I visited Charles at his market garden, Home Acres, in late February and we covered a lot of ground. We get into how no dig began, what thirteen years of side-by-side dig versus no dig trials actually show in the soil data, and why he waited 20 years to write his first book. We also talk about humanure and a trial that produced surprising results, copper garden tools and the work of Viktor Schauberger, water memory, structuring devices on the hose, and a farmer in the Austrian Alps a hundred years ago who sang to his water and had the best crops in the region.

It was an honor to visit Charles at his homestead, even being late February (perhaps the slowest time of year for a garden) it was still filled with life and growth.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro/Origins of Gardening and Market Gardening Journey
03:06 Discovering No Dig Gardening
06:53 The Role of Cardboard in No Dig Gardening
09:48 Addressing Purity in Gardening Practices
11:41 Climate Change and Its Impact on Gardening
14:13 Education and Transition to Full-Time Gardening
16:05 The Benefits of No Dig Gardening
18:26 Exploring Humanure in Gardening
22:55 Comparative Trials in Gardening Practices
26:15 Innovative Water Management in Agriculture
32:25 The Distinction Between Farming and Market Gardening
34:50 Nutrient Density and Soil Health
37:06 Starting from Scratch: Soil Remediation Techniques
38:26 The Spiritual Connection to Gardening
43:29 The Power of Observation in Gardening
46:16 Water Memory and Its Impact on Gardening
51:21 Favorite and Least Favorite Crops & Favorite Food Memory
53:58 New Book Release: Grow Together

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Charles Dowding:

• Website: charlesdowding.co.uk
• New book: Grow Together (DK, 2026)
• New Energies for Gardening by Charles Dowding

Books & People:

• Farmers of Forty Centuries by F.H. King
• The Fourth Phase of Water by Gerald Pollack
• Viktor Schauberger - Comprehend and Copy Nature Documentary
• Rudolf Steiner
• Paul Stamets

CONNECT WITH CHARLES DOWDING
Website: charlesdowding.co.uk
YouTube: @CharlesDowding1nodig
Instagram: @charles_dowding
Facebook: facebook.com/CharlesDowdingNoDigGardening
Substack: substack.com/@charlesdowding549359

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Music by: Constant Smiles
Logo design by: Hunky Kitty

This conversation spans a lot of ground. We talk about what it means to be from a place versus being of a place, Tom Bombadil and what Lord of the Rings has to teach us about ecology, communicating with plants through dreams, the concept of pharmacon and the problems with how we use psychedelics, making good soil as both metaphor and practice, and how Sophie's experience with chronic illness has deepened her relationship with the natural world.

A brief note: This conversation includes some discussion of drug use and psychedelics in the context of plant medicine and healing.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - The Hudson Valley as savior
 04:42 - Being from a place vs. being of a place
 06:38 - Human beings as peripatetic wanderers
 09:07 - Sardinian throat singing and inherited traditions
 11:16 - Eucatastrophe: the happy disaster
 15:31 - Tom Bombadil and ecological wisdom
 19:26 - Communicating with plants
 20:13 - Dreams as messages from plants
 22:23 - Dreams come from a place
 27:34 - Being an instrument played by fungi
 28:51 - Naming and ownership
 35:25 - Hopi language and present tense
 37:09 - Telepathic communication as wordless
 39:24 - Psychedelics and plant medicine
 41:17 - Pharmacon: potion and poison
 43:10 - Our culture of addiction
 46:39 - Ayahuasca and ego death
 50:39 - Creating communities that honor intuition
 54:31 - Aphids, ladybugs, and observation
 56:41 - Make me good soil
 57:21 - Degenerative connective tissue disease
 59:36 - Soil as tomb and womb
 01:01:44 - Nature and healing
 01:07:18 - The blue heron as messenger
 01:09:36 - Favorite food memory: apples and cheddar

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Sophie Strand:

• Substack: Make Me Good Soil
• Books: The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine, The Madonna Secret, The Body Is a Doorway

Books & Media:

• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Telepathy Tapes podcast
• Landmarks by Robert McFarlane
• Time and Again (speculative fiction book)
• The Never-Ending Story (film)

People Mentioned:

• Tom Bombadil (Lord of the Rings character)
• C.S. Lewis
• James Hillman (mythopoetic thinker)
• Patricia Kaishian (mycologist and writer)

Places:

• Hudson Valley, New York
• Overlook Mountain
• Ashokan Reservoir
• Woodstock, New York

Concepts:

• Eucatastrophe (Tolkien)
• Pharmacon (Greek concept)
• Mycorrhizal fungi
• Healthism

CONNECT WITH SOPHIE STRAND
Website: sophiestrand.com

Substack: Make Me Good Soil
Instagram: @cosmogyny
 Books: The Flowering Wand, The Madonna Secret, The Body Is a Doorway

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Music by: Constant Smiles
Logo design by: Hunky Kitty

For over 20 years, she's worked directly with farmers who grow tea organically and regeneratively, paying them what their work is actually worth. She runs the Rare Charity, where tea communities decide how funds are used - primarily putting kids through university who would otherwise have no access to higher education. She supplies tea to Michelin-starred restaurants around the world and has built her entire life around the belief that if you look for great flavor and know where it comes from, you can change communities while filling your life with pleasure.

I joined Henrietta at the Rare Tea Company headquarters in London where we enjoyed incredible teas on a rainy afternoon. We talk in depth about camellia sinensis (tea), how the British stole it from China and grew it across their empire, the exploitation built into most of the tea industry, the 15 million people working in tea and mostly living in poverty, organic farming versus certification, bed tea as a morning meditation, and making rhubarb fool in her grandmother's Scottish kitchen.

"Healthy soil is healthy mankind. It's not just us who drink the end product. It's the people who grow it and the communities around where it grows. It does matter."

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Falling in love with tea in China
 03:15 - The $50 pot of oolong that changed everything
 07:30 - Tea comes from one plant: Camellia sinensis
 10:45 - How the British stole tea from China
 15:20 - Corporate finance escape: "I can't wait until retirement"
 18:40 - Starting Rare Tea Company with naivety and stupidity
 22:15 - Meeting the first tea farmer in Fuding, China
 26:30 - The exploitation built into industrial tea
 31:45 - 15 million people work in tea, most are women in poverty
 35:20 - Why we don't know where our tea comes from
 39:10 - Direct trade: Paying farmers what tea is worth
 43:25 - The Rare Charity: Education chosen by communities
 47:50 - Why only 20% of charity revenue goes to admin
 51:15 - From seed to cup: The tea growing process
 56:40 - White tea, green tea, oolong, black tea, pu-erh
 62:20 - Why organic certification is complex for small farmers
 67:10 - Temperature, timing, and the art of making tea
 71:45 - The 90-second rule for flavor extraction
 75:30 - L-theanine: Why tea gives calm energy vs. coffee's crash
 79:15 - Bed tea as morning meditation
 82:40 - Tea cocktails: Quick extractions with alcohol
 86:20 - The nun who made tea as meditation
 90:15 - Favorite food memory: Rhubarb fool in Scotland
 93:45 - Healthy soil, healthy communities

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Rare Tea Company:

• Website: rareteacompany.com
• Instagram: @rareteacompany
• The Rare Charity: rarecharity.com

Tea Regions Mentioned:

• Fuding, Fujian Province, China (white tea)
• Wuyi Mountains, China (oolong)
• Anxi, Fujian Province, China (Tie Guan Yin oolong)
• Kagoshima, Japan (gyokuro from Sakamoto-san)
• Nepal (high mountain green teas)
• Malawi, East Africa (second biggest export)
• India (Assam region)

Tea Varieties Discussed:

• White Silver Needle (Bai Hao Yin Zhen)
• Tiger Oolong of Mercy (Tie Guan Yin)
• Da Hong Pao (oolong)
• Gyokuro (Japanese green tea)
• Matcha (ground green tea)
• Hojicha, Sencha, Genmaicha (Japanese teas)
• English Breakfast (blend)
• Pu-erh (fermented tea)

CONNECT WITH HENRIETTA LOVELL

 Instagram: @raretealady

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Music by Constant Smiles
Logo design by Hunky Kitty

Kevin's journey started with online poker paying for college, a quarter-life crisis playing video games, and his mom asking him to pick a hobby with his brother. They chose gardening. He first started growing cucumbers and he hasn't stopped growing since.

We talk about building an audience by responding to every single comment, the moment in 2020 when everything changed, acquiring a 30-year-old seed company to keep it from disappearing, why organic certification isn't always what people think, and moving from hydroponics to soil.

But we also talk about what Kevin has mentioned briefly on his personal channels: the crash-out moment after years of running on pure will, the medication he never thought he'd need, the physical separation he had to create from the homestead that helped build the Epic empire, and why he turned to creating art - a new hobby with no tie to business.

"Every creator I know who's had a blow-up moment has had a crash-out moment afterwards. You run on pure will for maybe a year, maybe more. And then it all comes down on you." Kevin built something massive and meaningful that continues to grow.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Why Kevin started posting gardening videos online
 03:27 - From online poker to playing video games to gardening
 05:04 - When gardening became therapeutic (7 years in)
 07:00 - Seeing land transform over time
 09:32 - 2020: When revenue exploded 6.5 times
 10:30 - Meeting Jacques: The pumpkin avatar neighbor
 12:54 - "Why do people keep calling me Eric?"
 14:23 - Responding to every single comment until you can't
 17:09 - Making millions from an online gardening blog
 17:39 - Acquiring Botanical Interests Seeds
 21:41 - How seed production actually works
 22:50 - The reality of organic certification
 26:47 - Why seed saving videos never do well
 29:52 - Regenerative certified vs. organic
 31:21 - Acquiring GrowVeg and Modern Farmer
 35:52 - When Instagram blew up: The tripod problem
 37:47 - The crash-out moment and needing medication
 40:16 - Hiring help vs. staying lean
 42:04 - Finding art as a pure hobby
 44:23 - Leaving the homestead but staying close
 47:03 - What's coming next for Epic
 51:24 - Designing seed packets as an artist
 52:08 - Favorite food memory: Rice with milk

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Epic Gardening:

• Main website: epicgardening.com
• Shop: shop.epicgardening.com/GOED (5% off anything with code GOED)
• YouTube: Epic Gardening (3.95M+ subscribers)
• Instagram: @epicgardening
• Botanical Interests Seeds: botanicalinterests.com
• GrowVeg Garden Planner: growveg.com
• Modern Farmer Magazine: modernfarmer.com
• The Greenhouse Membership program (5% off with code GOED)
• Jacques Lyakov - Epic team member - Instagram and Youtube

Mental Health Support: If you or someone you know is struggling with burnout, depression, or having thoughts of self-harm, help is available:

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 (US)
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 (US)
• International resources: findahelpline.com

CONNECT WITH KEVIN ESPIRITU

Personal YouTube: Kevin Espiritu
Instagram: @kevinespiritu_
Art Instagram: @rampfade
 

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Music by Constant Smiles

Logo design by Hunky Kitty

Darina's journey began when a chance meeting with her future mother-in-law, Myrtle Allen - a pioneer of Irish farm-to-table cooking - changed the course of her life. A week-long cooking course in Italy with Marcella Hazan, paid for with the last pennies in the bank, gave Darina the revelation that the solution to everything was underneath her feet: the beautiful Irish ingredients surrounding her on the farm.

We talk about Myrtle Allen's revolutionary approach to Irish cuisine, the moment in an Italian market when Darina realized local ingredients should be more valuable (not less), how the cooking school was born out of desperation, why people are craving to relearn forgotten skills, the overwhelming response to her new Ballymaloe Organic Farm School, and the life-changing experience of making your first loaf of bread.

"Everything I did was out of desperation. The farm shop, the cooking school - all of it. But what joy to be doing something you love that brings so much joy to other people." Darina embodies what it means to pass on skills with generosity, patience, and the deep belief that cooking is one of the most important things you can learn.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. For extended show notes with deeper analysis, subscribe to my Substack at gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com.

TIMESTAMPS

01:28 - Honorary doctorate and why cooking is an important skill  

04:30 - Growing up wanting only to cook and garden  

06:15 - Meeting Myrtle Allen: The woman who changed everything  

10:38 - Myrtle's approach: No yelling, just teaching  

13:18 - The energetics of food and cooking with joy  

15:04 - The last pennies in the bank: Marcella Hazan in Italy  

21:00 - The Nostrale revelation: When local became valuable  

24:30 - Realizing Irish ingredients were as good as Italian  

26:00 - "The solution is underneath our feet"  

27:30 - Starting the cooking school out of desperation  

31:23 - Why the farm makes Ballymaloe unique  

36:00 - Students from 65+ countries learning on the farm  

38:13 - The desperate need for skilled farm labor  

39:04 - Which came first: farming or cooking?  

39:30 - The homesteading phenomenon worldwide  

41:05 - The CEO who made his first loaf of bread  

42:00 - Launching the Ballymaloe Organic Farm School  

44:39 - Teaching forgotten skills: From beekeeping to cheese-making  

45:44 - Favorite food memory: Auntie Florence and raspberry buns

RESOURCES MENTIONED

- Ballymaloe Cookery School

- Ballymaloe House 

- Ballymaloe Organic Farm School

Books:

- Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck

- Marcella Hazan's cookbooks

- Darina Allen's cookbooks

People Mentioned:

- Myrtle Allen - Pioneer of Irish farm-to-table cuisine

- Marcella Hazan - Italian cooking teacher and author

- Matt Somerville - Wild bee expert

- Dr. David Unwin and Dr. Jen Unwin - Type 2 diabetes specialists

TV:

- Simply Delicious - Darina's television series

Organizations:

- Slow Food East Cork 

- The Greenhorns (Young Agrarian Movement in America)

CONNECT WITH DARINA ALLEN

Instagram: @darina_allen  

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Music by Constant Smiles

Logo design by Hunky Kitty

Michael Kotutwa Johnson

Michael Kotutwa Johnson is a 250th generation Hopi dry farmer and University of Arizona professor. His people have farmed the same land in northeastern Arizona for thousands of years - a place that receives only six inches of rain annually, with no irrigation and no pesticides. 

Michael once planted an 800-year-old corn seed discovered by an archaeologist in a cave near historical Hopi villages. It sprouted because seeds have memory. This corn remembered how to grow and knew that it was safe to grow in caring Hopi hands.

We talk about what makes Hopi culture a collaboration of clans, planting with faith during extreme drought, the planting stick as both life and death, singing to your corn and giving plants high fives, treating seeds as children, reading biological indicators in the land, and the practice of holding seeds in your mouth before planting. Michael also shares how he roasts corn in seven-foot stone pits to preserve it for decades - real food security rooted in community, not individual accumulation.

"They're children to me. When they fall down, you pick them back up." Michael embodies what it means to be in true relationship with plants, seeds, soil, and the living world. Knowledge passed down through 250 generations that offers us a different model for resilience, adaptation, and agricultural practice.

This has been condensed from a longer conversation. For extended show notes with deeper analysis and reflections, subscribe to my Substack at gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - What makes Hopi Hopi: A collaboration of clans
 04:10 - Hopi clan migrations and oral traditions
 08:20 - Faith as the most important ingredient
 11:57 - Lessons from grandfather: The planting stick as life and death
 15:14 - Planting techniques: 6-18 inches deep without irrigation
 17:30 - The intimacy of seed planting
 20:53 - Reading biological indicators: How weeds predict the season
 24:11 - The present moment in Hopi language and culture
 26:24 - "Without corn, we are not Hopi"
 29:17 - The role of women in Hopi agriculture
 30:47 - Adapting to climate change the Hopi way
 35:07 - The 800-year-old corn seed: Memory and adaptation
 39:09 - The satisfaction of growing your own food
 41:39 - Why regenerative agriculture matters
 48:25 - Cultural significance of Hopi seeds
 52:09 - The ethics of seed sharing
 56:21 - Timing, acceptance, and nurturing
 59:15 - Singing to plants and giving them high fives
 1:00:55 - Food memory: Roasting corn in a seven-foot stone pit

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Books:

• Becoming Hopi - Hopi Culture Preservation Office 
• Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters

Organizations & Programs:

• Native American Agriculture Fund
• University of Arizona Indigenous Resilience Center
• Hopi Foundation

Articles & Features:

• "What 800-Year-Old Seeds Teach Us About Adaptation & Hope" - Good Food Finder
• "Michael Kotutwa Johnson: A Voice for Indigenous Agriculture" - Eos Magazine
• "Continuity of Hopi Agriculture" presentation (YouTube)
  
  

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL KOTUTWA JOHNSON
Instagram: @dr._hopi_farmer
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michael-kotutwa-johnson-phd-mpp-16542049
University of Arizona: snre.arizona.edu/michael-kotutwa-johnson

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Music by Constant Smiles

Logo design by Hunky Kitty

In this episode with Valentina, I share my journey through 20 years of working on farms and gardens around the world, the spiritual and physical connection we have with soil, and those transformative wow moments that happen when we open ourselves to nature.

We also discuss ancient practices like holding seeds in your mouth before planting - something I dive deeper into with my next guest, Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a 250th generation Hopi farmer and University of Arizona professor. That episode comes out next week on January 30th - stay tuned!

TIMESTAMPS

02:58 - First memory: pulling a carrot at age 4
 04:30 - Light bulb moment in the pea field
 06:20 - Building community through food
 08:36 - Hare Krishna farm in Hawaii
 10:30 - Spraying pesticides: the moment that changed everything
 12:15 - Wow moments and spiritual connection to nature
 20:05 - The chemical connection between body and soil
 23:00 - Holding seeds in your mouth before planting
 25:47 - Practical gardening tips for beginners
 28:53 - Why I started Gardens of Earthly Delight
 31:00 - How local farmers led to Italian citizenship

RESOURCES MENTIONED

WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms): Volunteering on organic farms around the world

Slow Food Farms: Find farms near you dedicated to agroecological practices and biodiversity
Wonderful Escapes: The farm I am living on this winter (with the miniature donkeys!)

FOLLOW & SUPPORT SLOW FOOD
Slow Food Communities
Make a Donation to Slow Food
Follow on Instagram

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Photo of Trevor credit: Alexander Pomper
Music by Constant Smiles
Logo design by Hunky Kitty

Trevor Warmedahl (Milk Trekker)

Trevor Warmedahl, also known as Milk Trekker, is a nomadic cheesemaker, teacher, and author who travels the world documenting endangered cheese-making practices from rural pastoral communities. He won the Daphne Zepos Teaching Award in 2022 and teaches through his Sour Milk School. His book, Cheese Trekking: How Microbes, Landscapes, Livestock, and Human Cultures Shape Terroir, comes out February 17th, 2026 with Chelsea Green Publishing.

Recorded in Bra, Italy during the Slow Food cheese festival, Trevor and I explore why cheese is milk's natural destiny, not a human invention. We dive into the ethical realities of dairy, the influence of David Asher's book, how industrial starter cultures are like buying seeds from Monsanto, the profound practice of transhumance, raw milk safety debates, microbial diversity, terroir, and what the future holds for American cheesemakers.

"Cheese is really milk fulfilling its destiny." Trevor challenges the industrial model and shows us there's another way—one rooted in traditional wisdom, seasonal rhythms, and the infinite potential hidden in a pail of raw milk.

This has been condensed from a two-hour conversation. For the full unedited version with more stories from Trevor's travels, subscribe to my Substack at gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Introduction
 02:21 - Cheese is not a human invention
 11:58 - The role of microbes in cheese making
 13:38 - Fears and safety of natural cheese
 22:02 - Cheese and microbes
 29:05 - Cheese terroir and its complexity
 36:36 - Aha moments in cheese making
 44:38 - Tradition vs. innovation
 48:18 - Transhumance: the art of seasonal migration
 57:24 - The essential role of salt
 1:02:25 - Favorite food memory
 1:05:33 - Final thoughts

CONNECT WITH TREVOR

Substack: milktrekker.substack.com
Instagram: @milktrekker
Book: Pre-order Cheese Trekking (out February 17, 2026) with Chelsea Green Publishing

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Photo of Trevor credit: Alexander Pomper
Music by Constant Smiles
Logo design by Hunky Kitty