Empowering Self-Reliance and Sustainable Living & Microbiomes
Empowering Self-Reliance and Sustainable Living & Microbiomes
After so many days, months, and even years of dreaming, planning, building, digging, planting, painting, and pushing through, the Living Ground store is finally open. On opening day, over 150 people came through the doors. I stood there and watched them wander through the aisles, pick up jars of fermented …
There are certain plants in Ecuador that most people would not even stop to notice. They spring up through gravel roads, weave into the corners of gardens, and quietly line the edges of fields. To the eye that sees only order and crops they are weeds, nuisances to be cut …
For years we have been told that cholesterol is the enemy. The word alone makes people nervous, as though it were a poison to be purged from the body. Doctors prescribe statins almost reflexively, diets are stripped of fats, and marketing campaigns praise anything labeled low cholesterol. Yet the more …
I would look for her when nettle stung. That’s how it started. My childhood knees would brush too close to a nettle patch, leaving a red, tingling fire that made me whimper. Someone would say, “Find the Dock.” And I would. Not because I understood anything about mucilage or tannins …
Let’s get something clear. Symbiosis isn’t a fairy tale. It’s not a sweet song of unity and harmony. It’s a gritty, often uncomfortable dance of survival. Push and pull, give and take, competition woven into cooperation. That’s the real rhythm of nature. When you zoom into the microscopic world, things …
We are living in a time of disorientation. Many are searching for meaning, for answers, for someone to speak truth in a world that feels increasingly synthetic and detached. We’re told to look to the experts, the institutions, the leaders in suits and robes, the ones who speak from marble …
In this article, I explore the intricate relationships between the soil microbiome, plants, and human health. Through recent discoveries and personal experience, I share how restoring healthy soil is about more than adding microbes, it is about rebuilding the living terrain itself. Together we are learning that the health of …
I can feel it … the pulse of something long planted, now pushing its way to the surface. The Living Ground Store and Café is almost ready to open. And standing here, on this edge between what has been vision and what is becoming reality, I’m carrying a thousand stories …
Recently, our local community in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, has been hit with a nasty chest infection that’s been especially tough on the kids. Picture our schools here—mostly open-air classrooms nestled in the valley, surrounded by lush greenery and mountain air. With this latest infection, many children have been diagnosed with bronchitis, …
When I was 30, I had the opportunity to visit my parents in South Africa, and I encountered a mountain-top experience that left a lasting imprint on my heart. Standing before the majestic Drakensberg mountains, I was enveloped by the joy of a breathtaking view, with flowering trees adding vibrant …