This summer I had an encounter with an injured sea turtle that shook me to my core. When my partner and I visited the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, I did not expect anything more than a new vacation memory and an escape from the punishing July heat. Weeks later, I’m still reconsidering what it means to be human.

The South Carolina Aquarium has been rescuing and rehabilitating endangered sea turtles for over 25 years, returning over 400 turtles to the wild in that time. Honey, a sub-adult loggerhead, is on her way to being one such turtle. The staged hospital surrounding the turtles was packed with noisy and pushy humans, nudging ever closer towards the glass in demand of their money’s worth. They had paid to see some turtles and, after all, my partner and I weren’t all that different. We marveled at two to three convalescent turtles and their caretakers. Then I saw Honey.

Honey was in the largest tank at the end of the exhibit, still recovering from a wound to the right side of her carapace, but healed enough to be on display for visitors. She circled her tank endlessly, bobbing to the top and doggedly testing the enclosure boundaries. To my amateur observation, her movements appeared healthy enough, if somewhat restless from confinement. But when my eyes locked with hers, I was instantly humbled into silence. Aside from the time a turtle popped up next to me at Navarre Beach, I don’t suppose I had ever been so close to a sea turtle. Everything I knew about them came from Planet Earth and public school biology class. Nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed.

If eyes truly are the windows to the soul, then the eyes of sea turtles are a portal to primal knowing. I was not prepared for the degree of sentience that I found regarding me from those deep brown wells. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I had to fight from falling to my knees and weeping. She was not trying to communicate anything to me, and yet I could see the life to which she longed to return. I could practically feel her desire to be in the sea once more, and I felt a deep compassion.

With utter certainty, I had a sense that Honey was the representative of a species older and wiser than I would ever grow to be. I’ve never doubted that other species are conscious. My parents owned commercial greenhouses and cared for exotic animals throughout my childhood. I was no stranger to intimate and almost spiritual connections with plants and animals, and yet something about this encounter with Honey transformed me. After careful thought, I think it comes down to this realization— by and large, humans reject their innate kinship with the rest of the natural world, blocking relationships with creatures like Honey and limiting our understanding of our own species.

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Westerners have become remarkably adept at denying their own animal nature. I’m not referring to self-serving tendencies or acts of aggression— quite the opposite. Collectively, we have deemed ourselves distinct from, and largely superior to, the rest of the natural world. The result? We live in a world filled with unfulfilled, disoriented, and depressed people.

The West’s mental health crisis is multi-faceted and not traceable to any singular cause, but I do think our environment accounts for a larger portion than most of us are willing to give credit. I’m not referring to the organizational state of our desk drawers, but rather our cultural refusal to accept ourselves as equal to the rest of nature.

Recently, author and Earth-center therapist joined me on the Rooted Rebellion Podcast for a discussion that has helped me to understand the relationship between humans and nature— and my experience with Honey — all the more. Prior to our interview, I was lucky to have read Brams’s stellar book, The Nature Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves. With full sincerity, I have not been this excited about a piece of nonfiction since my undergraduate years, when I pored over literary criticism with relish. Brams, a certified eco-psychologist, dares to challenge a centuries-old environmental philosophy. Whereas the prevailing western paradigm would encourage us to view nature as other, Brams asserts that we are nature, and therefore there can be no separation. When we attempt to distinguish ourselves from what Brams refers to as our “more-than-human” community, we face greater anxiety, lack of purpose, and lose out on an essential element of our own humanity.

If you’ve never challenged your own beliefs on this subject, you might find it jarring. You might even feel angry or confused. Any number of feelings are valid. I encourage you to leave your preconceived notions at the door and consider a different perspective with me.

The scientific community widely accepts that time in nature benefits human mental health. While it is true that standards for mental health vary cross-culturally, there are some commonalities. Stanford University’s Natural Capital Project (NatCap) conducted a review of 449 peer-reviewed studies from around the globe measuring the impact that exposure to nature had on people living in cities. While parameters for time in nature varied with the studies, the results did not. Participants across the board experienced decreases in negative mental health outcomes, such as anxiety and depression, and increased feelings of positive mental health, with adolescents experiencing the greatest positive impact from nature immersion. Another study completed by Hunter et al. reflects that a mere 20-30 minutes of an activity in nature yielded an over 20% decrease in cortisol after 24 hours. Urban planners and health care providers have looked to these findings to justify increased nature exposure for their citizens and patients, demonstrating a recognized need for nature immersion.

Science proves what our bodies and spirits innately know; we are nature, tailored for relationship with the rest of the natural world. When we reject this birthright, our stressed bodies and fractured communities reflect the consequences. In the West, we have all but lost the richness and sacredness of this worldview, which so many of our ancestors understood so well. Experts in environmental ethics disagree about the exact origin of our modern environmental woes. Whatever the reason for their existing, such fissures in our relationship with the Earth invariably create an illusion of superiority and distance from our natural habitat and lifeways.

Unfortunately, disjointed relations with the rest of nature feed the cycle of humans as oppressors of the Earth. We have a much easier time domineering those whom we “other.” This phenomenon has played out time and time again with our own species. When we alienate ourselves from the rest of nature, we lose insight to the parts of our humanity that can only exist in the context of the natural world. As Brams points out,

When we maintain this distorted perceptual barrier that we are different from, superior to, or sometimes inferior to the rest of nature, and these same beliefs have created a lifestyle where we rarely have access to our original habitat, how can we possibly claim to know what is natural in humans? It’s quite possible that what we know of ourselves is now solely how we behave within the limits of a social structure founded on that false premise. Little by little we have left behind Nature itself and what we may have known as our natural way of being. (Chapter 1)

In other words, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern human motives and behavior out of context from our natural surroundings. Our habitat has evolutionarily outpaced our species.

Read The Nature Embedded Mind

Brams does not imply that our culture’s mental health crisis stems solely from our widespread disconnection to nature. She does, however, challenge the western environmental paradigm, asserting that we are indistinct from the rest of the natural world. What’s more, she holds firm that humans depend on their more-than-human neighbors for education and resilient mental health. Rather than continue to live in an insular world of our own creation, Brams offers that we adopt a nature embedded mind, an awareness of what it means to be in deep connection with the rest of the planet.

In order to move towards a culture that affirms positive, reciprocal relations between humans and the rest of nature, we have to confront our own biases. This does not mean turning a blind eye to modern science, but rather allowing its findings to guide how we move forward in relationship. For instance, we have long thought of trees as solitary— influenced by environment, but wholly independent beings. Emerging scientific studies and observations, however, prove quite the contrary. German author and forester Peter Wohlleben has devoted years of his life learning from trees, and he writes to help others understand what he refers to in his titular book as the “hidden life of trees.” His findings have helped to prove that, rather than standing alone, trees communicate and share nourishment through complex fungal networks. Knowing that trees are in community enriches our understanding of their lives. Combining science and intuition, we can begin to see trees and other species for who they truly are— neighbors in an ecosystem.

We are all invited to kinship with the natural world. Opening ourselves to these relationships is as simple as walking barefoot on the grass or turning our attention to birdsong. While the natural world is full of majesty, you do not need to be in the thick of a national park or miles down a river to meet with your more-than-human kin. In fact, I recommend that you start close to home, with the neighbors that surround you.

In my case, I met Honey at an aquarium hours away from my home. If she heals as I hope, she’ll disappear once more into the waves of the Atlantic, but the look in her eyes that day will remain with me.

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Companion Episode:

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20. The Nature Embedded Mind: Can Reconnecting with Nature Support Mental Health? (ft. Julie Brams)

Can reconnecting with nature improve mental health? In this episode of Rooted Rebellion, environmental writer Ashton Todd sits down with therapist and author julie brams to discuss her book, The Nature-Embedded Mind, ecopsychology, nature therapy, consciousness, Indigenous wisdom, Western psychology, environmental healing, and why our perceived separation from nat…

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22 days ago · 2 likes · A.S. Todd

References

Brams, Julie. The Nature Embedded Mind. Simon and Schuster, 2025.

Grant, Richard. “Do Trees Talk to Each Other?” Smithsonian, Smithsonian.com, Mar. 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/. Accessed 31 July 2026.

Hunter, MaryCarol R et al. “Urban Nature Experiences Reduce Stress in the Context of Daily Life Based on Salivary Biomarkers.” Frontiers in psychology vol. 10 722. 4 Apr. 2019, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00722

Jimenez, Marcia, et al. “Associations between Nature Exposure and Health: A Review of the Evidence.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 9, Apr. 2021, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094790. Accessed 24 July 2026.

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Purchase Julie’s book and connect: https://www.experienceelemental.com/store/p/the-nature-embedded-mind-signed

Exploring Joanna Macy: https://www.joannamacy.net/main

Association of Nature and Forest Therapy: https://anft.earth/

Monitor soil health. Move livestock from one pasture to the next. Market your business. Meet the needs of your ecosystem.

Oh, and somewhere in between the demands of your farm, you also have to thrive at your off-farm job, manage personal relationships, clean your house, eat healthily, and find time to sleep. Need I say more about what children add to this equation?

Stewarding the land is exhausting, and we seldom consider the needs of one key resource…ourselves.

The regenerative farmers and land stewards that I know are hard-working souls that consistently put the needs of the lives under their care above their own. They would never look at a field and push it past its limits, relentlessly urging increased production. Why, then, do they so frequently make the same demands of themselves?

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Regenerative rancher and blooming Substack author embodies a balance of sagacity and seasoned coolness that I hope to one day find in myself. Christine cast off a corporate career in exchange for a life close to the land. For years, she’s guided her fellow land stewards, particularly aspiring female farmers, in holistic land management. Her frameworks acknowledge what is reasonable to expect of the land and oneself in order that both may thrive.

Many of Christine’s clients come to her facing burnout, overtaxed land healers in need of the care that they so generously provide. We have fewer farmers now than ever, and it’s no wonder when we consider the financial barriers to entry and near constant stressors of the calling. However hard social media influencers may try to sell the pristine, idyllic narrative of farm life, where chores are completed in cutesy aprons and bows and the lion lays down with the lamb, this is exactly what it seems—too good to be true—and this misrepresentation is adding to the sense of failure struggling farmers already feel.

Regenerative agriculture provides real solutions for a planet under crisis, but it is no miracle. It takes people at the front lines, toiling on the land, and Instagram will not show you the costs it exacts of its stewards. In a culture of constant optimization and efficiency, you might expect that Christine would merely provide clients with workflow charts, enterprise spreadsheets, and a saccharine can-do attitude that urges that clients need only work harder, do more.

On the contrary, she voiced a much more gentle and grounded approach while on Rooted Rebellion, turning my idea of regen ag on its head.

Instead of sharing ways to farm more efficiently, Christine encouraged me to ask:

What if we treated ourselves with the same tender love and grace that we offer our land?

This year, I made a drastic career pivot. I catapulted from a long-standing private teaching gig to Walmart cashier and, now, Patient Service Representative at my OBGYN. On the outside, I’ve moved even farther away from my dream of working as a full-time local foods advocate. Moreover, I’ve committed to living in Kentucky, rather than on the farm in western Montana. Needless to say, it’s been a tumultuous year, filled with transition and abundance. My regen ag ambitions persist, right now, in the form of potted herbs and tomatoes, although I still dream of sprawling acres that flourish as nature intended.

I won’t pretend that I have a flock of sheep or a large garden dependent on me for survival, but I know what it’s like to constantly strive for more, the goal always beyond reach. Perfectionism makes itself an unwelcome guest in my life most of the time, and this extends to how I approach my relationship to my food and the land. I’ve seen the same for the farmers in my life.

Alongside the weight of daily chores, financial pressures, and managing personal relationships, our farmers shoulder the burden of caring. These are the folks that lose sleep worrying about the comfort of their livestock or how their crops will weather the storm. These individuals are most intimately familiar with what our future generations stand to lose with the earth’s degradation at human hands.

Trying through farming to reverse the damage we have done as a species can feel like trying to bail water from a sinking ship. We attempt to soothe our anxiety with ever-evolving initiatives on the farm, or else our passion for stewardship drives us to bite off more than we can chew. For my part, I have a propensity for comparison, even in agriculture. I’m not entirely sure who I’m comparing my efforts to. Sometimes, it’s my peers—real or imagined—or versions of myself from the past, or which have yet to exist. All the same, I always expect more from myself, so much more that the thought is crippling. I know I’m not alone in this feeling.

That’s why Christine’s approach to agriculture, and life, is so refreshing. Rather than diving headfirst into the next endeavor, she fosters the self-awareness to ask:

Does this fit the capacity that I have right now?

To our farmers and land advocates: you are not falling short by extending grace to yourself. I think we’ve all heard that, in order to pour into others, you must fill your own cup. How easy it is to forget when responsibilities rear their heads like baby birds, always shrieking for “more, more, more!”

My advice to you:

Breathe. Step away when you need it. Spend time with your loved ones.

We let our fields rest. If we aren’t making the time to do the same for ourselves, then there is a serious problem. Yes, this might mean freeing our schedules or taking projects off our plates so we can make room for what matters most.

What’s more, I strongly urge you to find community, the tribe of people willing to shoulder this work with you, to share in the triumphs and the trials. I want this publication to be a safe space and a source of encouragement for you. You’ve got a story to share, and I can’t wait to hear it. Subscribe today to start connecting with your fellow rooted rebels.

This article’s companion podcast episode:

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

19. Practicing Grace in Regenerative Agriculture (with Christine Martin of Thriving Land Steward)

Join Ashton as she sits down with regenerative land steward, business owner, and Substack author, Christine Martin . Christine Martin shares her holistic approach to nurturing the land and emphasizes the necessity of attending to personal needs. In this conversation, Christine and Ashton explore…

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2 months ago · 4 likes · A.S. Todd

• The dichotomy of capacity and desire for land projects

• The opportunity cost of land stewardship

• The reason regenerative ag calls to women

• What we stand to gain from a relationship with the land

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Thriving Land Stewards:

https://thrivinglandsteward.com/

The Messy Middle of Regenerative Agriculture: https://substack.com/@thrivinglandsteward

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When I think about it, striving for societal change is not too different from crafting a meal. Positive social evolution requires skill, healthy appetite, and, you guessed it, the right ingredients. We all hunger for better— for our loved ones, for our nation, for ourselves. We dream of a day with equitable health care, affordable housing, and accessible nutritious food, but rarely do we consider the small shifts — the ingredients— for the change that we need. My local co-op has recently influenced my thoughts on the matter.

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Good Foods Co-op in Lexington, KY had humble beginnings. The Co-op began as a small bulk foods distribution hub in the living room of friends in 1972, before moving to the local YMCA soon after. Initially, the Co-op depended on volunteer efforts to manage all store operations. Even as the Co-op expanded to include paid employees, the goal was never to get rich, but to provide access to food that nourished the body, as well as the spirit. “Food for People, Not for Profit” embodied the mindset. Every stage of the development of the business stemmed from friends and neighbors banding together to meet the community’s need for access to fresh food. Now, the Good Foods Co-op has a thriving retail front, but the mission hasn’t changed: “access to healthy food for all.”

Kara Shepherd, the Co-op’s marketing manager, recently joined me on the podcast to discuss the role the store plays in the community. Unlike most stores, Good Foods’ co-op model invites shoppers to become owners by purchasing a small share. Owners have access to special discounts, buying opportunities, and are invited to vote for how the store operates. Moreover, the Co-op features products from over 250 local farms and businesses throughout the state, making it a significant player in the Commonwealth’s food system.

The Co-op exemplifies food distribution that serves the people, not corporations. While the business’s scope is impressive, I’m drawn to its communal nature and the all-for-one-and-one-for-all spirit that radiates from the organization. As a co-op member, I know first-hand that Good Foods customers shop with intention. Every full basket or buggy feels like an act of opposition against systems that keep us ill and malnourished. Co-op shoppers have one hand flipping the bird to corporate greed and the other arm around the shoulder of their buddy. It’s nothing short of inspiring and makes me wonder, if friends can start a co-op out of their living rooms, how can my neighbors and I better our community?

I’ve always been a zealot for collective action. As a child I attempted to organize playground trash clean-ups with my schoolmates. Why? Because I saw a commercial from an environmental group raising funds for polar bears facing habitat loss. I accepted that I couldn’t make a financial contribution (and I clearly didn’t know the logistics of global warming), but I felt stirred to action. I was desperate to make a difference, and I knew I would be stronger with numbers.

The older I get, the more cynicism and pessimism I encounter, and I get it. At the risk of fear mongering, it feels like the world is burning down around us, but we’ve sold ourselves on a narrative of futility. It was naive of me to believe that I could save polar bears by retrieving discarded pop cans, but I admire the dogged tenacity of my younger self, and I’ll be damned if I would try and stop her today.

We’re dazzled by big action. We feel that we need some grand display of courage, perseverance or defiance in order to see change. I challenge you to shift your thinking.

What if we focused less on the headlines and more on how we can be kind to our neighbors? What if we worried less about feeding the world and more about how to help feed our street?

Abiding change does not begin in our government offices, but with the hearts and hands of people who wish to do better. The Good Foods Co-op makes a serious impact because regular folks saw a need and united to meet it. Here, the recipe for social change emerges: a dash of need mixed with a heaping spoonful of community action.

What unmet need do you see around you? How will your community’s change be served?

Join the Rebellion

We can’t help but be influenced by the systems that drive our society, but we can determine how we move within it. If you want to regain agency with your food, reconnect to the land, and nourish yourself, you’re in the right place. The Rooted Rebellion Podcast is here to bridge the gap between you, your community, and your food system. See what we’re building alongside Orion Farmstead. The rebellion awaits.

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• The benefits of a co-op store model

• How local content creators can bridge the gap between producers and consumers

• The power of community action

• Personal memories of the Good Foods Co-op

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It’s taken me nearly 20 years to realize that the Recession shaped how I relate to food, just as the Great Depression shaped my grandparents.

In my childhood home, cheap, convenient meals dominated. Economic crisis demanded that both my parents worked, leaving no time for gardening or extensive cooking for years. Whole food ingredients were replaced by quick-fix, highly processed meal kits. Time became a luxury when the day was spent trying to keep our family financially afloat. My family’s nutrition was one of the casualties of the economic collapse, and the appetite for convenience foods lasted me into my adulthood.

It’s no secret that our economy is under duress. So how do we fuel ourselves and support our values under financial distress? In the latest podcast episode, I unpacked 6 ways that you can cut costs AND support the local food system. Here’s a debrief:

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1. Know Your “Why”

As you begin your journey to save money while supporting a local food system, I encourage you to find your “why.” Ask yourself, “Why do I want to support a local food system in the first place?” In previous generations, eating locally would have been the natural default. Now, in a fast-paced convenience food culture where people spend more and more time outside of their homes, it takes intention to eat food from your local community. Your reason for doing so will be unique to you and your context. It will also help you to determine how to spend your money to best address your needs and values.

Personally, I choose to eat locally because it connects me to the land, my community, and allows me to endorse a system that cherishes all life forms. Factory farming and inhumane animal treatment are my biggest turn-offs from the industrial food system, and these values greatly inform how I choose to invest in my local farms. It also means that I prioritize local, ethically-sourced meats, leaving me to buy certain staples and produce from large chains. Depending on your “why,” your support of a local food system will likely look entirely different from my own. I encourage you to start here.

2. Grow Your Own Food

I know this seems obvious, but hear me out. Growing your own food is as local as it gets, but if you’ve never tried, it can be daunting.

For all the brain rot and doom on the internet, there’s simply too much information at our fingertips not to curate any skill that has piqued our interest, including gardening.

I recognize that not everyone has the space, but if you have access to sunlight and water, I urge you to tend something. Recently I’ve been trying my hand at cultivating carrots in a 5-gallon bucket, for Pete’s sake. Whatever your skills or your resources, it’s remarkable how resilient life can be, and you won’t find any way to be closer to your food.

3. Shop Locally, Shop Smartly

A farmer at the market might charge the highest prices, but that doesn’t mean their products are the best quality or the best to suit your needs. I once worked for an organic farm that charged $21 per pound of chicken breast. That was at least twice as high as other local farms with similar practices, and (dare I say it?) the meat was nothing to write home about. You were paying for their marketing.

Do not be afraid to compare prices between your local farms. I get it, for those of us with consumer anxiety and people-pleasing tendencies, it can feel like you’re leading someone on when you ask the price of their goods with no follow-up purchase. I promise that you’re not a tease, and you deserve to make your money work for you. Do your homework. Buy from the farms that support the land and your values, but don’t be afraid to save some money.

4. Ask for Seconds

I’m not referring to a second helping, but I won’t tell you no ;).

Supermarkets have conditioned us to believe that produce must be aesthetically pleasing to be tasty, or even edible. So what happens to the fruits and vegetables that aren’t up to snuff? It depends on the operation. Some opt to use seconds for value-added products, donations, food for livestock, or in their personal kitchens. And what’s left? It goes straight to compost or, at less conscientious facilities, waste.

While I have seen some operations handle seconds better than others, I cannot tell you how much food waste agriculture has the potential to create. Ironic, I know. So while I am not telling you that all farms will be willing or able to provide you with their seconds, it can’t hurt to ask and has the potential to be hugely rewarding.

5. Only Buy What You Need

When you find yourself enthralled by local food, it can be tricky to only buy what you can guarantee will be used. Maybe you’re not an impulse shopper like me, but I’ve found that the best way to control my spending is to approach my shopping with a plan. I recognize that drafting meals in advance of purchasing ingredients can be overwhelming for some. But as a Type B, born-again meal planner, let me tell you that I have experienced meal planning, and it has the power to save…money.

I try not to overcomplicate things. Color-coded containers and frozen make-ahead meals don’t have a home in my kitchen. Rather, I find that planning at least one breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week, knowing that there will be leftovers, helps me to get started and ensure that I’m not buying random, albeit appetizing, ingredients without a plan of use. I can confidently say that this has helped me cut down on food waste and spending. Find what works for you and stick to it!

6. Accept Your Limits

I’m not a person that handles limitations well, but recent events have thrown me into what I’m hoping will be the most severe financial crisis of my 20s. I went from a high paying private teaching gig to being a cashier at Walmart in less than a week, and I’ll be frank: purchasing locally farmed organic kale was not my primary financial goal when my savings account was wasting away before my eyes.

I feel called to local food advocacy on a spiritual level, but I have to live within the system that I actively challenge. My dedication to ethical food does not inherently make it any more affordable. I have to be able to feed myself, not only to survive, but to fight for what I believe in, and sometimes that means living off $1 pasta packets.

It’s okay to not be able to live up to your values 100% of the time. It does not make you a bad person to fall victim to the same systems you want to change.

So, perhaps most importantly, I would advise you to live within your means, because you are not helping to bolster the local food system by starving yourself. You can accept your limits while also hoping better for yourself and the future of food. You just don’t have to martyr yourself doing it.

Join the Rebellion

We can’t help but be influenced by the systems that drive our society, but we can determine how we move within it. If you want to regain agency with your food, reconnect to the land, and nourish yourself, you’re in the right place. The Rooted Rebellion Podcast is here to bridge the gap between you, your community, and your food system. See what we’re building alongside Orion Farmstead. The rebellion awaits.

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The Rooted Life by Justin Rhodes:

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Our capitalist culture would have us a believe that we can buy our way to an idyllic future. If we take our nation’s food system, for instance, dominant food brands urge that sustainability, or salvation from the infamous tipping point, lies just behind the next industrialized organic foods campaign. Behind the most creatively recycled packaging. We’re taught that if we invest our dollars in the latest innovation, we will finally actualize the abstract sustainable future.

But why would we want to sustain systems that jeopardize ourselves and the health of the planet?

We need to regenerate what we’ve lost.

Unlike the quest for sustainability, a regenerative food system will not be built on labels alone, but by consistently embracing the dynamic nature of the ecosystems around us, and consistently cultivating a deeper understanding of our relationships within them.

In our recent interview, Cole Mannix of Montana’s Old Salt Co-op shared with me his ideas on what it means to operate a regenerative meat company. His philosophy sparked my own thoughts on the topic.

Who is Old Salt Co-op?

The Old Salt Co-op is a beacon for regenerative producers the world round. With a model combining ranching, butchering, distribution, dining, and local food experiences, the Co-op takes a holistic approach to building a resilient regional food network. The Co-op shines for its commitment to honoring the land and helping its customers to recognize the context in which they find their food. They do this through thoughtful, educational marketing campaigns and by allowing consumers to share in the land first-hand, namely through the Old Salt Festival.

Anyone who knows Old Salt’s methods are quick to agree that the practice is regenerative, but it’s important for us to consider what that truly means before we extol its virtues or ask others to follow suit.

It’s easy to commodify regeneration when we limit it to a set of production standards. Most techniques that we now consider regenerative actually stem from indigenous stewardship practices, though many of us forget this important fact. Real regeneration is not just about monitoring biomarkers or measuring yields. As Cole Mannix notes, “ultimately being regenerative is about doing justice to a lot of relationships” (5:59). It’s about treating every player and every step in the process with dignity, not as a means to an end.

What about those who do not have access to land? What about those who do not help produce food or cannot afford regenerative products?

To heal the planet, we must first heal ourselves. I encourage you to look inward and tend to to the field of your heart, whether or not you have private land to steward. Seek communion with our non-human neighbors. Remember that we are all part of an ecosystem, and real regeneration starts, and ends, with relationships.

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The Rooted Rebellion Podcast is an initiative of Orion Farmstead to help reconnect people with one another, and their food system. If you like what you’ve seen here, please consider subscribing, following the podcast, and checking out the farm!

Listen to this article’s companion episode:

For further listening:

Convenience is killing us, body and soul.

In the midst of the every day, mundane toil that we all face (dead-end jobs, sitting in traffic, paying bills that are ever increasing, etc.), taking the path of least resistance feels like a haven, a moment to breathe.

But at what cost?

Recently, Alexis Campestre, the founder of Orion Farmstead and long-time close friend, joined me on the podcast to share about his food journey. Mind you, this is the man that introduced me to raw milk and informed me of Swiss chard’s existence. He’s been a mentor in countless areas of my life, but particularly concerning food. Needless to say, I knew our conversation about food preparation would be valuable, but Alexis’s view on necessary “friction” transcends the food system. The notion of moving with intention against the grain of present culture shows just how far we’ve strayed from our human nature, but it also gives hope for its return.

“When we trade the meaningful work of feeding ourselves for convenience…we give up a lot.” (15:03)

Let’s be clear: the time and resources to prepare a meal from scratch are luxuries. As grocery bills continue to sky rocket, highly processed easy-make meals fill our stomachs without draining our wallets, or our schedule.

It’s okay to make occasional choices out of convenience when your situation demands. But how many of us choose the easiest course simply because we are unwilling to exert any effort more than necessary?

At this point, most of us are well aware of the dangers posed by an overly processed diet (if you’re unaware or unconvinced, check out this publication from the Cambridge University Press ). It’s evident that a diet of conveniences foods is not conducive for one’s health. Let’s consider what we lose on a more abstract level.

When we opt for meals that lack whole ingredients, we miss out on the chance for a relationship with our planet and our producers and, with it, a key component of our own humanity. Without a connection to our food’s source, we lose an essential reminder of our tie to the natural world in its myriad roles: teacher, benefactor, habitat, etc. In short, when we consistently choose convenience, we lose context and choose to live in a vacuum.

“Cooking for others is a political act.” (12:27)

Wendell Berry claims that “Eating is an agricultural act.” Alexis takes this idea a step further:

Cooking for others is a political act. Every meal you make from scratch is a small rebellion against a system that profits from disconnection.

Big Ag’s and convenience food’s seat of power is no mistake. It’s the direct result of government subsidies favoring industrial agriculture and vast monocultures that comprise the foundation of most convenience meals. Therefore, when we choose to seek out and prepare whole, locally-sourced ingredients, we are actively rebelling against a food system designed to support financial gain for large companies, rather than the health or well-being of consumers and/or the planet.

“Every meaningful relationship requires friction.” (12:45)

All too often, relationships these days equate to a follow or a like on our most recent posts to social media.

When was the last time we visited a neighbor?

Went out of our way to help a friend?

Made an effort to know the farmer that grew our food?

Friction, in relationships, is taking the energy to show up for one another when it is easier to stay home and carry on with our insular lives. As this applies to food, friction is getting to know the source of our ingredients and not always leaping to the quickest way to prepare them. Alexis, for instance, opts not to own a microwave, so that he might better slow his actions and embrace the intimacy of crafting a meal.

Friction is also having the difficult conversations. This does not refer to the verbal attacks over the Thanksgiving turkey, but rather, holding one accountable, pausing to ask questions for the sake of drawing nearer to one another.

This same concept applies to our relationship with our food system. Before we throw our money at the next celebrity-endorsed supplement or organic label, let’s take a moment to go deeper. Perhaps we begin by learning more about the company peddling us our next meal. Search for farmers in our area before running to the supermarket. Maybe we ask, “How does what’s on my plate impact those who follow?”

Embracing friction can, of course, be overwhelming. Sometimes, you might feel like you don’t have the right questions, let alone the answers. The Rooted Rebellion Podcast wants to support you on this journey. Each week we sit down to address the topics influencing our food system and seek solutions for its toughest challenges. We hope you’ll join us in that act of necessary friction, and subscribe to this Substack, if you don’t already.

Subscribe now

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast is an initiative of Orion Farmstead to help reconnect people with one another, and their food system. If you like what you’ve seen here, please consider subscribing, following the podcast, and checking out the farm!

Listen to this article’s companion episode:

Further listening:

In this episode:

• The unique ownership structure and mission of Old Salt Co-op, a 51% producer-controlled meat company

• How the co-op integrates restaurants, processing facilities, and direct-to-consumer sales into a regenerative model

• The importance of respecting relationships, with soil, land, animals, and people, for true sustainability

• The role of vertical integration and producer ownership in building resilience and local food sovereignty

• The festival as a vibrant example of land stewardship, community, and cultural celebration

• Challenges and opportunities in shifting towards a more holistic, ethical, and experiential food system

• The influence of policy, capitalism, and cultural values on land health and food justice

• Practical considerations for replicating regenerative models and meeting local food needs

Old Salt Co-op: https://www.oldsaltco-op.com/

Attend the Old Salt Festival: https://www.oldsaltco-op.com/pages/festival-tickets

Subscribe to the podcast Substack: https://rootedrebellionpodcast.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

Stay with Orion: Lodging Accommodations | Tiny Home, Container Home, Glamping

Follow us on social media!

Instagram:

@rootedrebellion.podcast

@orionfarmstead

Facebook:

Orion Farmstead

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

In this episode:

• The unique ownership structure and mission of Old Salt Co-op, a 51% producer-controlled meat company

• How the co-op integrates restaurants, processing facilities, and direct-to-consumer sales into a regenerative model

• The importance of respecting relationships, with soil, land, animals, and people, for true sustainability

• The role of vertical integration and producer ownership in building resilience and local food sovereignty

• The festival as a vibrant example of land stewardship, community, and cultural celebration

• Challenges and opportunities in shifting towards a more holistic, ethical, and experiential food system

• The influence of policy, capitalism, and cultural values on land health and food justice

• Practical considerations for replicating regenerative models and meeting local food needs

Old Salt Co-op: https://www.oldsaltco-op.com/

Attend the Old Salt Festival: https://www.oldsaltco-op.com/pages/festival-tickets

Subscribe to the podcast Substack: https://rootedrebellionpodcast.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

Stay with Orion: Lodging Accommodations | Tiny Home, Container Home, Glamping

Follow us on social media!

Instagram:

@rootedrebellion.podcast

@orionfarmstead

Facebook:

Orion Farmstead

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

• Alexis's personal food history

• The benefits of friction in our food system

• The cost of convenience

• Orion Farmstead's mission to reconnect people and he planet

Discover how slowing down and embracing "friction" in food preparation can transform our relationship with food, community, and the land.

Subscribe to the podcast Substack: https://rootedrebellionpodcast.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

Stay with Orion: Lodging Accommodations | Tiny Home, Container Home, Glamping

Follow us on social media!

Instagram:

@rootedrebellion.podcast

@orionfarmstead

Facebook:

Orion Farmstead

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

• Alexis's personal food history

• The benefits of friction in our food system

• The cost of convenience

• Orion Farmstead's mission to reconnect people and he planet

Discover how slowing down and embracing "friction" in food preparation can transform our relationship with food, community, and the land.

Subscribe to the podcast Substack: https://rootedrebellionpodcast.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips

Stay with Orion: Lodging Accommodations | Tiny Home, Container Home, Glamping

Follow us on social media!

Instagram:

@rootedrebellion.podcast

@orionfarmstead

Facebook:

Orion Farmstead

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

S2 EP 4:

“The Value of Composting in a Modern World with Alissa LaChance of Dirt Rich Compost”

Recently I sat down for a conversation with Alissa LaChance, the owner and head consultant of Dirt Rich Compost. Dirt Rich is a commercial composting facility located in Columbia Falls, Montana, a vibrant small town in the shadow of Glacier National Park. I met Alissa during Orion Farmstead's very first public event, a permaculture design practicum that gave me more hope for our culture’s future than I had felt for quite some time. Alongside Kareen Erbe of Broken Ground Permaculture, Alissa shared with our participants the importance and logistics of vermicomposting. From her knowledge, her passion, and the effortless coolness of a woman running a composting facility, I knew that I wanted her on the show.

Alissa has much to be proud of when it comes to Dirt Rich, including keeping 1 million pounds of food scraps out of the landfill annually. When she’s not involved in the physical act of composting, Alissa makes it her mission to educate the public on the hows and whys of turning food scraps into a life-giving substance. I am honored that she took the time to join me on the podcast. Here are the points from our discussion that stand out to me.

Composting Empowers Us

We all want to feel good about the choices that we make, and composting is one way to bolster our spirits and reconnect to the natural world. It’s no secret that the odds can feel stacked against us. Participating in something so tactile, so rooted in the natural order, is grounding. It provides us with a sense of agency when we live under systems that thrive on our helplessness.

I think Alissa said it best:

There’s so much about living in this system that is so disempowering and so belittling in modern society. And being able to get back to those roots of how life functions…there’s something really comforting about knowing that we belong to that system and knowing how it works and cooperating with it. (14:18)

Composting Increases Food System Efficiency

As a former English major and someone who tends to embrace the abstract, I admit that I rarely place efficiency high on my list of priorities. Alissa sagely addresses the inefficiency of our present food system with potential compost clients, rather than leaping to the more existential side of composting, “who we are as humans and what we’re doing on this planet” (10:27). I appreciate her restraint.

Alissa notes that composting is simply a part of a food system that makes sense. As she explains, our industrialized food system requires more calories of energy in production than it yields. Additionally, she points out that 40% of our food produced gets wasted. In light of this knowledge, composting stands out as absolutely essential to create a productive and resilient food system.

Composting Bridges the Gap between Life and Death

There’s always a point during an interview that surprises me. During my chat with Alissa, it was the realization that composting connects us to the visceral reality of decomposition and, with it, our own mortality.

Hear me out.

In what other instance do we regularly steward decay? When else are we required to look decomposition head on and accept that a new and bright future awaits what once was?

We have such an aversion to death in our western culture. There are countless industries built on our fear of aging and what lies beyond the grave. People opt not to compost for a variety of reasons, be it from a lack of space, time, know-how, or general disinterest.

But for those who shy away from composting because it seems “icky,” I have to wonder whether or not the aversion stems from our culture’s discomfort with death in any form. How might our concept of our human deaths shift if we embrace the act of decomposition, the transition from food scraps to fuel for future growth?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast is an initiative of Orion Farmstead to help reconnect people with one another, and their food system. If you like what you’ve seen here, please consider subscribing, following the podcast, and checking out the farm!

Click here for the full episode!

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The ways compost empowers people

• What compost offers our natural world

• How compost embraces the shadows of our society

• The dangers of composting gone wrong

• Where your can begin your composting journey

Follow Alissa's work at:

Instagram: @dirtrichcompost

Facebook: Dirt Rich Compost

Website: https://www.dirtrichcompost.com/

The Compost Coach by Kate Flood:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/85165412-the-compost-coach

Join the podcast newsletter: Rooted Rebellion Podcast | Orion Farmstead - Orion Farmstead

Join the Orion Farmstead Newsletter: Immersive Farm Stay in Ovando, Montana | Orion Farmstead

Stay with Orion: Lodging Accommodations | Tiny Home, Container Home, Glamping

Follow us on social media!

Instagram:

@rootedrebellion.podcast

@orionfarmstead

Facebook:

Orion Farmstead

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The ways compost empowers people

• What compost offers our natural world

• How compost embraces the shadows of our society

• The dangers of composting gone wrong

• Where your can begin your composting journey

Follow Alissa's work at:

Instagram: @dirtrichcompost

Facebook: Dirt Rich Compost

Website: https://www.dirtrichcompost.com/

The Compost Coach by Kate Flood:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/85165412-the-compost-coach

Join the podcast newsletter: Rooted Rebellion Podcast | Orion Farmstead - Orion Farmstead

Join the Orion Farmstead Newsletter: Immersive Farm Stay in Ovando, Montana | Orion Farmstead

Stay with Orion: Lodging Accommodations | Tiny Home, Container Home, Glamping

Follow us on social media!

Instagram:

@rootedrebellion.podcast

@orionfarmstead

Facebook:

Orion Farmstead

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

Subscribe now

Headwaters RC &D:

https://www.headwatersrcd.org/food-and-agriculture-1

Butte Community Farm:
https://sw406eatlocal.org/butte-community-farm/

Join the podcast newsletter: Rooted Rebellion Podcast | Orion Farmstead - Orion Farmstead

Join the Orion Farmstead Newsletter: Immersive Farm Stay in Ovando, Montana | Orion Farmstead

Stay with Orion: Lodging Accommodations | Tiny Home, Container Home, Glamping

Follow us on social media!

Instagram:

@rootedrebellion.podcast

@orionfarmstead

Facebook:

Orion Farmstead

The Rooted Rebellion Podcast

Keywords: Local foods, food hub, mining, food access, community farm