Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay

"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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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