On this week’s episode, Katie Steere of Wild Earth Farm joined us once again for a conversation about all things farm economies, the realities of winter for farmers, and the seasonality of all things in our world. 

We started off the episode by exploring what it looks and feels like to listen to your body through honoring the seasons. Katie shares what farming has been like on her body and her energy and that taking winter as a season of deep self care is critical for sustainability throughout the year. 

In this conversation, we ebbed and flowed through the differences between Katie’s corporate life and her farming life and what the seasonality of these seasons has brought. We then ventured into experimenting with different cadences of eating and how eating and listening are two acts that need to go together more often than we allow them to be. We talk about what it looks and feels like to be in your body and to be able to respond to what your body is asking of you. 

We wrap up this episode by talking about the economics of a farm, and we break the idea that farmers can raise animals or grow vegetables and make a living off of that income. Katie shares with us the many variety of things that go into making a farm economy work. 

Lastly, Katie shares with us how we can support farmers financially and economically from the systemic level and on the individual level. 

So much packed into this soulful, honest, vulnerable conversation from one of The Soil Collective’s favorite farmers! 

Show Notes:

• The first episode with Katie can be found here.
• Interested in joining the Farm Club? Here’s how! 

In this week's episode, Katie and Kristyn take it back to the basics of why this podcast even exists in the first place. If you've been around for any length of time, you'll know that The Soil Collective Podcast isa conversation between farmers, healers, and those folks working at the intersection of soil health and human health. We knew there were incredible people in farming and amazing folks in health and wellness, but we didn't see where that conversation was coming together in a meaningful way.

Enter: The Soil Collective Podcast.

It has been a year since we first started and the beautiful part of this podcast is it truly lives its name. We are a COLLECTIVE first and foremost. None of this work matters if we don't do it together.

In this episode, we dive into what it means to live into our gifts and why it's important that everyone steps up to the plate. Nearly every social issue we face in the world today goes back to the soil, which means that soil is the way back to unity. No matter what lights you up, you can use your gifts and the issue that tugs on your heart to make a difference to the health of our soil and ultimately the health of humanity. And the beautiful part of healing means more people living into their purpose.

As you go into this holiday season, we hope you're encouraged by this conversation and feel empowered to show up embodied in all the spaces you will be in the next few weeks.

Thank you thank you thank you for spending your time and heart/heart space engaging with the conversations here. We're so excited to see where we all go next!

Encouragement to show up embodied for the holidays though the power of nature  

In this week's episode, we dive into all things glyphosate with the one and only Glyphosate Girl. Her name is Kelly Ryerson and she came into the advocacy space after her own health journey and a court case that happened in her own backyard. She started writing about what she was learning and experiencing and now she is on Capitol Hill raising awareness of the harmful effects of glyphosate in our agriculture and food systems.

Kelly works at the intersection of pesticides, nutrition and health as a writer, speaker and policy consultant. She started the news site Glyphosate Facts, an educational resource to help spread awareness of the health impacts of chemical agriculture. Kelly previously worked in investment banking, private equity, and NASA technology commercialization. She has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In this episode, we dive into topics like:

• What glyphosate actually is and why it's harmful to humans and the planet
• How big business creates both the problem and the solution
• What advocacy in the USA's capitol looks like
• How citizens can practically be advocates for a cleaner, healthier future
• About art and why it's the missing piece

You can follow Kelly at @glyphosategirl on Instagram or check out her work at her website.

In this episode, we chat with Scott Estrada, a one-of-a-kind intrinsic health coach, breathwork facilitator, and water expert, among many other things. 

We dive into all things water in this episode and discuss what true hydration really looks and feels like. Hint: it has very little to do, if at all to do with how much water you drink in a day. 

As Scott says in this episode, we are a reflection of nature in our being. We hold both the ocean in our blood and the soil in our guts, and we dive into how our water and lifestyle have everything to do with how we can reimagine a different future.

Tune in for an inspiring episode all about hydration, our soils, nutrient density, and how we all get to participate in more beautiful days ahead.

You can find Scott on Instagram at @scott_estrada or you can connect with him over email at scotte@journeyofintrinsichealth.com.

Additional References:

• The Journey of Intrinsic Health is the 8 week program Scott mentioned throughout the episode 
• The book Kristyn mentions towards the end of the episode is Sacred Instructions by Sherri Mitchell.

In this episode, we have a conversation with Meghan De Jong of Meg De Jong Nutrition, where we explored where anxiety and our mental wellbeing meet the health of our soil. Meghan is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN) who has been coaching people in nutrition for over 5 years all about the intricacies of anxiety and how our food and more specifically our soils, contribute to our experience and relationship with anxiety.

We deep dive into what anxiety is and is not and how we really can transform our experience with anxiety into something meaningful. As Meghan shares her personal story, we weave in why gardening is transformational for our gut health as well as our emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.

We wrap up our episode with a thoughtful discussion about our relationship with food, how to foster a healthy and meaningful relationship with food in young children, and what it means for our society and world at large to transform this vital relationship.

If you're wanting to learn more about what Meghan does, be inspired by her kitchen creations, or learn more about a holistic approach to anxiety, check Meghan out at her website or on her Instagram at @megdejognutrition!

And of course, don't forget to follow along at @thesoilcollective_.

This week on The Soil Collective, we introduce our new podcast host, Katie Hussong! Katie and Kristyn met through Dr. Zach Bush’s coaching training course called the Coaches Journey of Intrinsic Health. Through a variety of health challenges and two different stressful careers - one as a teacher and one as an ER nurse - Katie ended up finding her way to the soil for healing. She talks about her transition through a variety of eating choices that ultimately brought her to an understanding that the way food is grown matters to our health. 

We explore what Katie is diving into these days - aligning ourselves with nature through rhythms - and talk a lot about circadian rhythms and how the sun is nature’s most misunderstood medicine. 

Finally, we dive into a conversation about slow food versus fast food culture, looking at how those values permeate throughout our modern culture and how that trickles straight down to the soil. 

Join us as we kick off a new season for The Soil Collective! 

Join us on Instagram @thesoilcollective_ 

Book referenced: We Are What We Eat by Alice Waters

Journey of Intrinsic Health

Healthy soil = healthy food = healthy people. 

That’s the phrase that has led and continues to lead Rodale Institute. In this episode, Kristyn sits down for an in person interview with Jeff Tkach, Chief Impact Officer with Rodale Institute. 

Kristyn and Jeff’s main focus is on how functional medicine isn’t all that different from regenerative agriculture. The farm is an ecosystem as our bodies are ecosystems, and these two approaches share the foundation that symptoms are information of a root cause issue and solution. 

Other topics covered in this episode: 

• We ask and answer the question, “Are farmers, like consumers, understanding that food is medicine?” 
• Jeff gives us the State of the Union on Food is Medicine
• A definition of regenerative agriculture that is inclusive of human health 
• Research Rodale Institute is doing on integrating healthcare and agriculture 
• Tangible solutions for all of us to move towards a healthier, integrated ecosystem 

Join us for this kick off episode as we continue to dive into all things soil health and human health with The Soil Collective! 

Referenced in this episode: 

Power of the Plate white paper

Sometimes the search for truth and healing can't be explained by science. The energetic underpinnings of health and our return to Earth-based living are arguably rooted in spiritual explorations.

We had the privilege of sitting down with author, guide, and coach Dr. Erin McMorrow, pHD to talk about the connection between divine feminine energy and the soil.

We dig into the background behind Erin's book GROUNDED: A fierce feminine guide to connecting with the soil and healing from the ground up.

We talk about the linkages between agricultural extraction of Mother Earth's resources, the metaphorical and literal connections between goddess energy, traumas, and soil degradation, as well as deep dives into finding spiritual truths, making peace with death, and returning to innate creativity.

Follow Erin @dr.erinmcmorrow on Instagram and learn more about her book at grounded.earth

Follow @thesoilcollective_ and be sure to submit your questions, comments, and guest requests!

Thanks for listening!