Grounded in Maine

Anjel B Hartwell and I are talking about planning a sustainable business, and no one better for this conversation than the Wealthy Life Mentor! Anjel has had ALL the experiences in business, and she uses them to make her the mentor that she is. She tells us how she started and about choices she made that weren't ideal, but still shaped her and added to her understanding. And that brings the w...

I really enjoyed learning about Cleaner Safer Water from Mark Miller, the CEO and Founder of this affordable, lifetime water filtration system. It just makes sense to have something like this in case of power outage. I'm still in awe of not having to buy filters for it ever, AND that it can provider water for up to 300 people! 1 system could take care of a whole neighborhood! Mark tells us al...

Oh my gosh, Lynne Bowman was such a pleasure to spend time with! She is an absolute hoot, full of energy, and is adamant that we NOT diet - we should be eating intentionally, for enjoyment. She'll tell us all about it in this conversation. We're talking about preventing chronic disease and being overall healthy and happy! When asked what message Lynne wanted people to get from this conve...

I had so much fun talking with Matthew Lesko! He's encouraging people to apply for grants to fund big ticket upgrades, updates, etc. He says "the money's there; YOU might as well have it!" He worked for 50 years for the wealthy, finding them more money, but now is helping the underdog to get ahead, because he can. He says it doesn't pay him a lot, but he actually feels goo...

Merrymeeting Food Council reached out to me to ask if we could help to get the word out about their Farm Skills Program, because the deadline to apply for the next cohort is this Saturday, February 1. If you miss this cohort, they will still take applications for the next. Maine has set a BIG goal of eliminating food insecurity by 2030 (FIVE YEARS), and their plan includes growing more locally. Ha...

The algorithm was just right not too long ago that I happened upon Seb Jagoe's Instagram reel and became obsessed with his excitement and vast knowledge about soil and growing. It's always a little nerve wracking to reach out cold to a stranger, but this time, at least, Seb was just so gracious to talk with me and share this message. I've had many conversations about soil health on...

I've been following Angela Hollowell for a couple of years now on Linkedin, and admiring all that she's doing with her podcast Honey and Hustle, and her writing and now documentary film making. When she said she's joined a new group that she's excited about and asked if anyone wanted to hear about it, I saw my chance and said YES PLEASE! She recently joined Dogwood Alliance - i...

Bronwyn Holm is an international speaker and spokesperson for Earth Food, a product of living microbiomes to feed our soil, and at the same time battle food insecurity and turn our health issues around. HOW, you ask? Bron talks at length of the benefits of Earth Food in this conversation, and she is SO proud of its capabilities, and rightfully so! She is sharing her message of saving  our soil, wh...

This conversation with Laura Hartley was like medicine for my soul - I hope this helps you to feel seen, too, because it was a message that I didn't expect or know that I needed to hear! I told Laura that I've felt a call to be more involved in what's happening in the world, but I lack the confidence to stand up when the time comes, and she actually has a course/program coming up in...

I loved this conversation with Janet Irizzary - she has tons of experience in the food business to base her upcoming course, My Mindful Kitchen (MMK) to reduce food waste for families. in her bio: "The MMK Method offers a solution to household food waste, addressing a critical environmental issue that contributes to climate change. Wasting food also wastes valuable water and energy, while rel...

This conversation with Bobby Donohue had me so fired up excited for the future! Bobby has single handedly developed an outstanding educational platform for school kids to teach them about climate change in a positive way, so they can problem solve with creativity and hope, and not doom and gloom. He also developed a track just for teachers, to help kids understand some of the more complex topics!...

David Auge is a fascinating person who has been in the sustainability realm for a while now, so understands it on a much deeper level than some (possibly a lot) of us. So much so, that he just had a book published by the name of this episode - Man's Search for Sustainability. He talks about a book that he was inspired by, Man's Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl. In his book, David foc...

Speaking with Kent Scott of Too Long Dogs Homestead just lit me up, because we have so many ideas in common - he's just closer to the dream than I am. I'm so inspired by all the things he's up to, and in such a short time! My very favorite thing so far that I've learned about him is his community involvement, and you know I'm obsessed with Community Sufficiency - taking ca...

When I say this conversation was a LONG time in the making, I'm just so glad that Victoria was still available when I got back to her - we decided it was the right time now, and that's why it happened as it did. (so grateful for her cheery outlook) Victoria lives in Massachusetts and she has been working on outdoor classrooms for many years, and is doing great work for her community and...

Oh my gosh, I just loved this conversation with Monica and Cindy of Rapt Gift Wrap! Their business is fabric wrap, to reduce the paper waste from gift wrapping, and it's so beautiful! I thought the timing of this was perfect; hopefully will give folks time to think about gift waste before the rush. Monica O'Neil and Cindy Estes are friends who started Rapt in Massachusetts to help reduce...

I'm talking with Nick Bergmann of Peace House Studio- Nick and his spouse Kate are creating children's clothes that can be bought back when outgrown and patched up and passed onto a new child with even more fun personality! (check out the cutie patootie top in the cover, and also in my Instagram promo!) We talk about the start of Peace House Studio, and the Three Pillars of sustainabilit...

I was recently approached by Mykhailo and Vlad of Terra Mora on Instagram and was just so impressed with what they're offering that I wanted to feature them on the podcast and learn more about them. These two are both 21 yearrs old, and in the beginning of the current Russia/Ukraine war, lost their homes and just about everything, but they've built themselves back up, and are dedicated t...

Jr Sparrow and I have been friends for a couple of years, but have talked more since I've moved to his home state - even though he doesn't live here now, he's got lots of memories here (and his mom), so he's sharing all kinds of good tips with me. We talk about soil, critters - cute and less cute, and his first sustainability venture as a young person cleaning up after race tra...

Kenya Rothstein is the host of the podcast Thank You For Saying NO, about  things happen in life that feel impossible and hard, but turn out to be the best thing for us. I've been following her for a little while now, and at some point she messaged me and said something like "your podcast is about sustainability - I need to be a guest!" I wasn't going to say no - definitely not...

This is a shorty, you guys (you're welcome!) - just thought I'd give a little update, since some huge life shifts have happened for me - some, maybe a lot of you, follow on social media, so you know that I recently moved - short update: it's mostly going well! Also, as it has been for a while now, menopause was brought up - October is Menopause Awareness Month - as well as Domestic...

Natalie Hodge is my very first Virginia podcast guest since moving here, and I'm so excited to share our conversation with you! She just recently (this year!) started gardening in containers, and she is HOOKED! I love her story of how and why she started, and how excited she gets talking about growing her own food on her balcony - and hearing about her future plans-- "they" say in t...

I was thinking that the title of this episode should be "How on Earth did Amy score The Old Farmer's Almanac on the Podcast?? But it was too many characters... Shall we make it the UNofficial title? Carol Connare is the 14th editor of The Old Farmer's Almanac, and only the 2nd woman- since 1792! She talks about the beginnings of the Almanac, and about the great topics discussed (bes...

I loved this conversation with Rhonda Linn so much - we have a lot in common - she's just a bit ahead of me. A big one for me is the title of this episode - A Homesteading State of Mind - you don't know this, but that was almost the name of this podcast! For real! Rhonda is a writer, so I'm going to use some of her words, so I don't make it all clumsy- Her Substack is called Ea...

Wow, I loved this conversation with Aimee Gallo! She calls herself 'unapologetically candid,' in her podcast description, and I'm 100% here for it. Aimee's not afraid to question or disagree with what we've been hearing our whole lives about nutrition on her podcast, Blasphemous Nutrition. She's not just being contrary; she's been studying nutrition her whole lif...

This conversation with Jane Lee Rankin was so easy - it felt like it just flowed for me - it helps that we are very like-minded... Whatever it was, I had the best time getting to know her! Jane Lee Rankin is a 2 time author, and also a farmer in Agritourism, opening up her farm so that others can come and feel the peace that comes with farming (or maybe just digging in the dirt and interacting wit...