Sarah Andrews has this way of stripping back the noise & replacing hustle with humility. A gentle woman, who describes herself as '90% introvert', she has crated beautiful spaces by considering them her palette to tell stories  & then inviting in a global community of folk to share her special space.

The key, she says, to creating spaces that are warm, nurturing and supportive of the community they are designed to hold, is to be sure that “beautiful is not the ‘budget”.
“My plan was to teach a few what I knew and then go sailing but it didn't happen like that because what was being taught was so special & it really did what it said on the box”
Today the futuresteading pod invites you to open the box and learn ways to create spaces that nurture togetherness.

Things we talked about:
Hosting masterclass - Sarahs online program
The Poetry of Spaces - Sarah Andrews
Captains Rest - Sarah's Accommodation

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Show Notes
How a tumultuous life has lead her to creating spaces that make her feel safe
Spaces that make you feel the way you want to feel  & be the best we can
Finding your medium to create stories - art, verbal words, design, written words,
Walking the line of being a hermit that is alone but not wanting to be alone
Understanding her ratio for a happy life - for her its 90% introverted
Attracting people together but without the obligation of having to hold them all.
“I’d found an internal happiness as a host and wanted to gift that to others” 
“Hosting & creating spaces is a science which can be broken down into a process?
Frustration with the creative world using words that don't have meaningful measure.
Building tools that could be taught to people who don't think they're creative.
It’s easy to copy something if you've got a big budget but if you’re creating something that’s creative & individual then the real beauty is uncovered
“For many reasons captains rest should not have been a success but when it was I was inundated with people asking me to help them do the same for them”
Humility in creating a global network of minded individuals 
"I don’t have the energy for it to be all about me so it’s lovely to see a community of people connecting from the comfort of my couch"
Every year I just do what I can - which is different every year - there’s no strategy but it feels good & works for me.
Enough is not about doing more, having more, seeing more, it’s about how much you can give to the world.
Building a meaningful community of people she loves & trusts
I’m a three friend type of person - they’ve seen me through every part of my life
Being part of a community that is protective of one another & generous
Inner huddles & outer huddles
Our community is a success because it’s genuine - it’s not a side hustle or a business venture - I’d be doing it anyway.
The thing that always links to success is ‘realness’ - when it lights up people’s eyes you know it's true. It’s those who have the bravery to follow that
A better way of being a community of people interacting with one another is when we sidestep division. 
Being led by kindness - one of the hardest but most rewarding things about being alive.

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What if all the memories you made as a kid had been replaced by screens? When an aha moment makes you realise that its time to reframe childhood and embrace an analogue life - one that stimulates creativity, imagination and experiences that instil a need to fight for the natural world over technification.   With a biological need for at least 3 hours outside every day...the time to replace screen time with green time is now.

Show notes

Feeling like she was failing as a mum
Breaking the cycle of raising children on full schedules
“Kids are supposed to be outside for 4-6 hours a day when the weather is good” - Charlotte Mason
Her first good day as a mum was spent outside as part of a challenge in order to make friends.
How outdoor play enhances every development for children which gives lifelong benefits
Setting our kids up for success simply by spending time outside
Busting screen time statistics
On average kids are on screens for 7 hours a day but only outside for 7 minutes
1200 hours a year outside creating  rather than on screen 
3 hours of outdoor play for kids of all ages 
Keeping children balanced
Rescheduling early childhood
Raising kids who were ruddy, tough, sleeping better
Outdoor play enhances childhood developing in every sense = cognitive, sensorial, emotional
Laying the groundwork so they keep it up
Play that stretches their body and teaches them to trust their bodies and builds endurance, stamina, alertness
Filling our life with the important things first and push out the time that's left over for screens
It’s never easy to make this your committed approach but it’s worth it
Creating rituals that are intentional
The benefits of being uncomfortable
Why time slows down when you are doing something new and your senses wake up
Building identity via time in the outdoors
If they don’t love an analogue life, they won’t fight for it
Building a foundation in kids that they can resist the tech pull
Success is living a fulfilling life that is balanced, connected, maintained ground on values and illusions but grounded and taken day by day
If we live well today then tomorrow will take care of itself
Clothes for the season: Wonders of wool to enable the kids to play for so much longer
Passing down the things = less stuff
Imagination over screens
Nature is enough - it meets us all at the stage we are at 
Start right now and be happy to bloom at your own pace which follows your instinct
Trust your kids to create their own path

References

1000 hours outside- book, podcast

Charlotte Mason - Childhood educator

Balanced and barefoot - Angela Hanson

Rewilding the urban soul - Claire Dunn

The Comfort Crisis - Michael Easter

The singularity is near - Ray Curswhile

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Do you ever feel a profound connection with nature? 

 Dive into a captivating conversation with Julie Brams - American forest therapy guide and author of "The Nature Embedded Mind". Julie emphasizes the necessity of reclaiming our relationship with nature, "We are never separated from nature; it’s time to reclaim that connection!" 

To truly embrace our connection with nature, we must acknowledge the ties that bind us to the Earth and each other. By fostering kinship with the natural world, we can find comfort, wisdom, and healing. Julie's insights remind us that our mental and emotional well-being is intertwined with the health of our planet. As we reclaim our nature-embedded minds, we pave the way for a more harmonious existence with the Earth, ultimately leading to a more just and sustainable world.

Throughout the conversation we explore the deep kinship we hold with the natural world and how this connection can lead to healing and understanding. From the emotional landscapes of joy and grief to the transformative power of observation and presence.

Pod Partners Rock: Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

Loved this? Try these:

Alice Irene Whitaker - Finding Seeds of Presence in the Woods

Leah Rampy - The Trees Teach Resilience, Beginning and Ending in Silence

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

We talked about:

- Remembering our belonging to land, life, and each other

- We are inherently interconnected; separation from nature is a learned narrative that can be unlearned

- Reclaiming a nature-embedded way of being is essential for personal and collective healing

- Observation, presence, and attentiveness deepen our relationship with the living world

- Curiosity and play open pathways for reconnection, learning, and resilience

Joy naturally emerges as we reweave ourselves into ecological rhythms

Grief is a valid and necessary response to loss, signalling care and commitment to life

- Healing the earth and healing ourselves are reciprocal, inseparable processes

- A heart-centred approach to relationships strengthens communities and future possibilities

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Step into the deeper currents of what it means to build a life that lasts beyond a single generation. Explore multi-generational living not just as a practical arrangement, but as an antidote to the fragmentation of modern society—a way of returning to rootedness, continuity, & shared purpose. Reflect on the power of family rituals, enduring traditions & the slow transmission of wisdom that strengthens the family ecosystem.

Through personal stories & cultural insight, Jeremy reveals how honouring ancestral lineage has cultivated belonging & identity, and how intentional gatherings have helped reweave the connections frayed by hyper-individualism. Jeremy speaks to the beauty & complexity of holding the responsibility of caring for aging parents, & the steady vision of togetherness that shapes their family’s choices.

This conversation touches on the importance of building community with both kin & chosen family, redefining success in relational rather than material terms, & rediscovering what “enough” truly means in a world bent toward consumption. It is a conversation about stewardship, resilience, & designing a life that honours both our roots & our future.

Find Jeremy online

Loved this? Try another:

Nat Wilmot - Living her Dream

Support the Show
Casual Support - Buy Me A Coffee
Regular Support - Patreon
Buy the Books - Futuresteading - live like tomorrow matters, Huddle - creating a tomorrow of togetherness

Pod Partners Rock:Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

Show Notes:

• Embracing multi-generational living as a resilient response to the rhythms of modern life
• Rooting the household in foundational rituals &traditions that anchor future generations
• Honouring ancestral lineage as a compass for long-term stewardship
• Weaving intergenerational wisdom into daily life to strengthen the family ecosystem
• Recognizing how hyper-individualism fractures connection & belonging
• Practising deep long-termism as a cornerstone of sustainable, life-supporting futures
• Caring for aging parents through intentional, dignity-centred practices
• Crafting a shared vision of togetherness to guide family decisions across decades
• Cultivating community that extends beyond bloodlines into chosen kin & local networks
• Redefining success by elevating relationships, contribution, & coherence over consumption
• Understanding what “enough” means in a world shaped by excess & scarcity mindsets
• Preserving generational knowledge as a critical asset for family resilience & adaptability
• Living intentionally through long-range planning, transparent communication, & shared purpose
• Designing a lifestyle that prioritizes stewardship, regeneration, & sustainable prosperity

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In this episode, we sit down with Jamin Heppell to dive into the edges where personal growth, leadership, and nature all meet. We talk about what it means to move through fear, to listen to our intuition, and to find clarity in the moments that challenge us most. Jamin opens up about his own life initiations, the experiences that have shaped who he is and how he leads and shares the practices and rituals that help him stay grounded and resilient. Together, we explore what heart-centered leadership really looks like in today’s world, and how the mountains — both literal and metaphorical — can teach us about courage, authenticity, and alignment.

We talked about:

• The mountains are unforgiving, teaching us resilience.
• Life is a mirror for our personal growth.
• Clarity, clearing, and creation are essential in leadership.
• Fear can be a guide if we learn to listen to it.
• Daily rituals support our resilience and well-being.
• Leadership starts with self-awareness and authenticity.
• Nature provides profound lessons for personal development.
• Initiations in life help us grow and expand.
• Heart-centered leadership is crucial for community well-being.
• Mountains symbolise the challenges and triumphs of life.

Links You'll Love:

Jamin's offerings: https://linktr.ee/jaminheppell

Jamin's Website: https://mountainsandmarathons.world/aligneverest26/

Article on the Patagonia story mentioned in the pod: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/26/australian-hikers-chilean-mountain-blizzard-survival-stories

Pod Partners Rock: Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

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

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Summary
If we are going to lay the foundations of a world we are proud to leave as a legacy we need to be comfortable to move into elderhood - for Manda Scott this is about getting comfortable with emergence and asking the living web “what is mine to do”.
 We’ve created a world where separation, anxiety & powerlessness have become the underlying defaults instead of a world of security, belonging & agency. We are addicted to dopamine &exist in a world of trauma rather than initiation so how are we to rewrite these patterns?
By listening to the heart-mind - its very shy & quiet but the head mind will whisper if it needs you to really listen.

Links You'll Love
Any Human Power - Manda Scott
Accidental Gods - Manda Scott program &  podcast
Right story, Wrong story - Tyson Yunkaporta
Sand talk - Tyson Yunkaporta
Mans search for meaning - Victor Frankel
Francis Weller - The Wild Edge of Sorrow

Loved this? Try these:
Tyson Yunkaporta
Damon Gameau

Support the Show
Casual Support - Buy Me A Coffee
Regular Support - Patreon
Buy the Book - Futuresteading - Live Like tomorrow matters

We talked about:
Learning to live as functioning members of the earth community
Why she writes fiction not non fiction
Receiving shamanic instruction
How to be in connection with the web of life in all its complexity
Being born into a trauma culture rather than an initiation culture
Why seeing truth without self projection is hard.
Her decades of shamanic teaching - still learning to discern the difference between what her ego is saying and what the energy is saying
Returning to a sit spot to receive instructions to write a book
“Skin Listening” - an ability to be felt with all your senses without pre conceived ideas
Sit spots - what can I see, what can I feel, what does my heart say 
Why some languages say “I am other” and some say “I am intrinsically part of what is happening.
Initiation culture is capable of holding contained encounters with death
We live in a dopamine culture - addicted to turning oil into adrenaline
Yearning for a serotonin mesh of connection of meaning & purpose
The four stages of Adulthood
Undoing our head mind dominance
Offering yourself in service and waiting for your path.
 The chaos of our culture is that we think we can plan ahead
We live in an insane world & ourselves its sane
One of the key measures of adulthood is being prepared to walk against the tide

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As a new Mum, living in a new home, having just released a new book and fertilising the idea of reconnecting back to her Vietnamese heritage Tammy Huyhn is a light hearted joy.

This lass knows a thing or two about plants - you may have seen her face on ABC's Gardening Australia and she runs her own hortucultural business Leaf an Impression which delivers garden talks and workshops...she has even been awarded horticulturist of the year! 

Todays conversation though, mostly asks "how does gardening bridge us back to our ancestral roots and remind us who we are".

Post recording, Tammy thanked us for the unexpected therapy session - so its a short and sweet ep that still manages to dig beyond the top soil.

We talked about:

• How Tammy's Vietnamese heritage influences her gardening practices
• Initially pursuing a career in agriculture before transitioning to writing
• Troubleshooting plant care effectively.
• How Motherhood brings both joy and challenges, impacting identity
• The crucial role of Community in sharing gardening knowledge
• The power of gardens to connect people across cultures & generations
• Starting with one plant can enhance mental well-being.
• The value of rest and self acceptance

Loved this? Try another:

Tim Pilgrim - Creating Wild Spaces; The Art Of Natural Design

Pod Partners Rock: Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

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

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Come with us for a wander through the fertile grounds of possibility with James McLennon, the visionary behind Farm My School. Todays ep unearths how a patch of school soil can become so much more than a playground—it can nourish bodies, minds, and entire communities. From the thriving farm at Bellarine Secondary College to the ripple effects it’s having on students, neighbours, and local food systems, James shares how education and regeneration can thrive side by side. This is a story about reimagining our schools as living, breathing ecosystems—places where compost becomes curriculum and connection becomes the harvest. Tune in for a hopeful glimpse of a future where every school grows food, community, and a deep sense of belonging. 

We talked about:

• School grounds can become fertile community hubs—places that feed both bellies and belonging
• When locals roll up their sleeves together, school gardens become living lessons in connection
• Building a farm in a single day can spark a groundswell of hope, pride, and shared purpose
• Food production isn’t separate from education—it is education in its most delicious form
• Regenerative farming principles can take root in classrooms, teaching care for soil and soul alike
• Local food systems are the backbone of resilient communities and thriving futures
• When students grow food, they also grow confidence, calm, and mental well-being
• Partnering with local growers deepens food diversity and strengthens community ties
• The Farm My School model offers a blueprint for rewilding education from the ground up
• The vision ahead: a network of school farms growing food, connection, and a future of togetherness

Pod Partners Rock: Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

Links You'll Love
Farm My School online

Loved this? Try these:

Jamie Loveday - Sowing Seeds for Food Deserts in the City

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

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Jade and Dalee wander through the tender terrain where creativity, womanhood, and everyday life meet. Speaking openly about the way our inner cycles shape what we make and how we show up in the world — and how hard it can be to hold space for both art and livelihood.

Together they explore the slow evolution of Dalee’s creative path, the courage it takes to collaborate, and the quiet emotional work of home-schooling while running a small business. Their chat drifts into community — the messy beauty of shared living in an intentional community, the texture that neurodiversity brings to family life, and the lessons learned from leaning into interdependence.

It’s a conversation about connection — to self, to others, and to place. About boundaries that protect passions, creativity and community so we are reminded of who we each are and what our individual work is to do - within the collective. Today we ask what it means to live a life guided by values — to curate something meaningful, slow, and true.

Buy their co-created perennial Futuresteading calendar

Links You'll Love
Dalee Ella Substack

Loved this? Try another:

EP 151, Dani Wolf, Mashing Together Mama Wisdom and Earth Wisdom

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

Pod Partners Rock: Australian Medicinal Herbs    Code: Future5

We talked about:

Creativity rises and falls with our cycles; honouring them deepens the work

Flat moods are quiet ground where truth takes root

Art reminds us we belong to something vast

Balancing commerce and creation asks for courage and clarity

Our art shifts as we do — mirroring each inner season

Collaboration thrives on bravery, honesty, and deep listening

Homeschooling stirs chaos, wonder, and unexpected insight

When values lead, both life and art hold meaning

Creativity wanders, retreats, and blooms anew

Awareness keeps our creative fires tended

Simplicity and making offer a gentle kind of wealth

Neurodiversity brings texture, colour, and grace to family life

Community living teaches patience, humility, and belonging

Shared spaces grow empathy and reciprocity

Boundaries make tenderness possible

Home reveals itself slowly, like a seed choosing where to root

Living together reminds us how to give and receive with care

Discomfort is the soil where growth begins

Intentional living ripples outward in quiet legacy

A meaningful life is curated through focus and gentle discernment

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In this episode, Demi Lee takes us deep into the story of Eclectica — a movement, a community, and a living expression of embodiment and transformation. Together, we explore how dance becomes a language for healing, how grief can serve as an elder and sacred teacher, and how true empowerment begins with self-responsibility.

Demi shares the evolution of Eclectica from a creative experiment into a profound rite of passage — one that invites people to come home to their bodies, their emotions, and their truth. Through honest reflections on community, relationships, and heart-centered living, this conversation reveals how we can turn life’s challenges into initiations that reconnect us with purpose and love.

It’s an exploration of what it means to live embodied, to honor our inner seasons, and to build communities that hold us through the cycles of becoming.

Key Takeaways: 

- Grief is not just loss — it’s an initiation into depth, compassion, and the full spectrum of love.

- Movement and dance can reconnect us with intuition, release stored emotion, and ground us in presence.

- The Power of Community: holding people in the dark.

- Self-Responsibility in Relationships: Owning our patterns and triggers allows for more authentic, heart-based connection.

- Rites of Passage: rituals that mark transformation. 

- Choosing love, responsibility, boundaries, and honesty as guiding principles transforms how we show up in the world.

- A journey into remembering who you are beneath the noise — embodied, empowered, and whole.

Show Notes 

Eclectica - https://www.eclecticahub.com/

Passage of Self Online Course - https://www.eclecticahub.com/passage-of-self

Support the Show
Casual Support - Buy Me A Coffee
Regular Support - Patreon
Buy the Books - Futuresteading - live like tomorrow matters, Huddle - creating a tomorrow of togetherness

Support the show