In this conversation, Jade sits down with Meg Ulman (sadly not in person) — heart led writer, mother, educator, maker & one part of Artists as Family — to unpick what it really means to live on your own terms.

They trace the winding road toward a neo-peasant life — one defined less by nostalgia & more by intention. They talk about living with a fundamental trust in yourself to make decisions, parenting within community & the grit & grace of staying true to your values.

Meg describes herself as cash poor but time rich, together they explore what that trade-off really feels like.

They talk about the ache of impermanence — how everything we love we will lose —  what it means to become good at grief rather than trying to outrun it. What it feels like to feel alive, trusting your instinct to survive & holding a desire to be part of that holding — the invisible web that keeps us tethered to one another & to the earth itself.

Meg shares her reflections on solitude, on listening deeply to the land beneath her feet & on the quiet privileges of aging — not as decline, but as initiation. There’s talk of ritual, of story & of the small daily acts that remind us who we are.

It’s a conversation that doesn’t romanticise simplicity but celebrates the beauty & honesty of a life well noticed.

Links You'll Love

Artist As Family You Tube

Loved this? Want More of Meg: Artist as family - rites of passage and grief

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Show notes:

• The path to a neo-peasant life begins with tiny, conscious seeds — small shifts that grow into whole new ways of being
• To live authentically is to let your values lead, even when the world is shouting for you to do otherwise
• Raising kids in a web of real connection builds belonging that no algorithm can match
• To feel the full weight of love, we have to make peace with loss — grief is proof that we’ve lived deeply
• Parenting (and life) gets easier when we trust the quiet tug of intuition more than the noise of advice
• Simple living isn’t always easy — the work is real, but so is the satisfaction
• None of us are meant to do this alone; community is the net that catches us 
• Feeling the whole spectrum — joy, ache, awe — is what it means to be truly alive
• Sometimes self-discovery starts with walking away from the script you were handed.
• Rites of passage & initiations remind us where we’ve been, and mark who we’re becoming
• Listening with your body — not just your head — tunes you into the language of the earth
• Solitude isn’t loneliness; it’s the quiet space where truth grows roots
• Moving from maiden to elder 
• Aging is a privilege — each wrinkle a story of survival & grace
• Being time-rich beats being time-poor every single day

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What does it really look like to live inside the dream of community? To share walls & gardens, decision-making & dinner tables — & to raise children in a village that actually lives its values?

In this conversation, we sit down with Suzie Brown, long-time advocate for sustainable living & proud resident of the Narara Eco-Village. Suzie opens the gate & lets us wander through the realities of intentional community life — from the joy of shared purpose & spontaneous connection, to the inevitable challenges of governance, regulation & difference.

She shares how Narara’s unique decision-making structures help navigate conflict, why research & planning matter long before the first foundation is laid & what it takes to keep a community diverse, accessible, & truly alive.

This chat is as much about belonging as it is about building — about the quiet power of volunteering, the laughter that spills from community events & the deep satisfaction of knowing you’re part of something larger than yourself.

So settle in & join us as we explore what happens when a group of humans decides to live more lightly — & more together.

Pod Partners Rock:  Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

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Huddle - creating a tomorrow of togetherness

We talked about:

• How children benefit from growing up in a supportive environment
• Sociocracy allows for effective decision-making in communities
• Conflict resolution is crucial for the success of eco-villages
• Research into successful eco-villages informs best practices
• Accessibility and affordability are challenges for eco-village living
• Community events help integrate new members into the village
• Pets can be a contentious issue in community living
•  Participating in an eco-village requires active engagement
• Community members are joint owners of the cooperative
• Building a sustainable community involves significant effort & collaboration
• The concept of 'pulsing' allows for shared leadership & energy levels
• Joy & fun are essential for community cohesion.
• Governance models like sociocracy help manage community dynamics
• Financial planning is crucial for the sustainability of eco-villages
• Regulatory challenges can hinder the building process in eco-villages
• Volunteering is a key aspect of community involvement
• Living in an eco-village fosters a deep sense of belonging

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Today we wander into the layered world of Tim Pilgrim—a landscape architect and gardener who sees soil, water, and wildness as teachers. Tim invites us to connect with the land rather than control it, to design gardens that honour both human need and ecological integrity.

Together we explore the art of observation and the quiet discipline of water management, learning how these practices build truly sustainable landscapes. Tim shares how gardens evolve over time, shaped by climate change and by the gentle hands—and sometimes heavy footprints—of people. We tackle the prickly debates too: lawns that demand more than they give, the dance between native and non-native plants, and the cultural stories that every planting choice can tell.

Tim also speaks to the community side of gardening: how diversity—of species, of people, of ideas—creates resilience; how food can slip seamlessly into ornamental spaces; how the rhythm of a gardener’s life becomes a legacy of naturalistic design.

This is a conversation for anyone ready to see gardens not just as pretty spaces but as living narratives—places where history, ecology, and our shared future root down together.

We chatted about:

• Landscapes shape the stories we tell & vice versa
• A holistic approach to gardening fosters biodiversity
• Designing for wildness requires sensitivity & observation.
• Gardens should evolve with the needs of their inhabitants
• Climate change necessitates adaptable gardening practices
• Water management is crucial for sustainable gardening
• Human influence can coexist with natural ecosystems
• Saying phooey to lawns
•  "I'm not a purist; I embrace all plants that look good"
• Gardens as spaces for community connection 
• Gardening to build a rhythm that aligns with nature's cycles
• Gardens as places that reflect personal & cultural histories
• Gardens as inclusive spaces for all living things

Links You'll Love
Find Tim online including his book "Wild By Design"

Loved this? Try another

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Today we wander into the wild tangle that is Sarah Firth’s world—a place where curiosity is currency and difference is pure gold. Sarah calls herself a polyhuman, and you’ll feel why as she opens up about neurodivergence, the grit and grace of making art, and the small, daily rituals that stitch meaning into our messy lives.

This is a conversation about courage and kindness, about owning our impact while staying tender enough to connect. It’s an invitation to question the systems around us, take responsibility for the ripples we make, and revel in the glorious complexity of being human.

We talked about:

• Being a polyhuman & adapting identity based on context
• How curiosity drives her interactions, leading to meaningful connections
• Neurodivergence has shaped her understanding of herself & her creativity
• Why art in all its forms serve as a medium for exploration & expression of complex emotions
• Courage is found in embracing differences & challenging mainstream narratives
• The creative process is iterative, involving learning from peers & experiences
• Humanity is complex,  understanding this complexity fosters empathy
• Rituals in daily life can create meaning & connection to the world
• Finding 'enoughness' involves balancing personal joy with systemic responsibilities.

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Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

Links You'll Love
Eventually Everything Connects - by Sarah Firth
Sarah Firth Instagram

Loved this ep? Try another
Emily Ehlers - Hope is a Verb

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Summary

Today we slip into a cosmic campfire chat with Debra Silverman based in Colorado—where psychology shakes hands with the stars & the four elements (wind, earth, fire and water) become our guides. Debra’s journey weaves scepticism with wonder, showing how astrology (despite its esoteric nature can actually ground us in community and help us really see ourselves through practical, lived experience.

Together Jade & Debra dig into the pull of ritual & nature, the strange hum of technology in our relationships, & the quiet wisdom our elders carry. It’s a conversation that asks us to honour the sacred in everyday life while daring to imagine what AI might mean for the humans we’re remembering to be.

Links You'll Love
Debra Silverman online 

Loved this? Try another:

Fleur Chamber - Riding the Waves of Life with the Essence of Presence

 Cynthia Jurs - The Art of Sacred Activism

We talked about

• The power that asserts itself when Astrology & psychology complement each other
• The four elements of Earth, Air, Wind & Fire are fundamental to understanding personalities.
• How scepticism about astrology can be addressed through practical application
• The role of Community in personal growth & learning
• The incredible role that Eldership brings to wisdom holding & the sense of responsibility that it entails
• Rituals & connection to nature are essential for well-being
• Why technology hinders genuine human connection
• Navigating change w awareness & adaptability
• How her personal growth has been a lifelong journey influenced by astrology
• The future of AI if it considers human values & compassion

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Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

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In this episode, we welcome Stephen Jenkinson—writer, teacher, storyteller, and founder of the Orphan Wisdom School. Stephen is known for breaking open the marrow of language and returning it in all its poetic weight. His work on elderhood, grief, dying wise, and the making (and unmaking) of culture has touched people all over the world.

His newest book, Matrimony: Ritual, Culture, and the Heart’s Work, takes on what he calls the “mother of a culture”—the wedding. In a time when so many weddings risk becoming performances, spectacles, or non-events, Stephen asks: what would it mean to make a wedding real?

In this conversation we explore:

• Why vows are not the same as promises
• How families, friends, and communities become witnesses rather than spectators
• Why weddings matter in a culture of high divorce rates and discredited rituals
• What it means for the union of two people to implicate everyone present
• The difference between a ceremony that entertains and a ceremony that truly happens

This is not just a conversation about marriage. It’s about consequence, culture, and what it might take to make our ceremonies—and our lives—real.

Links You'll Love

Orphan Wisdom

Matrimony the Book

Arc + Craft: An Exploration of Creativity and Culture Making Event

Loved this ep? Try this one:

160 Manda Scott - Pondering how we became accidental gods of this land & seeking connection to it with humility not control

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 Lets dig into the quiet, radical world of seeds with plant breeder & seed keeper Gregg Muller. Gregg’s journey has been about more than growing food — it’s about safeguarding diversity, resilience & flavour in the face of a changing climate. From his work on the Cross Hemisphere Dwarf Tomato Project to the community breeding groups he champions, Gregg shows how ordinary gardeners can become part of something much bigger: shaping plants that thrive where we live. We talk about the simple, practical steps of saving seed, but also about the deeper shift in perspective — moving away from industrial uniformity & back towards local adaptation, community sharing & seed sovereignty. It’s a conversation that reminds us that resilience starts in our own backyards, one seed at a time 

Links You'll Love from Gregg:

•  Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination by Joseph Lofthouse
• Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding and SeedSaving By Carol Deppe
• https://goingtoseed.org/
•  https://osseeds.org/
•  Central Victorian Adaptive Crop Breeding Project  
• His online seed shop
•  https://www.seedsavers.org.au/

Pod Partners Rock:Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

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Casual Support - Buy Me A Coffee
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Buy the Book - Futuresteading - live like tomorrow matters, Huddle - creating a tomorrow of togetherness

Loved this ep? Try this one:

Shane Simonsen - Taming the apocalypse

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We chatted about:

•  Saving seeds from homegrown vegetables.
• Creating new varieties through cross-pollination.
• The Cross Hemisphere Dwarf Tomato Project 
• Genetic diversity is crucial for resilient crops in changing climates.
• Diversity in crops helps ensure food security.
• Breeding as a community effort Community, fostering local adaptation & resilience
• Genetic diversity is crucial for climate resilience in crops
• Modern seed production often limits genetic diversity
• Rethinking agricultural practices can lead to better outcomes.
• Seed banks play a vital role in food security.
• Individuals can take practical steps to save seeds.

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 Today we’re pulling up a chair with Angela Clifford — farmer, food activist & founder of Eat New Zealand — to talk about the stuff that really matters: food, culture, community & the future our kids will inherit. Together we wander through big ideas & very real feelings — from the responsibility of feeding a nation to the grief & hope that come with caring deeply for place. Permaculture principles, family dynamics, natural systems & the wisdom that lives beyond humans all get a look-in. This one’s about finding steadiness in uncertain times & remembering that the way we eat, grow & gather can be an anchor for resilience, connection & joy. 

Links You'll Love

Eat NZ

The Food Farm

Loved this ep? Try this one:

Osprey Oriel Lake - the story is in our bones

Pod Partners Rock: Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

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We chatted about:

• It's not just one person's work; it's a collective responsibility.
• Feeling a deep sense of obligation for future generations.
• Natural systems provide inspiration and strength.
• Small changes can shift large systems.
• Understanding food systems is crucial for meaningful contributions.
• Food citizenship empowers individuals to affect change.
• Cultural acknowledgment is essential in a national context.
• Permaculture principles guide long-term thinking.
• Community sufficiency is prioritized over self-sufficiency.
• Navigating family dynamics requires courage and shared values. Community thrives when the community thrives.
• In uncertain times, community becomes essential.
• Grief can lead to meaningful action.
• Natural landscapes offer grounding and wisdom.
• Personal experiences shape our understanding of the world.
• We can make a difference in our local environments.
• Elders can be found in nature, not just in humans.
• Facing grief allows for growth and perspective.
• Connection to the land is vital for our existence.
• We have a role to play in regeneration.

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 Spring is peeking through here in Southern Australia, and today we’re heading into the garden — but not just for veggies. We’re going a little wild for the birds, bees, and butterflies. Our guest, Jaclyn Crupi, lifelong gardener and many times author, grew up with her nonna and nonno’s hands-in-the-dirt wisdom. These days, she’s transformed her patch beyond just a productive veggie garden into a thriving sanctuary that welcomes not just humans, but insects, birds, fungi — the whole backyard ecosystem. Whether you’ve got a big block, a small suburban yard, or even just a balcony, Jaclyn’s here to share how messy gardening and even a ‘lizard lounge’ can turn any space into a refuge for wildlife.

We chat about why those with their hands in the dirt are  leaving a legacy, telling  stories though our gardening & why we need messy gardens now more than ever.

Links to find Jaclyn

https://www.jaclyncrupi.com/

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Natasha Morgan shares her oak and Monkey Puzzle life

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We chatted about:

• Gardeners leaving legacies for future generations
• Embracing messy spaces
• Letting go of curation
• Transitioning our mindset
• Gardens as analogies for life
• The importance of biodiversity

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It’s about time Jade Miles takes the mic so we can pick her brain and her heart about ‘huddling’ for the future of all! We chat about what is our ecological work to do, our soul work to do as we come together in all kinds of communities.

We decolonise our minds by moving into our hearts: away from extraction and spectacle, toward opulence of the ordinary- soil under nails, soup shared warm, shared conversations around a fire, singing songs as ritual. We name the practices that bind us: huddle, muddle, cuddle- messy, tender, and profoundly effective.

Jade’s new book, Huddle, is a field guide for this future: small circles doing big things. Gather often. Trade skills. Move through initiation. Tell truer stories. Let the elders speak. Listen deeply. Make a ritual. Define your enoughness. In a time that worships scale, choose closeness. In a culture that fears the muddle, trust in the huddles!.

Because the way we will change the planet is not by shouting across the void but by huddling in, shoulder-to-shoulder, until courage becomes contagious and care becomes the norm.

Links You'll Love
If Women Rose Rooted - Sharon Blackie -- Duckworth

Pod Partners Rock: Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

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Regular Support - Patreon
Buy the Book - Futuresteading - live like tomorrow matters, Huddle - creating a tomorrow of togetherness

We talked about

• Huddling is about coming together in community.
• Human interactions can be complex due to trauma and ego.
• Rituals help fill the gaps in our lives.
• Understanding our phases of life can guide our growth.
• Eldership and wisdom sharing.
• Ancestral connections can deepen our sense of belonging.
• Enoughness is crucial in a consumer-driven world.
• We must be mindful of our impact on future generations.
• Being heart-led creates a different world.

Loved this? Try these:

Jane Hilliard - "Enough-ness" do you have it?

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