Title: Roots Over Screens – Farm Life as The Cure for Urban Nature Deficit

Guest: Jake Wolki

Recorded: October 2025

"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds."

These are the words written by Thomas Jefferson an American Founding Father and the third president of the United States. Jefferson throughout his life remained a strong advocate for agrarian life, viewing it as the foundation of a virtuous and more importantly independent society. He believed that farming fostered moral character, self-reliance as well as positive societal outcomes, such as stronger communities and reduced corruption compared to urban or manufacturing lifestyles. What I like about his philosophy is he saw farming not just as an economic activity, not just as a mechanical process but as a path to ethical living, contentment, better family dynamics and personal fulfilment.

The body of literature exploring the benefits of raising children in farm or rural settings is growing. There’s a lot of young farmers, homesteaders sharing their experiences online transparently where you can see how different young kids are when given the opportunity to engage in real life, in real work, letting their human instincts express themselves to their full potential.

A cornerstone of this discussion is Richard Louv's concept of "nature-deficit disorder," introduced in his 2005 book titled Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. In this book the author argues that this disconnection from nature is resulting in diminished sensory experiences leading to attention difficulties, increased obesity rates and emotional issues like anxiety or even depression. In contrast he argues that farm settings offer real and deeply immersive exposure to nature through daily interactions with animals, soil, weather and cycles of growth and harvest which subsequent research links to improved physical health, emotional resilience and different cognitive benefits like enhanced focus and creativity. Studies building on Louv’s work demonstrate that children with regular outdoor time in natural environments exhibit fewer ADHD symptoms, better mood regulation and stronger problem-solving skills positioning farm life and farm work as an antidote to urban “nature depravation”. Simply put farm-raised kids, by engaging in authentic tasks like tending livestock, planting crops, collecting eggs and so on, develop a deeper sense of connection to the real world, which supports their long-term well-being. In modern sustainable farming families, children are absolutely central, gaining socialization and ethical values from community involvement, which counters urban fragmentation and promotes a deep sense of belonging.

To talk about all this and give us a perspective from the ground level as somebody who is in the thick of it, running a big farming operation and being quite successful at it I have invited somebody who I personally find quite inspirational. My guest today is Jake Wolki. Jake runs a beautiful regenerative farm near Albury on the New South Wales and Victorian border. Over the last few years Jake and his family have been on an incredible journey of transformation, learning and growth. A father of 3, soon to be 4 children, a dedicated husband, an innovator and all-round super interesting guy I think Jake the perfect person to tell us why raising kids in a real farm setting at least for some is far superior to mainstream urban model.

Wolki Farm Store - https://wolkifarm.com.au/

Jacob Wolki’s X - https://x.com/JakeWolki

Wolki Farm YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@wolkifarm

Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America - https://kyl.neocities.org/books/[SOC%20BER]%20the%20unsettling%20of%20america.pdf

Richard Louv - https://richardlouv.com/

Title: After Virtue - Why the West Risks Collapse Without Heeding MacIntyre's Moral Wake-Up Call

Guest: Tom Angier

Recorded: October 2025

A couple of years ago, an algorithm on a book-selling website recommended a title to me—I can't recall exactly where, but it doesn't matter. It arrived amid 30 other books and sat untouched on my shelf for nearly two years, gathering dust in my ever-growing pile of "must-reads." I'm a slow reader; on a good day, I manage 30-40 pages. My appetite for books far outpaces my ability to finish them, hence the dusty towers in my office.When I finally opened it earlier this year, it felt like discovering a map explaining our modern world's deep polarization and fractures. The material seemed fresh, though rooted in the works of philosophical giants like Aristotle and Aquinas. The book is After Virtue, written by Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre in 1981. MacIntyre, a Scottish-American philosopher born in Glasgow in 1929 to a family of doctors, was a restless thinker. Instilled with a sharp intellect and questioning spirit by his parents, he began as a Marxist, critiquing capitalism's alienating effects. He evolved through encounters with Wittgenstein, Aristotle, and Thomism, converting to Catholicism in the 1980s. By the late 1970s, he saw modern moral philosophy in crisis—debates reduced to emotive outbursts, lacking shared foundations or civility. This led to After Virtue, where he argued the Enlightenment's pursuit of universal reason shattered traditional ethics, leaving "emotivism": "good" reduced to personal preference shouted loudest.

Upon release, After Virtue sparked a sensation in academic circles. Communitarians and conservatives praised it—thinkers like Charles Taylor and Michael Sandel lauded its revival of virtue ethics and critique of individualism as a lifeline for community morality. Catholics and traditionalists hailed its nods to Aristotle and Aquinas. Liberals criticized it as pessimistic and anti-progressive for dismissing Kant and Nietzsche.

MacIntyre revives virtue ethics, emphasizing traits like justice, courage, and honesty cultivated through social practices, not rules. Morality emerges from narratives and traditions, offering meaning amid relativism. He warns Western society resembles post-Roman Europe: civilized but morally bankrupt, heading to barbarism without intervention.

I finished After Virtue as news broke of MacIntyre's death on May 21, 2025, at 96. May his soul rest in peace. I'd normally interview the author, but instead found someone insightful to discuss it. The book helps navigate our hyper-complex world, so I wanted to share its message. My guest is Tom Angier, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. Tom's research focuses on Aristotelian and neo-Aristotelian ethics and politics. Recent works: monograph on Natural Law Theory; edited The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics (2019) and The Cambridge Handbook to Natural Law and Human Rights (2023); upcoming Human Nature, Human Goods: A Theory of Natural Perfectionism (February 2026).

Links and interview references:

After Virtue

https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/after-virtue-9781780936253/

Whose Justice? Which Rationality?

https://www.amazon.com.au/Whose-Justice-Rationality-Alasdair-MacIntyre/dp/0268019444

Human Nature, Human Goods, A Theory of Natural Perfectionism - https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/human-nature-human%20goods/CA87A9BFF30D8516D271DF5D7C08CAD4

The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics - https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-natural-law-ethics/066446693DDE09647A73FA19FEF2142F

The Cambridge Handbook to Natural Law and Human - https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-natural-law-and-human-rights/B1E1CEC2C502A8CA72DBB9F33FE29D90

Title: Moving Towards Wholeness - Holotropic Breathwork®, Shamanism And The Dance Of Healing

Guest: Sharanya Naik

Recorded: September 2025

Couple of months ago I had the privilege of interviewing Kylea Taylor, A key figure in the ethics of caring within psychedelic and transpersonal therapy realms and an author of books like The Ethics of Caring and Considering Holotropic Breathwork. That interview was published August 10th 2025 and I recommend you listen to it if you have not done so already and if you are interested in this subject matter.

That interview was enlightening to me and allowed me to explore the ethical landscape of psychedelic-assisted therapy and the profound principles of inner ethics in non-ordinary states which Kylea developed over the years. We’ve focused the conversation on psychological theories that govern Holotropic Breathwork as well as discussed how Stan Grof’s original work truly transformed the landscape.

Interviewing Kylea left me even more curious compared to how I felt after reading Stan and Christina’s Groff book titled Holotropic Breathwork - A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy earlier this year. I wanted to continue probing this topic but wanted to find a different angle of attack for my second interview about Holotropic Breathwork and I wanted to find somebody who grew and evolved from starting as a participant to ending as an accomplished facilitator with a lot of experience in the field.

I’m very pleased to report that I have found just such a person. My guest today is Sharanya Naik a multifaceted practitioner who’s work spans education, bodywork, creative writing and spiritual exploration with a deep-rooted expertise in Holotropic Breathwork®. For those of you who have not had a chance to listen to my previous interview with Kylea Taylor, Holotropic Breathwork® is an experiential method developed by Stanislav and Christina Grof that uses accelerated breathing, evocative music, and focused bodywork to access non-ordinary states of consciousness for healing and self-discovery. For all intents and purposes think of it as something truly magical but also relatively easily accessible as getting into an altered state of consciousness using this method does not require any special tools or ingestion of any special compounds. Sharanya originally from Bangalore, India, she moved to USA in 1984 and has since through hard work and dedication built a rich career integrating both Eastern and Western traditions. She became a certified Holotropic Breathwork® facilitator in 2003 after rigorous training and has since facilitated sessions for groups and individuals across multiple cities in the United States and India. As a module facilitator at The Institute for Holotropics (formerly Grof Transpersonal Training, or GTT), Naik contributes to training programs, helping others learn the technique through immersive modules that include breathwork sessions, group processing, and integration practices. On top of all that she also served as editor of The Inner Door, a journal dedicated to Holotropic Breathwork® practitioners, where she curated content on transpersonal psychology and experiential healing. Naik is also a writer of poetry and short fiction, currently working on a novel. Her creative output often explores themes of impermanence, societal divides, human vulnerability, and conflict—mirroring the introspective insights gained from breathwork sessions and shamanism.

Her life journey reflects a commitment to wholeness, drawing from Hinduism, shamanism, and somatic practices, making her an incredibly insightful guest for today’s interview which expands and supplements some of the themes I had the privilege to cover with Kylea back in August this year.

Links and interview references:

Hansa Holotropic - https://hansaholotropic.com/

Grof Transpersonal Training - https://www.holotropic.com/

Charles Eisenstein - https://charleseisenstein.org/books/

Title: Jim’s Journey - Startup Struggles, Success Secrets, and Solving Society's Declining Birth Rates

Guest: Jim Penman

Recorded: September 2025

Imagine a young man in 1980s Australia, fresh from his history PhD, armed with just a beat-up mower, a trailer, and $20 in his pocket. Instead of academia, he dives into lawn mowing—a simple side hustle that explodes into a franchising empire. Through grit, quality focus, and empowering everyday people, Jim Penman builds Jim's Group: over 5,500 franchises across Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, serving thousands daily with services from gardening to pest control, generating $1B+ in annual turnover. It's a story of humble beginnings prioritizing people over profits.

But Jim's more than a business titan. A prolific author, his 2015 book "Biohistory: Decline and Fall of the West" weaves epigenetics—environmental stressors altering gene expression—into historical cycles of societal rise and decline, drawing from Rome to modern trends. It's a bold intellectual dive.

Beyond books, Jim founded the Institute for Social Neuroscience in 2017, funding independent research on epigenetics, neuroscience, and behavior—free from grants or oversight to dodge ideological bias. He also leads Epigenes Australia, probing gene-environment interactions like calorie restriction's behavioral effects.

Politically fearless, Jim backs the Australian Libertarian Party, slamming big government. He called out Victoria's COVID lockdowns under Premier Daniel Andrews as disastrous for small businesses, dubbing him the "worst leader since federation." He urges PM Albanese to create a U.S.-style Department of Government Efficiency to cut waste and red tape.

Join me as I chat with this Renaissance man: entrepreneur, thinker, scientist, and critic. Jim Penman unpacks his journey, biohistory, and vision for a freer world. Don't miss it!

Links and interview references:

https://jimpenman.com.au/

https://biohistory.org/

https://www.epigenes.com.au/

Books:

The Cutting Edge: Jim's Mowing, a Franchise Story (1992)

The Hungry Ape: Biology and the Fall of Civilisations (1992)

Surprised by Success: The Very Australian Story of Jim's Mowing (1998)

Selling by Not Selling: From $24 to a Turnover of $400 Million (2013)

Biohistory: Decline and Fall of the West (2015)

Every Customer a Fan

Epigenetics and Character: The Biology Behind History (2021)

No Other Success: How a Lawn-Mowing Business Transformed Thousands of Lives (2025)

Title: The Great Poisoning - The Hidden Abuses in Queensland's 

Fire Ant Eradication Program

Guest: Trevor Hold

Recorded: September 2025

My guest today is Trevor Hold, a farmer in Queensland and a leading voice in opposition to the NFAEP. Authoring multiple petitions and calling for reform, a shift to suppression, and protection of property rights. Property rights which the government can trample on due to special provisions in the 2014 Biosecurity Act. Hold is very clear about the nature of fire ants and the need to do something about their presence. He understands that fire ants pose severe threats to human health, the economy, agriculture as well as biodiversity but he does disagree with the principal strategy and pesticide application methods by the QLD government and I don’t blame him for doing so. Imagine this. You’re on your own property, the land you’ve worked for, paid for, maybe even passed down through generations. Suddenly without your consent, without your knowledge government agents roll up – sometimes with police units in tow – to blanket your soil, your garden and your livestock with toxic baits. No permission needed, no negotiation with the property owner, the leviathan does what it wants because it’s fully backed by the force of state law. Signs like "No Trespass" or "No Consent to Poisoning"? They're worthless; the program calls them misinformation and pushes ahead anyway.

And that is the reality of the National Fire Ant Eradication Program, and it's happening today, in 2025, across south-east Queensland.

Unwinnable wars with ill-defined objectives is the name of the game if you want to get your hands on big dollars. It is the case with the war on drugs, war on poverty, war on homelessness, war on terrorism. The word war always betrays the game. My read on this situation is that this isn’t just about ants. It’s about capture by big agriculture and chemical giants who profit massively from an endless unwinnable campaign.

There are numerous reasons why mainstream media is not reporting on this story, why there’s no investigative journalism conducted to uncover what really is driving the current strategy and why the health of natural environment is being sacrificed for profit. There’s no better person to tell this story than Trevor Hold who has been in the thick of it for a while.

Links and interview references:

Australian Advocacy Group - Founded during a campaign to create better outcomes for Queenslanders by stopping the National Fire Ant Eradication Program from causing harm to human health, sensitive eco-systems, wildlife, people’s petsand farming operations through reckless, excessive and irresponsible distribution of toxic chemicals, and mandates to enter private property without consent.https://aagpilot.com/

Pesticide Use in the Imported Fire Ant Program - Environmental Assessment March 2012

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/imported_fireant_ea_march2012.pdf

https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/NewsDC&ATC.PAY.fall18-web.pdf

National Fire Ant Eradication Program Official Website - https://www.fireants.org.au/

‘Wildly toxic’ poison used on fire ants is killing native Australian animals, experts warn Senate inquiry. Guardian editorial - https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/16/fipronil-fire-ant-poison-toxic-senate-inquiry-bans

Malcolm Roberts (One Nation) questioning Minister Chisholm and Acting Secretary of the Department, Ms Justine Saunders, regarding the ongoing mismanagement of the Fire Ant Eradication Program in South East Queensland. - https://youtu.be/5wh5o_OHtHk?si=_Hzoi0HfiUhkBmsr

Guest: Kylea Taylor

Recorded: July 2025

Every moment, without thinking about it, we breathe. But hidden inside this seemingly unconscious rhythm is a mysterious portal, an almost forgotten technology of healing and limitless transformation.

Long before we had access to talk therapy, trauma informed coaching or psychedelics, humans knew how to use breath to transition into altered states of consciousness. Shamans, monks, mystics, they all knew, how to tune into something magical, something most of us in our contemporary society ignore or simply are unable to see.

From an evolutionary perspective it’s possible that this hidden capacity played an important adaptive purpose. It helped humans cope with trauma in communal rituals or individual healing. At times when used properly it provided incredible visionary insight or symbolic resolution without needing any external substances at all. History books are full of examples of different cultures all over the world using rhythm and breath in rites of passage, different grief rituals and conflict resolutions long before modern psychology or pharmacology ever existed.

In the 1970s, a Czech psychiatrist named Stanislav Grof, banned from using LSD in therapy as the drug was shut down due to legal restrictions, turned to the breath discovering that this built in system when used in a specific manner can rival the incredible therapeutic and powerful effects of psychedelics. He called this modality Holotropic Breathwork®. Holotropic meaning moving towards wholeness. The science behind this way of inducing an altered state of consciousness is relatively simple to understand. By deliberately over-breathing in a deep and rapid manner, the patient or the subject will induce a state which mimics stress – but it will be done in a controlled way, which allows repressed material, repressed memories, all kinds of traumas and deeply hidden symbols to come to the surface. Once there on the surface this repressed material can be analysed, transformed and integrated, similar to what happens in dreams or different psychedelic states.

A lot of people who have tried Holotropic Breathwork® will attest that these altered states resemble those induced by LSD, psilocybin, DMT and will allow you to experience serious time dilation, complete ego dissolution, incredible visions, deep catharsis and rebirth as well as incredible sense of unity with the universe and connection to the divine. Truly magical tool of the unconscious to heal and reorganize itself when accessed safely. In a holotropic state, you are not just analyzing your problems. You are experiencing and resolving them through the body, psyche, and your soul.

In this episode I’ll be discussing this and other adjecent matters with wonderful Kylea Taylor. Kylea is a California based and licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She started studying with Stanislav and Christina Grof in 1984 and was certified by them as a Holotropic Breathwork® practitioner in 1990. She worked with Stanislav Grof as a Senior Trainer in the Grof Transpersonal Training throughout the 1990s, facilitating and observing 1000s of extra-ordinary state of consciousness sessions. Throughout her career she observed that traditional codes of ethics didn’t adequately address the altered states of consciousness that arise in breathwork and psychedelic-assisted therapy and this led her to develop Inner Ethics®—a self-reflective, self-compassionate, practitioner-centered approach to ethical care.

Links and interview references:

Kylea Taylor’s Books at Hanfordmead.com - https://hanfordmead.com/product-category/authors/kylea-taylor/

Kylea Taylor’s Books - Amazon

GV Freeman’s Psychedelic Safety Wheel

https://gvfreeman.com/psychedelics-in-st-louis-missouri/

My guest today is Sofia Karstens and the reason why I wanted to interview her is her editorial titled “Neurodiversity Is a Strawman” published on brownstone.org in April 2025. In the editorial Sofia argues that the concept of neurodiversity has moved well beyond science and into cultural ideology and now appears to be completely divorced from meaningful clinical or neurological distinction. Further to that she critiques the shift from treatment of disfunction toward celebration of difference, even when that difference causes genuine distress. She also calls the scientifically incoherent official messaging where being neurodivergent is at the same time a medical condition and a proud identity – morphing to suit the rhetorical moment.

Sofia Karstens is an activist based in California who worked closely with publisher Tony Lyons and Robert F. Kennedy Jr on several projects, including Kennedy’s most extraordinary best-selling book: The Real Anthony Fauci. She collaborates with several organizations in the legal, legislative, medical science, and literary spaces and she is co-founder of Free Now Foundation, a non-profit preserving medical freedom and children’s health.

Is neurodiversity an ideological shield that prevents honest engagement with real suffering? Let’s dive in and find out.

Links and interview references:

Neurodiversity Is a Strawman by Sofia Karstens - https://brownstone.org/articles/neurodiversity-is-a-strawman/

Diversity & Inclusion Workplace Statistics in 2023

Building a Neuroinclusive Workplace

Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory - https://www.amazon.com.au/Lab-257-Disturbing-Governments-Laboratory/dp/1665271752

Cause Unknown: The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022 by Ed Dowd - https://www.amazon.com.au/Cause-Epidemic-Sudden-Deaths-2021/dp/1510776397

Couple of months ago a book by Frank Furedi titled First World War: Still No End In Sight landed in my lap. An acquaintance of mine recommended it without giving me much detail. He just said that I would have appreciation for its insights and original angle and that was enough for me to put a copy into my basket. The author of the book contends that WW1 was not merely a military conflict but a profoundly unique cultural and ideological rupture. Professor Furedi suggests that the conflict catalysed a transformation in societal values, which led to a persistent state of cultural conflict that manifests today as the “culture wars”. He claims that the ideological battles that began in 1914 have evolved and remain largely unresolved, continuing to polarize and influencing debates over identity, morality, and societal norms. It’s a fascinating piece of research and writing which helped me to better understand some of the cultural trends that have permeated the west over the last few decades and this is the reason why I wanted to interview professor Frank Furedi and ask him few questions that have crystalised in my mind after I finished reading First World War: Still No End In Sight.

Frank Furedi is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent. He completed his PhD in Research and MA in African Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He completed his BA in Political Science at McGill University. He’s a sociologist, social commentator, and author of over 20 books which include:

Democracy Under Siege

The War Against the Past: Why The West Must Fight For Its History

How Fear Works: Culture of Fear in the Twenty-First Century

Paranoid Parenting

Links and interview references:

First World War: Still No End In Sight https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/first-world-war-9781441117922/

They Shall Not Grow Old

A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7905466/

Starting a school from the ground up in Australia requires navigating an extremely strict regulatory framework, securing serious funding, convincing parents, meeting accreditation standards, which may explain why fewer entrepreneurs attempt starting physical schools compared to entrepreneurs who dedicate their focus to so called edtech (education technology) or educational services. The high capital investment, long term commitment and no immediate big financial gains deter many from even trying. But … not my guest today though, but we’ll get to him in a moment.

I’ve decided to dedicate a portion of New Orchards bandwidth to Classical Education as well as other non-mainstream modalities not just because of my ongoing process of discovery which feeds my curiosity but more importantly I wanted this show to have a small role in moving the needle towards a more diverse educational landscape in Australia by promoting and telling stories of people who are going out of their way day in and day out to make that more diverse landscape happen brick by brick.

In Classical Education, physical brick-and -mortar settings hold quite a significant importance due to the pedagogical, cultural and communal principles that define this educational philosophy. The idea is to try and incorporate architectural elements inspired by classical traditions – such as columns, beautiful green courtyards, or art filled halls – to create an environment that elevates the soul and inspires deep contemplation. Such spaces reflect the tradition’s belief that physical surroundings shape both character and thought. Unfortunately, in today’s educational mainstream this is something that has been very much relegated to the fringes of priorities sadly with only very few people standing firm and defending the old tested principles. One such person is my guest today.

Father Stephen David - Head of St John of Kronstadt Academy in Brisbane, Australia. A father of two, Assistant Priest at Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church and a commercial lawyer. A man of many talents and deep dedication if I’ve seen one. The reason why I wanted to bring him on is very simple. Unlike many people who have tried to start a new school and unfortunately failed he succeed. How he succeeded and what lessons can others draw from his amazing story will be the focus of today’s episode.

Links and interview references:

St John of Kronstadt Academy Website - www.stjohnacademy.qld.edu.au

FaceBook Page - https://www.facebook.com/classicalschoolbrisbane/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stjohnofkronstadtacademy/

YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@StJohnofKronstadtAcademy/videos

The New Orchard Essay Series

Today we’re publishing an essay from an emerging thought leader in the realm of motherhood, culture, family life, and how our culture is often getting it wrong. It’s a slightly different format compared to our standard long form episodes but is something you’ll be seeing more of going forward.

At The New Orchard we are always looking for inspiring and original thinkers, doers, and makers to share their experience and knowledge. It’s our endeavour to share ideas that help us live informed, healthy, connected and consequently more meaningful and purposeful lives.

My contributor today does just that. In a spoken essay from her series titled “No one ever told me", Paige writes about the downfall of our society when it comes to the lack of prioritisation of motherhood. It’s something I have seen play out over the last 25-30 years or so, and today, in her essay titled ‘No one ever told me we value the material over the maternal’, Paige brings her firsthand experience and unique voice to a topic we so desperately need to speak more about.

Paige Talbot's No One Ever Told Me Substack - https://nooneevertoldme.substack.com/