MEND Season 3 - Episode 57

Finding your WHY with Amy Day

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Thank you for your forbearance during this last, little unscheduled absence. As you’ll hear inside the episode, I’ve been needing some time to rest. To renew. To step away and remember the bigger picture behind all this busy-ness of Life. The WHY of this project and of all I’ve chosen to step into.

So, now. Back. Behind the mic and the laptop.

Ready to step into the next iteration of this project and to share with you…

*some of the talk I gave awhile back ago at the local Unitarian Universalist Fellowship - on TRUST. On trusting the role you have to play in the larger web of this Life. No matter how small. On honoring and steadfastly weaving the unique thread that you carry. On stepping in - All In - armed with intention, skill & vision - to the work, projects, relationships & even play - to which you are called. And Why it matters.

Just me - talking briefly about the work of engaged spirituality. And the reminder that we never truly know at the outset what the end result of our actions will be. The seeds we plant may be humble. Simply providing a lush path for others to step onto. Some of them may bloom in a mighty and prolific way. But we need to keep planting. Keep tilling. Keep scattering seeds. And it is not to us to determine how they will grow.

And if you find yourself in a quagmire, as I was not too long ago - lacking energy, lacking momentum, vision, JOY. Come back to your own great WHY. The vision that fuels all the tiny what’s and how’s and when’s inside your everyday. How do they line up? And are the actions of your daily life - really & truly - feeding into the bigger picture you seek?

……….

To find out more about the things/links/communities/resources mentioned on today’s show, visit:

• TheWorkofTheseHands.com - for coaching, yoga, and a little virtual hug from yours’ truly.

• HUUF - the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, where I gave the talk and where the work of Engaged Spirituality really shows up.

MEND Season 1 - Episode 19

Re-Building the American Dream...

Welcome back.  

This week we are excited to share with you the story and wisdom of Casey O’Neill - a second generation farmer residing in Northern Mendocino.

Casey lives on a multi-generational, family farm where he they cultivate roughly an acre of land.  Much of that - terraced fruit and vegetable gardens for their CSA, interspersed with the cannabis he, his wife & his parents grow within their 5000-sq ft permitted medicinal cultivation area they tend as well.  

He talks to us about what he sees as the two dominant perspectives within the current culture of cannabis - namely - Resource Extraction & the Homestead model - and which one he’s doing the hard work of fighting for right now.  

He tells us about his own journey….. From a degree in sociology… to the work of farming… and now onto policy…  and how that’s shaped him over time.  

We talk about the pivotal moment inside his own life that shifted him from a self-identified mono-cropper, laboring inside the outlaw farmer/prohibition model to his present-day work as an advocate and staunch activist on behalf of the small-scale/bio-diversified farm he sees as key to restoring the health, viability & sovereignty not only of this small, north coast region - but also to the larger world of farming, agriculture & humanity as well.

How he does not expect to see the rewards of his efforts any time soon - but what keeps him moving forward with them nonetheless.

He shares his hard-earned advice on what it takes to set up a truly functional farmers’ cooperative and collective - and what practical steps need be taken to make it work.  

And what he sees as our pivotal moment - - and our last hope - and what shall determine whether we are consumed by the industrial-corporate-agricultural model that has failed us in so many ways - or if we - the counter-cannabis culture shall rise above - and shift the Conversation - to the betterment of all.

This is capstone conversation for us here at MEND - and if we were to break down the entire ethos and drive of what we want you to walk away with inside this season - We would hand you this.  

Enjoy.  

To read some more of Casey’s words & wisdom (including the full article we read from @ the end) visit: http://www.theganjier.com/author/casey-oneill/

Or find out more about the California Center for Cooperative Development here : http://www.cccd.coop

MEND Season 1 - Episode 11

Outlaw Farming - A New Twist on Things

This past week we had the great pleasure of sitting down with Carl Stanley.

Carl is the former pastor of a cannabis-friendly All Faith church in Eureka, CA, an educator in sustainability and self-sufficiency, founder of Manabu Farms, and an advocate for “outlaw farming”, which is perhaps not what you may think it is.

We spoke with him via phone from Flint, Michigan where he resides in an effort to help the local community with the water crisis before heading back to his beloved Humboldt County.

He speaks about the many services the church provided for the community here, the why’s and how’s of becoming Producers rather than Consumers, outlaw farming, his work in Flint, and offers his thoughts on how cannabis can help Humboldt County become a self-sustaining community.

Some of what we loved about speaking with Carl was his passion for the work that he does, but also what his origin story of Humboldt implies.  He came here as a ‘traveler’, what many might describe in not too polite terms as a transient.  The stereotype of the Humboldt transient juxtaposed with the amazing work that Carl has done here in this community and elsewhere is an interesting and important part of this story; and one could argue yet another stitch to further mend the way we relate to ourselves and to each other.

To find out more about Carl, or the work that he does, or how you can become more energy-independent and reduce your monthly bills, check out his work on Facebook.  

Become a part of the Bill Free Group @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/155362171643501/

Or find out more about the work and mission of Manabu Farms @ https://www.facebook.com/manabufarms2/

There’s also a website with links to his 300+ instructional YouTube videos on living the Outlaw Farmer lifestyle @ http://manabufarms.blogspot.com/

So much inspiration and food for thought here.  

We hope you enjoy.