MEND Season 2 - Episode 38

Experiential Thread with Amy & Anne

Welcome back to another micro-episode.

This week, we sit down to unpack some of the ideas we unearthed with Waldorf Educator, Jeff Lough.  Things like - How do we drop into a richer experience of this Life?  What enlivens the day-to-day?  How can we take the teachings and applications of this philosophy and apply to them to our own lives? 

Along the way, we talk Experiential vs. Intellectual Knowing, bring in some of our favorite books & resources once more & also send out the call for this coming June 1st - where we start our own little version of the Minimalist Game! (Which you can read more about here.)  

For our version - starting June 1st - we want to encourage each of you to start getting rid of at least one item a day.  For 30 days.  (If you've got more to release, by all means!  Please do!) Ultimately, though, this is not about living with less but rather, living with More.  Living with richer experiences, richer relationships, richer bodies, minds, lives, bank accounts, even.  What happens when we make the emphasis less about acquiring & maintaining our things & shift our focus to upgrading, enjoying & truly dropping into the felt experience of this Life?  

We can't wait to see.  

To find out more about the challenge, plus to contribute your ideas for a pithy hashtag for this game, drop on over and follow us on Instagram.  

MEND Season 2 - Episode 37

Experiential Capital with Waldorf Educator, Jeff Lough

"Train up a child the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  

~Proverbs 22:6

These were the words often bandied about in my (Amy's) childhood.  Used in that moment to speak to a certain type of religious education.  But what if we took this idea into a larger framework?  Expanded the context and the meaning?

What does it mean to educate a child as an evolutionary and still-incarnating being?

What does it look like to take the long-haul aproach - to not rush into books or standardized tests or memorized facts and figures - but to first prioritize the development of the soul - of an inherent sense of reverence, play & wonder - to build a spirited “F-you” into the curriculum of a budding adolescent because we VALUE their want and need to revolt - and have built it into the way we educate them?

And more - what would it look like to translate these ideas - beyond the classroom, beyond the realm of the scholastic, the world of childhood - and to work to educate, emancipate and elucidate humanity as a whole?

Join us as we take this hour to speak to local School Psychologist, Educator, Advisor, Administrator & ardent Advocate - Jeff Lough - about the undergirding philosophies surrounding Waldorf Education, a method devised by Rudolf Steiner in Europe during the late 1800's.  

When we first embarked upon this conversation with Jeff, we expected to find ourselves engaging in a talk around Intellectual Capital, but soon found ourselves knee-deep in the...

Experiential.

Spiritual.

Anthroposophical (don’t worry - you’ll hear that one again)

Material

And so much more.

And while we geek out a bit, admittedly, on this particular methodology and philosophy - 

I want to urge you to keep a broad and open perspective.

To listen for ways that these ideas filter into your own experience.

Your own Philosophy of Life.

And into what it means to empower and educate oursleves - at every step of the way.

What experience do we wish to have inside this Life?

And how do the ideas, methodologies, principles and patterns we subscribe to - help us to step up and claim the fullness available to us?

And what are we actively doing - to step into the world we wish to inhabit?

May the questions put forth here - help shed some light - as you move down your own path.

May they re-orient you back toward your own true north.  And help us all, collectively - reclaim a better way.  

MEND Season 2 - Episode 34

Community Currency with Fhyre Phoenix

If you've been following the progression of this season, you know that we've been following up these longer interviews with shorter, bite-size "Thread" episodes, where we sit down and unpack some resources on how all of us can take action in these areas - both within our individual lives, and in the communities of which we play a part. 

We’re doing things a little differently with this "micro"-episode.

Well.  First off.  

It’s not micro.  Not mini. Not even a little bit.  

For this episode we chose to dip back into our local community to seek advice and  counsel from a man who has made working with Capital - both paper money - but also social, experiential, cultural currency, as well - his Main Focus for most of his LIFE.  

Fhyre Phoenix is the creator of the Community Currency project.

If you don’t know that is - don’t worry.

Stick around and we’ll let him eloquently explain it for you.

When you have an expert living down the street from you, you don’t dilly-dally in your own small pool - you go the Fountaiin.  The Wellspring itself.

So, although this episode is full-length, we know the time will be well worth your while & you’ll get a lot out of this talk.  

We sure did.

We could say more - About how inspiring this conversation was.

About the wisdom that this man and valuable community member has un-earthed in simply re-arranging his own relationship to livelihood and money.

Or about the surprising connection to Passion, Poetry, & even Plumbing that runs through this work.

But we’ll let you find all that out for yourself.

Believe me - if you truly desire to begin to un-hook from a life that feels less-than, a job you hate, and begin to arrange your world in such a way that you feel empowered, excited, and deeply connected to your fellow man… this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Enjoy.

MEND Season 2 - Episode 32

At the Table, with Anne & Amy

This week, we sat down at our virtual table once more, inside this micro-episode - to hash out some of the themes and ideas presented in our talk last week with Marcie Goldman.

We looked at some of the habits we've already begun to integrate into our own nourishment routines (one more good argument for choosing your friends and cohorts wisely - the right ones could literally add Vibrancy & Health into your world!).  

Plus offer up some ideas, rituals, books & organizations you can look into in order to steep yourself further in the language of Living Capital.  

Oh yes.  

And we sing to you, as well.  

So be sure to stick around.  

Proust.  

MEND Season 2 - Episode 30

“Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.”
― Kakuzō Okakura, The Book of Tea

Welcome back to another micro-episode with Anne & Amy. 

Here, we sit down to talk about the ideas, possibilities & avenues for Thought & Action that got sparked inside our last conversation with Guisepi Spadafora, of the lovely Free Tea Bus.  

Ways to take things from the realm of Inspiration and move it into Perspiration.  Actualized.  Embodied.  LIVED.

So we sat - Anne & I - at our respective homes, with our respective cups of tea - and shared tools, ideas & resources on how We - She.  I.  You.  US. - can do the work of creating a wealth of Social Capital inside our world.  

Or rather, how we can create containers for non-monetary exchange wherein everyone involved leaves feeling nourished, tended & cared for.  We've got some ideas of our own (a very finite list, at best).  But we'd love to hear from you!!!  Take a minute to drop us a line @ mendpodcast@gmail.com and share your own ideas and thoughts!!!  

And make sure to check out the short list of resources and links in the show notes below.  

Cheers.

MEND Season 2 - Episode 28

And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”    ― Rainer Maria Rilke

Welcome back.  

So, we're trying out a new format inside Season 2.

A Stich... A Thread... Sewing Lessons for Beginners... (yeah, we're still working on that naming piece of it. )

Inspired in part by some other work we've seen out there inside the podcasting landscape.  

The idea of the micro-episode.  An in-between breakdown/office hours/practicum/Make it Yours & Make It LIVE type conversation, where we dip one move beyond just the abstract and the intellectual and we move our way one step closer to ACTION.  Towards Solvency, Solution & tiny, do-able movements toward the type of re-connection & well, ummmm, Mending we want to be a part of.

In this episode, we sat down to tease out some of the big takeaways from the previous episode and to look at tools, resources and ideas we can all employ inside our daily lives.  

We look at what Education might mean in the context of the Everyday and moving toward Solution rather than staying mired in the realm of the problem.  Plus, share some great resources for further reading & exploration.  

What's your take?  

What does small, enactable change look like inside your world right now?  

Drop us a line and let us know.  

mendpodcast@gmail.com

MEND Season 1 - Episode 24

The Last Word (for now...)  SEASON 1 Finale

with Part 2 with Jentri Anders, Ph.D.

We live in a doomsday era.  So much of our existence is in question and we wake each morning to a new tragedy in the world.  Around us people are allowing hate to be their motivation and justification for atrocities many thought we had outgrown. What is there that should give us hope?

In our own corner of the world the changes are happening so rapidly most are unsure of what the future will bring.  Skeptics worry about encroaching outsiders from larger, less committed and cohesive communities.  Once again the battle is being waged on our environment, and once again the land needs people to step forward and defend Her.  Our livelihoods are at stake…but perhaps this is a good thing.   Perhaps now is the time to grab the reins so passionately and confidently held by the cultural refugees of the 70’s; those lovers of freedom, equality and sustainability, the revivers of voluntary simplicity and builders of our community.  Now is the time to take control of our future before the outsiders and big companies have their way.  I say this knowing that most of us were outsiders at some point, and that should bring us humility, but if we move forward with the same intentions and values of the back-to-the-landers then I believe we will be moving forward justly and in accordance with the general rules of good stewardship.

This episode is the second part to an interview we did back in the spring, with Jentri Anders…a back-to-the-lander who went on to finish her degree in Anthropology, and then wrote an enthnography about the very community and people she was a part of.  We played the first half of her interview in Episode 2, as part of the foundation of our stories.  In this episode we get to hear more of her story on the founding of Southern Humboldt culture as many know it today…but mostly we talk ethics, responsibility, offing the pig in you, and finding where our strength comes from.    

May these words of advice echo from our modern origins and guide us as we move forward with integrity and a deeper awareness of what is at stake.

To find out more about Jentri Anders and her work, visit:

https://shumjentri.wordpress.com

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 14

The Politics of Pot (round I)

As we narrow in on the halfway point here, we want to begin to open up the conversation.

About what’s coming next.

What to be watchful for and how we, as residents of this community, can play an active part in shaping the future of not only the ganga world - but the larger one we all inhabit , as well.  

To that end, we spoke this week with Jesse - a northern Humboldt resident who is currently on the front lines up in Del Norte county, working with the Board of Supervisors, city council and local government there to try and shape a sustainable cannabis policy and regulatory guidelines for cultivation in that neck of the woods.  

With that work in mind, he has co-founded the Del Norte Grower’s Association.  

He talks to us about what it’s like to be the forerunner on this issue - and why, rather than try to jump into the already over-crowded ring of Oregon and Humboldt County growers, he’s elected to shift his focus to the small-scale, rural region of this state.  

The cautionary tales he sees being played out in areas: like Humboldt, or Calaveras, or Yolo County; where, to his view of things, there has been far too much growth far too soon.  And the policies in place within these regions - though claiming to work for the small family farm - may actually signal their undoing instead.  

We speak about the problems with imposing the same stringent codes and regulations upon a large-scale, industrial operation as one would put upon a small, artisanal family farm.  And the need for variance, discretion and huge allowances for the latter if the small, boutique end of this industry is to survive.  

How our current policies here in Humboldt, to his view, only serve the biggest players in the industry.  And how the small-scale growers and operations may very well be, in his words, “thrown under the bus” with the current mode in which we are operating and moving forward.  

And he puts forth a rallying cry to action for us all.  Because the old rules of operation - that worked so well during the years of Prohibition - will no longer serve us in this coming age. And we all get to step forth and be vocal - if we want to play a part in how this Conversation plays out.  

There was so much wisdom, insight and education to be had in this talk.  

We hope you leave feeling enlightened, empowered and ready to engage in this next phase of our collective Evolution.  

This is a moment in our history that needs every single one of us bringing what we have to the Table.  

To find out more about the organizations we mention, or to get involved with their mission and work visit:

The Del Norte Growers Association FB page: https://www.facebook.com/delnortegrowers/

The CA Growers Association: http://www.calgrowersassociation.org

The Humboldt County Growers' Alliance: https://www.hcga.co