It’s been a hectic 2024 so far! I’ve been keeping busy while also trying to enjoy a beautiful summer. Here’s an update on what you might have missed from me.
The Alchemy of Farmland - The Only Thing That Lasts
Featuring a New Mexican Indigenous farmer that I greatly admire, James Skeet of Spirit Farm, plus Creatures of Empire author Virginia DeJohn Anderson, we dig into how the landscape became farmland in the first place, and how that’s shaped so much about how we understand property in America today. (Spoiler alert: later this season, we’ll talk about what else could be instead).
Get Rich Homesteading - The Only Thing That Lasts
So far, this was one of the most difficult but rewarding episodes to put together. The serendipity of getting introduced to Rebecca Clarren, marvelous western writer and author of The Cost of Free Land, and getting to pair her research and family history with the stories of modern homesteaders like Kirsten Lie-Nielsen (of Hostile Valley Living fame) and the unique relationship these two groups do (and don’t) have to the land resulted in a deeply personal story about what homesteading is suppose to be, what it is, and how we navigate the chasm in between.
It’s Highway Robbery - The Only Thing That Lasts
Maybe it’s because it’s so new, and maybe it’s because it features your man Peter Linebaugh, folk poetry, Woody Guthrie, and sprawling discussions of the Commons, but I think this is my favorite episode. You’ll hear the other half of Rebecca’s story here, plus more about dispossession of farmland in America than you ever wanted to know. Honestly, doing this episode made me think a whole season on dispossession in American agriculture is called for in the future (thoughts?).
Other stuff that’s keeping me busy:
Inclusive Innovation in AgTech (A White Paper with Farmhand Ventures, etc)
Helping plants grow
Living/working in the world and staying off the Internet (sorry!)
Signing some papers we’ve been meaning to sign for a while
Eating as much Indian Food as I can get my hands on
Thanks for letting me into your inbox. I hope you’re having a great summer too.
Rock on,
Sarah