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EP 5 - Convenience Kills
Building What Matters — Episode 5 Convenience Kills
About This Episode
This one started with two words.
Convenience kills.
My guest said it to me in passing during one of our many conversations and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since. It felt like it fit perfectly inside everything I have been building on this podcast — and this conversation proved it.
For this episode I brought on my first ever guest, Jay Mertes. Jay is a longtime friend, a small farmer, and an ER nurse who sees the consequences of convenience culture up close every single day. We have ministered together, deconstructed together, and had more late-night conversations than either of us can count. He is one of the most grounded and honest thinkers I know. And what he is doing on his homestead and what he is witnessing in the ER gives him a perspective on how we live and what it is costing us that I think you genuinely need to hear.
This conversation goes deep and wide. We covered a lot of ground. Consider this your invitation to drink from the fire hose.
In This Episode
How a small farmer and ER nurse ended up in the same person and what those two worlds have taught him
What he is seeing in the ER that most people are not paying attention to—including cancer diagnoses coming younger and younger
The pattern he notices in patients who are in their 80s and 90s and still thriving—and what they all have in common
How the food system got here—from the Great Depression to World War II to Operation Paperclip to the standard American diet
Why convenience is never free—there is always a price, it is just when and how you want to pay it
Investing in people versus investing in profit—and how that framework applies to everything from church to food to community
The gut health connection—how what we eat affects our mental health, our serotonin, and our capacity for contentment
What regenerative agriculture actually means and why it matters
The algae bloom illustration—what happens when a system gets out of balance and why nature always restores itself one way or another
Why he has never felt more connected than when he walks out to his garden barefoot
How social media gives you the illusion of community without the reality of it
The convenience test—if you can make it quickly it is probably not good for you
What the entry point looks like for someone who wants to start living differently but feels overwhelmed
Why local investment in food and people is always the answer
His dream for a local food hub where community dollars stay local and people put faces to their food
What real food actually means.
Quotes Worth Sitting With
"There is always a price for what we have, what we do, what we consume. We have to determine what price we want it to be."
"You are in a relationship with your body. You get out what you put in."
"Invest locally in people and food. Not in profit and not in convenience."
"If you can eat it quickly it is probably not good for you."
"We have created a world where very sick people live a very long time. Quantity is not always quality."
"I went into ministry to be a servant and ended up a slave."
"I have never felt more connected than when I walk out to the garden and smell the soil."
The Three Lanes of Convenience Kills
As you listen you will hear this conversation move through three distinct areas where convenience is costing us something real:
Connection to food and land — what we eat, where it comes from, what we have lost by outsourcing our nourishment to systems built for profit rather than people.
Community — how social media gives us the illusion of connection without the reality of it, and what genuine community actually requires.
Contentment — what happens when we replace silence, slowness, and presence with distraction and entertainment, and what it costs us chemically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Practical Entry Points From This Episode
If something stirred in you during this conversation here are the starting points our guest suggested:
Start small. Get some pots and grow tomatoes on your porch. You do not need 40 acres.
Consider edible landscaping. Goji berries, figs, fruit trees — things that are both beautiful and useful.
Try making sourdough bread. Three ingredients. Time. Presence. Connection.
Go berry picking. Go fishing. Look for mushrooms. Get outside and touch something that is alive.
Find like-minded people. The conversation itself is part of the medicine.
Think about what you eat and how it makes you feel when you eat it. Start paying attention.
Consider your local farmers market or a CSA — put faces to your food and keep dollars in your community.
Resources and References Mentioned
Kiss the Ground — documentary on regenerative agriculture
Back to Eden — documentary on natural growing methods and working with rather than against the land
Seventh Day Adventist dietary and lifestyle practices — research-backed, faith-rooted, worth exploring regardless of religious affiliation
Gut health and the gut-brain connection — the science behind why what we eat affects our mental health and emotional wellbeing
The Question This Episode Leaves You With
If what you eat, how you eat, and where it comes from is built for profit —
who is actually paying the price?
And when?
Continue the Conversation
This episode connects directly to Episode 4 — Back to Eden — where I trace the pattern of empire psychology from ancient civilizations to the modern food system and what it means to re-embed in something real. If this conversation stirred something in you, that episode is your next stop.
Read More on Substack
The ideas in this episode go even deeper in writing at Building What Matters on Substack. Subscribe at tobiasneal83.substack.com and get notified every time a new post or episode drops.
Connect and Subscribe
If this episode resonated with you I would love to hear from you. Find me on Substack where the conversation continues.
Listen on your favorite platform: 🎙 Apple Podcasts 🎙 Spotify 🎙 iHeartRadio
If this episode meant something to you please leave a review on your listening app. I am building this from the ground up and every review helps more people find it. It means more than you know.
Building What Matters is for leaders who are done building for optics and ready to build for real. Dignity first. Values rooted. Honest about what it costs. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you don't miss what's next.
Stay in the pocket.
Get full access to Building What Matters at tobiasneal83.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Recovery leader. Deconstructing theologian. Building what actually matters.Building What Matters — Episode 5 Convenience Kills
About This Episode
This one started with two words.
Convenience kills.
My guest said it to me in passing during one of our many conversations and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since. It felt like it fit perfectly inside everything I have been building on this podcast — and this conversation proved it.
For this episode I brought on my first ever guest, Jay Mertes. Jay is a longtime friend, a small farmer, and an ER nurse who sees the consequences of convenience culture up close every single day. We have ministered together, deconstructed together, and had more late-night conversations than either of us can count. He is one of the most grounded and honest thinkers I know. And what he is doing on his homestead and what he is witnessing in the ER gives him a perspective on how we live and what it is costing us that I think you genuinely need to hear.
This conversation goes deep and wide. We covered a lot of ground. Consider this your invitation to drink from the fire hose.
In This Episode
How a small farmer and ER nurse ended up in the same person and what those two worlds have taught him
What he is seeing in the ER that most people are not paying attention to—including cancer diagnoses coming younger and younger
The pattern he notices in patients who are in their 80s and 90s and still thriving—and what they all have in common
How the food system got here—from the Great Depression to World War II to Operation Paperclip to the standard American diet
Why convenience is never free—there is always a price, it is just when and how you want to pay it
Investing in people versus investing in profit—and how that framework applies to everything from church to food to community
The gut health connection—how what we eat affects our mental health, our serotonin, and our capacity for contentment
What regenerative agriculture actually means and why it matters
The algae bloom illustration—what happens when a system gets out of balance and why nature always restores itself one way or another
Why he has never felt more connected than when he walks out to his garden barefoot
How social media gives you the illusion of community without the reality of it
The convenience test—if you can make it quickly it is probably not good for you
What the entry point looks like for someone who wants to start living differently but feels overwhelmed
Why local investment in food and people is always the answer
His dream for a local food hub where community dollars stay local and people put faces to their food
What real food actually means.
Quotes Worth Sitting With
"There is always a price for what we have, what we do, what we consume. We have to determine what price we want it to be."
"You are in a relationship with your body. You get out what you put in."
"Invest locally in people and food. Not in profit and not in convenience."
"If you can eat it quickly it is probably not good for you."
"We have created a world where very sick people live a very long time. Quantity is not always quality."
"I went into ministry to be a servant and ended up a slave."
"I have never felt more connected than when I walk out to the garden and smell the soil."
The Three Lanes of Convenience Kills
As you listen you will hear this conversation move through three distinct areas where convenience is costing us something real:
Connection to food and land — what we eat, where it comes from, what we have lost by outsourcing our nourishment to systems built for profit rather than people.
Community — how social media gives us the illusion of connection without the reality of it, and what genuine community actually requires.
Contentment — what happens when we replace silence, slowness, and presence with distraction and entertainment, and what it costs us chemically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Practical Entry Points From This Episode
If something stirred in you during this conversation here are the starting points our guest suggested:
Start small. Get some pots and grow tomatoes on your porch. You do not need 40 acres.
Consider edible landscaping. Goji berries, figs, fruit trees — things that are both beautiful and useful.
Try making sourdough bread. Three ingredients. Time. Presence. Connection.
Go berry picking. Go fishing. Look for mushrooms. Get outside and touch something that is alive.
Find like-minded people. The conversation itself is part of the medicine.
Think about what you eat and how it makes you feel when you eat it. Start paying attention.
Consider your local farmers market or a CSA — put faces to your food and keep dollars in your community.
Resources and References Mentioned
Kiss the Ground — documentary on regenerative agriculture
Back to Eden — documentary on natural growing methods and working with rather than against the land
Seventh Day Adventist dietary and lifestyle practices — research-backed, faith-rooted, worth exploring regardless of religious affiliation
Gut health and the gut-brain connection — the science behind why what we eat affects our mental health and emotional wellbeing
The Question This Episode Leaves You With
If what you eat, how you eat, and where it comes from is built for profit —
who is actually paying the price?
And when?
Continue the Conversation
This episode connects directly to Episode 4 — Back to Eden — where I trace the pattern of empire psychology from ancient civilizations to the modern food system and what it means to re-embed in something real. If this conversation stirred something in you, that episode is your next stop.
Read More on Substack
The ideas in this episode go even deeper in writing at Building What Matters on Substack. Subscribe at tobiasneal83.substack.com and get notified every time a new post or episode drops.
Connect and Subscribe
If this episode resonated with you I would love to hear from you. Find me on Substack where the conversation continues.
Listen on your favorite platform: 🎙 Apple Podcasts 🎙 Spotify 🎙 iHeartRadio
If this episode meant something to you please leave a review on your listening app. I am building this from the ground up and every review helps more people find it. It means more than you know.
Building What Matters is for leaders who are done building for optics and ready to build for real. Dignity first. Values rooted. Honest about what it costs. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you don't miss what's next.
Stay in the pocket.
Get full access to Building What Matters at tobiasneal83.substack.com/subscribe