In this episode I talk to Georgina Grant, who grew up as a mixed-race child in the 1960s.

Since I was very young I've always felt very sensitive about race issues. Unbelievably, this is the first time I've ever actually sat down with someone of a so-called different race and talked about it. I'm really grateful to Georgi for agreeing to do this recording with me - it means a lot.

How is racism even a thing - it just sickens me!

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies I chat with Oliver Bosence. Olly's father was a teacher at Dartington Hall School in the 1960s, and Olly was a student there at the same time.

I was very keen to find out how he feels now about the progressive education that he received there.

We cover a lot of interesting stuff, including many of Olly's memories of what life on the estate was like at that time.

I hope that you enjoy listening to the podcast - please do share the link with anyone else that you think might also enjoy it.

In this episode I talk to my old friend Mark Rashid.

Mark has many strings to his bow. He is an author, a luthier, a horse trainer, a philosopher, and most important of all, a nice bloke.

We do start off chatting a little bit about horses, but hang in there - it's all very relevant to what comes next.

I hope that you enjoy the listen - I certainly enjoyed putting it together.

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies I chat to Alan Clayson, about his new book, Get Yer 'Air Cut.

I always enjoy making my podcasts, but for me, talking with Alan felt like visiting old times. Let's just say I'm pretty sure we would have been good mates had we met up in the 60s,

Give it a listen - it might just be a classic episode!

By the way, the music is courtesy of Alan's band, Clayson and the Argonauts. I had to pay 79p for it, so I hope you enjoy it.

In this episode I get to talk with smallholder and back to the land campaigner, Chris Smage.

Chris has written a couple of excellent books, A Small Farm Future, and, Saying NO to a Farm-Free Future. The titles say it all really.

I enjoyed talking with Chris. I agreed with almost everything he said - sorting out our food production and looking after the land absolutely has to be central to our well-being as a species.

Sometimes I think 90% of what we do is just a bit daft really. What have we gained from all the so called progress that we have made. But then again, without some of that progress this podcast wouldn't be happening now. I guess some of you might be thinking that would be a good thing too.

May love and peace prevail.

Best Wishes

Tom

In this episode I chat with Robert Norris, an old hippy from California.

In the 60s we grew up in the shadow of the Viet Nam war. Thankfully, Harold Wilson, the UK Prime Minister at the time, refused to get involved, so in the UK we were spared the draft. But for American kids it was serious life and death stuff. 58,220 Americans lost their lives in a war which history tells us was fought largely for the benefit of the arms industry.

This is the story of one American growing up in that shadow.

All of life continually searches for comfort. And people are no different. We all have ideas of how we can individually make our own lives more comfortable, and some of us never stop wondering if the human race can one day collectively find a better way to live.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure about that myself, but my doubts don't stop me dreaming.

Hope that you enjoy Part 2, there's one more episode of this mini series recorded which I will put up in a week or two.

Please share and so on with everyone that you know who may be interested. Reviews and plugs anywhere and everywhere always appreciated.

Love and Peace

Tom

Old meets Young - Part 2

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies, I'm chatting with Iris about living in Tipi Valley. It just does me so much good to see that the dream is alive and well, and in good hands.

If you enjoy listening to Talking with the Hippies, please like, share, review and all that stuff. And also, if you have stories, thoughts and so on that you would like to share, please do let me know.

Big thank you to Iris, and her sister Lily, for the music we use in this episode. Hopefully more to come shortly.

Love and Peace

Tom xx

This is one of the conversations I had when I recently visited Tipi Valley. I'm chatting with Axle who is the guy who first recommended that I visit. We talk about communities, anarchism, politics and so much more.

I don't really know where to start when it comes to telling you about this place. It has profoundly changed so much about the way I look at life. To me it slightly felt how it felt in the 60s living on the edges of the festival scene. Like when the fence came down at the I o W, and the authorities had to accept the inevitable - the people were in!

I met some beautiful people - some fierce idealists - and some just sheltering from the storm.

There are a couple more episodes still to come from this visit, and I am so looking forward to my next visit when I am hoping to record more. The place is a gold mine!

Love and Peace to everyone, and please do share and review etc. if you enjoy listening to my podcast.

In this episode I chat with Mark. We have a lot of common interests including the history and philosophy around alternative living from the 60s onwards.

Mark talks openly about his involvement with the hard drugs scene - a scene that I know very little about. A big thank you for this - clearly not the easiest thing to discuss.

We also talk about what happened to the hippie scene after the 60s - something I really do want to get into discussing in much more depth.

If you enjoy listening to my podcast please do subscribe to make sure that you get to hear every episode. Release times are a bit erratic, but I do have some interesting stuff planned for future episodes.

Love and Peace

Tom