Mind, Body, and Soil

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:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 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 ChallengerOn Extinction by Melanie ChallengerGalatea by Melanie ChallengerResources Mentioned:Animals in the RoomSupport the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 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 InstagramOld Salt Coop InstagramOld Salt Outpost InstagramOld Salt Co-Op Festival Early Bird TicketsOld Salt Co-OpOld Salt Producer WebinarsResources Mentioned:The Cross and the Machine by Paul KingsnorthThe Haimish LineSupport the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face Food

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: @forceofnaturemeatsWhat Good Shall I Do Conference (April 19+20)Episode with Katie Forrest from FoNResources Mentioned:The Tracker by Tom BrownSupport the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face Food

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: @lilynicholrdnFirst Episode with LilyReal Food for FertilityReal Food for Pregnancy Support the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comIrene Lyon’s SmartBody SmartMind Program (Feb 13-Feb22nd): Sign Up HereCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face FoodMINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off Redmond Real Salt

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_goldfarbCrossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our PlanetEager: The Suprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They MatterSupport the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face FoodMINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off Redmond Real Salt

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 EmbodimentCreating FermentsFind Julia:Email: Julia@root-kitchens.com Instagram: @yourrootsandbranches, @bookishjulia, @rootkitchensRoots + Branches Our Fermented LivesOracle DeckBooks Mentioned:Range by David EpsteinThe Art of Fermentation by Sandor KatzSupport the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face FoodMINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off Redmond Real Salt

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 SlumberScott's YouTubeScott's Instagram: @sgcarneyScott's Other BooksPrevious MBS Episode with ScottBooks Mentioned:the Experience Machine by Andy ClarkSaving Time by Jenny OdellNow by Richard MullerEinstein's Dreams by Alan LightmanYoga Nidra by Kamini Desai Support the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipConnect with Kate:Instagramemail: kate@groundworkcollective.comCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGHKateK20 for 20% off Herbal Face FoodMINDBODYSOIL_15 for 15% off Redmond Real Salt

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 PodcastInstagramResources:Crown Shyness MBS episode with Ed RobersonMBS episode with Erin Pata MBS episode with Anthony GustinSupport the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH

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 InheritanceInstagram: @rclarrenWebsiteResources Mentioned: Reconciliation RisingIndian Land Tenure FoundationLandbackBooks Mentioned:Hitler’s American Model by James WhitmanLearning from the Germans by Susan NeimanCaste by Isabel WilkersonControl by Adam RutherfordSupport the Podcast:SubstackLeave a one-time TipCurrent Discounts for MBS listeners:15% off Farm True ghee and body care products using code: KATEKAV1510% off Home of Wool using code KATEKAVANAUGH15% off Bon Charge blue light blocking gear using code: MINDBODYSOIL15