Doomer Optimism

Alice, Dylan, and Ashley discuss using government funds for regenerative agriculture, building bioregional food hubs, and their upcoming Heritage Food Festival this November. Alice Melendez- I was born in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains between Clay City and the rolling fields of central Kentucky. I grew up on the farm, went to small-town schools, and learned to drive on winding country roads with lots of blind spots. I went away, like a lot of people, and came back. “Away” took me to Dartmouth College, Philadelphia, and then six or so years in Houston where my kids were born into a big Mexican household. I studied the way that economies social agreements and hard physical realities interplay in actual places (not models). I worked at a delivery business and a refugee resettlement agency. I ran a handyman business and for a short while a grain elevator. I thought for a while that 'the climate movement' might generate political will for a massive transformation in how humans relate to the natural world, and I worked on that. Now, I think it's time to focus on regenerative agriculture in our Ohio River Valley to ride through whatever comes our way. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e1duQMt65R-EeAMVzZzhpsVwQuBfYet0/view?usp=drive_link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Uxg83U_IQ6RXOUQVCOz3H-MlkCt6EzP0/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=115071514593909738663&rtpof=true&sd=true http://heritagefoodfest.org http://mtfolly.com http://mtfolly.com/for-farmers

In this emergency podcast, DO hosts discuss the upcoming US Presidential election as well as plans for yanking Western society back from the precipice of certain total destruction.The conversation doubles as a drinking game. Take a drink any time a host:refers to wokeness (approvingly or disparagingly)mis-pronounces “Kamala”uses a Star Wars or Lord of the Rings metaphorcomplains about Twittercomplains about “neocons”expresses fear of AI and/or transhumanismaccuses another host of conspiracy theorymentions “authoritarianism” or “totalitarianism”gets googly-eyed talking about Thomas Massiedisagrees on the relevance of RFK joining the Trump campaignFinish your drink (and open another) any time a host mentions:cosmo-localismepistemologymeta-modern ______“hive mind”“techno-feudalism”“The woke/postmodern Right”“I'm not telling you who you should vote for”“___ is morally depraved”

In this episode we discuss Chris Smaje’s recent article: Off-grid: further thoughts on the failing renewables transition Chris can be found at chrissmaje.com and on Twitter at @‌csmaje

An excellent conversation on topics of mutual interest. Can be found on Twitter at @‌Hispeedlowdrug: Lightly brain damaged 6ft 2in white trash polymath I've heard all these stories about people with twitter connections meeting IRL and forming beautiful friendships and relationships. I would like that. I'm a mid 40's handyman with a strange bio and a young son in Western MA. Interested in schizo bros and cute single mothers.

Austin and Nate discuss Austin’s recent book Barons, concerning consolidation and corruption in the food system. With a focus on the midwest, Austin and Nate discuss how the rise of industrial agriculture has degraded the heartland, how it was allowed to happen, who has been responsible, and most importantly, how to move forward with a different, more humane agriculture that values the health of people and places. They spoke about the necessity of a two prong approach, one involving building capable mid-sized farms and the other taking a hatchet to the monopoly industrialists who have been allowed to seize our land and our resources. Austin Frerick is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. He worked at the Open Markets Institute, the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the Congressional Research Service before becoming a Fellow at Yale University. He is a 7th generation Iowan and 1st generation college graduate, with degrees from Grinnell College and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Arie and Jason meander through a conversation, loosely inspired by recent podcast topics, exploring various ideas. https://bothand.libsyn.com/20-whats-metamodern-with-linda-ceriello-greg-dember https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4iKUVpwwGA&t=11s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XBfoJx_8mg&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZKrhrb9oao&t=34s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4DmHZJu8UE&t=24s

In this episode, Ashley and Dougald discuss an event they are co-creating in Chicago over the weekend of September 14 and 15. They talk about the various experimentations on the margins they have been a part of over the years, many of the friends they have in common, Ashley’s experience hosting Dougald’s co-conspirator Paul Kingsnorth in Wyoming last year, and their plans for this upcoming retreat in September. Check out the event here: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/dougaldhineretreat

Paul McNiel and Ashley discuss the Wagon Box, their shared event with Paul Kingsnorth last year, and their upcoming event this Labor Day in Wyoming. Ashley asks Paul about his conception of the Wagon Box as a new vision of a campus: a place to not only learn, but enjoy fleeting moments of inspiration with fellow learners. You get the inside scoop on the event with Kingsnorth in this episode and an invite to the upcoming event, to Doomer Optimism listeners only.

Today we sat down with four similar-minded folks to talk about our personal experiences with various Food Hub models. We let the conversation go free-form like we were sitting on the front porch at one of our farms and chatting with friends. It was a great and insightful conversation for all of us and we vowed to record another episode in the future to get updates on our respective projects.  Megan Kinney- Director of Cooperative Distribution-North Coast Growers Association https://www.northcoastgrowersassociation.org/ As the director of Harvest Hub, Megan seeks to increase our community's access to local food infrastructure like cold storage and distribution systems. This includes coordinating the Harvest Box program (a multi-farm CSA-style produce box), the Farm-to-Freezer project (a freezer for use by NCGA members), and overseeing the operations of Harvest Hub. She sits on the board of Humboldt Made and is the co-chair of the Food Access Working Group in the Humboldt COAD. She is a registered and certified Trainer with the Produce Safety Alliance through Cornell University. Megan is honored to have been awarded the Community Alliance with Family Farmers 2022 Farmers' Market Champion of the Year and is a graduate of the Food Systems Leadership Cohort and Leadership Redwood Coast in 2023. Amy Neukom- Co Owner Neukom Family Farms https://www.instagram.com/neukomfamilyfarm/ Neukom Family Farms is a small family farm located along the Trinity River in Inland Northern Humboldt County. We dry farm tree fruit including peaches. pluots, plums, figs, apples, Asian and European pears. We also grow a variety of annuals such as heirloom and slicer tomatoes, melons, winter squash, and dried beans utilizing water conservation techniques. Most of our land is kept natural for the abundance of wildlife in our area. Dru Zucchino- Executive Director- TRACTOR Food and Farms https://tractorfoodandfarms.com/ Hailing from the Old North State, Dru is the Executive Director of TRACTOR Food and Farms. He has over a decade of experience in North Carolina agriculture, ranging from conventional blueberry production in Pender County to biodynamic fruit orchards in Mitchell County. He holds a BA in English Literature and a BFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. He lives in Mitchell County, where he, his wife, Jessica, and two children keep busy managing small fruit plots and orchards. Chris Jagger- Co-Owner Blue Fox Farm, Not Only Farmers Podcast https://www.instagram.com/bluefoxfarm/ https://open.spotify.com/show/12YRGbk9IYMh4gbR0pTkEh?si=cb16eecee40a49e5 Chris and Melanie started farming in Santa Cruz, CA in the late 90’s and took the classic route of on-farm internships with several mentors until they had the gumption to start their own farm in southern Oregon in the early 2000’s. Blue Fox Farm started as a 1-acre farm, scaled to 45 acres, and is now back at 5 acres in production. Chris has supplemented their farm income with his Blue Fox Ag Services consulting business, helping farmers scale efficiently and farm cost-effectively. Chris also has a labor-of-love podcast Not Only Farmers, where he chats with interesting people doing things in agriculture. 

Ashley and Arie broadly discuss Goethean science, loconomy, and doomer optimism. This is part of a series of interviews where new hosts turn the mic on recurring DO hosts, like this one with Donald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOyS9fAtSI8 Arie J. Dallas is a sometimes surrealist painter who wonders about the mystery of life and connection. He currently produces Popcorn Forest, an interview show focusing especially on epistemology, neurodivergence, creativity, systems science, and experimentation. Popcorn Forest is at: http://www.popcornforest.com . His paintings are at: www.ariejames.xyz. Goethe on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe Goetheanum and their publications: https://dasgoetheanum.com/en/ Craig Holdregde on Goethean Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmzXTuoqjMU&t=3744s&pp=ygUQZ29ldGhlYW4gc2NpZW5jZQ%3D%3D Merlin Sheldrake (son of Rupert Sheldrake) on Fungal Lifeforms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpnCowci0XQ&pp=ygUTc2hlbGRyYWtlIG11c2hyb29tcw%3D%3D Arie's Selected Doomer Optimism Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVgIDIxsH2zleq7jFf7Dxw8sP5Ia_3yrg