Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• forthewild.world (info on For The Wild Podcast, 1 Million Redwoods Project, Tongass Campaign)

• Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: @for.the.wild

• [email protected]

• 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?

• 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

• 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."

• 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 [email protected]. 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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)

• jasminesgardens.com

• Ringing Cedars by Vladimir Megre

• The Alchemist by Paul Coelho

• Rehmannia Dean Thomas (Chinese herbalism on YouTube)

• Abraham-Hicks publications