Ground Work: Recent Episodes
Kate Kavanaugh
Welcome to Ground Work - a space to explore our minds, bodies, and the soil beneath our feet. Join me, Kate Kavanaugh, a farmer, entrepreneur, and holistic nutritionist, as I get curious about human nature, health, and consciousness as viewed through the lens of nature. I'm digging into deep and raw conversations with truly impactful guests that are laying the Ground Work for themselves and many generations to come. We dive into topics around farming, biohacking, regenerative agriculture, spirituality, nutrition, and beyond. Get curious and get ready with new episodes every Tuesday!
In this episode, I sit down with anthropologist Alyshia Gálvez to talk about her book Eating NAFTA. The conversation is from two people who came to economic policy through unlikely means, but as Alyshia explains, economic policy in general, and NAFTA in particular - on its 30 year anniversary, has become a part of all of our bodies whether we’re aware of it or not. Alyshia’s work is incredible at connecting dots that aren’t often seen in economics - its about people, landscapes, and cultures and how they are affected by policy that favors corporations. We explore ideas of efficiency, and how the standard definition is anything but, of consumption, and the paradoxes that arise when looking at people, food, and policy. We look at corn as a material that drives our world through corn products and how landrace corn varietals have been lost to the people that first cultivated them. We also look at the health effects of policy, both here in the US, and in Mexico. Alyshia comes with a big message: if you, like us, feel like you’re a stranger to economic policy or that you can’t change it, perhaps you can and it matters now more than ever.
Find Alyshia Gálvez:
Eating NAFTA: Trade, Food Policies and the Destruction of Mexico
Patient Citizens, Immigrant Mothers
X: @alyshiagalvez
Website
Sponsored By:
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
In this week’s episode, I sit down with geologist Marcia Bjornerud to talk about her new book Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks and to explore how we can gain a sense of feeling embedded in the time and space of Earth, as earthlings. We explore the mentorship rocks have to offer us and putting the story of Earth as a dynamic planet front and center. We talk about how learning about process, not just end product, through the lens of geology, can give us a sense of empathy and story that mirrors our own inner experiences on Earth. It’s also about the paradoxical qualities of geology, the vetoing of the term ‘Anthropocene’ in the geologic community and why it matters, and what it means to look at the future through the lens of the past. This episode is about putting Earth in the foreground, not as a backdrop for our human endeavors, but as a living and active system. Marcia is excellent at being a translator for the Earth and her books and way of speaking both illuminate Earth in an intriguing and dynamic way.
Find Marcia Bjornerud:
Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks
Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World
Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of Earth
Geopedia: A Brief Compendium of Geologic Curiosities
Resources Mentioned:
In the Weeds Interview with Marcia (Part 1 and Part 2)
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
Rose George is the author of four fantastic books (Nine Pints, Ninety Percent of Everything, the Big Necessity, and a Life Removed) that share a common theme: much of her work is about seeing the unseen. It’s about those things that are ubiquitous and unnoticed, or more likely, obfuscated from us. In this episode, we focus on human waste, the shipping industry, and blood. Much of our conversation is about how we begin to see the waters we swim in, stop sanitizing our language to further obscure things, and use our awareness to create changes large and small. It’s about breaking down taboos and letting individual stories of tragedy and triumph bring us into issues that matter. It’s also a little bit about the shipping industry and how 90% of our goods get to us, how toilets can transform lives, and how period products can dramatically improve the lives of girls.
Find Rose George:
Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood
Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate
The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
A Life Removed
Rose’s Subtack
On X
Resources Mentioned:
Surfer’s Against Sewage
Monterrey Bay Fish Guide
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
Mariele Ivy is an artist. Known for her work in making jewelry and in lapidary, she is also a ceramicist, a maker of talismans and sacraments. In this episode, Kate sits down with Mariele Ivy from Young In the Mountains to talk about what it means to be an artist and to work with things of the earth. We talk about Mariele’s dedication to her supply chain - to fair trade gold, American mined inlay stones, American mined sapphires, and recycled diamonds and we talk about how she extends that care to every aspect of her business. This episode is about earth’s processes and artistic processes both - about how we can make our inner feelings tangible. It’s also about what distraction, inspiration, and contentment mean in the creative process, about how working with your hands can change your mind, and about those things in us that are most ancient. Mariele is a delight and you’ll love her work and words both.
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Find Mariele:
Young In the Mountains
Instagram: @younginthemountains
Resources Mentioned:
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Eat Like a Human by Dr. Bill Schindler
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Steven Kurutz grew up in a town of 1500 people in the mountains of Pennsylvania. It was a formative rural experience. He set pins at a local bowling alley. He frequented the town library. It’s where he learned to love books, writing, and the characters of small town America - including the towns themselves. He puts all of that to practice in his new book ‘American Flannel: How a Band of Entrepreneurs are bringing the art and business of making clothes back home”. Steven and Kate sit down to talk about the tension between urban and rural environments. To talk about how the last 50 years of economic policy has changed small towns, fashion, and what quality means. We talk about the clothing brands American Giant and Zkano socks and what they’re doing to bring manufacturing back to America while making beautiful and quality goods that are as economically accessible as possible and the grit and determination (and relationships) it takes to do just that.
Find Steven:
American Flannel: How A Band of Entrepreneurs are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Homeby Steven Kurutz
X: @skurutz
NYT Work
Selected Other Pieces:
On Small Town Libraries
On Being a Pin Boy
Resources Mentioned:
American Giant
Zkano Socks
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- Redmond.life
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
In this episode, Kate sits down with author Ferris Jabr, whose book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life comes out on June 25th. Ferris’ love of other animals and plants started at an early age and that fascination has grown into an incredible career as a journalist, exploring the perspective of ecosystems, animals, and the earth itself. Beginning with his garden in Portland, Kate and Ferris span out into the garden of earth itself and the way life creates the conditions for its own existence. From the young ages of the earth and the reciprocal processes between bacteria and our atmosphere, they explore some of the salient cycles that bend chronological time and minds alike. Plankton, and their jaw-dropping role in earth, become a vehicle for talking about how Saharan Africa fertilizes the Amazon which causes rain in the midwest. They discuss how throughout earth’s timescale, complexity grows and with it, the complexity of the relationships between life and environment and earth. They also explore the human animal’s role on earth and its cycles and what it might mean to tell ourselves a new story. An excellent episode to explore complexity, cooperation, mutuality, and beauty.
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Find Ferris:
Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life
X: @ferrisjabr
Instagram: @ferrisjabr
Ferris’ Articles
The Story of Storytelling
How Beauty is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution
Resources Mentioned:
An Immense World by Ed Yong
The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen
How to Be Animal by Melanie Challenger
Systems View of Life by Fritjof Capra
Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
In this episode, Kate sits down with author and co-host of the Gastropod Podcast, Nicola Twilley, to talk about her new book Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves. Nicola has written an absolute page-turner exploring the massive and far-reaching impacts of refrigeration on just about every aspect of our lives, not since the dawn of agriculture has something changed our world so radically. In this episode, her and Kate explore the domestication of cold - which, very much unlike fire - is a recent phenomenon. The cold chain is new - not even 150 years old - and its impacts on our health and the environment, on biodiversity and flavor, are big. It’s a technology that can slow time, delay death, and shift our geography. It has led to the marketing of an apple by an astronaut, the reinvention of the tomato many times over, and so much more. We talk about biodiversity loss, death, and also how we might re-imagine the cold chain in light of the global cold rush. This is an episode not to be missed and a book you won’t be able to put down!
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Find Nicola:
Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves (out June 25th)
Gastropod
Instagram: @nicolatwilley
X: @nicolatwilley
Connect with Kate:
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
In this episode of the Ground Work podcast, Kate sits down with author John Vaillant to begin to tease out some of the themes of his 4 incredible books, 3 works of non-fiction, and one work of fiction. At the recording, John had just been awarded as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World. John and Kate talk about what it means to consume, how we as human animals interact with our environments and resources, and about how we reconcile the cognitive dissonance we experience born into the Petrocene age. It’s about the multi-dimensional reckoning we’re in right now, as human and geologic time scales merge, and we are thrust into an acceleration of everything we know. A lot of this interview comes down to a sense of urgency many of us are feeling and this one fact: what happens next is not inevitable. John also shares some about his process as a writer and what it means to tell stories at this moment in time.
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Resources Mentioned:
Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins
Find John:
X: @JohnVaillant
Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
The Jaguar’s Children: A Novel
Connect with Kate:
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Cate Havstad-Casad is leading the revolution in supply chains that nourish communities, ecosystems, and so much more with her regenerative leather company Range Revolution. In this episode, Cate breaks down what it means to re-build and repair the hide to leather supply chain from regenerative ranches, build a regenerative business, and implore capital and funders to think regeneratively, too. We talk about natural fibers vs the petroleum based fibers we’ve grown accustomed to and what it might mean to change our minds about fashion into something that is both lasting and well-made to stand the test of time and will degrade again when we give it back to the earth. It’s about using what’s here - taking something, like animal hides, that are being thrown away and incinerated and building a business around them. It’s also about taking what we’ve inherited and re-imagining it, knowing that we’re at a tipping point. We may not know if we’ll reap what we’re sowing, but we must keep growing towards a future for our children. It’s also about play, contentment, and friendship.
Check out Range Revolution Bags
SPONSORED BY
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Find Cate:
Listen to Keep on Growing by Nicki Bluhm
Check out Range Revolution Bags
Find Range Revolution: @rangerevolution
Find Cate: @havstadhatco
Resources Mentioned:
Fibers Fund
MAD Agriculture
HELEN CZERSKI is a physicist with a background in bubbles and experimental explosives. Her books The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works and Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life are incredible explorations of looking at the processes of how things that we often don’t truly see in our daily lives are deeply affecting us. In this episode, we tease at some bigger themes around how to ask questions and leverage our own curiosity, what it means to find perspective, and how we might begin as a culture to look at our participation in the interconnected web of life with a different lens. We also touch on the ocean engine and how it’s time to ask ourselves what the blue in this “blue marble” really means and look at it in depth. This conversation barely touches the tip of the iceberg of Helen’s work, but hopefully it will serve as a door of curiosity for you to explore her books on your own. Helen shares insights on the importance of curiosity, the humility needed to understand natural processes, and the vital role of the ocean in history, culture, geology, ecology, and the nutrient cycles of this world.
SPONSORED BY
REDMOND REAL SALT
- Mine to Table Salt from Utah, Redmond Real Salt is packed full of 60+ Trace Minerals and is a staple in my kitchen. Find their salt, Re-Lyte Hydration Powder, and so much more here. Use code MINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off!
- redmond.life
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Find Helen:
The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works
Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life
Bubbles
Rare Earth Podcast/Radio Show
Instagram: @helen_czerski
X: @helenczerski
Resources Mentioned:
Wasteland by Oliver Franklin Wallis
The Curious Mr. Feynman
Cosmic Shambles
The Spillhaus Projection
Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner
In this episode, Kate sits down with author Jay Owens to talk about her book Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles. Together, they unravel the paradoxes and challenges posed by dust - a small particle that makes a big impact throughout history. Discover how dust connects the Sahara to the Amazon, influences snowmelt, and carries historical significance, embodying both awe and horror. Dust underpins everything - it is, as Jay says, “a boundary crosser, a transgressor” and makes itself known in ice cores, the aftermath of the atomic bomb, in the drying up of bodies of water, and the pollution from our highways. It is the mark of the modern world and our incalculable impact on it. It underlines our interconnectedness and highlights the uncertainty about what happens next. This is also a call to salvage, to look at the externalities, and embrace hope at a local level.
SPONSORED BY SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Find Jay:
Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles
Instagram: @hautepop
X: @hautepop
Other Writing
Resources Mentioned:
Ways of Being by James Bridle
How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra
The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks
Also Check Out These Episodes:
Infrastructure with Deb Chachra
Water with Heather Hansman
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 10% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH
In this episode, Kate sits down with author and journalist Rachel Slade to discuss her books Making It In America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the USA (and How It Got That Way) and Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastore, and the Sinking of El Faro. Rachel’s books are incredible explorations of humanity and she deftly weaves together complex threads. We focus on Making It In America in the episode. The book is so much about where trade, manufacturing, farming, immigration, the textile industry, unions, and the history of the hoodie itself meet. We start by exploring how manufacturing made America and touching on the complex series of events that led to the offshoring of the majority of American manufacturing after NAFTA. This episode is about grit and determination and a commitment to vision by American Roots, the hoodie company featured in the book, and what entrepreneurship means and what it might mean to manufacture in America once again. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about history, geopolotics, economics and the externalities of focusing solely on the bottom line. It’s about building and re-building community and networks of support and it’s about what it means for us, as humans, to make things by hand.
We also talk about;
Men’s mental health
Supply chains
Find Rachel:
Making It in America
Into the Raging Sea
Articles + Essays
Instagram: @rachelmslade
Made in USA Brands
Resources Mentioned:
Fields of Gold by Madeleine Fairbairn:
90% of Everything by Rose George
Eating Nafta
Rachel on the Julian Dorey Podcast:
Melanie Challenger’s On Extinction
Also Check Out Episodes
-Kate’s Solo on Resources
-Melanie Challenger
In this week’s episode Kate sits down with the lovely, the ineffable, the effervescent May Lindstrom. Together they explore themes of grace, slowness, and the intricate dance between our inner and outer worlds. May shares many of her incredible stories and laces throughout them a call to live a life full of compassion and love and a cherishing of the everyday. She invites us to think about how we connect to ourselves and to nature, about what it might mean to grow old while integrating the perspectives of ourselves when we were younger, and to follow a north star of love. Throughout is a conversation about what it means to have a body that is bodying - whether that’s your body, a worm body, or to imagine all the other bodies that surround us. She also dives into frontloading pleasure, making a mess, and building something you really believe in. May’s words and wisdom shine in this episode that is really about coming home to yourself.
Find May:
May Lindstrom Skin
Instagram: @maylindstromskin
If you loved this episode:
With Caroline Nelson
With Lacey Jean
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 10% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH
- KateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face Food
In this episode, materials scientist and engineering professor Deb Chachra shares about infrastructure. Her book ‘How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems that Shape Our World’ is a multi-layered dive into infrastructure. In this episode, Deb and Kate explore ideas of how we move resources to bodies and waste away from bodies. It is a brief exploration of the rise of globalization and our telecommunications, physical infrastructure, and roads, but it is also an exploration of how access to energy is also access to agency. In it, the concept of ‘away’ is explored - whether it’s the away that we send our waste or the away from which we extract resources using human labor and the complexities of infrastructure’s harms and benefits. It’s also a re-imagining of what the future could look like, which Deb reminds us “is not inevitable” and how we can ask ourselves questions about our values and how we might shape the our care for people now and in the future. Infrastructure is a big and complex subject and Deb’s book deftly explores it. This episode is a small peek into her work.
Find Deb:
How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World by Deb Chachra
Metafoundry Newsletter
X: @debcha
Instagram: @debcha
Books Mentioned:
Crossings by Ben Goldfarb
Do Artifacts Have Politics? By Langdon Winner
The Power Broker by Robert Moses
Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore
Other Episodes of Interest:
With Ben Goldfarb
Solo on Infrastructure
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 10% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH
KateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face Food
Sand. It’s everywhere and it’s foundational to the built and digital worlds, yet we rarely see or think about it. Vince Beiser’s the World in a Grain tells the story of sand as it makes its way into the materials that make up our world: concrete, glass, silicon chips, and beyond. In this episode of the podcast, we explore some of the broader implications of sand - what it means to build worlds, how to grapple with the largesse of sand’s impact as we run out of this critical resource, and what, if anything, we can change in our relationship to sand. It’s about infrastructure, but it’s also about our relationship to infrastructure and how often the use of more resources begets the use of… more resources. We dive a little into the magic of sand, not just to house and transport us, but also the creation of the lens and how sand allows us to see things really small, really far away, and also really everyday - through glasses. We also talk about time, which sand is a measurement for and also a manifestation of, with the average grain of sand created over 200 million years. This is a conversation that will change the way you see and relate to your world.
Find Vince:
World in a Grain: the Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization
Power Metal Newsletter
X: @VinceBeiser
Website
Books Mentioned:
Crossings and Eager by Ben Goldfarb
Ninety Percent of Everything with Rose George
Other Episodes of Interest:
With Ben Goldfarb
Solo on Infrastructure
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 10% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH
- KateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face Food
Our relationship to resources shapes the world. Our food, our clothing, our devices, our building materials and the infrastructure that underpins moving them from place to place. On this podcast, we've explored a lot around food as a resource - its impact on land and human health and some of the inputs and externalities of our food system. Now, I'd like to take a turn to explore some other resources and the ubiquitous, yet unseen, infrastructure that moves them to us and our waste products away from us. Coming episodes will be filled with this exploration and so I want to give us a little primer on why this became so interesting to me and why it matters.
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 10% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH
- KateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face Food
In this episode of the podcast, Kate sits down with author and poet Melanie Challenger to discuss her two books How to Be Animal and On Extinction. Melanie also hosted the beautiful podcast ‘Psychosphere’ exploring the minds of animals outside of the human animal. This episode explores our disconnection with nature and how it begins in childhood and how it might separate us from the truth that we, as humans, are also animals. It explores what it might mean to come home to the realization that we are animals. Death, mortality, and grief and their roles in our animal bodies are explored as is our human superpower ability to love. This is big episode with a lot of beautiful explorations into what it really means to be human.
Find Melanie:
How to Be Animal by Melanie Challenger
On Extinction by Melanie Challenger
Galatea by Melanie Challenger
Resources Mentioned:
Animals in the Room
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 10% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH
KateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face Food
In this episode, I (Kate Kavanaugh) sit down with Cole Mannix of Old Salt Co-Op to talk about vertically integrating the agriculture of the middle with systems that are built to serve ranchers and consumers alike. Cole talks about his innovative business (and funding) structure, the upcoming Old Salt Festival in Helmville, Montana in June (I went last year and spoiler alert: it’s amazing) and the business they’re building to serve a regional food system. At least, those were all the topics that brought us to the table to talk. But what came out was something a bit different - it was about what it means to live a good life and a good death, about how limits can give us surprising freedom, and what it means to build a business that you can truly live in. This episode is about taking risks and dreaming really big dreams, really digging into what it means to build bridges and communities, and about what we might leave our children. Cole, with a varied background in biology, philosophy, and theology who grew up on the Mannix Family Ranch, had a lot to say, and to be honest, I just sat and listened.
Find Cole and Old Salt:
Old Salt Festival Instagram
Old Salt Coop Instagram
Old Salt Outpost Instagram
Old Salt Co-Op Festival Early Bird Tickets
Old Salt Co-Op
Old Salt Producer Webinars
Resources Mentioned:
The Cross and the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth
The Haimish Line
Support the Podcast:
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email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
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Robby Sansom is one of the founders of Force of Nature Meats and has a mind for marrying the qualitative with the quantitative. In this episode, Robby and Kate explore what it means to build sustainable business models, try to make really massive numbers a little bit more tangible, and speak candidly about the meat industry. It’s an episode that explores candidly everything about the tight-margined meat business, competition between smaller and larger shareholders within the industry, and what it might mean to have a triple bottom line of people, profit, and planet.
Find Robby:
Instagram: @forceofnaturemeats
What Good Shall I Do Conference (April 19+20)
Episode with Katie Forrest from FoN
Resources Mentioned:
The Tracker by Tom Brown
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email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
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Lily Nichols returns to the podcast to discuss what it means to optimize for fertility - and for vitality. This episode is for everyone: men, women, people trying to conceive and not! Lily’s new book “Real Food for Fertility,” centers on how whole foods can enhance fertility. The book is backed by extensive research with over 2,500 citations and comes recommended for those looking to improve their health. In the episode, Kate and Lily draw attention to the similarities between soil, animal, and human health, as well as the negative effects of modern living that underscore the critical role of preconception health. Tune in for a discussion that includes explorations on egg/sperm quality, menstruation as a vital sign, amino acids, vegetarian diets in pregnancy, micronutrient balance, and more!
Find Lily:
Instagram: @lilynicholrdn
First Episode with Lily
Real Food for Fertility
Real Food for Pregnancy
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email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
Irene Lyon’s SmartBody SmartMind Program (Feb 13-Feb22nd): Sign Up Here
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In this episode, Kate sits down with author Ben Goldfarb to discuss the profound effects of beavers and humans on ecosystems, particularly through the construction of roads and habitats. Ben Goldfarb is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. In this episode we explore a world filled with paradox, interconnectedness, and circularity. It’s a dialogue about the differences, and similarities, in how beavers and humans approach world building that uncovers thoughts on our built vs natural worlds and the implications for the future, the environment, and our communities. Ben shares some about the history of roads and how they bring us both closer to and further away from nature and from one another. Simultaneously, we explore how roads tend to beget more roads, just like how beaver dams tend to beget a more interconnected ecology. This is a big conversation, a fantastic interview that spans topics large and small to give listeners an idea of how we might build a better path forward.
Find Ben:
X (formerly Twitter): @ben_a_goldfarb
Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet
Eager: The Suprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
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email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
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In this episode, Kate sits down with Dr. Julia Skinner to discuss all manner of things, as it tends to be when two generalists sit down together. Julia’s work is multi-disciplinary, weaving together threads of her interests into a celebration of creative practice, fermentation, food history, the history of libraries, and beyond. The conversation explores the cultivation of both process and practice for creatives and how it can be made tactile in the art of fermentation. Julia, a writing and creative coach, shares what it takes to make a container for transformation of self, or cabbage, or community, or your creative goals and how play and celebration can facilitate and deepen that practice. We also discuss some of the structures and stories we’re told from society and culture about creative practice (amongst other things) and how we might begin to reframe and dismantle them into something that is joyful. It is also about doing away with the idea of failure altogether, if not for ourselves, than for the sake of the community we’re collaborating with. At it’s heart, this about transformation, process, and cultivation and is the perfect antidote to hustle culture’s idea of goals.
We also talk about:
Somatic Experiencing and Embodiment
Creating Ferments
Find Julia:
Email: Julia@root-kitchens.com
Instagram: @yourrootsandbranches, @bookishjulia, @rootkitchens
Roots + Branches
Our Fermented Lives
Oracle Deck
Books Mentioned:
Range by David Epstein
The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz
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email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
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Scott Carney makes his second appearance on the podcast to talk about his new book Dream: the Art and Science of Slumber. It's a deliciously short book that reframes sleep. It's a little bit science and a little bit art and it manages to quote Jurassic Park once, so it's a big win. In this episode, Scott and I chase some rabbits around ideas related to sleep. Have we couched sleep in the language of economic productivity and forgotten what it is to dream? Does our sleep distill our life into emotions and do those exist to form the basis of our memories and who we are in waking life? What does the spectrum between sleep and wake say about our consciousness? We also touch in on Scott's dreams of anacondas and what a rumen does anyway. This is a podcast that gives you, amongst many things, permission to dream.
Find Scott:
Scott's Most Recent Book: Dream: the Art and Science of Slumber
Scott's YouTube
Scott's Instagram: @sgcarney
Scott's Other Books
Previous MBS Episode with Scott
Books Mentioned:
the Experience Machine by Andy Clark
Saving Time by Jenny Odell
Now by Richard Muller
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
Yoga Nidra by Kamini Desai
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email: kate@groundworkcollective.com
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In this solo episode, Kate dives into those spaces that are neither here nor there, the "in betweens", exploring the idea that when we set goals now (point a) for a place in the future (point b), the real gift is the process that unfolds in between. With that in mind, Kate explores the tension between not wanting to fall into the hustle and productivity-driven culture of goal setting but also enjoying, frankly, the process of evaluation and setting goals. This is also an exploration of Type 2 fun, that space between not enjoying something in the moment and enjoying it immensely looking back on it. There are some notes on words and how naming something can guide us and a little invitation for the new year and how to get on a waitlist for Kate's latest offering. This is a fun and relatively short episode.
Find Kate:
Subscribe to the Mind, Body, and Soil Podcast
Resources:
Crown Shyness
MBS episode with Ed Roberson
MBS episode with Erin Pata
MBS episode with Anthony Gustin
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In this episode Kate is joined by author Rebecca Clarren to explore her book Cost of Free Land; Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance. The Cost of Free Land explores an entwined history; one of Rebecca’s Jewish ancestors and their land in South Dakota and the Lakota that had been forced off that land by the US government. In the podcast, Rebecca explores the profound role of storytelling and history in shaping cultural narratives across different communities within the broader tapestry of history in America - touching on both the stories passed down through her family and the stories she uncovers through the course of the book in speaking with members of the Lakota Nation and uncovering history. They discuss the importance of the stories that are told and those that remain untold, considering their lasting impact on future generations and how personal and cultural narratives intertwine to inform our understanding of the present. Throughout, the deep complexities, and atrocities, of history and the intergenerational effects of historical events are explored - illuminating the stories we may not have heard in classrooms or textbooks and what actions and responsibilities we can take as we work towards healing.
Find Rebecca Clarren:
The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance
Instagram: @rclarren
Website
Resources Mentioned:
Reconciliation Rising
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Landback
Books Mentioned:
Hitler’s American Model by James Whitman
Learning from the Germans by Susan Neiman
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Control by Adam Rutherford
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In this episode, Kate is joined by Dan Egan, author of the Devil’s Element: Phosphorous and a World Out of Balance. Why phosphorus? Phosphorus is vital for life on Earth and plays a pivotal role in fertilizers that sustain agriculture. However, it’s also a finite resource where its overuse in fertilizers has led to significant environmental concerns such as toxic algae blooms. The history of phosphorus, from its isolation as an element, to its sordid history and its various applications, including warfare, is explored. Somehow, phosphorous is at the heart of our food system, the conception of the soap opera, the Clean Water Act, and the children’s rhyme “Shelly sells seashells by the seashore.” Its history is nothing short of sordid and it is “the gravest natural resource shortage you’ve never heard of.” Dan and Kate also explore future sources of phosphorous and whether or not waste is really waste at all. This is an essential part of understanding agricultural systems and a great interview.
Find Dan
-the Devil’s Element: Phosphorous and a World Out of Balance
Resources Mentioned:
Farmer’s of Forty Centuries: Organic Farming in China, Korea, and Japan by F. H. King
Interview with Dan on Sustainable Dish
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This week, Kate sits down with author Cat Bohannan to talk about her book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. This conversation takes you on a captivating journey through the intricacies of human evolution viewed through the stories our bodies have to tell - and the female body in particular. In this podcast, they explore elements of the book as well as exploring what it means to look at the narrative arc of female bodies through deep time. We look at how our evolution is a product of environment, culture, behaviors, context, and bodies exploring topics like menopause and menstruation, tool use, mating behaviors, and so much more. Cat shares a message of agency and empowerment and what it might mean to think about how the human species might evolve from here.
Find Cat:
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution
X (Twitter): @catbohannon
Books Mentioned in the Podcast:
Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
Skin: A Natural History by Nina Jablonsky
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
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Lindsey Browne Davis is a writer, hunter, entrepreneur, and naturalist. Based in Salt Lake City, Lindsey draws from her experiences farming, foraging, hunting, and running businesses to talk candidly about chasing our dreams, even when it feels almost impossible. This is a wide ranging and inspiring podcast where we discuss the overlap between stewarding land and our own bodies, building connection with our ecosystem, failing, hunting, and being a citizen scientist. Lindsey has a way of explaining both the terrain around her and her inner terrain with aplomb. We explore ecosystem services and how to be of service to your ecosystem. She also talks about her hope for her (now born!) baby and what life may look like as a mother and hunter both.
Find Lindsey
- Instagram: @lindsey.browne.davis
- Website
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Hey. It’s Kate. I’ve been absent and I want to talk some about why and what it means to be in a challenging season of life. So often we hear from people once they reach the other side of challenge - but we rarely hear from them when they’re in the thick of it. Well, I’m in the thick of it, and so this vulnerable episode is three parts: where I’ve been and what’s going on, how I’ve been literally and figuratively putting one foot in front of the other, and where the podcast is going (hint: it’s coming back! I need it and maybe you do, too.) This is a vulnerable episode that I’m a little waffly on releasing, but feel strongly that there is a call to share honestly. It is also an exploration of walking as a practice of moving through hard times. Why walking as exercise, as a practice, as a meditation? I answer all that and more in today’s episode.
RESOURCES
- Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit
- Mountains of the Mind by Robert MacFarlane
- The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane
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Irene joins the Mind, Body, and Soil podcast for her third visit to discuss what it means to become apprenticed to your body. Better yet, a little tardiness on Kate’s part at the beginning of the episode allows Kate and Irene to explore in real time the difference between a regulated and dysregulated nervous system. In it, the idea of “window of tolerance” is teased apart. All in all this is a short and sweet episode about connecting in with your body.
RESOURCES
- SmartBody SmartMind Program
- 21 Day Nervous System Tune-Up
- Previous Podcasts with Irene: Part 1, Part 2
- Kate’s Interview on Irene’s YouTube
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In this episode, Kate gives us an update about regional food systems through the lens of her butcher shop, Western Daughters, and the decision of whether or not to close. What does it mean to support regenerative food systems as a food business - and where does financial sustainability come into the conversation? Kate leads us through the struggles each shareholder in the supply chain, including the consumer, is facing as she sees it. This leads in to an excellent panel that she was on in Helmville, Montana at the Old Salt Festival. Hosted by Mountain and Prairie podcast host Ed Roberson, the panel features Kate, Cole Mannix from Old Salt Co-Op, Dan Miller from Steward, and Wyatt Nelson of Wild West Local Foods. Together, they explore what it means to build a resilient, regional food system and all the triumphs and hurdles that are presented along the way for producers, consumers, distributors, and beyond.
SPONSORED BY SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
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Rob Krapfel has been challenging himself for a long time. Whether teaching himself how to upland hunt as a teenager, navigating a career as a fish biologist, or becoming a smokejumper in his late 20’s, Rob has something to say about persistence and perseverance. Envisioning a life of adventure from a young age with a desire to do many different things, Rob has sought out the place where challenge, adventure, and honest work. In this episode we explore his philosophies on life, teaching yourself skills, and cultivating focus as someone who just can’t sit still. Most recently, Rob has transitioned into the world of growing Sundries Farm garlic in the Hagerman Valley of Idaho - and we dive deep into what it means to grow something from hand, the hardships and triumphs of small farming, and into garlic itself. This is a wide ranging conversation you won’t want to miss a beat of.
Find Rob:
Instagram: @sundriesfarm
Sundries Farm Garlic
SPONSORED BY SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
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How do we begin to explore and illustrate the multi-factorial complexity that surrounds us? This has become one of the guiding questions of the podcast and Alanna Collen, author of 10% Human, has a gift for navigating the tangled webs of connection. Author and evolutionary biologist, Alanna’s book set an early stage for conversations around the microbiome a decade ago. In this episode, we look at some overarching themes around the blurred lines of self and other, how influenced we are by the microbes that surround us, how we illustrate complexity in a world of reduction, alongside some of her new work on the obesity epidemic. While the majority of our conversation looks at the broad strokes, we do explore some of the marvels of the microbiome especially around childbirth, breastfeeding, and beyond.
Find Alanna:
Instagram: @alanna.collen
Twitter: @alannacollen
10% Human by Alanna Collen
SPONSORED BY SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
- Hand grown Sundries Farm Garlic is certified disease-free and grown in the volcanic soils of Idaho. With a range of soft and hard-neck varietals the unmatched flavor and big cloves are perfect for both your seed and culinary needs. Pre-order now for shipping in September.
- sundriesfarm.com
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In this episode, I bring back Tara Couture for a second round of talking about the intricacies and complexities of health and what it means to reimagine and reclaim that at a personal, familial, and community level. In this episode, Tara and I deep dive into some of our personal health journeys and exploring the knowledge of not taking a one size fits all approach - that there are many factors that found you sick in the first place and many bioindividual considerations that will support the journey back towards health. It’s about curiosity, relationships, and growing change.
Find Tara:
Substack
@slowdownfarmstead
Resources :
Troy’s Substack: the Doer of Deeds
Divergence
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Join the Ground Work Collective:
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Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Over the course of a couple of months, Fred and I spent a lot of time writing back and forth about mystery and uncertainty with the intention of bringing that conversation to the podcast. Fred Provenza is well known for his research contributions to the field of livestock nutrition and behavior, but this conversation goes beyond that and into the great unknown. Fred is, at his heart, teacher and student both, sharing his curiosity as ‘a cosmic voyager’ here on earth. Through that lens, we explore cultivating a childlike sense of wonder at the interconnectedness of life and all the ‘whys’. We talk about finding and embracing who you are - and supporting it as parents and teachers. Fred shares about how illness changed his outlook and brought him, for a time, to a space of oneness. Ultimately, the conversation is about the uncertainty and transitory nature of life. It is wide-ranging and, I hope, heartwarming.
Find Fred:
Nourishment by Fred Provenza
Timestamps:
00:00:00: Kate shares about getting back on the wagon post hiatus
00:11:30: Fred and Kate drop right into the deep end
00:16:45: Finding a childlike sense of wonder
00:27:57: Everything is interconnected, on a continuum
00:42:31: We are participators, boundaries are arbitrary, relationships matter
01:02:43: Seeing connections looking backward on life
01:11:45: Animal teachers - behavior, parenting, and beyond
01:20:27: We are part of ‘place’
01:27:57: Finding oneness through illness
01:44:42: Cultivating conversation and a new educational paradigm
01:51:34: Be who you are and nurture that in children
02:07:00: Embracing uncertainty
02:15:55: Everything is transitory
Books:
The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani
Power of Now by Eckharte Tolle
The Experience of Nothingness by Nisargadatta Maharaj
Support:
Substack
Patreon
Leave a one-time Tip
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Join the Ground Work Collective:
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Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
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On today's special episode, host Kate Kavanaugh shares a talk she gave in Fredericksburg, Texas for the What Good Shall I Do Conference. It is an exploration of the myriad of ways that we are deeply interconnected - pulling threads from soil science, ecology, botany, cellular biology, mysticism and spirituality, and philosophy. At the end, is a message of hope and healing.
Kate introduces the episode with an exploration of what it means to be a 'participator' rather than just an 'observer' and recounts some tales from her time in Texas with the armadillos, ants, and the moon.
There is also a discussion at the beginning about how the podcast will grow from here and how you can support that growth. Regular programming resumes next week!
Support the Podcast
Substack: https://katekavanaugh.substack.com/
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Leave a one-time Tip: paypal.me/katekavanaughmbs
Thank you so much!
Andreas Weber has studied marine biology and cultural systems alongside his work with theoretical biologist Francisco Varela. Andreas has worked over the years on the concept of enlivenment and looking at the “biosphere as a meaning-creating and poetic reality”. This episode is about dissolving the boundaries of a mechanistic worldview and finding a new depth of meaning, reciprocity, and service. Becoming edible is the touchstone for the talk as Andreas walks us through ideas of reciprocal transformation of matter, what it might mean to surrender to impermanence and that transformation, and how death links us to the whole of life and aliveness. It is also about how we define language and mentorship in response to everything we take in from the interconnected web of life. Andreas guides us through how Western culture and civilization has strayed from so many of these concepts and the trauma that represents on concentric levels. Our chat is wrapped up by exploring the invisible dimension. This is a wide-ranging and beautiful deep dive into our felt experience of matter, of aliveness, of death, and beyond and is absolutely not to be missed.
Find Andreas:
Website: https://biologyofwonder.org/
Ecology of Love Course
Books:
The Biology of Wonder: Aliveness, Feeling, and the Metamorphoses of Science
Matter and Desire: an Erotic Ecology
Timestamps:
00:05:59: Old Salt Festival Shoutout
00:10:58: Interview Begins with a line from Rilke and some ruminations on poetry
00:21:08: Becoming Edible
00:28:48: The hard to define line between self and other
00:37:13: Reciprocal Transformation
00:43:05: Healing rifts of isolation
00:48:49: Surrendering to impermanence and transformation
00:58:31: Death links us to the whole
01:16:38: Non-meditation and finding mentors
01:36:51: Gift, culture, and trauma
01:46:02: The invisible dimension
Books + Resources Mentioned:
Tulku Urgyen
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Joanna Macy
Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke
Philosophy of Baruch de Spinoza
Works by Nagarjuna
Old Salt Festival
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
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- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
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Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Cate Havstad-Casad is redefining what it means to be a holistic entrepreneur. Using her lens of holism and looking at how to scale businesses while still keeping in mind natural limits of growth, she has built Havstad Hat Co and Range Revolutions and Casad Family Farms in conjunction with her husband, Chris. She is as passionate about soil as she is about her community and as passionate about her community as she is about changing the world. In this episode we talk about her incredible closed loop farm, the revolution she is building in the fashion world with Range Revolution, and her new venture building a co-op in Central Oregon. We also explore water in the West and tease out both bureaucratic and climatic drought and how to build more resilient systems in brittle environments. In this reverse interview, we delve into Cate’s heritage and what makes her tick in the latter half of the show - exploring how we inherit intergenerational strengths and how we can consider passing those along to our kids.
Find Cate:
Instagram: @rangerevolution, @casadfamilyfarms, @havstadhatco
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@casadfamilyfarms
Timestamps:
00:07:10: Cate + Kate Begin: Defining a Revolution
00:11:37: Economics of Peace
00:16:33: Closed loop systems and Casad Family Farms
00:37:13: Drought
01:03:36: Range Revolution and regenerative leather
01:27:29: Economies of scale
01:39:51: Our heritage is a part of what drives us
01:49:54: Our parents, becoming parents
Resources
Schumacher Center: An Economics of Peace
Megan French of Boundless Farmstead
Books:
Wendell Berry on Building an Economics of Peace
For the Love of Soil by Nicole Masters
Listening:
Long Promised Road by the Beach Boys
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Mind, Body, Soil
As the digital world looms, this discussion is an exploration of built and natural worlds and how they impact us as a species. Daniel Vitalis, host of WildFed on the Outdoor Channel and formerly host of the podcasts Rewild Yourself and Wild Fed, joins Kate in a conversation that finds humanity at different points in time and with different viewpoints of time itself. It’s an exploration of the environments that shaped our species, from our hunter-gatherer roots, to agriculture, and into our dreams of launching ourselves into space. At this precipice that we find ourselves on, it’s more important than ever to consider how modern thinking has been shaped by our environments - the natural world, the built world, the socio-political world, and beyond. Nested in the conversation is an exploration of death’s role in connecting us to reality and to our food. Towards the end, there is a question around what skills we want future generations to know that we must keep alive today, as it’s not just multiple species that are on the brink of extinction.
We also talk about:
- Living in captivity and the degeneration of humans
- How our thoughts and viewpoints might impact something like how we run or swim
- Cyclical time
Find Daniel:
Instagram: @wild.fed @danielvitalis @surthrival
Website: WildFed, Surthrival
Podcasts: WildFed, Rewild Yourself
Timestamps:
00:00:00: Kate introduces Daniel in her intro
00:09:16: Built vs Natural world
00:22:48: A Space Race
00:32:50: Are we zoo animals?
00:43:22: Feeding hunter-gatherers
00:50:49: Cataclysmic events change humans
01:00:31: How we think influences how we do anything
01:07:50: Getting back to cycles: men, women, time, days of the week
01:24:20: Death is part of the cycle
01:39:52: Saving skills for the next generation
Other Great Interviews with Daniel:
on the Align Podcast
On Luke Storey
(A Few) Favorite Episodes of Wild Fed:
Doug Bock Clark
Philippe Grenade-Willis
Dan Flores
Books Mentioned:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Fourth Turning by Neil Howe + William Strauss
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Katie Forrest, together with her husband Taylor Collins, is the founder of Epic Bar and one of the minds behind Force of Nature Meats and Roam Ranch in Fredericksburg, Texas. Katie herself is a force of nature as a business owner, mother, wife, rancher, and human. Together, we explore the perennial nature of hope and how we can think about modeling businesses after lessons we learn in nature. Spread throughout are messages from the land and from our children about learning to slow down and to listen and an exploration of hope. Towards the end, we cover the importance of ground meat to the food system and the important role of aggregators in the regenerative business ecosystem. This is a beautiful and very inspiring conversation!
Find Katie // Instagram: @forceofnaturemeats, @roamranch
What Good Shall I Do Conference: WGSIDKATE75 (limited supplies)
For Katie’s Backstory // Where Hope Grows Podcast: Ranch Stories: The Genesis
Timestamps:
00:00:00: Intro + the Importance of Aggregators
00:06:34: What Good Shall I Do Conference
00:11:38: A Gift (?) of Geese
00:16:13: Jumping into business
00:26:04: Building an ecosystem of businesses
00:40:09: Modeling businesses after nature: symbiosis and limits
00:44:59: Slowing down to build connection
00:55:35: Roam Ranch
01:17:15: Seeing through the eyes of your children
01:22:31: Hope: leaving our children shade
01:32:22: Ground meat is great
01:43:49: Role of the aggregator
Books Mentioned:
Slow Down and Be Here Now by Laura Brand
Biology of Wonder by Andreas Weber
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
So many of us have had the experience of nature, of farming, bringing us back to ourselves. Adrian Grenier’s story isn’t much different - several years ago he found himself disconnected and in a state of constantly numbing. Coming back to the idea of ‘chop wood, carry water’ he came home to a place after changing just about everything. Adrian and I talk about the nature of disconnection and the connection we can find in nature. We start with the idea that everything has to die - even versions of ourselves - in order to nourish our future, where we might even find ourselves in the infinite. One of Adrian’s philosophies is to constantly be increasing sensation and connection - so we dive into just what that might mean on a practical level. Adrian is an apprentice of the land and exploring what it means to live at Earth Speed.
Find Adrian:
Instagram: @adriangrenier, @earthspeed
Earth Speed on YouTube
Other Great Interviews with Adrian:
Adrian Grenier on the Meat Mafia
Timestamps:
00:00:00: Introducing Adrian and how we met
00:10:30: Spring sets some themes of death, rebirth, renewal, transformation
00:12:37: Finding future self in the infinite
00:18:30: Death of versions of ourselves
00:20:00: Chop wood, carry water - connecting to nature
00:27:05: Increasing sensation and connection
00:33:52: Connecting to intuition
00:40:05: Being an apprentice to the land
00:44:04: Living at the cadence of earth speed
00:52:50: Feeling at home in earth + our current isolation
01:02:11: Starting with small solutions
Books Mentioned:
Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Mind, Body, and Soil
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Heidi Boucher is a home funeral guide and writer and director of the documentary ‘In the Parlor’ where she follows the intimate journey of three families as they navigate caring for their dead at home. Heidi’s work with death is tender and truly beautiful. In this episode we unpack how funerals moved from the parlors of our homes to funeral parlors in just 150 years including the rise of the funeral industrial complex. We explore the very human emotion of conflating our fear of grief, loss, and ‘abandonment’ with the fear of death and the dead. This is as much an exploration of how to have a funeral in your home and navigating the legalities and practicalities of it as it is a conversation around grief. We talk about forming relationships with our dead loved ones, whether they’ve died recently or in the distant past and forming a relationship with grief, who we walk hand in hand with in this life. This is an unfurling conversation and while it may seem heavy at first blush - I left it with an incredible sense of lightness.
We also talk about:
- Navigating death with children and teens
- Scaling home funerals
- & so much more
Find Heidi:
Film: In the Parlor (intheparlordoc.com)
Get in touch with Heidi: heidibouch@comcast.net
Timestamps:
00:03:20: the Funeral Industry by the Numbers
00:08:29: Introducing Heidi and setting intentions
00:11:44: How death and funeral care has shifted in 150 years
00:21:27: How our views of death have shifted
00:26:57: Fear of death vs fear of grief
00:37:30: Modeling death as parents//for children
00:46:03: How media has shifted death
00:52:39: The ‘how tos’ of home funeral care
01:04:52: Nurturing our relationships with the dead
01:15:14: The first 72 hours after death - making room for grief
01:30:18: Funeral care is scalable - you can pick and choose what you want to do
01:39:20: Bringing death home
A List of Books Mentioned:
Find the full list HERE
More Resources:
Home Funeral Alliance
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Scott Carney’s book ‘the Wedge’ changed my life a little bit, and it has led me down a rabbit hole into his work over the years. From the Enlightenment Trap, to What Doesn’t Kill Us, and into some of his interviews around consciousness. In this episode, we dive deep into death and how our biological programming to fear it can be both a hindrance and a reason to challenge ourselves. We talk about how the wellness industry wants to sell you living forever, and that might not be such a new idea. Ultimately, this is a conversation around our actions and the way we can place what Scott calls “the wedge” between stimulus and response at an individual level, and maybe even at a societal level. It’s also about getting out of our own perspective and imagining what it might be like to be a cat, or the motivations of a cell as much as it’s about learning to change our perspectives.
Find Scott:
Instagram: @scottcarney
YouTube
I thoroughly recommend Scott’s Audiobooks!
The Vortex
The Wedge
The Enlightement Trap
What Doesn’t Kill Us
Other Great Interviews with Scott:
Scott Carney on Third Eye Drops
Timestamps:
00:14:22: I finally stop talking and start the episode
00:17:14: How fear of death shapes our biology
00:25:26: the wellness industry wants to sell you living forever
00:28:32: Ripple effects of our actions
00:39:48: Self and other - being shaped by our environments and microbiome
00:48:15: ‘Umwelt’ and empathy
00:51:26: Outsourcing our natural relationships to technology
00:54:24: From a cell’s perspective
01:02:00: ‘the Wedge’ at a societal level
01:17:42: Changing our minds
01:24:31: Being a generalist
Books Mentioned:
The Sandman (Book 1) by Neil Gaiman
Story of the Human Body by Daniel E Lieberman
Range by David Epstein
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Quick Note: A technical glitch in new recording software meant that my audio was recorded not on my microphone. My deepest apologies for the decline in audio quality! It’s still great, just a little tinny, won't happen again!
Caroline is a rancher, cow girl, an entrepreneur, and a newly minted podcast host of Chews Wisely. In this marathon episode, we cover a lot of ground, but central to the conversation is an exploration of the stories we’re telling ourselves as individuals, as farmers and ranchers, and as a society and what it would mean to change them. Caroline shares about the stories she heard growing up and how she chose to tell herself a new story - a story that would lead her through a career in music, to masonry, to ranching in Montana. We meander through what it means to build a regenerative business, looking at your return on investment on time, and building the scaffolding for a new business led with femininity. We explore what it means to cultivate aggressive joy and how we can use choice as a lever in that process. We also talk about the way food is marketed, greenwashing, and how waste management might actually be the climate solution we’re looking for (jk, there are no panaceas, but it might help!).
We Also Talk About:
- Building grit + tenacity
- Trusting ourselves
- Finding steadiness
- Imposter syndrome
Find Caroline:
Instagram: @bigskycaroline
Meat: Little Creek Montana
Podcast: @chewswisely
Cowgirl Camp
Timestamps:
00:06:47: Special announcement for Stella Maria Baer’s Earth Oil Pigment Workshop
00:14:04: Caroline enters the chat and we complain about our husbands
00:18:24: Accountability to your future self
00:30:58: No quick fixes, big or small
00:39:49: Caroline’s backstory
01:01:52: Building a Business and the Trust Muscle
01:26:39: Including our Labor; ROI on Work
01:44:30: Cultivating aggressive joy
01:54:36: A new story for ranching
02:16:24: Embracing the feminine in business and beyond
02:37:14: Our relationship with food
02:44:58: Chews Wisely
In the Intro:
Stella Maria Baer’s Oil Pigment Paints Workshop
Resources Mentioned:
The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdoch
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Dr. Bill Schindler is an experimental archaeologist, anthropologist, restauranteur, hunter, butcher, father, husband…. And Renaissance man when it comes to early man. Author of ‘Eat Like a Human’, Bill and I dive right into a conversation about the origins of homo sapiens and how technology and morphology shaped our modern form. We talk about hunting and the consumption of meat vs animal and how butchery evolves alongside humans. Bill owns a restaurant, Modern Stoneage Kitchen, and we take a sidebar conversation to explore entrepreneurship, food safety, and more in relation to getting healthy food to people. This naturally dovetails into a conversation about all things fermented and the microbiome of ruminants, fowl, humans, and beyond. We close up with a conversation about the consumption of clays, geophagy, and ultimately the importance of sharing food with the people we love.
Please note if you want more of the foundations of 'Eat Like a Human' and Bill's work - I've linked to a couple of interviews of his that I enjoyed on other podcasts.
We Also Talk About:
- Geophagy
- Entrepreneurship
- & so much more
Other Great Interviews with Bill:
Bill on Peak Human pt 1
Bill on Peak Human pt 2
Bill on WildFed
Find Bill:
Eat Like a Human by Dr. Bill Schindler
Bill’s Instagram: @drbillschindler
Modern Stoneage Kitchen Instagram: @modernstoneagekitchen
Eastern Shore Food Lab Instagram: @esfoodlab
Bill’s Website
Timestamps:
00:05:33: Bill Introduces Himself
00:09:53: Origins of Modern Homo Sapien
00:18:05: Kate has a bone to pick about Thumbs
00:24:32: Other factors potentially driving evolution and culture
00:31:37: How hunting changes the game
00:34:48: Meat vs animal; butchery now and then
00:43:05: A brief history of food safety and exploration of modern food entrepreneurship
00:54:12: Fermentation and microbiomes in humans, rumens, crops, and beyond
01:11:11: Geophagy
01:21:21: the cultural importance of food is… maybe the most important part
01:29:59: Processed food
Resources Mentioned:
St. Catherines: An Island in Time by David Hurst Thomas
The Art of Natural Cheesemaking by David Asher
Charcutier, Slumiere, Wurstmeister Francois Vecchio
How to Eat Clay
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Blair is a farmer, a mother, a homeschooler, a milkmaid, a renegade. On this episode, I sit down with Blair Prenoveau who you might know as @startafarm on Instagram. In this episode, she unpacks why you might start a farm including the deep purpose, nutrition, and connection it offers. She doesn’t, however, shy away from the hardships and together we deep dive into the financial hardship that is owning a very small farm. We also talk about intimacy with your food and connecting to death. She shares about her journey raising 4 homeschooled kids largely solo and what it has meant to be a single mother farming. The positive feedback loop on eating nourishing food is an important topic, and we posit why it may just be the most important step in getting people to start more farms.
We Also Talk About:
- Mending
- Milking
- & so much more
Find Blair:
Instagram: @startafarm
Timestamps:
00:00:00: Kate on a note of hope
00:05:23: Nervous Systems
00:08:33: What Good Shall I Do Conference
00:10:15: Our own labor counts when raising our food
00:13:22: Blair’s background
00:22:43: Start a farm
00:44:15: Connecting deeply to our animals
01:03:29: Bucking the system
01:18:00: Farming and parenting
01:28:00: Farming finances
01:45:40: Raw cream saves the world
Mentioned in Intro
Irene Lyon’s SmartBody SmartMind Course
What Good Shall I Do Conference
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer46 episode Blair
Maren Morgan and Jake Marquez are on a journey to find the truth and the root of connectedness through their film, podcast series, and future book - Death in the Garden. In this episode, we unpack a lot of the stories, mythologies, narratives, and perhaps truths of what it means to be human. At the beginning, Jake and Maren lead us through the garden whether they are the physical gardens we tend, Eden, or our conception of utopia. In those gardens, they touch on concepts like consciousness, order, chaos, nature, agriculture, and beyond. Underpinning those conversations are questions like: what is the human role with earth? In a time when misanthropy runs rampant, how do we reclaim our place in the garden with the rise of AI and the machine? We unpack Jake and Maren’s past and history with food, with veganism, and whether or not eating meat imbues us with more aliveness and a sense of the sacredness of relationships. But there is no food without death and so next we unpack death and what it means to practice dying, to try to control death, to accept death, and to look at death not as an end, but as an alchemical space of transformation. Jake weaves in our own more recent mythologies, and how Harry Potter and Star Wars have become a part of our narratives around death.
We also talk about:
- Intimacy with food
- the Hero’s Journey
- and so much more!
Timestamps:
00:07:24: the Death in the Garden Project and Being ‘In Process’
00:17:52: Heterodox Thinking and Developing a Compass for Truth
00:25:21: “The Garden”
00:48:46: Misanthropy + Our Human Relationship to Earth
01:06:49: Jake + Maren’s Backstories // the Hero’s Journey
01:18:14: Death in Our Current Culture
01:31:47: Practicing Dying
01:46:51: Intimacy with Food
02:08:46: the Latent Villain Archetype and Controlling Death: Darth Vader meets Voldemort
02:21:40: Support the Film
Find Jake and Maren:
Substack
Death in the Garden Film + Podcast
IG: @deathinthegarden
Jake IG: @arqetype.media
Maren IG: @onyxmoonlight
Selected Works from Jake and Maren:
The Terrible and the Tantalizing Essay
We Are Only Passing Through Essay
Resources Mentioned:
Daniel Quinn
The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Frances Weller
Where is the Edge of Me? By Nora Bateson
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Fall of Civilization Podcast
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Alex Rosenberg-Rigutto could not be defined by a single metric, maybe other than to say that her joy and zest for life are definitively contagious. In this incredible episode, Alex details the arc of her life and her journey to farming, stopping along the way to explore important aspects of what makes us human from our interaction with our environments to the importance of every day ritual. Kate and Alex explore the impacts of being medicated as children and how formative experiences shaped their idea of discipline, laying the ground work for a big conversation about the ‘Discipline/Pleasure’ axis. Alex shares about how her experiences with addiction led her to farming and teases out an important difference in how we seek to re-create various environments when, really, we are trying to find connection. Throughout the episode are themes of dissolving boundaries, finding a place outside of the small box society often puts on us, and building skills on the farm, in the kitchen, and beyond.
Timestamps:
00:01:33: Introducing Alex + A Note on Discipline
00:08:42: Home of Wool
00:11:53: Alex and Kate are obsessed with salt
00:18:23: Alex’s childhood environment and an exploration of overmedicating children
00:25:49: Recreating vs re-creating; drug use and the search for connection
00:32:31: Finding home in farming and being in service to land
00:50:24: On ritual: from the every day, to earth based Judaism, and beyond
00:59:11: Creating layers in the kitchen
01:22:13: Exploring the Discipline/Pleasure Axis
01:47:44: Building Skills and North Woods Farm and Skill
01:55:03: Kate + Alex Share a side story about teeth and oral health journeys
02:12:31: Alex closes with a beautiful wish for farming
Find Alex:
Instagram: @alexandraskyee
@northwoodsfarmandskill
Resources:
Bean Tree Farm - Arizona
Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday
Discipline/Pleasure Axis Graphic
What Good Shall I Do Conference
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
YouTube Page
Brian Sanders is the brain behind the upcoming film series Food Lies and the Instagram account by the same name. His work with Food Lies and his podcast, Peak Human, is about uncovering the lies we’ve been told about food. We dive deep in this podcast to explore where the engine driving the lies in our food system might have gotten its start. How far back does it go? We look at the beginning of agriculture all the way to the Rockefellers to find answers. The shaping of our food system has major implications for the systems of modern day life past the food system and we peek at our education system, medical system, financial system, and more. At the heart of this conversation, though, is how our relationship with food makes us human and whether or not we can return to the meaning of the Homo Sapien (wise human) or if we’ll continue to fall for the lies we’re being sold.
We Also Talk About:
- Community as a nutrient and its role in our lives
- Satiety and its importance
- & so much more
Timestamps:
0:12:08: Brian’s Background
0:17:43: Where being human and food intersect
0:25:42: Power structures and food
0:31:23: Where the food lies begin.
0:42:19: Where the food lies meet big money
0:46:07: The weaponization of the greater good
0:52:09: What to do to get out of a broken system/exit the matrix
1:04:08: Are humans wired for comfort and how do we dig into discomfort?
1:14:00: Are humans capable of long term thinking?
1:26:00: Community as a nutrient
1:29:49: Satiety
Find Brian:
Instagram: @food.lies
Podcast: Peak Human
Film Website: Food Lies
Resources:
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt
Eat Like a Human by Bill Schindler
Peak Human Guest: Gary Fettke
Peak Human Guest: Ted Naiman on Satiety
Peak Human Guest: Mary Ruddick on Debunking Blue Zones
Justin Wren on Joe Rogan re: Community
Also Mentioned in Intro:
What Good Shall I Do Conference
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
James Connolly is a film producer (most recently - Sacred Cow), co-host of the Sustainable Dish podcast, avid reader, and passionate about food. It’s hard to encapsulate this conversation in a description - we cover a lot of ground. At its core, it’s the broad strokes of just how we ended up in our current paradigm. We start about 150 years ago, where we follow threads of the move from rural to urban environments and how the idea of ‘cleanliness’ begins to take hold. We cover the Great Grain Robbery and the formation of commodities that would change the agricultural world and how technology has played a role in these early formation of food systems and how it’s playing a role now, leading into a conversation of techno-utopias. James covers school systems, as someone who has run a non-profit for schools in New York, and how we’re taught what to think, not how to think and the compulsory education experiment. We also dive into the history of medicalizing the human experience using some personal anecdotes around grief to explore the world of psychiatric medication and beyond. All of this leads into a discussion of the techno-utopia that we’re often being marketed and the shape of the current food system. It’s a big, rolling conversation filled with all the book recommendations you need to keep it going.
We also talk about:
- Butchery through the lens of two butchers
- The vilification of meat
- Effective Altruism
- & so much more (seriously, so much more)
Timestamps:
09:30: The Sanitization of Humanity
18:54: The Poison Squad
33:03: The Great Grain Robbery + Commodities
44:24: Techno-Utopias The Genesis of the Idea that Technology is the Answer
55:01: Tunnel Vision in Technology, Carbon, and Beyond
1:02:00: Food in Schools and Compulsory Education
1:11:00: Medicalization of Human Experience
1:51:00: Effective Altruism
2:11:00: Butchery
2:25:00: More Techno-Utopias
Find James:
Twitter: @jamescophoto
Instagram: @primatekitchen
Podcast: Sustainable Dish
Reading/Watching List
The Invention of Capitalism by Michael Perelman
Daniel Quinn’s Works
The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum
Mister Jones (film)
Shibumi by Trevanian
Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto
Three Identical Strangers (film)
Related Mind, Body, and Soil Episodes:
Dr. Anthony Gustin (for more on decentralizing food systems)
Will Reusch (on the education system and teaching kids how to think)
Brett Ender (mentioned throughout the podcast)
Current Discounts for MBS listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 15% off Bon Charge blue light blockers using code: MINDBODYSOIL15
- 10% off Home of Wool using code: KATEKAVANAUGH
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
In this short solocast, Kate catches us up after her impromptu break before we start the new year with a huge slate of exciting episodes. But first... a little business to attend to. The Ground Work Podcast is becoming the Mind, Body, and Soil podcast. Same Kate, same amazing guests, new title!
Kate also shares some big business news, a little about her thoughts on New Year's, and a little thank you to all of you.
Anna Borgman is a butcher, slaughterwoman, ardent reader, and curious student of life. In this episode we dive deep into one of the most unexplored aspects of our food system: the processor, the butcher, the slaughterhouse. The place where animals make their transition to food through the portal of death. We dive into what this means: what it means for the people working there, how our current culture misses this step in the food chain, and what it means to “turn the hard work of farmers into food.” Anna and I also talk about our own relationships with death and how anxieties around death led her to get closer to understanding something that can never be fully understood. We didn’t stop there, though, and in this episode we talk about how our bodies may just be vehicles for microbes, seeking out disconfirmation, leveraging curiosity, and so much more.
We Also Talk About:
- Body Image and Butchery
- Humans place on earth
- & so much more
Find Anna:
Instagram: @annaborgman, @foragefed
Website: Forage Fed
Resources from the Episode:
The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky
Red Meat Republic by Joshua Specht
The Meat Paradox by Rob Percival
North Bridger Bison
Custom Knives: @jessevosler_vigilanteforge
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code BLACKSHEEP20 (until November 30th) and code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off after that.
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Dr. Suuzi Hazen is a wife, mother, farmer and healer who raises goats in the rugged fire country of north-eastern California. She is the founder of Mother's Best Liver Pills, the original microbrewery of grass-fed beef liver supplements. Suuzi is a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and in this episode we dive right into the liver, looking at it not just through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but through an ancestral and spiritual lens. Suuzi goes on to unpack traditional lifeways and how we can find a connection in our modern world when it comes to child rearing, raising a family, and beyond. As two goat owners only could, we discuss the ways that goats connect us back to a different time. We also dive into marriage and sexuality and unpack the highs and lows of long term partnerships. This is a jam packed episode with an incredible guest.
Note: this episode contains explicit content.
Find Suuzi:
Instagram: @drsuuzihazen
Website: Mother’s Best Liver Pills
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Hamid Jabbar
Tara Couture
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 20% off Home of Wool using code BLACKSHEEP20 (until November 30th) and code KATEKAVANAUGH for 10% off after that.
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Find Kate: @kate_kavanaugh
More: groundworkcollective.com
Lily Nichols, RDN is shifting the paradigm on what it means to eat for your health in your child-bearing years. Author of Real Food for Pregnancy and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes, Lily is leading a grassroots movement on getting back to eating nutrient dense foods and is at the cutting edge of the research on just how important they are for the health of mother, infant, and future generations. In this episode, we cover the journey from pre-conception through post-partum nutrition, highlighting just where the history of foods recommended for pregnancy begins to go awry. Lily’s book is incredibly comprehensive in breaking down vital nutrients and their whole food sources and with many podcast interviews under her belt - we dive into some different topics. Looking at the importance of nutrition not just through the lens of the developing baby but also the health and vitality and resiliency of the mother. We talk about the importance of whole food nutrients together in their food source and the synergy of those nutrients in things like liver, egg yolks, and collagen-rich cuts. We also dive into body wisdom and whether or not we should listen to cravings. This is an incredible episode for women and men both thinking about their long-term health and conception journeys - Lily’s dietary recommendations aren’t just for those trying to conceive or pregnant - they’re good recommendations for anyone seeking a more nutrient dense diet.
We also talk about:
- Glycine and the importance of collagen
- Making regenerative meat more accessible
- & so much more
Find Lily
Website: lilynicholsrdn.com
Instagram: @lilynicholsrdn
Books: Real Food for Pregnancy, Real Food for Gestational Diabetes
Further Reading Mentioned:
Protein Requirements in Pregnancy Article by Lily Nichols
Nourishment
Vitamin A deficiency linked to diaphragmatic hernia
The Dorito Effect
Wired to Eat
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Dr. Stephan van Vliet on the science behind regenerative ag
Initially, my husband, Josh Curtiss, and I conceived of this episode as a way to share about the importance of play and imagination in our relationship and as a 2-year wedding anniversary present to ourselves (and 14 years together). But after I put a question sticker on Instagram for relationship questions and received a massive response - it became a place for us to dive into not just play, imagination, and fun but also the highs and lows of our relationship. So often, we are not afforded peeks inside of a real relationship, but on this episode we are real and honest and totally transparent about the good, the bad, and the spicy. We cover fighting, cheating, forgiveness, keeping it sexy after 14 years, always having something to talk about, staying curious about your partner, and so much more. This episode was built for those who love love, who want to hear about the choices we make in relationships to stay through the tough stuff, and about how to evolve together. We also answered all of your questions! Do we want children? What are our love languages? And so many more.
As a note, this episode does contain some explicit content where we talk about sex, though it is not graphic in nature.
Find Josh:
Instagram: @thejoshofalltrades
Website: westerndaughters.com
Resources Mentioned:
From the Core by John Wineland
Artist in Love by Madelyn Moon
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Collecting Skills with Josh Curtiss
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Initially, my husband, Josh Curtiss, and I conceived of this episode as a way to share about the importance of play and imagination in our relationship and as a 2-year wedding anniversary present to ourselves (and 14 years together). But after I put a question sticker on Instagram for relationship questions and received a massive response - it became a place for us to dive into not just play, imagination, and fun but also the highs and lows of our relationship. So often, we are not afforded peeks inside of a real relationship, but on this episode we are real and honest and totally transparent about the good, the bad, and the spicy. We cover fighting, cheating, forgiveness, keeping it sexy after 14 years, always having something to talk about, staying curious about your partner, and so much more. This episode was built for those who love love, who want to hear about the choices we make in relationships to stay through the tough stuff, and about how to evolve together. We also answered all of your questions! Do we want children? What are our love languages? And so many more.
As a note, this episode does contain some explicit content where we talk about sex, though it is not graphic in nature.
Find Josh:
Instagram: @thejoshofalltrades
Website: westerndaughters.com
Resources Mentioned:
From the Core by John Wineland
Artist in Love by Madelyn Moon
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Collecting Skills with Josh Curtiss
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
In this special ‘Thanksgiving’ episode, Frank Reese and Jed Greenberg of Good Shepherd Conservancy are talking turkey. Frank gives an incredibly fascinating in depth run down of the history of the poultry industry, from the incredible men and women that defined standardbred poultry in the 1800’s to the rise of industrial poultry in the mid 1900’s and how the industrial model really set the tone for other confinement operations with other species. He discusses how he came about preserving biodiversity in a world that favors animal monoculture and genetics in a time where 1 breed of livestock goes extinct each week and just why biodiversity is so important. We also explore the studies that show that standardbred birds can have a lower omega 3:omega 6 ratio based on genetics alone! In the end, we talk about turkey specifically and the mission at Good Shepherd to bring better raised poultry to everyone!
We also talk about:
- Cooking heritage turkeys
- & so much more
Find Frank + Jed:
Instagram: @good_shepherd_conservancy
Website: https://goodshepherdconservancy.org
Order Turkeys: If you’re in Colorado/local to Denver: https://westerndaughters.square.site/product/heritage-turkey/1100, If you’re anywhere else: https://heritagefoods.com/collections/turkey-poultry
Resources Mentioned:
Chicken People
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Building Resilient Communities with Will Harris
Dark Matter of Nutrition with Dr. Stephan van Vliet
Meat is the Medicine with Brett Ender
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
In this special ‘Thanksgiving’ episode, Frank Reese and Jed Greenberg of Good Shepherd Conservancy are talking turkey. Frank gives an incredibly fascinating in depth run down of the history of the poultry industry, from the incredible men and women that defined standardbred poultry in the 1800’s to the rise of industrial poultry in the mid 1900’s and how the industrial model really set the tone for other confinement operations with other species. He discusses how he came about preserving biodiversity in a world that favors animal monoculture and genetics in a time where 1 breed of livestock goes extinct each week and just why biodiversity is so important. We also explore the studies that show that standardbred birds can have a lower omega 3:omega 6 ratio based on genetics alone! In the end, we talk about turkey specifically and the mission at Good Shepherd to bring better raised poultry to everyone!
We also talk about:
- Cooking heritage turkeys
- & so much more
Find Frank + Jed:
Instagram: @good_shepherd_conservancy
Website: https://goodshepherdconservancy.org
Order Turkeys: If you’re in Colorado/local to Denver: https://westerndaughters.square.site/product/heritage-turkey/1100, If you’re anywhere else: https://heritagefoods.com/collections/turkey-poultry
Resources Mentioned:
Chicken People
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Building Resilient Communities with Will Harris
Dark Matter of Nutrition with Dr. Stephan van Vliet
Meat is the Medicine with Brett Ender
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Molly Haviland is a soil microbial ecologist and self proclaimed soil dork who works in land rehabilitation with her company, Haviland Earth Regeneration (HER). In today’s episode she shares the contents of her microscope, illuminating the beautiful universe beneath our feet, through story. She begins by walking us through ways we can open up a dialogue with the plant realm and form a relationship with nature. We then dive below the Earth’s crust as Molly walks us through a peek into the soil food web and the characters and organisms that exist there. Her reflections on soil naturally evolve into a reflection of society and how the communities below ground might offer us ideas for our communities above ground and our own health and wellness. We talk about reclaiming the feminine in how we connect to earth and ourselves, learning to get in touch with our intuition and sense of embodiment and also dive into what it might mean to compost grief. Molly has a true gift for speaking and this episode will find you wanting to go out and hold the earth and speak to the soil, it is not to be missed. We also talk about: Listening to the land & so much more
Find Molly: Email: Molly.lscl@gmail.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haviland_earth_regeneration/ (@haviland_earth_regeneration) Website: http://havilandearthregeneration.com/blog/ (Microherder’s Manifesto) Further Reading Mentioned: We based some of this conversation off of the work of Maureen Murdoch in the https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-heroine-s-journey-woman-s-quest-for-wholeness-maureen-murdock/11685034?ean=9781611808308 (Heroine’s Journey ) https://bookshop.org/p/books/plant-spirit-medicine-a-journey-into-the-healing-wisdom-of-plants-eliot-cowan/9428494?ean=9781622030958 (Plant Spirit Medicine) Eliot Cowan https://bookshop.org/p/books/for-the-love-of-soil-strategies-to-regenerate-our-food-production-systems-nicole-masters/15536483?ean=9780578536729 (For the Love of Soil) by Nicole Masters
Related Ground Work Episodes: https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/10/11/episode32-anne-dave/ (How Soil Shapes the World with David Montgomery and Anne Biklé) https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/03/29/episode3-farming-intention-alicia-brown/ (Farming with Intention with Alicia Brown) https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/07/19/episode19-lacey-jean/ (Learning to Come Home to Yourself with Lacey Jean)
Current Discounts for GW listeners: 15% off http://farmtrue.com/ (Farm True) ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groundworkcollective/ (@groundworkcollective) Find a Farm: https://nearhome.groundworkcollective.com/ (nearhome.groundworkcollective.com) More: https://groundworkcollective.com/ (groundworkcollective.com) Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: https://groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer (groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer)
Nicolette Hahn Niman is an environmental lawyer, a former vegetarian, an advocate for meat, and also a mother and a cattle rancher. Often times on this podcast with guests that have done many interviews, I will take a more unexplored path - but you can always find other interviews in the links. In this interview, Nicolette and I explore Defending Beef and where meat was in 2014 at the time of its first publication and where it is now 8 years later with the new edition. We briefly touch on Livestock’s Long Shadow and how a figure that was later retracted, launched a thousand vegan campaigns, when really the author of the paper’s aim was to further concentrate animal feeding operations and eliminate grazing. Nicolette elegantly explains carbon, methane, and water cycles in relationship to meat. While meat has its fair share of vilification, this interview really focuses on what it means to BUILD a new system. We dive into not just the obvious benefits of raising meat regeneratively, but also the intangible benefits. Things like raising kids on ranches, building good citizens, strengthening microbiomes, preserving ecosystems from development, and coming home to rural communities. We also talk about husbandry and the contract that we entered into with animals as humans at the dawn of domestication and what it means to uphold those contracts. Nicolette dives into advocacy and policy as a vehicle for changing the landscape of our food system. We also talk about: Witnessing joy and finding mentors in our cattle How yields and centralization changed the industry & so much more
Find Nicolette: Twitter: https://twitter.com/DefendingBeef (@defendingbeef) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/defendingbeef (Defending Beef) Book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/defending-beef-the-ecological-and-nutritional-case-for-meat-2nd-edition-nicolette-hahn-niman/8758155?ean=9781645020141 (Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat (Second Edition) by Nicolette Hahn Niman ) Further Reading Mentioned: It’s worth noting that Defending Beef leaves a breadcrumb trail of other fantastic authors - so dive into the book for more! https://bookshop.org/p/books/wilding-returning-nature-to-our-farm-isabella-tree/6394219?ean=9781681373713 (Wilding by Isabella Tree) Resources Mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ygsdHJjdI (Walter Jehne’s Water Cycles)
Related Ground Work Episodes: https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/08/09/episode23-stephan-vanvliet/ (Dr. Stephan van Vliet on the science behind regenerative ag) https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/09/06/episode27-will-harris/ (Will Harris on building rural communities ) https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/10/11/episode32-anne-dave/ (David Montgomery and Anne Bikle on building soil health)
Other Podcasts Featuring Nicolette’s Work: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/part-122-nicolette-hahn-niman-on-defending-beef-uncovering/id1393265937?i=1000521520461 (Nicolette on Peak Human ) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meat-or-plants-which-is-better-for-reversing-climate/id1382804627?i=1000529568618 (Nicolette on Mark Hyman)
Current Discounts for GW listeners: 15% off http://farmtrue.com (Farm True) ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective: Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com Find Kate: https://www.instagram.com/kate_kavanaugh/ (@kate_kavanaugh) More: groundworkcollective.com
Themes: Healing Chronic Illness, Animal-Based Diets, Intersection of Big Food and Big Pharma, Decentralization of Systems, Listening to your Gut Brett Ender embarked on a healing journey in 2016 that would see him hospitalized from debilitating ulcerative colitis and taking a 65,000 dollar drug once every 8 weeks to having no signs of inflammation or microinflammation in 2019. What happened in between? In 2018, Brett went full carnivore and within 2 weeks saw a complete abatement of symptoms. His story, these days, isn’t all that rare but where it led Brett, into a deep exploration of health and nutrition, food systems, and regenerative agriculture. Today, he is half of the Meat Mafia duo, where he explores nutrition and food with guests on his podcast. In this episode, we unpack his healing journey and the rise of chronic conditions like ulcerative colitis. Why are these inflammatory autoimmune conditions on the rise? Can they be cured? How do we leverage diet and lifestyle interventions to our benefit? Brett and I also explore what it means to invest in your health and the ROIs you might not have considered when it comes to “giving up” foods you love that might not love you back. We talk about meat as a healing modality and finding the motivation to spark change. We do a deep dive into the history of our current food model and how food and pharmaceuticals have gotten us into this mess and how decentralization can get us out of it. Brett is incredibly inspirational and throughout this journey, he makes catalyzing change feel simple and actionable.
We also talk about:
How to talk to your doctor and become the CEO of your own health How to become your own experiment Gut feelings and finding your intuition The importance of continuing to have conversations with people who view things differently & so much more
Find Brett:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MrSollozzo (@mrsollozzo)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themeatmafiapodcast/ (@themeatmafiapodcast)
Website: https://themeatmafiapodcast.substack.com/ (themeatmafia.substack.com) Resources Mentioned:
https://www.amazon.com/Makers-Diet-40-day-experience-forever/dp/0768442397 (The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin)
https://blog.whiteoakpastures.com/blog/climate-smart-grant-rejected (White Oak Pastures on the USDA Grant)
https://thesmhp.org/directory/ (The Society for Metabolic Health Practitioners (Find a Doc))
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252937345_The_Visible_Sustainable_Farm_A_Comprehensive_Energy_Analysis_of_a_Midwestern_Farm (The Sunshine Study ) Related Ground Work Episodes:
https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/09/21/episode29-anthony-gustin/ (Dr. Anthony Gustin) (for more on decentralizing food systems)
https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/07/12/episode18-sarah-kleiner/ (Sarah Kleiner) (for more on leveraging an animal based diet for health)
https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/08/02/episode22-ashleigh-vanhouten/ (Ashleigh VanHouten) (on cooking Carnivore-ish) Current Discounts for GW listeners:
15% off https://farmtrue.com (Farm True) ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groundworkcollective/ (@groundworkcollective)
Find a Farm: https://nearhome.groundworkcollective.com/ (nearhome.groundworkcollective.com)
More: https://groundworkcollective.com/ (groundworkcollective.com)
Episode Website
In May, Erin Pata and I sat down and talked about ranching, art, raising kids, and climbing mountains. It was also about navigating life as a highly sensitive person, listening to your inner knowing, and consciously creating your path in life. If you didn’t catch this first episode - I highly recommend returning to it before diving in here. Erin is full of as much wisdom as she is humor, a true delight to listen to. At the time of our last episode, she was looking towards the summit of Mt. Rainier. Late this Summer, I sat down with Erin and talked about that journey. Did she make it to the top? What was the process like? Was the summit the high point of the climb? In this mini-episode, Erin shares her journey and it’s one of deep inspiration. It’s about doing the thing you’ve always dreamt of doing, it’s about Type 2 fun, and it’s about it never being too late to learn a skill in life, to climb the mountain. Find stunning pictures of Erin’s climb on the episode webpage! Find Erin: Twitter: @butterbeanstudios Website: butterbeanstudios.com Books Mentioned: Robert MacFarlane’s Mountains of the Mind Related Ground Work Episodes: The Journey to the Summit with Erin Pata Current Discounts for GW listeners: 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective: Instagram: @groundworkcollective Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com More: groundworkcollective.com Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer Episode Webpage
Anne Biklé and Dave Montgomery are a husband and wife team and authors of the newly released What Your Food Ate and the trilogy: Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations, the Hidden Half of Nature, and Growing a Revolution. Together, with Anne’s lens of biology, and David’s lens of geology, they explore the topics of soil, land, and human health. In this episode, we explore all things soil. Starting with an exploration of how many dynamics between organisms above ground feel combative, but life beneath the soil is truly collaborative. Anne and Dave explore nutrient cycles and how nutrition in the form of minerals is liberated from rocks by microbial and fungal life and recycled through time. We also explore how plants and animals (including humans) get their nutrition. Anne and Dave touch on the state of our soils and what it means to have lost around half of our soil organic matter in a short amount of time and what we can do about it. Touched on are ideas around taking a long view, and how we can do that with our own health and land health and how the history of the treatment of soil might teach us a little bit more about looking into the future. We look at not just regenerative agriculture, but also the impacts of chemical and mechanized agriculture. Ultimately, Anne and Dave guide us towards the future and just how much hope and resiliency nature is capable of. We also talk about:
Policy changes informing changes in practice Boom and bust cycles of agriculture and civilization & so much more
Find Anne + Dave:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dig2grow (@dig2grow)
Website: https://www.dig2grow.com/ (dig2grow.com) Anne + Dave’s Books (in order - but can absolutely be read independently):
https://bookshop.org/books/dirt-the-erosion-of-civilizations-9780520272903/9780520272903 (Dirt:) The Erosion of Civilizations
https://bookshop.org/books/the-hidden-half-of-nature-the-microbial-roots-of-life-and-health/9780393353372 (The Hidden Half of Nature): The Microbial Roots of Life and Health
https://bookshop.org/books/growing-a-revolution-bringing-our-soil-back-to-life/9780393356090 (Growing a Revolution): Bringing Our Soil Back to Life
https://bookshop.org/books/what-your-food-ate-how-to-heal-our-land-and-reclaim-our-health/9781324004530 (What Your Food Ate): How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health Related Ground Work Episodes:
https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/08/09/episode23-stephan-vanvliet/ (Stephan van Vliet) (for more on phytochemicals and the dark matter of nutrition)
https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/04/05/episode5-chewing-fat-brad-marshall/ (Brad Marshall) (for more on omega 3:omega 6 ratios)
https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/03/29/episode3-farming-intention-alicia-brown/ (Alicia Brown) (for more on no till agriculture and growing for nutrients) Current Discounts for GW listeners:
15% off http://farmtrue.com/ (Farm True) ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groundworkcollective/ (@groundworkcollective)
Find a Farm: https://nearhome.groundworkcollective.com/ (nearhome.groundworkcollective.com)
More: https://groundworkcollective.com/ (groundworkcollective.com)
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: https://groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer (groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer) https://groundworkcollective.com/2022/10/11/episode32-anne-dave/ (Episode Webpage)
China Tresemer is at once writer, artist, winemaker, farmer, and something else altogether. Her new website, Still Life with Field Notes, is dedicated to weaving together the threads of her work in collaboration with the earth - from her art, writing, recipes, and beyond. At home in the space where the Hood River meets the Columbia River, between rainforest and desert, China grows plants, animals, and grapes at Hiyu Wine Farm. She opens by talking about how farming is her medium, and in the conversation the theme of medium, in between, and liminal recurs. In this episode, we explore the natural winery she co-founded, Hiyu, and what it means to grow dozens upon dozens of grape varietals under categories such as light phenomena, birds of prey, constellations, and the hedgerow. We get curious about the space where terrestrial bodies meet celestial bodies and where astrology influences people and plants alike. We dive deep into unpacking terroir through the lens of the beautiful intimacy we can find with animal, land, season, and people. China shares her thoughts on recipes, cooking, and how taste invites us to connect to something deeper. Fermentation is at the heart of many of the inner workings of Hiyu and we explore its connection to transformation - whether it’s compost into fertility, grapes into wine, or leaven into bread. This is a wide ranging and beautiful conversation for ushering in the Autumn season.
We also talk about:
- Permaculture, Biodynamic, and ultimately - learning to read the land
- Autumn and the space between
- Farming and the connection to the spiritual
- & so much more
Find China:
Instagram: @stellagraphia, @hiyuwinefarm
China’s Website Still Life with Field Notes
Hiyu Wine Farm
The Understory Membership
All Reading/Books/Etc Mentioned Can Be Found on the Episode Website:
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective, @kate_kavanaugh
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Episode Website
Brandi Stanley is a walking and talking paradox and you are, too. This episode is a long-form podcast between two people that don’t know how to be bite-sized. Often discussed through the lens of paradox where paradox is the answer and not the problem, and pleasure is found in the pursuit of all the questions. In it, Brandi discusses finding purpose in her life as a generalist for whom curiosity is always burning. We talk about aliveness as a North Star for purpose in that, according to Brandi, “whatever wakes up aliveness is your purpose.” We talk about connection - both connecting disparate ideas and also what happens when we become disconnected and it manifests as illness in our bodies, divisiveness in our culture, and breakdowns in our ecology. Brandi shares about the role of religion in her life and her exploration of the intentional split between matter and the sacred, and how she is reintegrating them in her life. We explore the idea of ‘living in the gift’ and how we can share our gifts with the world and how we can receive the gifts of others.
We also talk about:
- The intersection of eroticism + aliveness
- Learning to stop cutting off pieces of yourself to belong
- Holding complexity
- Finding purpose in illness
Find Brandi
Instagram: @thisplusthatpod
Website: thisplusthat.com
For a full list of books, essays, and other resources please see Episode Website
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Dr. Anthony Gustin is a man leveraging his curiosity to find opportunities in the problems of our modern age. He started as a chiropractor working with elite level athletes and saw the need for education around nutrition. That first crossover led him into founding Perfect Keto, Equip Foods, and helping put together Zero Acre Farms. He’s as much of a disruptor as he is a dreamer - and lately, he’s been getting into farming on his small farm, Joyfield Farms, outside of Austin, Texas. In this conversation, we explore modeling life after Wendell Berry and having a balance between intellectual and more physical and farm-related pursuits. We talk about the natural state of humans and whether or not we can get back to it, and if we can’t, what might come next and how in order to build it we have to start trying to solve some problems of progress. Anthony shares how to get people engaged with everything from eating real food to buying directly from farms and how some of his companies have served as stepping stones in that space. We dive into the scale of agriculture currently and what it’s going to take to get smaller farms in financial shape to begin to provide a viable alternative to the corporate organism. Anthony also shares some of his big questions about farming, as a self-professed novice, and how people have reacted to his viewpoints. This conversation asks big questions but also posits big solutions.
We also talk about:
- Americans consumption of over 70 billion pounds of polyunsaturated fatty acids per year - can animal fats compete?
- Finding a spiritual practice coming from an atheist background
- The importance of community
- & so much more.
Find Dr. Anthony Gustin
Twitter: @dranthonygustin
Instagram: @dranthonygustin
Sign Up for His Newsletter
Website
The Natural State Podcast
Equip Foods
Zero Acre Farms
Further Reading:
Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist by Paul Kingsnorth
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible by Charles Eisenstein
The Cross and the Machine (Essay) by Paul Kingsnorth
Keto Answers by Dr. Anthony Gustin
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Chewing the Fat with Brad Marshall
Dark Matter of Nutrition with Dr. Stephan van Vliet
Other podcasts featuring Anthony:
The Meat Mafia
Bankless
More on the Episode Website
This is an episode you won’t want to miss, chock full of conversations around rightness, death, farming, and preservation - not just of food - but of ways of life. Caught in the heat of August and the peak of harvest, we talk about what it means to preserve something beyond just what is going into our freezers, cans, and solar dehydrators. We talk about preserving a different way of life. In it, we unpack the ways that death invites us to experience the full range of our humanity and connectedness. Tara dives into farming in Canada and beyond and what regulations might mean for the future freedom of our food system. There is an honest and in depth conversation on marriage, the highs and the lows, and how we can show up in service to our spouse. Within that, we cover what bulls and men have in common and how thoroughly both should be celebrated. We explore service over purpose and why chasing happiness isn’t the answer. Throughout the conversation, we talk about raising animals, eating delicious food, celebration of small farms, and freedom.
We also talk about:
- Going beyond what is comfortable and safe
- Nutrition
- & so much more!
Find Tara
Instagram: @slowdownfarmstead
Substack: Slowdown Farmstead
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Lacey Jean
Shele Jessee
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Episode Website
Will Harris of White Oak Pastures is a 5th generation rancher in Bluffton, Georgia. Will switched from a conventional model of farming to a holistic model in the 90’s and has been building not just soil organic matter, but also community, in his small rural town - once named one of the poorest in America. Now raising 10 different species, with integrated processing facilities, and a team of over 170 people, has given Will Harris a lot of ups and downs to consider what the business and mission of resiliency is all about. We talk about his recent viral moment discussing Bill Gates becoming the largest farmland owner in the U.S. We dive deep into resiliency - not just as it applies to land, but also as it applies to communities and businesses. Our discussion around finances runs deep and Will is transparent about how money flows in and out of White Oak Pastures and why traditional financial institutions won’t touch farming - but there are other options. Will highlights how market access and getting your product to consumers is one of the biggest hurdles in the business and how ‘greenwashing’ in the market has made it harder for small businesses to bust into the space occupied by multinational corporations. At the heart of the conversation, is an idea of coming home and digging in to build up rural America, just like Will has done with Bluffton
We also talk about:
- The importance of slaughter and processing in the farm to table process
- How fundamental cycles - water cycles, microbial cycles, nutrient cycles are to farming
- Carbon tunnel vision
- & so much more
Find Will Harris and White Oak Pastures:
Instagram: @whiteoakpastures
Website: White Oak Pastures
Center for Agricultural Resilience
Quantis Life Cycle Analysis for White Oak Pastures
White Oak Water Cycles YouTube Video
Further Reading:
Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown
The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
Resources Mentioned:
Replant Capital
Related Ground Work Episodes:
How to Find Ecological Literacy with Bobby Gill (for more on Savory Holistic Management)
Tides of Time and Oysters with Lissa Monberg (for more on multi-generational farming)
Other Podcasts featuring Will Harris:
Will Harris on Herd Quitter
Will Harris on Sustainable Dish
Episode Website
In this episode, we dive into the nervous system’s connection to chronic illness. Over 50% of Americans have at least 1 chronic illness and 46% of American children also suffer from a chronic illness. Diet, toxin exposure, circadian biology all play a role in chronic illness but what about the nervous system? In part 2 of our journey into the nervous system with Irene Lyon, we explore the nervous system’s role in chronic illness - and the research behind it might just surprise you. We talk about the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study and what it exposed about the nervous system’s role in chronic illness. She also explains the mechanism where fight, flight, and freeze create a situation that can cause illness. Irene also discusses finding a healthy balance with technology and the way we share our personal lives and how our relationship with our phones is changing our nervous systems. In an important note, we talk about finding safety within ourselves and not outsourcing our power of healing to gurus, doctors, or anyone else. This interview is packed full of information, but it’s also a study in becoming our own healers.
We also talk about:
- Victim consciousness
- Intergenerational Trauma
- Fawn Response
- & so much more
Related Episodes:
Part 1 with Irene
Find Irene
Instagram: @irenelyon
YouTube
Website
21 Day Nervous System Tune Up - I loved it so much, I became an affiliate! If you use these links, I receive a commission.
SmartBody SmartMind Course
Further Reading:
Scared Sick by Robin Karr-Morse
When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine
African Babies Don’t Cry (an essay) by Claire Niala
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Episode Website
In this episode, Irene Lyon breaks down not just the fundamentals of the nervous system but just how fundamental healing your nervous system is. It’s where we deepen our connection to ourselves and our environment. You’ll learn about how the nervous system is set in early childhood and how that forms the foundation for how we interact with the world. We dive into how we can harness neuroplasticity and the same regeneration and resiliency we see in nature to begin to shift the way our nervous system is regulated. As chronic health conditions and depression are on the rise, Irene looks at something that may be at the root of the matter - the state of our nervous systems. It may not be a quick fix, and we cover all the myths around the hacks and quick fixes that dominate the wellness sphere these days, and the truth that healing the nervous system is about building devotion to your body for the long haul. Irene shares her own story of how injuries and childhood experiences shaped her journey and how weaving together her work in the personal training and fitness world, somatic experiencing, and nervous system training with some of the world’s foremost practitioners - Peter Levine and Kathy Kain - led her to create a whole library of education and courses for healing your nervous system. We also explore how healing the nervous system isn’t just about the individual, but also about the next generation.
We also talk about:
- Is the vagus nerve overhyped?
- Why meditation may not be working for you
- Why a preconception nervous system reset may be in order
- What nature teaches us about the nervous system
Find Irene
Instagram: @irenelyon
YouTube
Website
21 Day Nervous System Tune Up - I loved it so much, I became an affiliate! If you use these links, I receive a commission.
SmartBody SmartMind Course
Further Reading:
Scared Sick by Robin Karr-Morse
When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine
African Babies Don’t Cry (an essay) by Claire Niala
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Episode Website
Your mineral status is reflected in the mineral status of the soils, of your mother, and of your grandmother. Hammid Jabbar is exploring the way the mineral matrix affects our energy and the way minerals connect us back to our universal nature. In this episode, we look at the mineral depletion in soils and what that might mean about our own mineral status. Hamid first got interested in minerals through the lens of ancestral diets and then, later, plant medicines. After finding Morley Robbins’ work and the Root Cause Protocol, Hamid began to see first hand how changing his mineral status was improving his health. We first explore the role of mitochondria and how our maternal matrix informs our biology and just how much our mineral status in preconception, pregnancy, and beyond influences both our health and the health of our children. Much of this discussion looks through the lens of copper, as we get curious about her role in the regulation of iron, of our energy creation, and health. We discuss thirst as a product of mineral depletion and how mental health is also reflective of mineral status. Hamid offers a beautiful perspective on why we should do away with the idea of the mind/body connection and come home to our wholeness and how sound can heal.
We also talk about:
- Time
- Integrating knowledge and finding a season for rest
- How EMFs are impacting us and how we can become less sensitive
- All about retinol
Find Hamid
Instagram: @mineralshaman, @hamid.jabbar
Website: hammidjabbar.com
Hamid’s Sound Healing Courses
Hamid’s Mineral Coaching
Hamid’s Sonoran Sound Singing Bowls vol. 1
Further Reading:
Cure Your Fatigue by Morley Robbins
What Your Food Ate by David Montgomery and Anne Bikle
Dr. Martin Pall’s work on EMFs
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Episode Website
Episode YouTube Page
Dr. Stephan van Vliet is at the forefront of researching what he calls the ‘dark matter’ of nutrition. Beyond the nutrition facts panel, beyond just protein, fat, and carboyhydrates and beyond the vitamins and minerals we are familiar with lies a world called metabolomics where thousands and tens of thousands of compounds and phytochemicals exist. Dr. van Vliet is looking at these compounds and in how food is grown - whether it’s conventional, regenerative (which Dr. van Vliet refers to as agroecological) and whether it’s plant-based or animal-based agriculture. In this episode, we explore the nutrient cycle from soil to plant to animal to human and back to soil in depth. We look at biodiversity from the level of metabolomics, whether it’s diverse forage for cattle to graze, or a diverse array of species to nourish the soil, or diversity in the human diet. We discuss everything from older animals, water in the West, what flavor may indicate, seasonality and how it influences the compounds in meat, and so much more.
We also talk about:
- Are older animals more rich in phytonutrients?
- How seasonality influences phytonutrient content
- Can humans have the innate wisdom in their food choices we see in animals?
- Do we have tunnel vision when it comes to greenhouse gases?
- Farmer Pprotests in the Netherlands (Dr. van Vliet is from the Netherlands)
Find Dr. van Vliet
Twitter: @vanvlietphd
Google Scholar Profile
Be a part of Dr. Vanvliet’s Research on Beef: Bionutrient Institute
Further Reading:
Nourishment by Fred Provenza
Life in the Rocky Mountains by Warren Angus Ferris
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Chewing the Fat with Brad Marshall
Other Podcasts featuring Dr. van Vliet:
On Fundamental Health
On Peak Human
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Ashleigh VanHouten is at the center of exploring muscles - both building them in the gym and cooking them in the kitchen. Author of cookbooks Carnivore-ish and It Takes Guts and pioneer of women’s strength training programs her work makes cooking and exercise feel easy and accessible. During this conversation, Ashleigh and Kate explore the world of incorporating organ meats into your diet from a place of no shame - whether you’re highlighting them or hiding them, these nutrient dense superfoods deserve a place on your plate. Ashleigh talks about being a woman in male-dominated industries and how marketing has shaped the way women eat and train over the years, for better and worse. She talks about how we can celebrate the differences in women’s physiological and hormonal outlays to train better, prioritize recovery, and get the protein women need in their diets. In that same vein, Ashleigh discusses her carnivore-ish pregnancy and what it has been like to begin to introduce the next generation to nutrient dense foods like organ meats in her baby’s diet. This conversation is wide-ranging and incredibly empowering.
We also talk about:
- Healthspan and considering muscle mass as we age
- Taking a critical look at our end goals by asking “to what end?”
- Prioritizing feeling good and how the byproduct might be looking good
Find Ashleigh
Instagram: @themusclemaven
Website: ashleighvanhouten.com
Podcast: Muscle Science for Women
Training Programs:
- Pull-Up Program
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Webpage
Episode YouTube Page
Brandi Stanley, who is an incredible interviewer and explorer of paradox, was generous enough to share this interview of Kate from her podcast, This Plus That. In this interview, Kate explores the paradox of life and death, the desire for things to taste better and what that means ecologically. She expounds on the difference between conventional and ‘regenerative’ agriculture and the history of reciprocity between animals and plants. She also talks about how life thrives at edge zones, the place where forest meets field and stream meets field and how much richness and biodiversity we can find there. No podcast with Kate would be complete without a dive into Ancel Keys and how we replaced fat with sugar much to our detriment. Additionally, Brandi and Kate explore their shared love of complexity, nuance, and long form.
If you loved Brandi, and we know you will, you can find her podcast here. You can also look forward to an interview with her on this podcast soon!
Find Brandi and This Plus That:
This Plus That Instagram
This Plus That Website
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Webpage
Episode YouTube Page
Will Reusch has 16 years of experience as a high school teacher first in a public school in East LA and now in Private School - a teacher of history, civics, geography, government, and more - his main mission is to teach kids not what to think, but HOW to think. We explore the pitfalls of the current education system, everything from the unnatural environment of fluorescent lights to how curiosity, in the current paradigm, is viewed as disruptive and compliance is what makes a better student. Will aims to turn that on its head, exploring how we can connect kids to the material they’re learning, help them seek out the why, and develop an open and curious mind. We also dive into how to have conversations as adults in an increasingly polarized political environment, asking how we can build bridges instead of deeper divides. Will’s work on instagram has been to create a space where conversation is welcome and a diversity of ideas and viewpoints are encouraged when looking at some hard-hitting topics. We touch on the place of religion and get curious about how a declining belief system has potentially led to a sort of unmooring and seeking framework for beliefs in political structures instead. We dive into the role grief might play in culture and how our turning away from death and our “disgust” response leads us to shield ourselves. Throughout the conversation, the idea of the importance of struggle is present, and how, even if it’s manufactured, struggle is important for creating a sense of purpose.
We also talk about:
- How just looking at things through the lens of “good” and “bad” leaves no room for nuance and complexity
- How we can scale good education in a K-12 model
- Seeking out disconfirmation and its importance in critical thinking
- How meat got vilified and how that conversation is going
Where to Find Will:
Youtube
Website
Notable Works:
Why K-12 Need Viewpoint Diversity
How to Scale Good Education with Will Reusch and Hollis Robbins
Further Reading:
Ryan Holiday’s Book
How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide by Peter Bhogossian and James Lindsay
John McWhorter’s Work
Resources Mentioned:
Louis CK ‘Kids Asking Why’
Will Reusch on Factory Farming and Slavery
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Webpage http://groundworkcollective.com/2022/07/26/episode20-will-reusch/
Episode YouTube Page
Lacey Jean is. Lacey Jean is many things, a polymath at heart, at once butcher, mobile processor, hide tanner, shearer, and shepherdess but none of the many hats she wears defines Lacey Jean. This is one of those incredibly juicy conversations where you walk away feeling more alive for it, dripping with honesty and earnestness, triumph and failure, and the meandering path we are all taking as we try to find home within ourselves. As Lacey embarks on building her own Geodome home by hand in the Pacific Northwest, she muses about what it’s taken to build a home in herself. Already, as she has started to move in, she has noticed how living in the round is changing her mindset and we explore the round robustness of cycles - from life to death and back into life again. Along the way, we talk about all the skills she has built to get here and what it means to be capable. Lacey talks about holding death as a butcher and mobile processor but also what it means to let parts of your self and your dreams go so others can take root. Lacey's story is incredibly inspiring and everyone will find wisdom in this conversation!
We also talk about:
- Using social media as inspiration, not comparison
- Raising sovereign children
Find Lacey
Instagram: @fireheart_shepherdess
Website: fireheartshepherdess.co
Online Hide Tanning Course
Further Reading:
Radical Homemaker by Shannon Hayes
Resources Mentioned:
Lines written in the days of growing darkness by Mary Oliver
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Erin Pata
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Webpage
Episode YouTube Page
Tristan Scott wants to figure out where beef and bitcoin overlap - and the areas where they overlap turns out to be rather surprising and plentiful. Is the moment when Nixon takes the U.S. off the Gold Standard where both our health and currency woes begin? Tristan and Kate explore the answer to that question by looking at two parallel journeys: a weakening U.S. dollar and the rise of Bitcoin and the precipitous decline in health and the centralization of our food system and the rebirth of the local and regenerative food movement. Are bitcoin and regenerative beef disrupting the current paradigm? Could be. Kate’s father had a saying: “You can see as far up a bull’s ass as I can” and this holds true for looking at the future trends for bitcoin and beef, but at the end of this marathon episode, it’s clear that the time for decentralization is nigh. Please note, there is no financial advice in this episode, nor should you take it as such.
Find Tristan:
Twitter: @bitcoinand_beef
Instagram: @bitcoinandbeef & @tristan_health
Further Reading:
Bitcoin and Beef by Tristan Scott
Changing the World Order by Ray Dalio
Bitcoin White Paper
Resources Mentioned:
Texas Slim and the Beef Initiative
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Chewing the Fat with Brad Marshall
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Website
Episode Youtube Page
Sarah Kleiner has been on a health journey and each leap she has made has been because of her children. In this episode, we talk about finding fertility and upending the traditional paradigm of fertility treatments and preconception diet. Sarah’s journey truly begins when her daughter was diagnosed with autism 13 years ago, leading Sarah to explore the world of diets from vegetarian to carnivore. More recently, after failed attempts to conceive and hold a pregnancy, Sarah looked to circadian biology, red light therapy, and cold exposure to help her become pregnant. Sarah walks us through that journey, what she’s craving during this pregnancy, all while unlocking vital information about our exposure to the sun, how we can think about hydration, EMFs, and so much more.
We also talk about:
- What the rise of sunscreen use and the decline in health might have in common
- How we can get healthy sun exposure
- Parenting fearlessly
- & so much more
Find Sarah:
Instagram: @carnivore.yogi
YouTube: Carnivore Yogi
Website: Courses + Webinars
Further Reading:
Red Light + Fertility Study (and further reading HERE)
Dr. Masaru Emoto’s Water Crystal Work
Nourishment by Fred Provenza
Resources Mentioned:
Sarah’s Interview with Corey Ghazvini
Sarah’s Interview with Ian Mitchell
BJ’s Raw Pet Food
Iris Blue Light Blocking Computer Software (a personal favorite)
Quinton Minerals (another personal favorite)
Related Ground Work Episodes:
Carrie Bennett
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off farm true ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found at groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Webpage
Episode YouTube Page
This episode unpacks the relationships between all things, taking a systems view of mind, body, and soil. Bobby Gill is the Director of Development and Communications at the Savory Institute but he is also on a similar quest to uncover the way life is connected on a multitude of different levels. This is a deep dive into ecology, humanity’s relationship with nature over time, and finding ecological literacy in an age of ecological illiteracy. Bobby and Kate unpack the idea of systems thinking through the lens of the textbook ‘Systems View of Life’. Technology, psychedelics, ruminants, nutrient cycling, parenting are all part and parcel of this wide ranging conversation. We also explore the way that meat has been portrayed in media and dive into some of Bobby’s work with the Savory Institute. This is a conversation that is truly not to be missed.
We also talk about:
- Holistic planning
- Ruminants as ecosystem engineers
- Embodying the full expression of life and health
- & so much more!
Resources:
Instagram:@b0bby.gill
Website: Savory Institute
Bobby’s TEDx Talk
Books:
- The Systems View of Life by Fritjof Capra and Pierre Luigi Luisi
- Nourishment by Fred Provenza
- The Secret Drugs of Buddhism by Mike Crowley
- The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe
- How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
- The Awakened Brain by Dr. Lisa Miller
- The Immortality Key by Brian C. Muraresku
Other Mentions:
- Daisyworld Resources: Lovelock and Gaia, Model of Daisyworld
- Water Cycles with Walter Jehne
- All of earth Time as a 24 hour clock
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
- 15% off Carrie’s ‘Connect to the Light’ Course with code ‘KATE15’
Join the Ground Work Collective
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundwork collective.com/disclaimer
Episode Website
Carrie Bennett is unveiling the interconnectedness between us and our environment. Exploring health and connection through the lens of quantum biology, Carrie lays the ground work for understanding the electric nature of our bodies and how they interact with our environment to create energy. This podcast explores and uncovers the deep interconnectedness of mind, body, and soil that we’re always exploring and dives even deeper with discussions around exclusion zone water, EMFs, circadian biology, and more. She ties everything back to our connection with nature through light, ground, and water. Not only does Carrie elegantly deliver the foundational knowledge we need to understand these concepts but she provides an abundance of information on resources for quantum healing, many of them free and right outside your door. This is a powerhouse of a podcast that spans both the technical and the actionable in an introduction to quantum biology.
We also talk about:
- The surprising nature of collagen
- Light as a nutrient
- Seasonal living in colder climates
- & so much more!
Resources:
Instagram:@carriebwellness
Website: https://www.carriebwellness.com
YouTube Channel
Discounts:
15% off Carrie’s ‘Connect to the Light’ Course with code ‘KATE15’
Further Reading:
Books:
- The Fourth Phase of Water: Beyond Solid, Liquid, and Vapor by Gerald Pollack
- Electric Body, Electric Health by Eileen McCusick
Studies:
- Electromagnetic fields act via activation of voltage-gated calcium channels to produce beneficial or adverse effects by Martin Pall
- The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases by James Oschman et al.
Gadgets and Do-Dads:
- Blue Light Blockers (15% off using Carriebwellness)
- Dive into EMF Meters
- Timer for WiFi
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Website
We follow the journey of a log from forest to home with Katrina Amaral of Timberdoodle Farm. Have you ever wondered where the wood beneath your feet, in your walls, and your furniture comes from? As Katrina puts it “pretty much wherever you are, you’re within 5 feet of a wood product.” Katrina brings her lens of conservation work to her and her husband’s sawmill in New Hampshire. Drawing similarities between a local and more globalized food system, Katrina guides us through a look at what a local and global lumber trade looks like. As wood prices skyrocket, it’s a good time to get curious about what the lumber market is all about and how to tap into your local one. Covered is everything from forest stewardship, urban wood removal, utilizing local species over trendy species of wood, and bringing architects and designers into the conversation. If you’ve ever wanted to better connect with wood and the forest - this is the podcast!
We also talk about:
- Finding financial sustainability in the sawmill industry
- Ground nesting birds
- & so much more!
Resources:
Instagram:@timberdoodlefarm
Website: timberdoodlesawmill.com
Find a Sawmill: Urban Wood Network, Wood-Mizer Pro Sawyer Network, iDry Kiln Network,
Further Reading:
Timberdoodle Farm in Fast Company
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Website
Beth Lipton isn’t just a food writer, recipe developer, and advocate for regenerative agriculture - she is also one of the authors of new cookbook ‘Carnivore-ish’. Beth brings her unique perspective to this podcast. Over the years she has had a unique opportunity to see food journalism’s meteoric rise alongside the rise of the conversation around health. She works to bring both conversations to her work. A turn with an elimination diet led Beth to meat a number of years ago and she’s been reaping the benefits of being carnivore-ish since then. We talk about the benefit of an animal-based diet for both men and women, but talk especially about breaking societal mores around women’s meat consumption. This discussion also covers the maligning of meat in mainstream media and what, if anything, we can do about it. Beth brings her expertise in how to make getting in the kitchen a breeze and her tips make cooking feel easy and accessible. This is a conversation for all the meat cookers out there - experienced and novice alike - and those interested in how we continue the conversation about meat in arenas big and small.
We also talk about:
- The recipe development process
- Cooking for kids
- & so much more!
Resources:
Instagram:@cookiepie0402
Website: bethlipton.com
Further Reading:
The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz
The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Website
Erin Pata is one of those people whose journey makes you deeply consider your own life’s journey. Her journey starts in Ohio and winds through ranching and dry farming in the Jalama Valley in California, many National Parks, motherhood, graphic design, and leads her to where she stands now: at the precipice of attempting the summit of Mt. Rainier. We talk about why we chase our dreams - whether they’re mountains, art, or just a life guided by wanderlust. Our conversation leads us to look at life through the lens of motherhood and the lessons we impart to our children that we could probably stand to learn ourselves. Throughout the conversation, we hit on values that guide her life - things like freedom, bravery, curiosity, and creativity. We dive into her passion for tracking megafauna and how it led her to buy a piece of property where she’s building a cabin in Montana. Through all the time she’s spent in nature, we talk about how nature has the ability to bring a sense of peace and calm to highly sensitive people, and we have a detailed conversation about both of our experiences as HSP’s. This is a rollicking conversation and Erin’s wisdom and zest for life is contagious.
We also talk about:
- Erin’s work as a freelance graphic designer
- Problem solving
- Learning to mountaineer
- & so much more!
Resources:
Instagram: @butterbeanstudios
Website: butterbeanstudios.com
Further Reading:
Night of the Grizzlies by Jack Olsen
The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron
Other Mentions:
Identifying Your Values with Africa Brooke
Daniel Curry’s work
The Tooth and Claw Podcast
Cover Photo by Trever Stolte
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Website
In this episode, Kate takes a step outside of her relationship with her husband and really gets curious about what makes the man she married tick. This discussion is both rollicking and intimate. Josh Curtiss has been collecting skills over the last two decades - as a master carpenter, butcher, farmer, welder, entrepreneur, and so much more. We talk about how he arrived at the decision to collect skills and how he tended to and cultivated them over the years. Not just that, but we talk about play and joy as skills that we must practice. As Josh says “play is the embodiment of practicing joy.” Josh had a lot to say about what it means to play and how we can create a sense of play in everyday life. We dive into the food system, talking intimately about what it means to invest in our food and in our health. We parse out the difference between lifespan and healthspan and what keeps us accountable in our journeys toward health, and we talk about running businesses together over the last decade and how we approach farming and entrepreneurship as a couple. Our intimate conversation leads us in and out of the intricacies of growing and evolving together. And throughout the conversation, is a thread of joy, and what it means to cultivate it. This conversation is as surprising and gentle as it is intimate.
We also talk about:
- Raising animals
- Finding presence and focus
- Dangerous jobs
Resources:
Instagram: @thejoshofalltrades
Groundworkcollective.com
westerndaughters.com
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 10% off Hama Hama Oysters using code: GroundWork10 through 5/31
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
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“You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop.” - Rumi.
Salt is not just a seasoning on your table - it is the currency of cells, the crystal of life. This podcast unfolds in two parts. At the beginning is a mini-dive into salt with Kate. Why does salt matter so much? From history, to our biology, salt has an important place at the table. In the second part, an interview with Nancy Bruns of JQ Dickinson Salt-Works in West Virginia. Nancy shares the story of her 7th generation salt operation in the Kanawha valley in Appalachia where they make salt by hand using the power of the sun and the briny waters of an ancient underground ocean. We explore the process of making salt and how it connects us to the land, to our bodies, and to history.
- The salt-making process
- The importance of trace minerals
- The difference between JQD salt and sea salt
- A brief history of salt
- & so much more
Resources:
Instagram: @jqdsalt
https://www.jqdsalt.com
Further Reading:
- Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
- The Salt Fix by James DiNicolantonio
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 10% off Hama Hama Oysters using code: GroundWork10 through 5/31
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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Chelsea Connor is one of those people who exudes the kind of magic that leads you back home to yourself. Combining science, research, and an innate understanding of the nervous system, our conversation is a journey about the art of slowing down, learning to listen to our bodies, and beginning to heal our nervous systems. We deep dive into the nervous system, exploring physiology alongside a more intuitive approach to how we might begin to heal starting with looking to our childhood passions as a gateway to that healing journey. We don’t leave the conversation there, though, and we meander through topics like moving from the city to a rural environment and all that entails, finding who you are without society’s perceptions, the art of slowing down, understanding nervous systems through the lens of our relationship with our parents (and horses!), and so much more. Chelsea is not just a wealth of information but feels like a bright light in the health space, bringing a sense of joy and play to her work and a felt sense of magic to the world of our nervous systems. This conversation is a fun one!
We Also Talk About
- Our experiences as first-time horse owners
- Cacao and tapping into ritual
- Nourishment for body and mind
- EMFs and grounding
- Breathwork
- Attunement
Resources:
Instagram: @houseofnourishment
kismetcacao.com
Further Reading:
- Call of the Wild by Kimberly Ann Johnson
- Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Current Discounts for GW listeners:
- 10% off Hama Hama Oysters using code: GroundWork10 through 5/31
- 15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV15
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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Lissa Monberg is a fifth generation farmer in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, where she is steward to Hama Hama Oysters and Hama Hama Logging. We talk about natural resource management and the beautiful relationship between agriculture and aquaculture. Hama Hama celebrates their centennial this year, and we explore the ways in which a business changes over a century, going from resource extraction to resource sustainability to restorative stewardship. We explore plenty about the oysters Hama Hama is known for and a little about the clams we should be eating more of. We talk about cycles large and small as Lissa guides us through the seasons of a multi-generational business and the tidal cycles of the oyster business.
This podcast illuminates aquaculture and the way an oyster so perfectly reflects its ecosystem back to us through flavor but it is also the story of how time changes a place and the people who call it home.
GroundWork10 will get you a 10% discount on an order from Hama Hama through 5/31/22! We highly recommend that you have some oysters, clams, and mussels shipped right to your doorstep.
We Also Talk About
- Clams clams clams!
- The meditation we find in work
- Diversified farms
- Stewardship and family businesses
Resources:
Instagram: @hamahamaoysters
Hamahamaoysters.com
How to shuck straight from Hama Hama
Further Reading:
The Living Shore by Rowan Jacobsen
A Geography of Oysters by Rowan Jacobsen
The Oysters of Locmariaquerby Eleanor Clark
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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Heather Hansman knows a thing or two about water. Adventurer, writer, and journalist, Heather Hansman embarked on a journey some years ago to raft the length of the Green River from the headwaters in Wyoming down through Utah. Along the way, she looked at shareholders along the length of the river: ranchers and ag, fisheries and fisherman, outdoorsmen and recreational users, rural and urban endeavors - and she puts it all together in her beautiful book Down River. Heather has also recently published Powder Days and her wonderful essays are found in publications from Outside to Scientific American. We talk a lot about water in the West - especially as the 100 year anniversary of the Colorado River Compact, which determined how the Colorado River water would be divided between 7 states, comes around this year. We dive into where that compact stands now and the issues facing water rights in the West now and in coming years. We also talk about how we connect to water - which is often through our time in nature. We dig into Heather’s adventures, connection to nature, seasonal living, and so much more.
We Also Talk About
- Our brains and bodies on nature - from cold plunges and beyond
- How to connect to local water initiatives
- & so much more!
Resources:
Instagram: @hhansman
Heatherhansman.com
Scott Carney’s The Wedge
Wintering by Catherine May
Further Reading:
- Down River by Heather Hansman
- Powder Days by Heather Hansman
- Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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Lynn Goodwin and Kim Welch are helping others connect to their health, the land, and their dharma - and they started with ghee. Farmtrue founders Lynn and Kim wanted to share the Ayurvedic principles that had changed their lives and knew that ghee was the perfect gateway - but their business stretches far beyond their 100% grass-fed and grass-finished ghee. In this episode, we let a lot of truths bubble up to the surface. We talk about living in connection with the seasons and nature and the basics of Ayurveda. We have a very open conversation about what it means to really source from local farmers and to be true to your mission as a business. We get vulnerable about the triumphs, hardships, and evolution of small business ownership. Not to mention - a deep dive into fat and ghee.
We Also Talk About:
- Finding spirituality and connection in nature
- Separating your value from your business
- Living out your dharma
- Seeking balance and harmony in mind, body, and soil.
Resources:
Instagram: @farmtrue
Farmtrue.com
15% discount on all Farmtrue products with code ‘KATEKAV15’
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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Brad Marshall knows a thing or two about fat. Farmer, butcher, chef, and molecular biologist; Brad has looked at fat through a lot of different lenses. He is known for his work around diets low in polyunsaturated fatty acids, more commonly known as PUFAs. We dig deep on the detrimental effects these are having on human, and even animal, health. Whether looking at PUFAs in vegetable oils or corn and soy fed hogs, we explore just how PUFAs are changing us.
We also get to explore how Brad translated his knowledge of PUFAs into his farming practices with pigs, exploring mob rotational grazing pigs and the incredible intuition of a hog’s palate for plants. We look at how the American, and even the global, diet has changed over the years and its implications for health. We dig into the financial model around farming, butcher shops, and the need for financial sustainability to exist alongside environmental sustainability.
Not to mention - we have a fair bit of fun - put two butchers and farmers in a conversation and watch as Brad breaks down a complicated topic with a lot of levity. This is a great episode for those that want to dig really deep into the science of fat and the art of raising pigs.
We Also Talk About
- History of the food system
- The Croissant Diet
- & more
Resources:
Instagram: @fire_inabottle
Twitter: @fire_bottle
Fireinabottle.net
https://firebrandmeats.com
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
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Ed Roberson, host of the Mountain and Prairie podcast and Conservation Director at the Palmer Land Conservancy, shares his journey through both his personal and professional life. We weave through Ed’s career in real estate that led him into conservation work in the West and his personal evolution and exploration in everything from ultramarathons to meditation. Ed is as inspiring as he is dynamic, as dedicated a father as he is a storyteller, and as voracious a reader as he is a conservationist.
We Also Talk About
- Meditation, breathwork, running
- Creating a practice around reading
- Rising above distraction
- Teddy Roosevelt
- Water rights in the West
- Conservation work
Resources:
Instagram: @mtnprairie
Podcast/Book Recs/Good News in the West: mountainandprairie.com
Show Links:
Free Will by Sam Harris
Strenuous Life Speech by Theodore Roosevelt
The Nature Fix by Florence Williams
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
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More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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In this inaugural solo episode, I cover my personal journey while weaving in the themes of mind, body, and soil that we’ll explore in future episodes. I talk about how my curiosity around nature and the meat industry led me to a career in regenerative agriculture, the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, and how working with regenerative farms and seeing nature’s incredible resiliency taught me about my own resiliency. This first episode is part my own human journey, part history of agriculture, and part the mirror that nature holds up for us to find our own nature.
Resources:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
Westerndaughters.com, nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm Near You: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
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Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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Shele Jessee is a polymath. Rancher, shepherd, tanner, fashion designer, entrepreneur, and beyond, Shele Jessee of Hollow Bone shares a peek into her philosophy and life in the Central Coast of California. We talk about her journey back to the land and into the world of ranching alongside stories around the state of drought and trust in rural communities in the West. Shele weaves the magic of turning her relationship with nature tactile through hide tanning and slow fashion. We dive into reciprocal relationships - both on and off the land. Shele shares her ideas around creating and finding beauty in the every day - ideas that I’m sure will resonate with all listeners.
We Also Talk About
- Ranching on leased land
- Supply chains
- Intuition and living a life full of feeling
- Entrepreneurship
Resources:
Instagram: @_hollowbone_
hollowboneonline.com
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
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Alicia Brown is rooted in intention and it translates to every aspect of her farm, Edible Uprising, in Troy, NY. In this podcast, we start from the ground up, exploring how Alicia and her husband, Ben, approached starting a vegetable farm with over 150 weekly CSA shares on just an acre of land. It all starts with soil, and we cover the way they care for the soil food web first on their farm. The result? The most delicious and nutrient dense vegetables and vibrant flowers you’ve ever seen. And it’s no coincidence - we discuss how the decline in soil health has directly correlated to the decline in nutrient density in our food. We also dive into what it means to run a human powered farm and to care for our bodies as farmers, what regenerating farmland across the country might look like, about efficiency and functionality and where beauty fits in, and so much more.
We Also Talk About
- Human powered farming
- Looking at soil testing
- The loss of nutrients in soil and food
Resources:
Instagram: @edibleuprisingfarm
Edibleuprisingfarm.com
Join the Ground Work Collective:
Instagram: @groundworkcollective
Find a Farm Near You: nearhome.groundworkcollective.com
More: groundworkcollective.com
Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: groundworkcollective.com/disclaimer
Episode Webpage