033, Heather Kelejian: Transformation Through Horticulture Therapy
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
Release Date: 07/28/2020
Akiva Silver - 3223 12.11 PM
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
Akiva Silver has been studying and working with nature for the past 20 years. His endeavors have ranged from primitive wilderness survival to planting and maintaining diverse fruit and nut orchards, and to running his nursery business at Twisted Tree Farm. Akiva raises tens of thousands of trees every year, propagating from seeds and cuttings. He is an avid forager and observer of wildlife. Akiva has written three books, Trees of Power, The Conversation, and The Ocean of Dreams. In this episode… An approach to creating change through inspiration and alternative solutions rather than...
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Akiva Silver - 3223 12.11 PM
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
Akiva Silver has been studying and working with nature for the past 20 years. His endeavors have ranged from primitive wilderness survival to planting and maintaining diverse fruit and nut orchards, and to running his nursery business at Twisted Tree Farm. Akiva raises tens of thousands of trees every year, propagating from seeds and cuttings. He is an avid forager and observer of wildlife. Akiva has written three books, Trees of Power, The Conversation, and The Ocean of Dreams. In this episode… An approach to creating change through inspiration and alternative solutions rather than...
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Ep 049, Jared Sorensen: A Regenerative Approach to the Family Ranch
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
Some people do things the way things have always been done. Others develop that curiosity muscle and are able to take in new information, weigh it against experience and, yes, intuition, and ultimately create new systems that work. The first thing Jared teaches a new farmer is “know thyself.” Jared and Selena have been married 26 years and are the parents of nine children and one grandchild. They are 3rd generation ranchers, managing the operation Jared’s grandfather and father built in Secret Pass and Clover Valley, Nevada. Jared is a life-long learner and has been applying and teaching...
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048, Amy Dempster: The Nature Experience
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
Amy Dempster helps others understand the healing power of the earth. What began as openly sharing her spiritual journey on her popular blog Following Hawks, has become a resource for others wanting to learn how to communicate with nature and share their own unique healing gifts with the earth. Together with the Spirits of the Land in the mountains of northwest Montana, she tends seven portals on the land where she lives, along with any grid keeping work she is assigned. She also leads the Earth Tenders Academy, an immersive online journey to help others reestablish their connection with their...
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047, Asia Suler: Earth-Centered Personal Growth
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
Asia Suler is a writer, teacher, earth intuitive and ecological philosopher who lives in the folds of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the founder of One Willow Apothecaries, an Appalachian-grown company that offers handcrafted herbal medicines and educational experiences in herbalism, animism, ancestral healing and earth-centered personal growth. Asia has guided over 20,000 students in 70+ countries through her immersive online programs. With her writings and teachings, Asia helps people embrace their own unique medicine through a joyful engagement with the natural world. Asia’s first book...
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046, Seán Pádraig O'Donoghue
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
“Our sense of ‘the individual’, which really began with the rise of capitalism and the forceful severing of people from land and community, led to the concept that there are categories of being that do and do not have consciousness, that are and are not alive, that do and do not have their own right to existence…and when we actually drop into our senses and allow ourselves to experience the living world, we discover that so many of the things that were not supposed to be intelligent, or sentient, are speaking to us and with us. And that changes everything.” Seán Pádraig...
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045, Deatra Cohen and Adam Siegel: Ashkenazi Herbalism
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
75% of the world’s human population relies on traditional healing practices, most of which is herbal medicine. Herbs and other plants have shaped human culture and traditions since the beginning of time. The Ashkenazim of Eastern Europe’s Pale of Settlement have a well documented history dating back to the Middle Ages, but until now, accounts of their herbal healing practices have been absent from public record. Deatra and Adam have put together a snapshot of not only the herbs used by this culture, but also tell the story of its healers. Deatra Cohen is an author, herbalist, master...
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044, Amy Dempster: Gridkeeping 101
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
Amy Dempster helps others understand the healing power of the earth. What began as openly sharing her spiritual journey on her popular blog Following Hawks, has become a resource for others wanting to learn how to communicate with nature and share their own unique healing gifts with the earth. Together with the Spirits of the Land in the mountains of northwest Montana, she tends seven portals on the land where she lives, along with any grid keeping work she is assigned. She also leads the Earth Tenders Academy, an immersive online journey to help others reestablish their connection with their...
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043, David O’Carroll: Korean Natural Farming for the Ultimate Sustainable Solution (continued)
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
David O’Carroll has been educating growers in the United Kingdom in Korean Natural Farming methods for the last 6 years at Ballagh Micro Farm, based in Devon, where beneficial microbes are being used to create healthy soil through powerful natural fertilizers. Having used Korean Natural Farming for a number of years on a smaller scale, such as establishing an agroforestry project and learning centre, he combined Korean Natural Farming and other methods of natural farming to accelerate the change in soil biology to showcase how healthy soil can be created. Working closely with many United...
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042, David O’Carroll: Korean Natural Farming for the Ultimate Sustainable Solution
Soul Soil: Where Agriculture and Spirit Intersect with Brooke Kornegay
David O’Carroll has been educating growers in the United Kingdom in Korean Natural Farming methods for the last 6 years at Ballagh Micro Farm, based in Devon, where beneficial microbes are being used to create healthy soil through powerful natural fertilizers. Having used Korean Natural Farming for a number of years on a smaller scale, such as establishing an agroforestry project and learning centre, he combined Korean Natural Farming and other methods of natural farming to accelerate the change in soil biology to showcase how healthy soil can be created. Working closely with many United...
info_outlineHow do you feel when you get out in nature? What happens to your mental state when you spend some time in your garden? Today we chat with Heather Kelejian about her role as Executive Director of the Ability Garden, a place where horticulture therapy is available to a number of populations for the purpose of supporting the healing of emotional wounds, motor skill development, sensory stimulation, improving social interactions, navigating life changes and trauma, and connection with nature. Heather is a North Carolina native, growing up in Chapel Hill and Charlotte who has called Wilmington home for 23 years. A love of plants and being outside came from a childhood spent with her Grandmother, who had a bountiful garden every year. Heather has an English degree from UNC – Chapel Hill and has pursued graduate studies in both Gerontology and Public Administration. She has worked with the Ability Garden since 2003, initially as a Master Gardener Volunteer, a Horticultural Therapy Intern and Program Director, and eventually as Executive Director. Heather is a member of the Coastal Compost Council, the Carolinas Horticultural Therapy Network, and the Voyage and Wellness Committee. Her passion is finding ways to bring people and plants together.
In This Episode…
Heather’s path to horticulture therapy
The populations she serves and skills they foster through the Ability Garden—socialization, vocational experience, nutrition and water quality education, fostering connections, learning how to nurture a living being
Working with students flagged for behavior issues
Using garden tasks as metaphors for life
Addressing grief, instilling a sense of accomplishment and ownership
Gardens to bring community members together and help establish a group identity
Bringing all the senses into the garden, using the garden space for physical therapy patients
Exposing urban individuals to nature; addressing fears of dirt, bugs, snakes, etc
Importance of observing the inherently abundant nature of a natural system
Resources
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https://abilitygarden.org/
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https://therapeutic-hort.ces.ncsu.edu/
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Walt Whitman
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Tulipmania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age by Anne Goldgar
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The Overstory by Richard Powers
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Soul Soil Podcast Patreon Page
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Soul Soil Grow and Glow package