MEND Season 2 - Episode 42

The Culture that We Create..

with Anne & Amy

First, let's define our terms.  

(With a little assistance from our pal, Wikipedia.) 

Culture.  

As in...

..."the social behavior and norms found in human societies"

As in...

..."the set of customs, traditions, and values of a society or community, such as an ethnic group or nation"...

As in...

..."the set of knowledge acquired over time"...

As in...

..."the development of a philosophical soul, ... (or) the highest possible ideal for human development"...

As in...

..."all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human."

As in...

..."to inhabit a place sufficiently intensive to cultivate it—to be responsible for it, to respond to it, to attend to it caringly"..

As in, something We create.  Inhabit.  Something we must be constantly tending, examining. sifting through and excavating what is useful, what is good, what is worth keeping and what is now ready to leave behind.  

This week, we sit down and ponder what is happening right now inside this country and the dominant culture there.  We look at our responses.  And examine it all through the rich and multi-faceted lens of our earlier conversation with Lyla June Johnston - poet, activist, scholar, and proud conduit of LOVE.  

What is an appropriate response to injustice?

How do we react when we feel the anger rising just beneath our skin, but in our hearts we wish to conduit peace, and lasting transformation?

How do we respond to the braided truths that we carry?  Do we abscond with the pieces of our selves and our past which we can no longer stomach?  Which we can no longer abide?  Or do we willingly and bravely turn towards them, confront them and gently start to shift the way the tide is turning?  

Apologies, in advance for the sound recording herein.  As usual, we had some kerfuffles with technology and ended up just sharing this conversation as is - A phone call between friends.  Two women, shooting from the hip, and speaking from the heart.  Grappling with the questions.  Somehow attempting to live our way - with you - into an Answer.  

Enjoy.  

MEND Season 2 - Episode 41

Cultural Capital

with Lyla June

Welcome to another episode of MEND.

As I sit here, recording these words, we’re just coming off a week of watching the daily news unfold around the horrendous proceedings around the border.  

Photographs and stories of children being ripped from their mother’s breast.

Taken, after an arduous journey from their own, war-torn countries, seeking a better life here - being told that their young child is being taken for a bath and then, instead, placed inside a cage or shuffled into the foster system somewhere.  

We are horrified and outraged at what is happening inside this country at this moment - and yet.

And yet.

We are reminded that this is nothing new.

That this is a country that was founded upon slavery.

Upon the systematic genocide and oppression of native peoples.

And while - to our privileged gaze - these atrocities seem like a great departure from our stated values of “justice and liberty for all”, to native people and people of color - they have known that this supposed liberty has only existed for a ruling and privileged few - and usually come at great cost to many.

For this episode, we are greatly honored to welcome Lyla June.

Lyla June is a poet, musician, human ecologist, public speaker and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (tee-say-say-es-ta-hees) (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her dynamic, multi-genre performance and speech style has invigorated and inspired audiences across the globe towards personal, collective and ecological healing. Her messages focus on Indigenous rights, supporting youth, inter-cultural healing, historical trauma and traditional land stewardship practices. She blends her undergraduate studies in human ecology at Stanford University, her graduate work in Native American Pedagogy at University of New Mexico, and the indigenous worldview she grew up with to inform her perspectives and solutions. Her internationally acclaimed performances and speeches are conveyed through the medium of prayer, hip-hop, poetry, acoustic music and speech. Her personal goal is to grow closer to Creator by learning how to love deeper.

We sat down to speak Culture - and the capital of culture-making, taking, and appropriation with Lyla.

As someone who can speak firsthand to the long-ranging effects of discrimination, oppression, cruelty and genocide… we were blown away by the way in which this amazing woman continued to steer the conversation back toward the themes of Love, Forgiveness, collective healing & Restorative Justice.

At a moment in time, where we may be feeling numbed by the sheer volume of abhorrent news coming at us.

At a moment where we may be feeling collectively overwhelmed and overtaken by feelings of rage or hatred, Lyla June issues forth a clarion call.

To not get stuck inside the hatred.

To not dwell inside the wound.

To not let ourselves go numb.

But rather, to rally ourselves and what capital and currency we carry - in song, prayer, ceremony, or protest - and to walk deeper into this fray.

Armed with our songs.

Armed with our love.

Armed with our vision and deep, abiding wish for a world that looks altogether different than the one we now currently inhabit.

We are honored to share this talk with you today.

The words and story of a woman who had every right to dwell inside the pain and inherited anguish of a colonized and brutalized people.

But who has chosen to live her life as a means of glorious, powerful & heartfelt protest.

May her words and vision inspire you.

And help us to move together toward a culture and a world that may exist only now as a dream or a song.

Thanks, as always, for being here.

MEND Season 2 - Episode 40

Intellectual (Thread) with Anne & Amy

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write”

~Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf first shared this sentiment back in 1928, just as women were coming into ever-more visibility and gradual power in all areas of public life.  Since then, we've been searching for that mythic "room of our own".  The magic space that would make it possible for us to do work that we love, express ourselves, create & to leverage our unique talents and abilities for a living (or dare we even hope thriving?!) wage, to boot.  

In our first season, we looked to the origins of cannabis culture and the similar sentiment embedded there.  Move up to the hills.  Throw some plants in the ground.  Build your own schools. Grow your own food.  Create your own currency.  Your own (counter) culture.  We have also seen how that culture has been gradually (and almost wholly) taken over by the values of the dominant culture.  

In this, our follow-up chat to our talk with the lovely Sandy Connery & Jennifer Barcelos of Namastream & Soulful MBA - we tackle the space of the Internet as one for people's and particularly women's voices and empowerment.  

As more and more people flock to the virtual spaces to create their messaging, their own platform, and to create a form of livelihood - what are the dangers and pitfalls that we face?  Can we step into the digital space and keep our values, our attention & our cultural (or, better yet,  counter-cultural) values intact?  Or are we destined to a similar fate as the back-to-the-landers faced?  In striving to promote our own values and our own vision inside the unruly and noisy spaces of the inter webs... how do we stay sovereign?  stolid?  Sane?  

Has technology, indeed, created this hallowed Room of our Own?  

And, if so.. how are we to navigate and move about this space?

Thoughts on that plus some tools and resources we've unearthed to help us navigate this space.

We hope you enjoy.  

MEND Season 2 - Episode 39

Intellectual Capital with Sandy Connery & Jennifer Barcelos

In an effort to retain balance and a multi-sided conversation…especially after our episode on Experiential Capital and our seemingly harsh criticism of the screen and what lies behind it….we step into the tech world to speak with two women who have created their careers in the tech industry.  

Jennifer is an attorney, a change-maker, a mother and an entrepreneur. 

Sandy is also a mother and previsouly spent two decades in footwear and gait analysis. 

Together they have created Namastream, a software for wellness professionals, and also co-host The Soulful MBA podcast.

Our conversation delves into the world of the internet, social media and online learning…is there soul to be found there?  Is there a way to use this space for good?  How do we, especially as women, step into this male dominated realm and create or find our strengths and power, while keeping our integrity and our heart.

These women present us with the very convincing suggestion that technology is a pathway for women to share their teaching, one that gives them an opportunity to access their power,but also offer advice on how to not get consumed by the dominant voice.

We talk the 9-5 work schedule and why to throw it out the window,

How to teach our children about learning on the internet,

How to value the work that we as women bring to the community,

And ultimately how to run a tech company and still have time in the day to hunt for morel mushrooms…

More about these insightful women and the work that they do can be found at Namastream.com, there you can learn about the software they have created, read their blogs, and listen to episodes of their podcast, The Soulful MBA.  

These women have shown us that despite the many negative aspects one can argue that exist with the Internet, there are also many ways to use the space wisely, and with soul.  

Enjoy.

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 36

THREAD: Picking it up (and Throwing It Down..)

Ideas to Reduce our Waste, & Live more Fully with Less

This week, Anne & I got together to have yet another talk - inspired by last week's interview with Wasteland Rebel, Shia Su - to break down the different ways we can reduce our footprint, our waste & live lives more fully invested in Each Other.  In the actual Lived Experience of LIVING - rather than in the acquisition of Stuff.  

We throw out some books, some ideas and some practical suggestions on how we all can start transitioning into this simpler, yet richer way of being.  

As always, we try to keep these micro-episodes short & sweet - so that you can pick up what you need and get to work applying these ideas to your life.  Like, Now.  

We hope you enjoy.

MEND Season 2 - Episode 35

Material Capital with Shia Su  

“What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?” 
― Henry David Thoreau, Familiar Letters

“Don’t start where it is difficult”.  These  words of wisdom come from Shia Su, a woman well-versed in the zero-waste movement – a name she admits can be a bit misleading.  Shia offers numerous tools and life hacks for cutting down on your waste and consumerism, actions that anyone with an inkling of willingness can start to implement into their life today, one step at a time.  These can be found on her website and blog at wastelandrebel.com. She also has a new book that just came out called “Zero Waste – Simple Lie Hacks to Drastically Reduce Your Trash”.

This is what Shia urges – to start where it is easy, to take one piece of the puzzle and fit it into your daily life until it becomes a habit.  She emphasizes that it is not about the over zealous, tackle-it-all-at-once, total life altering changes – these are not sustainable and very rarely successful.  It is about the slow, intentional steps that you can nestle into your every day.

Shia now lives in Germany, but has traveled and lived in a variety of other places. She shares with us some interesting insights into how various cultures approach the issues of consumerism and waste, if at all.  In this episode she also talks about the importance of access, who you surround yourself with and the ways to be successful and forgiving of yourself while on the path to zero-waste.

What’s your first step going to be?  If you feel inspired please share it with us on Instagram or FB or send us an email, share it with a friend, with a stranger sitting next to you on the bus or in line at the grocery store…let’s share the ways we are reducing our waste and our consumerism…let’s join the zero waste movement together…one step at a time.

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 33

Financial Capital with Bari Tessler

"Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man."

~Kahlil Gibran

This week we delved into a realm that was, admittedly, uncomfortable at first, and seemed perhaps counterpoint to the intention of this season.  It was, however, written into the framework that we have chosen to follow, so we forged ahead into the realm of Financial Capital. The resulting talk we had was far more inspiring and cohesive with our motivations that we would have thought even possible.  Bari Tessler, is a Financial Therapist, a Mamaprenuer and the founder of the Art of Money, book and year-long program described is “Financial Therapy for your Soul”.  

A large part of Bari’s work is helping people understand how money connects to our bodies and our emotions.  For her there is a direct connection between Financial Literacy and Emotional Intelligence. 

We spoke about our relationship to money…as women, as products of our educational and cultural system, as member in a partnership, and as mothers….and the importance of understanding this relationship.  She offers us a glimpse into the work she does with others by offering some advice and gems of wisdom when dealing with the ebbs and flows of our financial story.  She even manages to bring in a bit of Zen Buddhism and discusses how we can work through our own Money Koans.  

This is a money talk like you have probably never had.  So pour a cup of tea, grab a pen and paper for notes…and 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 31

Living Capital with Marcie Goldman

Welcome back.

Today, we move into the topic of Living Capital.  In the traditional landscape of Permatculture, from where we’re taking a page this season…  this form of vital currency is often defined as our local Ecology.

The land, soil, air, water, animals, plants - i.e. the very stuff that sustains LIFE.

Another way to look at Living Capital, and the way we’ve chosen to cozy up to this topic is through the very intimate ecology of the BODY.  How we choose to feed and sustain and, as you’ll hear again and again throughout this conversation - NOURISH - ourselves, our families and the skin we’re in.

Toward that end, we sat down this week with Marcie Goldman.

Marcie is a nutritionist who rallies against the current culture of fad diets and the idea that stringent dietary restricitons will somehow lead to long-lasting health.

This is a woman who wants us to FEED ourselves.

On every level.

Inviting MORE food to the table, to our gut biomes & returning to a way of  - here it is again - Nourishing ourselves - that honors the wisdom of our bodies, our earth, and our ancestry.

We loved sitting down with Marcie, where we dipped into some unexpected territory around dieting, childhood eating disorders, & toxic beliefs and patterns around food (that we often get from seemingly “healthy” sources).  

Ultimately, over the course of our conversation, we circle round automatically to the reality that truly nourishing ourselves - and re-connecting to our inherent appetites and vitality - in the end re-connects us to the health of our own ecosystem.  Re-connects us back to each other, the living culture of which we are a part, and the earth itself.

You can find out more about Marcie at her website at marciegoldman.com

While you’re there be sure to sign up for her meal plan, which includes a whole array of nourishing food and herbal remedies to add into your life.

We loved sitting down and talking food and Living capital with this wise and well-fed woman.

We know you will too.

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 29

A Simple cup of Tea with Guisepi Spadafora

"...There is no problem on Earth that can't be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea.” 
― Jasper Fforde

Imagine walking down a crowded busy street, your eyes buried in your cell phone and the unsettling news of the day.  Scrolling through FB posts, belaboring one obstinate opinion over another.

Your thoughts percolating with lists of To-Dos.

People pass you, bumping shoulders without making eye contact.

When you hear the whistle of a tea kettle…

You look up to see the warm wooden interior of a white mini-bus and a sign that reads, FREE TEA

Inside is the thing you most need right now, something you haven’t had all day, or maybe even all week:  

Genuine human interaction, absent of monetary incentives.

A place to sit with others you’ve never met and make connections you never considered.  A man named Guisepi pouring tea for whomever enters, a man who knows RELATIONSHIPS to be of the highest value and speaks on the importance and necessity of a relationship-based economy.  Your feet, moved by a desire so innate you can’t name it, carry you to the threshold.

You enter.

Welcome to Edna Lu and the Free Tea Party.

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 2 - Episode 27

A Field of Possibility...

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there."  ~Rumi

Hello again.

As you probably know, you are cozied up to the land of the storytellers.

We feel very comfortable here.

Here we can spin a tale, conjure up a poem at a moment’s notice, or weave together some divergent strands of thought in order to craft a slightly different lens through which to view.

BUT.

We cannot - on our own at least - do justice to the larger framework of this season’s theme.

As you know, we’ve borrowed from the world of permaculture this season, in order to frame up the stories and conversations we’ll be having in the coming weeks and months.

So, we wanted to pay homage - and gather up some resources - and set the larger stage -for what’s to come.

Toward that end, we sat down with two different members of the local ecological and permaculture tribes.  We had the great pleasure of sitting with Boyd Smith, who is the man behind EcoGardening. a company, practice, and philosophy of that  Considers the relationships of each organism in our ecology in relation to development, agriculture, products, programs, and society.

Boyd sat down with us to talk about his vision for long-term sustainability, education & coming into right relationship with the natural world.

The second part of this episode is devoted to our time with Levon Durr, who is part of the local Humboldt Permaculture Guild and is also the owner of Fungaia Farms. We talked about what it looks like for communities in transition to begin to implement some of these principles into the fabric of the everyday.

In a word, we asked these two well-read ecologists, steeped in the language and learning of earth sciences - to break it down for us.  The lay-folk. Those of us who may never pick up a heavy ecological tome or enroll inside a 9-month course to explore these concepts. But who want to get a feel for them.  And more - to see how these ideas can live their way into the way we think, interact, and move about this world.

For more info on either Boyd, Levon or the Humboldt Permaculture Guild - make sure to check the show notes for full links to each.

For now - we hope you enjoy.  

MEND Season 2 (Episode #26)

What is it Worth...   Re-Claiming & Affirming our Value in a Dollars-driven World.

Welcome back to season 2 of MEND.

As you can see, we're shifting things around here a bit.  

Moving from the local landscape of a dwindling & tumultuous underground industry into the bright light of the larger world around us.  

At a certain point, this local cannabis industry shifted it's values to re-align with those of the dominant culture.  Rather than the former objective of utilizing the money gained from cannabis to bring other forms of value into the world - things like schools, art, music, community outreach and such.... Eventually, we settled into the good ole, black-and-white, cut-and-dry margins of the almighty profit margins.  

At some point we seem to have forgotten that this was just ONE way to bring value to the world. That money was but one way to move our ideas, values & dreams out into this Life.

And so that is where our sights are headed next.

We are thrilled to explore this topic of the different ways we can and do create wealth and value in our lives and our communities.

To start this season, we sat down with each other to dig deeper into the 8 Forms of Capital as we are coming to understand them, offering a general overview for each so that we have a shared starting point of how our guests are working and creating wealth in these realms.  

This is going to be an inspiring, (hopefully) perspective-shifting season.  We’re going beyond the stories to the “practice” and application of these ideas, this wisdom, and the many ways in which we can all bring something to the table.     

In many ways, perhaps the current cannabis industry has failed to live up to the initial values it was instigated on.  But we want to acknowledge that we can do better.

We can shift the conversation.

We can tip the scales.

And here are some stories, diatribes & ideas on where to start.

Enjoy! 

......

Big Thanks to Ethan Roland and the visionary team of Appleseed Permaculture who first put words to this framework, and mapped out these ideas for us all to drop into and explore.

And an equally open-hearted shout-out to Sam Sycamore of the Good Life Revival Podcast - who first hipped us to these ideas - and shared them in a way both eloquent but inspiring us to ACT.  Deep bows.

Episode 25

Questions, Answers & Leaning Into What's to Come...

In this micro-episode, we take a minute to respond to a particularly well-penned email from a listener.  We do our best to address some of the concerns he brought to our door, and to articulate some of our own.  

We hope our discourse sheds some light on the subject.

We also wanted to check in with you - our beloved listenership - to let you know we're still in here with ya! And to dip briefly into some of the themes, ideas & stories we're looking to un-earth in Season 2.  What we're turning toward & what we're moving away from... (hint: there's bound to be a little less weed chat in the months to come - for better or worse. ) 

Stick around till the end where Anne shares her wondrous original work, Covfefe.  This is seriously one not to be missed.

And, as always, we welcome your stories, insights, questions & diatribes.  

You can join the conversation over in our private FB group .

Or, for an interim dose of poetry & some nonsequitir musings about Life...

check us out at our other posts:

AnneFricke.com or BackPocketJuju.com

Cheers. Until the next time.  

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 23

Steve DeAngelo - The Man behind the Manifesto

You know those rare moments in life where you get to meet a truly celebrated figure?

Someone whose face you’ve seen online & in print?

Someone who’s built up a worldwide following behind their work - and for one brief, shining moment you get to sit and chat with them?

How often do these real life meetings ever live up to the hype?

How often do we build up an impossible image of the celebrity in our own minds - that when we meet them in the flesh - it pales in comparison to the shining visage we’ve erected in our minds???

THIS was not the case as Anne & I had the great pleasure to find out - as we sat down for an hour to talk with the venerable Steve DeAngelo this past week.

We spent weeks e-mailing back and forth with his camp, reading his book, watching his Youtube videos and appearances - so that we could get good and ready for this talk with a man who has been on the Activist & Advocacy front of the Cannabis world for some 40 years.  

For those not fully familiar with his work, Steve is the owner of the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, CA - the largest medical cannabis dispensary in the United States, serving over 200,000 patients.  

Fortune Magazine has named him one of the top 7 most powerful people inside the Marijuana Industry today.  

He’s written a terrific book about the history of cannabis, prohibition, and his own work inside this world - The Cannabis Manifesto.

And is also the co-founder and president of the Arcview Group - a company aimed at introducing bright, promising cannabis entrepreneurs to angel investors who can fund their work.  

We speak to Steve about his path of Activism & Entrepreneurship (and why he sees them as mutually beneficial).  About his own time & connection to our neck of the woods, inside the Emerald Triangle, and his own love of the culture we have built up here and the work of the legacy cannabis farmer.

He shares his thoughts on the unique challenges confronting our community and the tools he sees as key to staying vital & financially solvent in the tumultuous time to come.  

He talks about the ways in which the Prohibition era programmed us toward a mentality that will not sustain us in the next iteration to come.  And the shift he sees as critical to become viable in the new, legitimate marketplace.  

And he offers us guidance on how to continue to affect the current paradigm surrounding cannabis.  Moving, as he says, “out of the shadows & into the Light.”

And ultimately Steve guides back to the plant itself.  

To those amongst us who are called to work with and cultivate it.

To use it reverently & as the healing, medicinal currency for which it is best suited.

To caretake the plant so that it can caretake us and our families and communities, and usher in the type of world we wish to inhabit…

We simply must be willing to sit & listen..

And trust that the way we will be made known.

We are deeply honored and proud to bring you this powerful talk from a great man.  

Cheers.

Links:::

Steve DeAngelo.com

Harborside Health Center

The Arcview Investment Group

The Cannabis Manifesto Book