we are actually suffering from the absence of plant influences in our lives, and it affects our body, mind, and spirit.   Today we discuss this and much more with Marc Williams, an ethnobiologist who studies the connections between people, plants, mushrooms, and microbes while learning to employ botanicals and other life forms for food, medicine, and beauty. He has spent over two decades working at a multitude of restaurants and various farms and has traveled throughout 30 countries and all 50 U.S. states. Marc is the Executive Director of Plants and Healers International and serves on the Board of Directors of United Plant Savers. Marc has taught hundreds of classes to thousands of students about the marvelous world of people and their interface with other organisms. Marc's greatest hope is that this effort may help improve our current challenging global ecological situation.   In this episode... What is ethnobotany?...Marc's path to this work Mentor Frank Cook, finding your way to the Green Path The impact of food miles and industrially-produced food Plants that transcend culture Nature Deficit Disorder What the natural world can teach us about ourselves Resource Marc's online botany classes: botanyeveryday.com Frank Cook's nonprofit organization: Plants and Healers International Emerging Planetary Medicines by Frank Cook Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv Fantastic Fungi movie Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification by Thomas Elpel Be Here Now by Ram Dass Peterson Field Guides The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America: Nature's Green Feast by Francois Couplan Mabberley's Plant-book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classification and Uses by David Mabberley Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States by Alan Weakley Earth from Above: 365 Days by Yann Arthus-Bertrand Appalachian State University Appalachian Studies/Sustainability https://appstudies.appstate.edu/, https://sd.appstate.edu/ Chestnut School of Herbal medicine https://chestnutherbs.com/ Society for Economic Botany https://www.econbot.org/ Suzanne Simard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Simard Vipassana https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index Warren Wilson College https://www.warren-wilson.edu/ White Sage sustainability https://unitedplantsavers.org/what-is-going-on-with-white-sage/

Renee Boughman is from Belmont, NC. She earned a Master's degree in history and another degree in Culinary Arts. While working in fine dining establishments in the North Carolina high country, Renee joined with other citizens in a grassroots effort to open a community cafe modeled after S.A.M.E. (So All May Eat) Cafe in Denver, Colorado. F.A.R.M. Cafe (Feed All Regardless of Means) opened in May 2012 and has been operating ever since.   F.A.R.M. Cafe is a unique restaurant model that operates on a pay-as-you-can basis. Based on a restaurant in Denver, CO, F.A.R.M. Cafe brings together folks from all walks of life to a community cafe that purchases locally grown foods and creates daily menus, making high quality meals accessible to anyone and everyone. At F.A.R.M. Cafe, they address the issues of not only food insecurity, but also local food system resilience, food recovery, and nutrient cycling (composting kitchen scraps). They also build community by creating a welcoming place where everyone who walks in has a seat at the table.   In this episode... What F.A.R.M. Cafe does, what it's all about, and where it all started How purchasing local foods changes everything--how daily menus are planned, the dynamics of serving local dishes on the buffet line, and access of locally grown foods to people of limited means Joys and challenges of running a restaurant with volunteers Community reaction to this new model F.A.R.M. Full Circle food recovery program The Why of the work Resources F.A.R.M. Cafe website One World Everybody Eats

Imagine your daily grind--your house, your car, your commute, your job....Now imagine what it would be like to spend days camping in the woods, drinking spring water, breathing clean mountain air, eating freshly picked foods, and spending all day in Nature...learning about growing and gathering cultivated and wild food, making tools, tracking, tanning hides, natural building, and living in a community. What would happen to your energy? Your spirit? Natalie Bogwalker is a fan of watching the transformation that takes place when a guest spends days on her property, exploring their relationship with the land. Natalie is the founder and director of Wild Abundance, a permaculture and homestead school. She’s passionate about teaching and sharing skills that are essential for living harmoniously within the natural systems of the earth.   She and her family live at the Wild Abundance homestead campus in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Natalie spends her time harvesting in the wild, building, gardening, planting, putting up food, growing, teaching, connecting with the community, and playing with her daughter. Amidst all of this she’s constantly scheming about how to introduce more people to Earth-based living, while worshipping the beauty around her.   In the midst of all the turmoil of our modern society, Natalie reminds us to breathe deeply, be outside, put one foot in front of the other, and find like-minded people for support and inspiration.   In this episode... Origin story of Wild Abundance The joy of helping people find sovereignty and connection Soil building techniques used on the Wild Abundance homestead Breaking pest and disease cycles What happens to people when they begin to participate in the cycles of the seasons and get involved with their own food and shelter production Eat something wild every day! Natalie's journey to her wild abundant life How reshaping education and redesigning curriculum could help us transform our disconnected society The Earth Skills and Permaculture Immersion Program curriculum How the Barnardsville community developed How to have a successful daily practice   Resources Firefly Gathering wildabundance.net Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships by Marshall Rosenberg The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups by Starhawk The Earth Skills and Permaculture Immersion Program at Wild Abundance

"It's not about what I do, but how I'm part of what WE do"... Patryk Battle has been farming since the mid 80’s; throughout that time, he has always been inspired to farm as an answer to the problem of human disconnection from Nature. Farming became an extension of his political activism as a way to create a better world. Farming was not only way to make a living but was also a way to seek environmental and social transformation. Pat’s not sure why, but somehow he found himself in the role of teacher, which he enjoys immensely. He delights in seeing farmers with similar intentions be inspired to create social transformation through the regenerative agriculture movement. He found himself devoting a lot of time teaching, presenting and working in public growing situations. He ended up growing a garden for the 1% in a country club (it turns out it doesn’t matter if folks are rich or poor, they all connect to gardening in a real way.) Through one of those teaching events, he met the people who would fund Living Web Farms, a nonprofit whose mission is to address food insecurity, both directly through food donations, but also by helping people learn the skills they need to be able to feed themselves, warm themselves, and power their lives through alternative energy sources.   In this episode... The purpose driving Living Web Farms, the leading demonstration site for effective organic farming in Western NC Declaring war on reductionist science The science of complex systems is observation + conclusions Biochemistry shows us how biodynamics works--"every element has its own resonance" The crucial role of observation; observing animal behaviors to demonstrate how to be tuned into natural intelligence, and regular observation of plant systems to notice imbalances Non-negotiables when designing a sustainable agroecosystem Creating balance by adding life to avoid disease instead of obliterating life Embracing systems thinking and letting the garden guide you Exercise while interacting with nature vs. mechanical movement The spiritual practice of producing and sharing food Plant medicine across cultures Resources The Parable of the Beast by John Bleibtreu Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing by Robert Wolff

Meet Sarah. Sarah works with faith-based communities to connect their most sacred teachings to ways to embody those values and incorporate lifestyle changes that promote justice, compassion, and sustainability.   A graduate of the Sustainable Development department at Appalachian State University, Sarah recently earned her Master of Divinity, with a concentration in religious leadership and ecology, from Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She has worked at the intersection of faith and environment for the past six years, partnering with organizations like the Creation Care Alliance of Western North Carolina, United Methodist Women, Creation Justice Network (UCC Southern Conference), and Presbyterians for Earth Care. In her current role as North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light (NCIPL) Program Coordinator, Sarah is blessed with the opportunity to walk alongside faith communities and people of conscience as they consider the social, environmental, and climate impacts of their relationships to both energy and food.   In addition to offering her services as a preacher, Sarah is available to faith communities as a sounding board for their ideas relating to sustainability in addition to giving presentations regarding the connections between climate change, faith, health, and food. Sarah calls the southern Appalachian mountains home and resides in Happy Valley, North Carolina, with her husband, dog, and two cats.   Don't feel like your voice doesn't matter, and don't feel like your voice isn't important. Go out and do what grounds you in the midst of the overwhelm.   In this episode... Psychological effects of the environmental crisis The work of NC Interfaith Power & Light Faith communities help to shape culture, so if we can help folks connect the values of a more just, compassionate and sustainable world with the values outlined in their sacred texts, it will help to shape our culture into one that invests in solutions surrounding climate change Climate change as an issue of justice How the biblical foundation for environmental work is related to soil The role of food and food production in Sarah's work Being conscious about meat consumption Learning to live well in a world that we have changed Resources Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible by Ellen Davis ncipl.org

Can we regard food production with a systematic, science-based approach and still believe in and support the invisible, life-giving forces that govern Nature? Today we speak with Jane Weaver, who has been an enthusiastic student of mathematics, music, and the connections between these two sciences for nearly all of her life. Following her college and graduate studies in the areas of music, mathematics and general systems theory, and several years of public sector teaching, she served as a faculty member of the music department at Princeton University. Jane's current projects include applications of projective geometry, interpreting and furthering the work of the French radiesthesists, exploring non-quantum geometric theories of nuclear structure, and consulting in application of sacred geometry in architectural design. She is a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner, Biodynamic gardener, and biological soil consultant, having studied under soil microbiologist Dr. Elaine Ingham, and has plans to be an alchemist and jazz saxophonist in her next life.   In the context of modern agriculture, we need to stop micromanaging Nature and instead learn what works by following Nature's lead--get out of the way, facilitate the natural regenerative functions of soil, and let the life forces get to work.   In this episode... Jane's work in the field of soil microbiology True definition of compost The role of microbes in agriculture The story of ecological succession How plants speak to microbes The fallacy of lime and pH Soil microbiology and biodynamics: measuring the work of the invisible with microbes "Biodynamics is information that provides us with a way to increase and retain growth forces for the land" Geometry and vibration/frequency: can we harness geometry to increase the life forces in the land? Case studies: Irish Round Towers, Perelandra (Machaelle Small Wright) Comparing biodynamics to homeopathy Expectation, attitude, and miracles Communication with people of opposing values Resources Behaving As If the God in All Life Mattered and Perelandra Garden Workbook: A Complete Guide to Gardening with Nature Intelligences by Machaelle Small Wright; https://www.perelandra-ltd.com Enzo Nastadi "Trinium Agriculture" Culture and Horticulture: The Classic Guide to Biodynamic and Organic Gardening by Wolf Storl

We are in a unique time in human history. We can order an item from around the world and receive it at our doorstep in a few days. We can live our entire lives indoors. We can exist without interacting with other humans. Unfortunately, this separation from each other and from Nature makes it easier than ever to exploit and destroy nature for our own purposes. The good news is...we are actually in a position to salvage what few wild areas still exist on the planet. There is however, an expiration date on that offer.   Ayana Young is a podcast and radio personality specializing in intersectional environmental and social justice, deep ecology and land-based restoration. Young has a strong academic background at the intersections of ecology, culture, and spirituality. Young lives among the coastal redwood and salmon habitat in Northern California. She established a native species nursery and research center, spearheading the 1 Million Redwoods Project, the most backed farm project in Kickstarter history. Young is also a budding filmmaker. Her debut film, When Old Growth Ends, is an ode to the irreplaceable Tongass National Forest during its last stand as a distinctly wild place in Southeast Alaska. Young is the Founder and Executive Director of millennial media organization and nonprofit For the Wild. Her podcast, For the Wild, has featured over 100 guests, including Chris Hedges, Sylvia Earle, Vandana Shiva, Jill Stein, Winona La Duke, Terry Tempest Williams. Young approaches the mission of "For The Wild" with critical thinking, deep reverence and artistry.   Standing up and speaking out for the Earth is not the easy path...but no one is going to lay on their deathbed regretting caring about and working to protect the Earth. Devoting ourselves to something outside ourselves is what makes us truly worthy.   In this episode... Ayana's experience creating a farm and a food forest Soil building Shattering her own conditioning and the origin of For the Wild Podcast The connection between the human inner landscape and Earth's landscape Taking responsibility for what it means to be a modern human How modern human disconnection from Nature makes it easier to exploit Nature Being wary of greenwashing solutions and token consumerism as distractions from the ecological disaster that is happening now Addressing our own addiction to consumerism and entitlement is the first step Buffers that keep us satisfied and distracted from processing what is actually going on in our world right now It's okay to slow down and not "do" something. It's the times when we are quiet, especially in Nature, that we can hear our inner voice If we want clean water, if we want clean air, if we want a future for our children...we have to act, and expect to be engaging for the long haul. We need to be in relationship with each other and with the work of standing up for the Earth, rather than only focusing on getting to the finish line. Strategies for sustainable activism   Resources forthewild.world (info on For The Wild Podcast, 1 Million Redwoods Project, Tongass Campaign) Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: @for.the.wild connect@forthewild.world Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California by Laura Cunningham Terry Tempest Williams Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria

We are coming to the end of an era that uses fossil calories to power our food production. It's going to take more than technology, more than math and science, to see us out of this predicament; it's going to take collaboration, creativity, and imagination. Born on a North Dakota farm during the Great Depression and in the grips of the worst drought in U.S. history, Fred Kirschenmann has spent most of his life working to change how we farm, as well as our relationship to the land. For more than four decades, Fred has been a champion of agricultural resilience, an articulate advocate for soil health and a pioneer of organic farming. Fred currently serves as President of the Board for the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. A long time national and international leader in sustainable agriculture, Fred is a Distinguished Fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University at Iowa State University and a professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy. He also continues to manage his family’s 1,800-acre certified-organic farm in south-central North Dakota. His work has helped transform what was once obscure and marginal work—resilient, sustainable agriculture focused on the health and restoration of the soil—into an international movement.   Historically, civilizations that anticipated change and prepared accordingly were the ones that survived, while those who ignored all the signs eventually collapsed....what kind will we be?   In this episode... Fred's father stressed the importance of taking care of the land and how that shaped Fred's values How his path took him into Philosophy and Religion, academia, and back to the land--this time on the organic path Rudolf Steiner's influence on his philosophy of spirituality and agriculture For Fred, spirituality and agriculture has a lot to do with microbes! Putting agriculture in historical context Farmers who switch from conventional agriculture to regenerative agriculture have a larger profit margin and find that the old model of "get big or get out" no longer makes financial sense Justus von Liebig's influence on input-intensive agriculture and being A soil-building philosophy (using the principles of nature) Perennializing our food crops The soil microbe-gut microbe connection; the effects of foods grown in living soil on human health Challenges of proposing huge changes to the aging farming community, and challenges of land prices for young farmers who want to practice regenerative agriculture Those civilizations who anticipated changes and made preparations are the ones that survived It's going to take more than a steady diet of STEM courses (science, technology, engineering, and math) to solve the coming food crisis...it is going to take imagination, creativity, and collaboration. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently estimated that we have 11 years to make major changes in the way we operate before climate change becomes catastrophic   Resources Growing a Revolution by David Montgomery Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown Journey of the Universe by Brian Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker The Land Institute (Wes Jackson) Farmacology by Daphne Miller Cultivating an Ecological Consciousness by Dr. Frederick Kirschenmann

In today's episode, we dive into the philosophy of permaculture, activism, and earth-based spirituality with Starhawk, an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern earth-based spirituality and ecofeminism. She is the author or co-author of thirteen books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, as well as the ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing, with its sequel City of Refuge. Her most recent non-fiction book is The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, on group dynamics, power, conflict and communications. Starhawk founded Earth Activist Training, teaching permaculture design grounded in spirituality and with a focus on activism. She travels internationally, lecturing and teaching on earth-based spirituality, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism.   "Ask yourself what it is that you most deeply love, and figure out how to put yourself at its service."   In this episode... Starhawk’s path as a storyteller Why she includes activism training in her permaculture certification courses The connection between permaculture and earth-based spirituality Starhawk's new regenerative land management program, a follow up to a Permaculture Design course Social permaculture: resources for collaborative groups Advice for next steps for the ecologically-minded "Permaculture is the art of designing beneficial relationships" --Patrick Whitefield Ask yourself what it is that you most deeply love, and figure out how to put yourself at its service...ask yourself what you need to be in a position to do it Resources starhawk.org Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer The Overstory by Richard Powers earthactivisttraining.org Free webinar on Nov 3 on Regenerative Approaches to Climate Change (starhawk.org)

One of my guests, Skye Taylor (episode 7), graciously offered to interview me for the show. This is a chance for you to get to know a little bit about me, what my goals are, and where I'm coming from. Hopefully it will put this whole project into context. If you'd like to pitch a guest for this show, email me at info@soulsoilpodcast.com. Thanks for listening! --Brooke

What happens when we design from observation of Nature and not for human convenience? What would change in our experience if we decided to simplify our outer lives, while cultivating our inner life? In today's episode, we discuss these and other insights from meditations on the Holy Honey Bee. Skye’s first career was in theatre, and in her mid thirties decided to enter the temple life and become a Buddhist monk. Skye began the work of caring for and creating gardens, as well as researching various metaphysical studies including feng shui, tarot, astrology and the five great elements. Skye is motivated by the yearning for Beauty, for intimacy with the Holy, for a penetrating understanding of this strangely cruel and lovely world, and is constantly seeking the path from cruelty to Beauty.   Positive change doesn't come from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. When we the people make conscious choices and make those choices known with our dollar and with our time, only then will the forces that shape the world begin to shift.   In this episode... The Temple Hive, a home designed for bees What happens when systems are designed by observing Nature instead of being designed for human convenience? Learning from Wendy Johnson (trained under Alan Chadwick, who trained under Rudolf Steiner) How the Temple Hive materials relate to the planets (and how the planets correspond to the bees) We won't reach the tipping point of a regenerative, sustainable culture until the consumer realizes their power to direct change Temple Hive performance--the health this hive design, built as a gift, not built for extraction Rudolf Steiner's prediction of the decline of bee populations with the practice of annual re-queening How the life cycles of the bees correspond to celestial cycles and the Golden Mean (the Fibonacci Sequence) The importance of starlight for bees and humans--and the lack of it in our light-polluted world Guidance from the bees: learn to simplify, learn to appreciate the night and the wild world, pay attention, get quiet, be present If we don't pay attention to our inner lives, we need more and more distraction and stimulation in our daily existence The day is for serving, the night is for being nourished by Spirit; and the in-between moments, dawn and sunset, are especially auspicious for meditation and grounding Resources A Monk in the Beehive by Skye Taylor https://www.skye-talk.com/ San Francisco Zen Center (Green Gulch Farm) How to build a Temple Hive: Step by step videos: video 1, video 2, video 3, video 4, video 5, video 6 Gardening at the Dragon's Gate by Wendy Johnson The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra

When we identify the things in life that we could not live without, the things that create true success, life becomes simple. Learning to deal with our own inner landscape and making our own healing a priority impacts how we treat others and view the world. Today we discuss trauma, sustainable living, and awakening with Morgan Caraway, a natural building instructor, multi-media artist, musician, author, and a co-founder of Bottom Leaf Intentional Community and Sustainable Life School. He and his family live off-grid in an earth bag house they designed and built. Through Sustainable Life School, they offer workshops with the goal of empowering people and modeling different modes of building and other possibilities.   In this episode... Trauma as the source of humanity's destructive tendency Nature as a tool to help us through trauma Social taboos against expressing emotion How belief shapes experience and experience shapes belief Heart awakening Ignorance (belief in separation) leads to fear (vulnerability), which leads to greed (attempting to deal with that vulnerability) Self care is a central tenant of sustainable living The crucial components of life: air, water, food, community True success Intelligent building design The "trauma feed" of news and social media Resources The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure by Joseph Jenkins The Hand-Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage: The Real Goods Solar Living Book Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques The Road by Cormac McCarthy sustainablelifeschool.com morgancaraway.com The Book of Leaves: Reflections on Dying and Change and Ecological Awakening by Morgan Caraway

With modern conventional agriculture, we have lost the art of connecting with the land and growing food that was handed down by our ancestors. Not only are we left with a fraction of the genetic diversity of our food crops, we have also lost our connection to the land and any mention of the invisible beings who share the land with humans. Theresa Crabtree, an Empowered Life Facilitator, is the author of several books, including Gardening with Nature Spirits. Theresa's soul mission is to help people awaken to their true spiritual roots.   Tune in to learn more about Nature Spirits and how you can enlist their cooperation in creating a harmonious garden and landscape.   In this episode... How Theresa got into this work Evolution of belief Adventures in gardening with nature spirits Coning session "conference calls" for co-creation in the garden Duality vs. non-duality The importance of the breath in receptivity; how to connect with your higher self, with others, and with the spirit world Nature spirits by name Effects of conventional agriculture poisons on us and the unseen realm Rudolf Steiner's references to nature spirits and planting by the phases of the moon Resources theresacrabtree.com theresacrabtree.com/resources perelandra-ltd.com Gardening with Nature Spirits by Theresa Crabtree

Did you know that exposing your body and mind to the life-giving energies of clean food and spending time in nature is not only beneficial for your own body, it also affect the genetic expression of your descendants? Today we take it outdoors to chat with Jasmine Shoshanna, owner and operator of Jasmine's Gardens. A long-time environmental activist, Jasmine's attachment to the land began on her grandparents' farm. Sustaining long-term relationships and repeat business is the foundation of Jasmine's business. This gardening and natural living company combines Jasmine's love of nature, health, and beauty, with her desire to work together to create a world where nature matters, and where clean, healthy living is more important than the latest outbreak of technology.   Creating outdoor spaces that feel magical is like writing a love poem to the Earth. Taking time to feel nature, whether it's wild space or designed space, benefits us in ways well beyond simple aesthetics. It may just save our lives.   In this episode... Biodynamics in present-day Western culture (2:30) Relying on the soil food web for fertility (9:00) The feeling-space of trees, waters, and gardens (13:50) Jasmine's biodynamic path (21:15) Lifestyle, epigenetics, and subsequent generations (23:45) "What is going to create harmony in this space?": the approach that sets Jasmine's landscaping approach apart (27:50) What happens energetically when you apply a biodynamic preparation (30:30) Eastern medicine, creating synergy in the body, creating synergy on the land (36:15)   Resources jasminesgardens.com Ringing Cedars by Vladimir Megre The Alchemist by Paul Coelho Rehmannia Dean Thomas (Chinese herbalism on YouTube) Abraham-Hicks publications  

We can design sustainable agricultural systems all day long, but if we don't also have sustainable social systems to support them, they are far more likely to fail. Today we cover this and many other topics with Dave Jacke. Dave Jacke, primary author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens, has studied ecology and design since the 1970s, and has run Dynamics Ecological Design since 1984. Dave has consulted on, designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in many parts of the U.S., as well as overseas. His homestead is an eagle’s flight from the Connecticut River in Montague, MA.   What's integral to sustaining ecosystems is crucial to sustaining social systems....and to do that, we need a healthy inner landscape.   In this episode... The motivating force behind Edible Forest Gardens (2:10) Who do we have to become to create sustainable landscapes? (8:25) What a healthy, balanced landscape feels like (11:40) Forging reciprocal relationships with system elements (15:50) The role of emotions as an adaptive mechanism to give us information about ourself and our environment (21:15) Healing the trauma held in the body leads to more presence, increased ability to "be here now" and speak your truth; wholeness is interconnectedness (26:10) Why grow forest gardens? (28:10) In order to have successful sustainable landscapes, we need to also design collaborative, egalitarian social systems. In order to have successful, functioning social systems, we need to work on our inner landscapes. (33:30) Redefining guilds (37:10) Designing for results (46:00) Resources Dynamics Ecological Design Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha by Thich Nhat Hanh

The humble honeybee does so much more than pollinate and produce honey. She is far more evolved than humans give her credit for. Join us as we discuss bees and biodynamic with Gunther Hauk. Gunther has four decades of experience as a biodynamic beekeeper, gardener, and farmer. In 1996 he co-founded the Pfeiffer Center – one of the first biodynamic training programs in the US. And since that time he has been invited to teach around the world. His book Toward Saving the Honeybee was first published in 2002. And in 2006, Gunther and his wife, Vivian, founded Spikenard Farm. His work was featured in two full-length documentary films about the honeybee crisis – “Queen of the Sun” (2010) and “Vanishing of the Bees” (2009), and he also produced his own educational film “Hour of Decision” (2015).   Take the time to enliven the soil, and watch insect and animal diversity on the land explode!   In this episode... Gunther's path to biodynamic agriculture and beekeeping (2:10) Rudolf Steiner and Spiritual Science (5:00) Biodynamic foundations (7:35) The "Laws of Life" (9:10) The insect apocalypse is here (12:35) The motivation behind the creation of a honeybee sanctuary (14:50) The role of compost on a farm or in a garden (25:15) Advice for those interested in exploring biodynamics (33:15) Enlivening the land increases insect and animal diversity (37:20) The mysterious honey bee (39:25) Resources Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary spikenardfarm.org Biodynamic Principles & Practices in Farming & Gardening workshop at Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary (September 26-29, 2019) Agriculture: Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture and Bees by Rudolf Steiner; Laws of Life in Agriculture by Nicolaus Remer

What happens when you choose quantity over quality, short-term over long-term, uniform and shelf-stable over regional and flavorful, over and over for decades? Many things...including loss of genetic diversity, loss of soil fertility and soil life, and loss of nutrients in food. Dan Kittredge has been an organic farmer for more than 30 years, and is the founder and executive director of the Bionutrient Food Association, an 8 year old non-profit educational organization whose mission is to “increase quality in the food supply.” Known as one of the leading proponents of “nutrient density” globally, Dan has worked to make the connections between plant health, soil health, carbon sequestration, crop nutritional value, flavor and human health. The Bionutrient Food Association has engineered the Bionutrient Meter, a hand held consumer spectrometer that is designed to test crop nutrient density at point of purchase. The strategy is to connect the economic incentives from consumer to grower to drive full system regeneration.   The answer is so simple...just eating food that tastes good can actually solve many of the world's problems!   In This Episode →What conditions in our food system have led to the need for nutrient monitoring? (2:25) →What creates bionutrient-rich food? (6:25) →Your health, your vitality, and the vitality of your children, has a direct correlation to the health of the environment (15:00) →What happens to people when they eat foods with the nutrient levels they are supposed to have? (16:10) →How nutrient-dense food affects our genes and the way they are expressed (epigenetics) (22:30) →Physicists tell us that 95+% of reality can't be measured with the tools we have, and Eastern traditions tell us we are hard-wired to perceive on levels other than the physical plane (26:00) →The more our bodies are built the way they were intended (with the nutrient "tools" we are supposed to access), the more subtle awareness we will be able to perceive...affecting everything in our culture, including the decisions we make (27:50) →Dan's story of how he arrived at this work (30:30) →Plants grown well are not only more nutritious, but they will sequester far more carbon than plants grown poorly (38:00) →The Strategy: connect this understanding of crop quality, environmental health, and human health to money, a driving force that determines much of what happens in the world (40:15) →Enter the handheld spectrometer, a tool that empowers the consumer to determine a food's nutrient value at point of purchase (41:00) →Building the database of fruit and vegetable nutrient values (46:15) →What Dan does to center, ground, and feed his soul (52:00) →What book he turns to for inspiration (54:00)   Resources →Dharana Darshan by Swami Paramahamsa Niranjanananda →The Bionutrient Association: bionutrient.org →Dan will be a featured speaker at the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Durham, NC Nov. 1-3