Field Notes from my journey creating Living Ground, Ecuador.
“If I want people to care about the Earth itself, about the land and soil that feed us, about the way our food, medical, political, and religious systems are shaping us, and about how divided and dysfunctional we have become, then I need to plant those concerns inside stories that are wide enough and deeply connective enough that others can recognize themselves within them.” Leisha of the Living Ground Project.
Living Ground Recent Posts
Apparently, It Is All a System
I have been on a deep and very determined dive into the world of technology lately, and it has been tedious, arduous, frustrating and, at times, completely depleting. It is also necessary. I never imagined I would spend so much time working on websites, tablets, coding, order systems, inventory flow, data and all the tiny connections that…
Why I Am Saying No to Treated Seed
Living Ground has already been sprouting alfalfa, mung bean and sunflower at the café, and we have also been freeze-drying the sprouts into these ridiculously good little crunchy packets of nutrition. Now we are ready to expand and we are in investigative and research mode. We are testing broccoli, carrot, onion and radish, and I am also…
The Path From Soil to Cell
I have never been one for protocols, which is a little ironic because protocols are part of my work. I understand why people need them. I create recommendations, work with herbs, tinctures, minerals and food, and spend a lot of time looking at the terrain of the body. Personally, though, I have always resisted the idea that…
The Map Behind Live Blood Analysis
I have been working with Live Blood Analysis for a long time, and every person who sits in front of me adds another piece to what I understand. I do not just look at a marker, name it and move on. I look at the person who is presenting, their history, what they are feeling, what else…
I Wanted to Be Wise
I am 58 years old, coming up to fifteen years of living here in Ecuador, and lately I have been thinking a lot about learning. Not education exactly, and certainly not collecting more information just for the sake of knowing things. And I love learning and never want to give that up. But I mean the kind…
Magnesium: The Relaxation Mineral, From Soil to Cells.
Magnesium is a funny mineral. It does not get the attention that calcium gets, and it certainly is not as glamorous as some of the supplements that come and go in popularity, yet quietly behind the scenes magnesium is involved in an extraordinary amount of what keeps us alive and functioning. Depending on how the biochemical reactions…
Growing the Roots of Living Ground
Creating something like Living Ground Ecuador is not simply about having ideas. I have lots of ideas, probably far too many, but I can usually see the bigger picture very clearly. I think that is one of my gifts. I can look at a piece of land, a café, a garden, a microscope, a workshop, a bottle…
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Uric Acid and the Immune System: What I See in Live Blood
I often see what I recognize as uric acid crystals when I am looking at live blood under the microscope. Sometimes there are only a few, and other times there are many scattered throughout the plasma. It is something I have seen often enough over the years that I recognize the pattern and consider what may be…
Time Is the Ultimate Resource: More Precious Than Money
A Lesson from the Magical Forest Experience I was chatting with a friend this morning about the years I lived in the Magical Forest at Chiruisco. That happened after I first moved to Ecuador. As we talked, memories I hadn’t visited in years came flooding back. I could see the old Fique trees beside the river, the…
What is Living Ground
,The Living Ground Project is a living classroom in southern Ecuador, built from soil, food, plants, microbes, and community.
Here, we grow much of what we serve and teach. The gardens feed the café, the apothecary, the workshops, the books, and the people who come here to learn a different way of living. Everything begins with the soil, because healthy soil grows stronger plants, stronger food, and stronger people.
Living Ground is a place for practical self-reliance. We teach gardening, soil regeneration, fermentation, herbal medicine, food preservation, natural health, and the connection between the human microbiome and the soil food web. Our work is not theory. It is lived every day through the gardens, the kitchen, the store, the café, the animals, the workshops, and the land itself.
The vision is simple. Restore the soil, grow real food, preserve knowledge, create local work, and help people remember that health does not begin in a bottle. It begins in relationship with the land, the microbes, the plants, the food, and each other.
Living Ground’s Online Courses in Self Reliance
