In this episode we return to one of my favourite topics - that microscopic life that lives in the soil.

After recognising the significance of soil life for supporting the climate, Daniel Tyrkiel set about exploring solutions that would support farmers to support and work with the biology in soil. The desire was to create a plug and play solution; something easy and accessible that allows farmers to shift from chemicals to biology without a need for heavy learning or investment.

Daniel's company Soil Ecology Laboratory are becoming recognised for their innovative products which are continually being developed and explored further.

It was a pleasure to chat with Daniel and learn about the mindset behind the products and his determination which seems to have been inspired by his mentor Dr Elaine Ingham.

We talk about:

• The significance of soil life
• The barriers to supporting soil life on farms
• The products & evolution of Soil Ecology Laboratory

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Resources Shared by Daniel:

• Recent news about Soil Ecology Laboratory - https://www.farminguk.com/News/-goop-boosts-soil-life-on-welsh-farm-in-no-input-trial_66709.html
• Soil Ecology Lab website: https://soilecologylab.co.uk/
• Consumer product website: https://soilsmiths.co.uk/

Learn more about Soil Ecology:

• Teaming With Microbes (book by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis)
• Google Scholar - look up Dr Elaine Inghams' Ecological Monograph from 1986

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Learn more with We Are Carbon:

Soil Life -

• Decoding Soil Biology with Adrian Ferrero https://www.wearecarbon.earth/podcast-episode/soil-biology-transition-to-regenerative-farming/
• Soil; Living Support for Plants & Climate with Christo Miliotis https://www.wearecarbon.earth/podcast-episode/soil-microorganisms-plants-climate/

Farming Transition -

• The Weather Proof Farm with Niels Corfield https://www.wearecarbon.earth/weatherproof-farm-niels-corfield/
• We Can Regenerate! with Finian Makepeace https://www.wearecarbon.earth/podcast-episode/finian-makepeace-we-can-regenerate/
• Holistic Management with Shiela Cooke https://www.wearecarbon.earth/podcast-episode/holistic-management-transition-mindset-farming/

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Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

06:12 - Why learn about soil life?

10:00 - The barriers to support soil life on farms...

I was thrilled to be able to chat with Jordy Johnson during an unexpected visit I took to &Soul Southall earlier this year. Jordy is the head of community for &Soul who describe their West London community hub as an entire village in a building; a place where they are reimagining urban existence.

It was wonderful to immerse in this very unique environment and I was thrilled to be able to chat with Jordy whilst there so I could share his insights with you all.

Jordy brings a very heart centred, nature connected approach to community which is filled with depth and no doubt brings experience from his prior roles which he also touches upon in this conversation.

We talk about:

- Community as ecosystems

- (Being) Nature's Intelligence

- Rethinking relationships in organisations & society at large

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Learn more about &Soul:

&Soul Website | &Soul Instagram

Events Recommended by Jordy:

• Medicine Festival https://medicinefestival.com/
• Soul Revolution Festival https://soulrevolutionfestival.com/events/soul-revolution-festival-2025
• Wider Horizons https://widerhorizons.events/
• Primal Gathering https://primalgathering.co/
• Love Jam https://www.lovejam.community/

Guided Meditation from Helen: Find the recording mentioned at the end of this episode - https://www.wearecarbon.earth/guided-meditation-power-at-our-feet/

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Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

09:13 - Community as an ecosystem

19:38 - Rethinking relationships in organisations & society at large

26:52 - Nature's intelligence & rediscovering self

34:37 - A movement in the UK [event recommendations]

It's a pleasure to share this chat that I had with Tim Sallin about the work happening across Florida to help shift garden habitats at scale in support of biodiversity.

The Outside Collab brings together many minds with an aim to reshape Florida's landscapes in response to growing pressures from huge population growth and the impacts this has on resources, community and climate.

It's a unique context but with insights that could be relevant to so many of us worldwide.

We Talk About:

• Garden management in new housing developments
• The impact of native flora on irrigation needs
• Gardens that heal biodiversity & climate
• Supporting homeowners in creating native gardens

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Episode Links:

Tim is the host of the podcast, 'The Ground Up' - you can learn a lot more from him by delving into some episodes! https://linktr.ee/thegrounduppodcast

And learn more about the Outside Collab here: https://outsidecollab.com/

Watch the animation mentioned at the end of this episode: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/our-experiments/

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Episode Timestamps:

11:57 - Role of garden management in new developments

17:38 - Property management for native gardens

21:54 - Ecological impact from gardens

24:29 - Homeowner responses & needs

29:11 - Research - Native plant garden designs & benefits

34:00 - Gardens to heal biodiversity crisis

36:54 - One step to regenerate?

38:02 - Learn more and connect

Adam Smith brings a fabulous perspective on the food system which comes from years of witnessing the enormous problem of waste and exploring varied angles trying to address it.

Issues in the food system are complex to say the least, but Adam brings a clarity through his determination to find the root cause of all of this waste. He says we're over producing food; all fueled by demand for continued economic growth.

So, how do you start to address that over production? Well it seems it's another conversation where the themes of community and localisation emerge through.

Adam is the founder and non-executive director of Surplus To Purpose, a revolutionary catering enterprise that utilises food destined for waste, by safely redistributing it through cooked meals, products and provisions to families.

We talk about:

• Food waste & overproduction
• Why 'sustainability' doesn't work
• Dignity & community
• Challenging the supermarkets with a new model of supply

Learn more about Adam:

Surplus to Purpose website - https://www.surplus2purpose.com/about-us

Surplus to Purpose Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/surplus2purpose/

Adam's Journey (includes media links) - https://www.surplus2purpose.com/meet-adam

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You can support We Are Carbon by exploring our new range of art prints created by Helen: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/art-prints-for-regeneration/

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Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

04:14 - A system that creates waste

12:30 - I don't like sustainability!

24:55 - Overproduction

31:37 - An alternate future - for community not shareholders

If you're a poet, artist, photographer, writer or budding creative of any kind then you might like to listen extra closely to this one!

Jamie Nix is the co-founder of Plants & Poetry whose work shares and nurtures connection to the natural world through a collaborative approach to curating published works. Alongside her poetry Jamie's career is focused on agroforesty and soil health and she has a keen interest in supporting regeneration through place based learning.

We talk about:

• Weaving plants, science and poetry
• Connecting to place & community
• The role of sharing story (for regeneration)

Learn more about Plants & Poetry here: https://www.plantsandpoetry.org/about

I'm excited by an emerging co-creation between Plants & Poetry and We Are Carbon.

We'll be creating an inspiring anthology together and I'd love to invite you to help us to fill the pages!

It's very early on but if you head over to the website you can subscribe to email updates from We Are Carbon and I'll keep you updated! https://www.wearecarbon.earth

Timestamps for this conversation:

00:00 - Intro

04:55 - Weaving plants, science and poetry

11:54 - Connecting to place & community

19:20 - The role of sharing story (for regeneration)

24:07 - Next steps for Plants & Poetry

30:30 - Collab with We Are Carbon?

34:12 - More from Plants & Poetry

At the start of April I managed to catch back up with Peter Byck for this chat which feels well timed not just because it was a rare pause in his ongoing schedule of travels, but because there's a lot being rolled out right now by the whole 'Roots So Deep' team to scale up the impact that the docu-series has already seeded.

We talk about:

• Touring with Roots So Deep
• The importance of taking action (for regeneration)
• Food resilience and nutrient density
• Community, scaling & next steps for Roots So Deep

For more background about Roots So Deep you can check out my previous interview with Peter: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/peter-byck-roots-so-deep/

Or head to their website where you can watch the trailer, rent the series and explore their new Patreon & podcast: https://rootssodeep.org/

Check out the special compilation from We Are Carbon which also features Peter:

It's called "Time to Look At It Differently - Because Carbon Builds Life". Find it here: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/because-carbon-builds-life/

Timestamps for this episode:

00:00 - Intro

02:14 - Touring with Roots So Deep

06:43 - Importance of taking action

11:20 - Resilient food & nutrient density

17:50 - Regenerative grazing at a global context

24:00 - Scaling with community and next steps

I hope you enjoy this weave of inspirational voices.

Each clip is brought in from our longer interviews. I've created this episode as an example piece that starts to compile the huge range of wisdom and knowledge that our guests have generously shared over the past few years.

There's so much potential packed into our library and I wish to keep exploring the possibilities of sharing regenerative understanding in new accessible formats suited to different styles and places of learning.

If this episode prompted an idea for bringing knowledge to your own community or classroom do please reach out to explore that together! https://www.wearecarbon.earth/contact/

And if you enjoyed this piece and would love to support the creation of more like it, you can find a growing range of ways to do that including purchasing or distributing our art prints and greetings cards. Explore them here: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/art-prints-for-regeneration/

A huge thank you to each of our guests, who are (in order of appearance):

• Caroline Grindrod - founder of Roots of Nature and trainer of Regenerative agriculture. Full interview here: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/podcast-episode/caroline-grindrod-regenerative-agriculture/
• Peter Byck - Director of Roots So Deep and wrangler of scientists. Full interview here: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/peter-byck-roots-so-deep/
• Diana Denke - co-founder of Fair Carbon and expert on nature based solutions. Full interview here: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/nature-based-solutions-diana-denke/

And be sure to subscribe as we'll be catching up with each of these guests alongside hearing from many new voices as we get moving into this new season of We Are Carbon!

I'm excited to be kicking off Season Four!

I hope you enjoy listening through this little intro where I share about what's to come, why we're shifting gears and how I'm eager to step forward in building the vision together.

Learn more over at the website:

• Explore the new art print range and matching greetings cards - the foundation for our experiments together
• Subscribe to email updates to learn about our experiments as they unfold
• Get in touch - if you have any ideas, questions or would like to become one of our distributors

Head to the website here: https://www.wearecarbon.earth/our-experiments/

And keep an eye out for new episodes!

• 13th May - A special compilation
• 15th May - the first in our new weekly schedule - expect a new episode every Thursday. Mainly interviews but with some variation and bonuses thrown in. Average length 30 mins.