Getting Back to Earth

0:16 I'm Kimberly and I'm Laura and today we're talking about getting back to earth. Yeah, I'm one of my favorite. I was gonna say Kim Let's see how I talk about this for an hour. No problem I could talk to about it for a week. I know I was talking to a friend the other day and I said I said, yeah There's a certain time every year. I have to turn to Kim and say Can we talk about something other than plants? Which I don't even realize, right? It's just like my every day like anybody who likes anything for me Being outside in nature is my absolute favorite thing. It's it's it feeds me I'm just like I'm giddy and happy and I can tell even when we had company the other night It's like people look at me and you're like really does it make you that happy? Are you really that happy?

1:09 Listen, it's become like I don't even know where to go. Let's let's just do the podcast and I'll talk Yeah, well, I think it's become a bit of an obsession for sure and we can't we can't pass a garden center You know Kim going in and usually if we're somewhere and there is a garden center and I can't find her That's where she is. That's right. Yeah, I like some of those videos people will send me or posts on Facebook I'm gonna chose, you know this crazy hippie lady driving down the road with plants hanging out all the windows and you know Nothing else can fit in the vehicle that has actually happened. That's multiple multiple. Yeah, we've done that We've done that because she'll find things in New Brunswick and then want to bring it back home To our house in Nova Scotia, so it's on top of all the luggage and all the bags and everything There's plant pots and you know trees sticking out of the window and everything so exactly. Yeah, yeah pretty nuts Anyway, we we both love nature I would say Kim is more in the dirt than me, but but I do like I still like it. I like I love being outside I love all the the flowers and the plants that we have and and just you know finding out what new things are and I love Like watching the birds and knowing like what birds?

2:26 It's so shocking to me that I'll be with somebody and I'll say oh look there's an osprey and they're like What's an osprey like they don't know what the birds are like around around us, which always shocks me or like I'll be driving and I'll be talking to somebody on the phone And I'll say oh my gosh like a hawk red-tailed hawk just flew over the car and the person's like oh I didn't even know we had those yeah or a palliated woodpecker Yeah, which is always a good sign for me cuz yeah It's always kind of like oh you're paying attention and you're where you're meant to be so and I Spear communication is really it's really easy in nature like it must set our Sets our mind or like our energy in the right space Because I find spear communication happens so clearly outside. Hmm. Well, I like this story just happened to me last week I think But we just got a new bird this year like we sit we were those people Yep, we sit and have coffee and watch the birds at the front window We we are I thought only older people did that but you know, I I love it and I've loved it all my life So, you know, we have regular birds here like chickadees and sparrows and all the red finches and the yellow finch

3:45 And we have Downey woodpeckers and palliated and gross beaks and Blue jays and we have Crows and a couple Ravens and we've had indigo bunting and this year, you know and multiple more, you know birds but this year we got a red winged blackbird and This has been a new little bird that's been around here for a while and the bird is gorgeous Gorgeous black and it has just a little fine tip over its shoulder of like red But when it flies you can see that all underneath the wing is like this orange Yeah, it's like a flash like or slash, but that's the male and the female looks like it's it's got more black and white And brown just kind of color through it. Yeah, and more of you know variation, but it's also more aggressive the female Yeah, it's funny But this bird I said to Laura last week I said look up the meaning of this look up the spiritual meaning because this we haven't seen this bird The last four years we've been here and we've been down the road Seven years from here. Yeah, ten minutes away where we used to live and I have never seen this bird So it had a absolutely beautiful meaning

5:02 So then one day I'm out back last week and I'm mowing and I'm weedbacking and I'm doing all these things And I decided to take a seat and have a drink of water and While I did I could just hear this, you know red winged blackbird singing to me Which it was saying to us every day Which just has a beautiful voice. So anyway me in my own way I was like well, I'm gonna prove to myself. Is this bird here talking to me? And is this really what I think it is. So I literally asked the bird I said are you and it was kind of over to the right quite a ways away from me But I could hear it singing and I said if you're here and there is this actual message For us then I would want I want to know by you coming closer to me Mm-hmm and we have a bird feeder out back to in the corner That's it was probably I don't know eight to ten feet away from where I was sitting So oh the bird came and it flew over to the bird feeder and First it flew above into a tree branch and then it flew to the feeder Which was very close to me and then it flew right behind me Looked down at me as if to say is that good enough and then it's it did a little song for me

6:18 And then it went back to its regular spot. So I I sometimes test spirit That's part of who I am and what I like to do and I like to have confirmation So that was a beautiful like message for us and I just I am that person I'm always gonna test spirit because it's fun. Well, and when we look at the meaning it was about powerful transformation So this isn't like we talk about having spiritual shifts where oh, you're a little off You feel a little foggy like maybe Something big is changed or maybe it May be it's not so big, but it's just big to you But we talk about spiritual shifts a transformation is like you you can never go back Right like a transformation is a change that you change, but you change for good So this is spiritual transformation is kind of it hits you harder, you know, it's a bigger thing Sometimes it's like a slap in the face But sometimes it's like you were pushed six feet underground like you're stable sound solid grounded Yeah, yeah, it's quite the it's something happening to you that has to happen so that you can prepare yourself for the for whatever's coming Right. Yeah, so we have we Kim and I have we had this kind of connection between us and we met that we both

7:34 Wanted to be in nature. So we made sure we were hiking camping Swimming swimming we were outside as much as we could be We we love the beach. I know when I need to get to the beach. Yeah, like I need to I know when you need Yeah, I can feel it. It's like I need the water. I need the grounding I there is like we've I think we've talked about another podcast, but there is science behind it But really I just I don't know. It's like this calling inside of me I just feel like I need I need that Space to ground to let go of something to cleanse something release something and to move forward So I always know when I have to go and we thankfully have a little tiny beach about 10 minutes from our house So we can take off get down there do some grounding and then get back Yeah, we'll walk around the path and and hike as much as we can around that area to just to yeah Just a little extra it up. Why not right? Yeah?

8:37 Yeah, so we know we know the benefit of connecting with nature But I feel like sometimes I don't know if you feel this way But don't you feel like you're just kind of screaming into the wind like people are not really getting it Well, one of the biggest things for me and we've talked a lot about this lately it's how we're not realizing that we're overpopulating the earth and We have to at some point Make some corrections because you know without trees We're not gonna have oxygen to breathe and you know and so on and so on we know all the the things about earth that we need To keep okay, but I think that people were so used to Having what we want. We don't realize what it takes to get all that. Yeah, you know and one thing I've been very when we bought this house. It's been almost four years In December it'll be four years and when we bought it. It was a very sad house The energy of it if you just looked at it you could just see it made you feel bad It made you feel because I remember we used to walk by this house years ago Mm-hmm, and we would stop out front of the house and look and say, you know, isn't it a sin?

9:47 This house looks like it's not cared for yeah, there's no life in it Well, it always it always looked like there was nobody here. Yeah, nobody living here But really the sad like feeling so the difference is there really is energy in The earth and in the greenery and in flowers and then it brings this life into your you know into your yard and into your life So, you know one of the first things that I notice is you know We we've had more than a hundred people neighbors stop and say, oh my gosh We're so happy you guys took over the house like it just you've restored it and when you're restoring something You know you think about it go have a makeover as a woman Or go take a kid out shopping and buy them a whole new wardrobe. You feel good. It's color. It's style It's you know, so there's no difference with a house It's like I am one of those crazy people and I love this about myself. So I'm saying it in a nice way But I feel the earth. I feel the spirit on the land I feel you know, I see spirit They're around me all the time outside and they keep me in check all the time But there's like this beautiful thing that happens that yes

11:02 I'm addicted to plants and flowers and and all that but it's I have such a variety of what I do There's not, you know, I grow we have beautiful plants and and hedges and all these things on our property and trees But I'm not somebody that's just gonna load the house with a bunch of flowers. I want medicinal plants I want vegetables. I have every herb you can think of. I'm always looking for a new thing, you know this year I added ground cherries to the equation and Golden berries, which it's really funny. They're from the tomato family but you know the golden berries tastes like a mango and pineapple and the Ground cherries look like a little like orangey yellow tomato and they're delightful. They taste amazing So not only do I grow garlic and vegetables and herbs and stuff I'm always looking for the new thing. So I grow Acnesia I grow elderberries and I will make jelly with that like a jam for kids so that we can build their immune system without Filling it full of stuff. That's not good for them And I will not use a pile of sugar with it Like I always find ways to do things the healthiest I can and I grow Comfrey and calendula and St. John's wort and you like this goes on and on and I make products with it

12:21 So I'm using the earth and the way it makes me feel is That the more I'm out there Communicating with the earth the more the earth is communicating to me and you hit on something earlier because you said There's the population of the earth is getting so big And I think there was a time that humans were much more conscious and looking after the earth If you look at I do believe if you look after the earth the earth will look after you but this There is so much being manufactured and produced now. Hmm. That is so counterproductive to human life, right? So we're we're in this place now like don't eat don't eat that because you know, you'll get cancer Don't eat don't eat that because you know, you'll be sick You'll have brain fog or you know, you'll get intestinal problems. Your gut health will be off like there's so many things that are produced by Companies that are not it's not good for you. It's really hard. You almost have to be Reading and be an expert on all these things or you know, just stay away from processed food

13:37 But even there's a lot more coming to late now, but our clothing There's a lot of chemicals in in new clothing and when you look at the research There is enough clothing now in the world No one needs to buy new clothes. Yeah, there's enough that's already been produced and Clothing is getting like thrown out on a regular basis by by big manufacturers when they you know When they collect returns or they have seconds or whatever Sometimes all that clothing it doesn't get distributed to people. It's it's like they burn it they throw it out so We're living in a time that people are not maybe it's more like Corporations, but we're not actually We're not actually making something sustainable like we're not looking after people. We're not looking after the earth It's very short-sighted. Nobody's looking at the future. They're just saying well I'm gonna sell this in the next six months, but they're not thinking about what happens after that What happens to that product? So we have you know, we have to deal with plastic like microplastics in the ocean in

14:53 Our fish it's showing up in in animals. It's showing up at plants It's like we get it we have to deal with all these things that it doesn't make sense Like why are we producing so much stuff? That's hurting the environment and hurting us and then it's also creating Energy that we have to counterbalance everything all the time like my office I have crystals all over my office because I wanted to help me with the EMF You know the EMF waves that come out of technology So I so you you're trying to combat all these things all the time Like I think we're just gonna drive ourselves crazy because you you constantly have to look at everything eat Everything you wear everything that's in your environment soap cleaners. You you're we're We're just like round-the-clock stress all the time and all we have to do is look outside Well things that we need are in nature already Well, and we're stressing ourselves out about you know Like I look at the young moms and dads that are trying to make sure their kids have enough good food to eat and you know And and if you even go in the grocery store if you go to the produce section in the meat section They're the only and I mean I know everybody has their their you know choices about meat and stuff

16:11 So, you know, I wouldn't even get into that but you know Whole foods is what we're looking for, you know, and that's something that I really don't think That as long as we're eating whole foods, we're okay If we're eating out of a package, then you got to think about your health What's what's going into your body and and you have to wash? Everything like wash all your fruits and vegetables make sure that it's real like everything's cleaned off We this is my I'm just like my mind is blown lately Because even The way that fruits and vegetables looked before humans started cultivating cultivating them It's completely different. Mm-hmm. Like a carrot is not a carrot anymore. Do you know what I mean? A banana is not a not a banana. We have cultivated all these All these different types of produce to serve us to look appetizing But we're not like we're not actually thinking about what we need or what we should have it's more like well Does it does it look good? It's like that's more important. Does it look good?

17:16 Or is it gonna feed you properly like I don't I it's we're in such a strange time and so Kim and I we were talking about this and just saying there's so it feels so odd. Mm-hmm to talk about Getting back to nature and going outside. Mm-hmm It feels like you have to talk people into it and make them see, you know why they should you know I have to say every single time we take our grandkids because I have four grandchildren and they're nine seven five and three and Every time I don't care how cranky they are I don't care how like what their mood is like before we go But when we go to the beach it takes minutes and they could have just been arguing in the car But they get outside and the air is hitting them and the ocean has all these beautiful sounds and they are Buddies with each other. They're like the kids are hanging out with each other. They're supporting each other They're talking to each other They're having like let's see who can find a marble or sea glass or sticks and stones and they just don't care They pick up everything. They love it all. They don't need toys. That's the thing. We take them to the beach They just run they make their own fun. Yeah, and they you know They just love every bit of it, but they're happy and they're grounded and when we leave

18:36 They're happy and they stay happy for quite some time and they're connected. They're talking to us about things We're having conversations, you know, and I wouldn't trade that for the world Oh when my you when my kids were young like him and I used to pick them up From their dads and we take them straight to the beach. Yeah, so they could ground they could feel like cleansed We used to have a little fire on the beach, you know And maybe toast a marshmallow and then, you know, go home have some spider dogs or whatever about yeah, but it's for me It's the you know, I told my wife the other day. I miss beautiful Laura I said I don't know if I've ever felt so happy And it's because I have been year after year planting Putting in raised beds and every year I learned more about the earth The soil how I can grow plants better meaning, you know, I want them to taste good I want them to be like a good volume, you know, there's there's an there's a real skill to gardening, you know and you better be prepared for hard work and You know, it's costly until you get it set up then it's not and it's a commitment and it is but it's For me, it doesn't matter about the money. It doesn't matter about the work because when I'm working

19:56 I get fed. I'm getting fed constantly and if I'm being honest, you know, I go outside and Even when I'm watering, I I know I'm a crazy love bird, but this is the truth I'm watering things and as I'm watering them I'm just imagining the water as like I'm I'm feeding them love Right and I'm loving the plant and they're loving me back and I have this gratitude that I do every time I'm out there and I'll clean up the the leaves that look like they're they're dying or whatever because plants have that they They just they release leaves. They you know, it's normal So I go out and I'll clean them up and I talk to my plants every single day But year after year I grow more now this year yesterday I cultivated and cut, you know I have the sweet little basket that I use and I go out and I snip a bunch of lemon balm orange balm lavender Mint I have mint spearmint. I have chocolate mint I have camomile and I'll cut them all and I bring them in and I I put them in brown bags because It's easier than using the oven and things that are gonna create You know, you're using energy and you're creating heat in your house, which you don't need in the summertime

21:14 So, you know, I I learn as I go. So I've learned Instead of because now I have so many herbs and as I'm talking to you there's like 20 big brown bags behind Laura that are all labeled and and marked but Every year when you're planting the first couple years, I'll say the first two years It's like, you know, you take us little plant you put it in But you give it two years and you have this a massive amount Mm-hmm. It's not just a little plant anymore. If they're a perennial and they come back every year You know, we have all these plants and like all the oregano and the thyme and the mints And they come up year after year and they will spread and spread lemon balm bee balm not it all You know, it all grows on its own and for me Every year I get a little bit better Mm-hmm. I know a little bit more, but it's because the earth talks to me when the plants are in the ground They'll say it's too hot over here or I need more heat or it's it's the ground is too acidic Or too clay-based or there's something with the soil So I'm constantly in a place of awareness when I'm gardening and I'm constantly being told How I can perfect what I'm doing and it's not about perfection. It's about how to get the most out of what you're doing

22:33 Yeah, and the like I I think about the the lessons Because it's so easy for us to just go to the grocery store and buy something and What I noticed is when I started growing things years ago What I noticed was the difference in shapes and sizes of the things and how much you had to grow to get that much Like if you go to the grocery store and you buy cilantro cilantro is the one that gets me because it's a big bunch Right you get from the grocery store. It looks nice. Looks green. Take it home. You're happy. Mm-hmm It is not easy to grow cilantro It's not an herb that really is as hardy I don't find as the other things and you have to pick it at the right time and all these well I can get woody too like yeah, there's too much sun and not enough moisture It'll get woody and you don't get as much like you you could you could plant more and get a big yield But you have to plant a lot You know and so that's that goes for a lot of things that we buy at the grocery store We buy a whole bag of oranges and think nothing of it, but that could have been a whole trees yield for that time So I you appreciate everything more when you grow it the appreciation you have from there's so many lessons in gardening

23:52 So there's the commitment. So you have to be paying attention out there watering Weeding making sure that all the plants have everything they need they're fed, you know and You're like you're responsible for all those little plants So you have to make sure and and I know you because if something doesn't work out or if a plant dies I know how much it hurts you. It's like that's your baby, you know, and you've looked after it all this time So there's that lesson. There's also the lesson of letting go because sometimes Something's gone too far and we can't help it and we just have to let it go But but nothing is wasted in nature. So the earth will reabsorb that and reuse that energy again That's the coolest thing and that's that that's a lesson in Kind of like for for me working as a medium that our energy is never wasted It never is wasted and that's what's happening in nature and that's what's reflected in us And even when this body is done and can't hold us anymore Our energy is not wasted it goes back to the collective or it's looking after their living family members Or it's protecting them or it's serving them in some way. So we our consciousness never

25:08 It never goes away. It never dies And that's a huge lesson from nature that everything is important everything has a cycle everything has a cycle everything it can be recycled reused and Be reborn again and we see that we see that in the seasons We see that with the way plants, you know grow and produce fruit or vegetables or whatever Then they die and we compost them and then we use that compost on the plants the next year And I do that as well And I have two massive compost bins and I will shuffle them meaning I I will Empty them and move them and then put and shovel it back in sometimes just just because it And helps it it helps it decompose quicker Because sometimes when you're throwing compost out, you're not always You know making sure you have a third cardboard a third green a third Like you just don't you're throwing everything in there So for me in the fall and I have a good buddy that brings me some compost manure Composted manure and I use my compost in that and I will redo the bids and get them ready for the following year When I'm done with them But I've also learned that if you don't put something on top of the bids like some chips

26:25 And I usually go to the highway when they're doing any kind of tree cutting and you'll see all the little shavings on the ground and Here you can find them lots of places But if you take those chips and put them over top of the soil Then it's healthier and it decomposes and it's it's healthy for the earth as well But what it does is it protects the soil from the Sun because the Sun will beat You know what right out of the earth. So, you know, there's a process and and moving things around I have raised beds and I have little greenhouses over some of them and and stuff like that But you really get into the system of knowing because I have different areas on the property that I grow different things And now all sometimes like right now I have cucumbers in two areas and I have Zucchinis in two areas because we eat a lot of those and we cook with that stuff and and tomatoes I have loads of tomatoes different kinds and stuff and I have loads of stuff going on the deck and I have like I know a lot of people think I'm crazy But I am crazy for the love of what this gives me back But let's talk about the love because that's the part that's so not crazy, right?

27:36 Because you are putting love into the plants and then what do we do? Yeah, we go outside we cut some basil and we use it in our meals or whatever other herbs are growing parsley oregano Things that we want to use dill We'll go out and we'll cut those herbs and we use them in our food that we're cooking. So what's happening? It's just adding more of that positive energy back into the food And then you consume the food and it feeds your energy centers in such a way that you will never get You'll never get if you just go and buy something something that's mass produced. So that's again It's a different kind of cycle Well, it's like making a homemade pie or a homemade cake versus going and buying one Some there's something wrong with the one you bought at the store It's like was there the care and love put into that that there is when you're doing it on your own We had company the other night and we made a full from everything we make is from scratch But we made a real nice fish and chip for everybody and our own tartar sauce our own coleslaw like You know everything we do is done with love and then I threw together a carrot cake and you know homemade buttercream frosting in the whole bit But the thing is is when you're cooking and you're loving it and you're adding stuff from the garden

28:58 Into that it I don't care. It's just I've I've always been this person And that's one of the reasons why I love being with somebody like Laura is that we are so much alike in so many ways But we're different in enough ways that it helps us grow and learn from each other But we love cooking and growing no matter what we're doing and you know tomato basil soups and and Lots of different things we do Everything is cooked with love and if everything's grown from love what an energy you feel it Yeah, you are feeding your energy system, right? Yeah, and it feels so good and then it feels good when you know like the day before yesterday I cut all the garlic scapes because you know I used to think oh when the garlic scapes came it meant the garlic was done Well, that's not what it is at all You know then the then the energy is going back into the bulb after you cut the scape off So, you know, I didn't know that the first so many years I did that for people I don't know the scape is kind of like the curly the curly thing at the top Yeah, when you grow garlic so and I have four different varieties of garlic that I grow because you know I did not know there was a garlic festival, but there is in Windsor, Nova Scotia. So I went But I took all the scapes off and I brought them in the house and I cleaned them and I made

30:16 Garlic scape pesto and The thing about all of the things that I do is now I'm to a place Where all of the herbs that I grow we do not have to buy and they will last from the fall Till the next fall when I harvest again And now I have so many things growing and the you know, they're getting bigger and thicker and and they're branching out So now I'm making my own tea So I'm gonna make my own tea with lavender and chamomile and lemon balm and and mint and all this stuff that I grow And the beauty in this is the more love you put in the more you get out because the plant multiplies and multiplies and multiplies So you have a lot more and then you know, we learned how to make Sourdough and focaccia. Well with the focaccia bread you use a lot of different herbs So if you want rosemary and thyme or if you want basil and And garlic whatever your combination is, you know, when you take it fresh out of the garden We don't know how long things are in stores You know, and it's great that we can go to the store and buy these things but when you grow your own I'm telling you nothing makes me happier than Fresh rosemary or the fresh lavender. Oh my god. I go crazy. You know what's funny is

31:34 You don't need a big space to garden. You don't even have to plant a lot of things I know a lot of people that just have a little balcony, you know off their condo or off their apartment building You can put like herbs and tomato plants You can put like a few things out on your little balcony and grow it We had for the longest time we had a little aero garden So it's it sits on your countertop and it has the lights inside the grow lights And it has the water on the bottom like in the tray and it pumps through and you can grow herbs 12 pots are said. Yeah. Yeah, you can grow it right on your countertop So this is not stuff even if you don't have any of that and you don't have a green thumb and you don't know what you're doing You can use old tires You can you can get a little sprouter. Yep, and just you can sprout you can grow your own sprouts And sprouts are very high in protein and very good for you in many ways Like broccoli sprouts are really great for you. Alpha. Alpha sprouts. I like mung beans There's so many things that You can do mung beans you can grow in no no problem in a bowl with a bag in your house like in your kitchen So you can do a lot of things. You don't have to have a big garden You don't have to have a lot of know-how. You don't have to have a green thumb, you know

32:51 You can still grow some of your own food and get some of this benefit And when Kim and I were kind of looking at all the benefits, I was really shocked actually because um One of the things that we saw was that it only takes 120 minutes a week of being outside to see Major health benefits right so 120 minutes a week I think anybody any of us could do that And we have to remember that we are basically animals You know, we are basic as we say this the you know the thunder rolls Yeah, so we we are basically animals and we need to have Outside we need to have nature We need to you know experience what it's like to have the wind on our face and the sun on our skin We have a big problem in canada right now where people are not getting enough vitamin d and I mean, I feel like they lowered the the level of what the safe amount is because I had this conversation with my doctor about how You know your vitamin d level should be this and he said but yours is really up there And I said well I take supplements because I know in the winter we don't get enough vitamin d And then in the summer I'm outside

34:09 Vitamin d not only you know, it really helps with many things that not only increases your bone density It can stabilize your mood and it really can even out your metabolic health vitamin d is a major component in producing hormones and regulating hormones So it's really important that you make sure that you get enough And the vitamin d from the sun is the best kind. So I'm not saying don't wear sunscreen I know Kim's don a lover of sunscreen I'm not saying don't wear it. What I'm saying is try to get 10 to 15 minutes of Like the sun on your skin before you do before you put sunblock on if you can handle that You know, and it should be your face and your arms would be enough for those 20 minutes to get enough vitamin d for the day If all of us were doing that our health would greatly improve Well, because let's some of the statistics. I mean, we were just looking at it for the For the podcast, but you know some of the things that happen to you it's strengthened your immune system You know, it's good for depression and anxiety. No medication You know and one of the things with me is I can tell them I wake up happy. I'm just a happy person Um, it doesn't mean I'm never sad or angry or any of those things

35:26 I have all those emotions, but I don't live there And the thing about being outside is I I'd rather be outside than inside And even in the winter I do things so that I I get outside. It doesn't it doesn't matter. I have to be outside But I notice that I'm happy or I notice that I'm more connected I hear spirit talk to me, you know the first One of the first times that I was outside out of fire here on our property I literally was just in like, aw just looking around the yard, which I I do all the time I just I just go outside and lay in the lawn or sit in the chair and just look at the nature and I'm so grateful But you know, it's it's all the ways that the earth teaches me is what I'm so grateful for But in this, you know, I sat for a little little while for a break and I was kind of in a meditative state, which I feel like I am all the time when I'm outside working in the earth but I could see like spirit beings in the yard And there was multiple different kinds, you know Some that look like avatars Some that just look like native elders that were so grateful that the land was being taken care of and used for the purpose

36:42 It was here for because that's the other side of this is that we don't realize but You know food comes from outside and the more we can keep farmers going and people doing their own The better we're going to be because when when we're multiplying things at the rate that we are There's not the energy in it. There just isn't and there's energy in food There's listen a lot of the food that's mass produced just does not have the vitamins and minerals that it needs to have to support Healthy life, you know exactly so it is important that we we look at something that we can do Yeah, you know Support a farmer just go to a farmer's market and buy a few things if you can, you know Even even the way I grow things Laura and I'll go down to say like wall fill or something and now Now I know that when I'm doing jam or whatever I will go down there because you can buy everything You know in the valley um in Nova Scotia here. They have uh an area called wolfville That's just a real farming community and so many there's just so many you picks Yeah, like you can pick any any berry you can oh and the blackberries down there are like humongous Right and the strawberries and raspberries everything. So, you know, there's nothing I like more and even as a kid You know, we we've all lived through dysfunction and mental illness and different hardships in life

37:59 But I'll tell you one thing that I always remembered from my childhood Was that in the fall my dad and mom and all of us kids We get in the car and we would drive and we would always stop at those little veggie stands and they were always my favorite thing It's still my favorite thing And I can still fill a vehicle going to a Farmer's market or something I have no problem because it's just I have so much appreciation for somebody else doing The work that I know what I do So remember one day last year in a rainstorm um Laura and I were driving down there and I looked at her and I said oh boy look at the high bush blueberry you pick I said Do you want to go? And she goes sure I'll go and I said you don't mind getting a little wet And I picked a bunch of blueberries in the rain. It was so nice. It was fun. We're the youngest ones there Yeah, I know right But it was awesome But it's just beautiful and the the time I was talking about a few minutes ago where I was sitting My chair We have a smoke detector going off. Yeah I This has been happening lately. I think it's a sign from spirit. Yeah, there's there's some spirit talking. Hopefully it stopped because it's electrically It's connected electrically. It's not even battery. So it's hilarious. So if you hear it again, we're sorry

39:18 But anyway, um sitting outside and and seeing all these different spirits one of the the coolest ones was this little gnome And I'm somebody who I didn't always like these little gnomes. You know funny little things, but My wife loves them. So this day I literally seen one for my my own eyes I was like looking at this little gnome and it looked like real and it was talking to me and what it said was That it was the protector of the land and that it was really happy We were taking care of the land and the property And that as long as we did it they were going to take care of us And I just thought what a beautiful message to get from spirit that They were so grateful that we were taking care of the land and not only you know, we're not just mowing and weed Wacking we're creating life. We're creating things for you know We have birds all around our property and loads of them people in the neighborhood are like Do you guys have like a bird sanctuary? But think of it if you're creating a space That's full of life and full of love and full of all these different beautiful things that they love Then why wouldn't they be around right and my whole goal? There's one more flowerbed I'm putting in and it's down in the corner of our property, but

40:34 I was telling Laura I said I want to make sure we do a little bit of research because You want the pollinators that you know bees and butterflies and dragonflies and hummingbirds But you want to make sure you're you're not just growing things that all Bloom at the same time because they need to stay continuously being fed Yeah, right. So you need to do your research and find You know, what what do they like and what blooms first? We're gonna have a bomb and we're gonna have milk We yeah, yeah things that and the all the plants that like hummingbirds love bee bomb. Yeah, they love it Yeah, so we have lots of everything and it's just it's really fun to think that you're attracting these beautiful things and You know, I don't know about you But when I go outside and there's all these monarchs and beautiful You know different butterflies flying around and they almost look like they're putting on a show for me Same with the birds. I talk to the birds. I go outside and there's some birds that are a lot more Aware of you Than other ones, you know, and some of them care more than others But there are some birds that I'm very aware that they're paying attention to my energy and they're They're a lot calmer around me than they are other people because they're really used to me being out there It's almost like they sense your vibration. Yeah frequency and they're really comfortable

41:53 Well, I know we've talked about this a lot, but um, you do you do have ADHD and um There is a lot of research around Being outside being in nature connecting with nature and how good it is for increasing focus increasing creativity and decreasing stress so You must be doing something right if you just feel like you're blissfully happy, you know in the in the growing season I'm stupid happy. She is pretty happy, right? So So, yeah, this is the thing like being being outside in the even in the light Like we talking about vitamin d, but it even resets your circadian rhythm. So you can sleep I know I love a sleep easier and you can sleep through at the night. So I'm just like Like if Kim and I today were like, let's talk about Let's let's talk about getting back to nature and getting back to earth and the importance of it Because I know we said sometimes it feels like you're pulling teeth I don't know if you've talked to anybody that's had any of these issues like maybe Anxiety depression, maybe ADHD, maybe high blood pressure Maybe high cholesterol something When you talk to them and you say make sure that you connect with nature you go outside

43:10 They look at you like you're crazy. Oh, I know they're like, no My doctor diagnosed me with this problem Like but Kim and I both believe that you have the power within you You have the power within you to be healthy be well And that the earth has given us all the tools to do that So looking at all of the benefits of being outside, I know why Kim is stupid happy And you know, I know why I know why both of us feel So connected to nature and why it's so important to be in nature for us and especially in our work We are caregivers. We are helpers. We are always trying to support other people And care for people in our work But it's it's a lot it takes a lot of energy. Well, and let's let's You know, I hate talking about technology because we need technology. It's it's important It helps us in certain ways, but it's again, it's it's like emotions You can have anger and fear and you know, and you can be happy and sad and all those things But they're all normal healthy things but Being in technology all the time is not healthy. I know people think I hate technology, but I don't I don't hate technology. I hate watching people

44:30 Live on their phone and be on their TVs and on their devices and they're missing connecting with each other You know, we didn't come here to play on computers and to watch tv all day and we're overstimulated There's too much information. It's like you want the answer now now now. It's like impatience. It's We we have more adhd and anxiety than ever before There's more depression than ever before and in my mind What I see is disconnect. I see disconnect from spirit. I see disconnect from source I see people working harder and harder to buy more and more stuff that you're just filling your house with And think about Christmas you got to get rid of a whole pile of stuff to bring a whole bunch more in And it kind of seemed sad to me. I think some things just don't make a lot of sense Yeah, I mean it is choices like I I would choose to drive an older vehicle or Choose to have a smaller house any day So I don't have to work so hard to maintain the better things You know, that's just that's always been my way You know, but I know a lot of people they have different priorities and they have different You know ways of thinking about things and I totally get it but For me, what's important is the connection with people

45:46 Experiences Experiencing life and learning things like learning new things about even all the stuff that I have learned About nature even just being with Kim is just it's huge and Makes you feel so much more It's like Independence, but it's also this kind of self assurance. Like you feel more confident when within yourself when you understand your environment But you can't understand your environment if everything you're doing is blocking your environment And then we have people that are really struggling with like we said anxiety and depression But could it possibly be that they've spent so much time being distracted by things?

46:33 That they're not actually dealing with things in the moment because if you take if you take 15 minutes a day And decide that you are not going to think about anything like you're not going to try you're not going to fill the 15 minutes with You know anything from your phone or any technology or anything just you 15 minutes feet on the floor you can sit or stand um, but no Distractions no interactions See what feelings come up because I guarantee you that there is going to be feelings come up There's going to be something pop into your head that's going to make you feel something And if you can deal with it in that moment, then it's done But if you continually distract yourself and push it away and push it away and push it away It's not going to go anywhere and things pile up and you feel worse And we learned this lesson when we we were asking the question We were regular Kind of drinkers like we would get a bottle of wine a week or something Have a couple of glasses each and that was it. We weren't like, you know, we weren't anybody that was like Over drinking or anything, but then at a certain point I asked myself why am I doing this?

47:51 What's the purpose? And I realized every time that I wanted to stop and buy a bottle of wine It was because something was going on in my life that I didn't want to deal with And so I just stopped I just said well If there's something I need to deal with I need to deal with it now Rather than put it off until another day. Hmm. And then we started seeing the social part of it And what we realized is We we used to love a gin and tonic. Well now we just have one, but it's a virgin There's no gin is just tonic water with lemon and limes Right because it's not it's the habit that we're so, you know, we don't realize it, but we are so programmed by TV And the commercials and what they keep pumping into your head and to me I feel like we're desensitized So we don't even know what it's like to connect anymore And I think the thing I love about gardening Whether it's vegetables herbs Medicinal plants that I can use for products that I make and and use I think it's the fact that your creativity Is set on fire like you're just so Like for me, it's just like What else can I do? Yeah, and the more I can make my whole goal my next step is to build A really good greenhouse, but I'm looking into building one. That's um in the ground and then partially out

49:13 Because then you have the cold room storage as well But I'm investigating these things because not only am I trying to grow more and more every year because If I'm being honest if I could grow enough to feed us all year, that would be incredible to me But what my what my goal is is to make enough of the things that can help Because some things are cheaper to buy and some things are more expensive. So, you know, I like growing things that we use a lot And that way I don't have to buy so much But you know, it's it's I'm constantly thinking and being creative in a different way than I was The year before. Yep. And and that's that's just a bonus. Oh, it's this is the thing We've realized like through our own experiences Going to really cool places in nature going on some amazing hikes You know traveling to some really amazing places like Seeing all the the progression all the different Ecological systems when we went from Sedona to the Grand Canyon. Oh, yeah Because we passed there were probably four or five different ecosystems that felt like oh, it was amazing And it was really amazing and and that's I mean, that's not a really long drive I think it's a two-hour drive

50:28 But just so amazing to go from You know the red rocks of Sedona Up into the mountains like stuff and then we got into the Like kind of Oak Creek area and they're huge trees big big red Massive massive and the kind of mountainous feeling and then when we were sort of felt like we were kind of like climbing Like it is like it's quite elevation you're climbing up But then the next area was like grasslands You know, so these fine fine grasses and like kind of like flat almost and you could see for very far And it's just really cool Areas like that we drove all the way through and just such an appreciation for the earth And for nature the diversity we have it's pretty amazing. So I guess this whole Idea today was to talk to you To kind of wake you up to what's around you the beauty that's around you the magic That is around you in nature And how much healing benefits you can get Just from being outside And if you can't like I said if you can't have a big garden Like we're not we're not the people that are out there pressuring people to you know Go all green and you know get off the grid and all that although that would be lovely

51:45 But we all have lives. We all have things that we can't avoid But we're talking about trying like just try Grow something that is simple that you can stick a pot on your deck You know a pot of you know peppers or a pot of tomatoes or support local gardeners Like like I know one thing when we're home in new brunswick One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to go to the The frederickton farmers market, which I have to say is the best farmers market. I have ever experienced myself Um, and I've been you know, pei, novus, kosher and new brunswick, you know enough that I've seen lots of markets. The frederickton market is is nice because it's it's big. There's so much variety. Yeah Lots of different types of Farmers like growing different things. So yeah, it's really really something. Yeah, and it's I think the thing about gardening for me is It's not if you can't if all you can do is a couple of pots of herbs or You know a big pot of tomatoes because I'll tell you we have a deck And our deck is like 26 by 16. I think and it's got like high rails and they're all that glass It's a greenhouse in it's in itself. There are so many I have

53:03 Five pots that are massive that are lavender. I've got two big massive Pots that are rosemary. I've got four big ones that are all different kinds of cherry tomatoes and sweet orange tomatoes and Multiple like there's hot house. There's like Hot peppers and red peppers and all the herbs you can think of on just on the deck And then all around my shed. There's all different herbs and like I said now that it's been a couple years I have to harvest them two and three times Because there's so much and and the next step for me would be probably to You know put some away and use them as nice gifts to give people like their own fresh basil and their own fresh Or uh oregano or thyme or whatever. So it's it's expanding Constantly constantly and for for our listeners out there It's maybe go to a local farmers market or or check out one of those uh check out local farms and and support them because believe me they're struggling because it's so expensive To care for all these things and to make enough to feed all of us And there's not as many farms as there used to be

54:19 But I think one of the things I do see is I see a lot of people doing it for themselves So I think yeah, you know people don't realize how many people are growing mushrooms and growing vegetables and growing herbs and doing Really cool holistic things out there. That's it like do this for your health Yeah, you know do this for your mental state your well-being and then watch As your health your mental health gets better. Watch your spirituality just explode Because that's what happens you once you feel safe once your nervous system is regulated You can open up to the magic of the energy around you too And then you not only have these beautiful plants, but you feel their energy You feel them communicating with you You feel the energy that they offer to the rest of the plants as well and how they communicate with each other And I'm telling you it's just it's amazing So we really feel obviously feel strongly about this um And one of the things in I wanted to talk about our wellness retreat before we go today Because we have an amazing women's wellness retreat coming up October 2nd to 5th this year In foxpoint novus scotia, which is a beautiful little place on the ocean And we really focused on bringing nature into the retreat

55:38 So we made sure that we have morning meditations at the beach We have a beautiful hike along the water We have a release at the beach where we're all going to jump in the ocean We're going to do a cold we're calling it a cold dip, but I think the water's pretty warm in October So it's it's a dip. It's a it's a ocean cleanse But we're also doing a fire release ceremony a drumming ceremony healing circle and we are calling people back We're calling people back to their true self And we're using nature to help us do that. So if that's something that interests you You know, we're going to use food from the garden to prepare some of the meals My wife thought I was crazy. Yeah, I said I want to cook I want to prepare the food for the for the retreat and she looked at me and was like, are you crazy?

56:27 And I said possibly but I want to every fall I I make A ton of things and then I freeze them so that will it kind of gives us a break So what's doing a little bit more for the retreat? I I don't mind at all plus the the reason why I wanted that is If we're going to do this wholesome connection, you know Wake people up connect people back Retreat then what better way than to have the energy of the food As well because I think food's very important and we think food's very important because it feeds the soul, right? So that's what we're doing We still have a couple spots left in the retreat and we'd love to hear from you if you would like to come So the retreats are just starting if the fall doesn't work out for you Make sure you get in touch with us so you can get on the wait list for the spring retreat because that one's going to be amazing And it's going to keep growing because our goal is to take our retreats To different countries as well. So we're starting here But we've you know, Laura and I've done retreats before bc Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, you know win a pig different things But our goal is to do more of them And I think we we all need each other and we need to help each other feel

57:47 That thing we're not feeling, you know, exactly. So So, um Get back out get outside. I mean, we've had beautiful weather here in Halifax. So you have no excuse Get outside and take your podcast with you and listen and listen to it while you're outside going for a walk And we'll see you next week If you're interested in contacting Kim for soul awakening coaching, please contact her at mksoulcoaching.com If you'd like to check out my website and everything that I do, please go to laurawarrenmedium.com