Afleveringen

  • Kate Hinkens had been dealing with Lyme disease since she was seven years old. After years of misdiagnosis, relapse, and months of intravenous antibiotics that left her sleeping eighteen hours a day and unable to finish a sentence, she found her way to bee venom therapy - ordering bees online, standing in her bathroom with tweezers, and stinging herself until something shifted.

    Kate is now a beekeeper and bee venom therapy practitioner who teaches people how to self-administer BVT for chronic illness. In this episode we get into the biochemistry of why bee venom can do things antibiotics can't, what a low-histamine diet looks like during treatment, the full medicine cabinet of the hive: honey, propolis, royal jelly, bee pollen, bee bread, the ethics of beekeeping, and what bees have to teach us about reciprocity with the natural world.

    TIMESTAMPS:
    00:00 Intro
    01:28 Kate's Lyme disease history and years of misdiagnosis
    03:17 Why Lyme is so hard to diagnose and treat
    05:00 The antibiotic route and why it stopped working
    08:25 Discovering bee venom therapy
    10:00 The science: melittin, biofilms, and chronic Lyme
    12:30 Apamin and the blood-brain barrier
    14:00 Immune regulation and systemic inflammation
    16:00 Diet and detox during BVT
    19:00 Alpha-gal and the Lone Star tick
    21:30 Andrew's own Lyme disease experience
    23:00 Royal jelly, propolis, honey, bee pollen, and bee bread
    32:00 The ethics of beekeeping and native bee populations
    40:00 Does it matter what species of bee you use?
    43:00 The honeybee's origins in North America
    45:00 The ethics of using bees for BVT
    49:00 Fun facts: how honey is actually made
    54:00 How bees make decisions
    57:00 The geometry of the honeycomb
    59:00 The vibrational frequency of bees and healing
    1:01:20 Kate's bee boxes and her BVT practice
    1:02:41 How this deepened her connection to nature
    1:05:07 Favorite food memory

    CONNECT WITH KATE HINKENS
    Website: stinglab.org
    Instagram: @katehinkens

    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com
    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod
    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

    Music by: Constant Smiles
    Logo design by: Hunky Kitty

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Charles Dowding is something of a legendary gardener. He coined the term "no dig" and created an entire movement and method to home and market gardening - all focused on the health of the soil. Charles is the author of 16 books - his latest, "Grow Together" being released just yesterday, April 9, 2026.

    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.ukNew book: Grow Together (DK, 2026)New Energies for Gardening by Charles Dowding

    Books & People:

    Farmers of Forty Centuries by F.H. KingThe Fourth Phase of Water by Gerald PollackViktor Schauberger - Comprehend and Copy Nature DocumentaryRudolf SteinerPaul Stamets

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

    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com
    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod
    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

    Music by: Constant Smiles
    Logo design by: Hunky Kitty

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?

    Klik hier om de feed te vernieuwen.

  • Sophie Strand is a writer and author of The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine, The Madonna Secret, and her most recent book, a memoir called The Body Is a Doorway. She lives in the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she writes about mythology, ecology, and the intersection between storytelling and the more-than-human world.

    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 SoilBooks: 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. TolkienThe Telepathy Tapes podcastLandmarks by Robert McFarlaneTime and Again (speculative fiction book)The Never-Ending Story (film)

    People Mentioned:

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

    Places:

    Hudson Valley, New YorkOverlook MountainAshokan ReservoirWoodstock, New York

    Concepts:

    Eucatastrophe (Tolkien)Pharmacon (Greek concept)Mycorrhizal fungiHealthism


    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


    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com
    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod
    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

    Music by: Constant Smiles
    Logo design by: Hunky Kitty

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Henrietta Lovell is the founder of Rare Tea Company and is known as the Rare Tea Lady. In the late 1990s, she was working in corporate finance, until a trip to China and a $50 pot of oolong changed everything. She fell in love with tea, not the industrial tea bag she grew up drinking in England, but tea crafted by farmers from specific places with terroir as complex as wine.

    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.comInstagram: @rareteacompanyThe 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

    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com
    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod
    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

    Music by Constant Smiles
    Logo design by Hunky Kitty

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Kevin Espiritu is the founder of Epic Gardening, a media and product company that's become one of the largest gardening brands in the world. What started as a hobby blog about hydroponics in 2013 has grown into a business with millions of followers, major acquisitions including Botanical Interests Seeds and GrowVeg garden planner, and a team of dozens serving home gardeners globally.

    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.comShop: shop.epicgardening.com/GOED (5% off anything with code GOED)YouTube: Epic Gardening (3.95M+ subscribers)Instagram: @epicgardeningBotanical Interests Seeds: botanicalinterests.comGrowVeg Garden Planner: growveg.comModern Farmer Magazine: modernfarmer.comThe 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


    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com

    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod

    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

    Music by Constant Smiles

    Logo design by Hunky Kitty

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Darina Allen is a culinary pioneer, educator, and author who co-founded the Ballymaloe Cookery School in 1983 on a 100-acre organic farm in County Cork, Ireland. She has taught thousands of students from over 65 countries, written nearly 20 bestselling cookbooks, sparked Ireland's farmers' market movement, hosted the television series Simply Delicious, and leads the Slow Food community in East Cork. She was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Munster Technological University.

    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


    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com

    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod

    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

    Music by Constant Smiles

    Logo design by Hunky Kitty

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • The Hopi Farmer Who Grew an 800-Year-Old Seed

    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 FundUniversity of Arizona Indigenous Resilience CenterHopi 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

    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com

    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod

    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

    Music by Constant Smiles

    Logo design by Hunky Kitty

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Bonus episode! I was recently invited as a guest on the Slow Food podcast. Slow Food is a global movement dedicated to preserving food biodiversity, supporting small-scale farmers, and connecting people to their food traditions. Being asked to join their conversation was truly an honor.

    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

    FOLLOW & SUPPORT GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com
    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod
    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe
    Donate: buymeacoffee.com/gardens

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

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Cheese Is Not A Human Invention

    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


    FOLLOW GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT

    Substack: gardensofearthlydelight.substack.com
    Instagram: @gardensofearthlydelightpod
    Podcast: gardensofearthlydelight.com/subscribe

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

    ★ Support this podcast ★
  • Welcome to Garden of Earthly Delights. Here, we will be exploring our connection to earth through conversations with experts and celebrities who all have their own profound relationships with the natural world.
    If you feel like you've lost your connection to the earth, if you're looking to form a new connection, or if you're simply curious to hear some amazing stories, this podcast aims to inspire you to get outside and discover or rekindle your own unique connection with our living planet.

    ★ Support this podcast ★