In this episode, materials scientist and engineering professor Deb Chachra shares about infrastructure. Her book ‘How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems that Shape Our World’ is a multi-layered dive into infrastructure. In this episode, Deb and Kate explore ideas of how we move resources to bodies and waste away from bodies. It is a brief exploration of the rise of globalization and our telecommunications, physical infrastructure, and roads, but it is also an exploration of how access...

Sand. It’s everywhere and it’s foundational to the built and digital worlds, yet we rarely see or think about it. Vince Beiser’s the World in a Grain tells the story of sand as it makes its way into the materials that make up our world: concrete, glass, silicon chips, and beyond. In this episode of the podcast, we explore some of the broader implications of sand - what it means to build worlds, how to grapple with the largesse of sand’s impact as we run out of this critical resource, and...

Our relationship to resources shapes the world. Our food, our clothing, our devices, our building materials and the infrastructure that underpins moving them from place to place. On this podcast, we've explored a lot around food as a resource - its impact on land and human health and some of the inputs and externalities of our food system. Now, I'd like to take a turn to explore some other resources and the ubiquitous, yet unseen, infrastructure that moves them to us and our waste products...

In this episode of the podcast, Kate sits down with author and poet Melanie Challenger to discuss her two books How to Be Animal and On Extinction. Melanie also hosted the beautiful podcast ‘Psychosphere’ exploring the minds of animals outside of the human animal. This episode explores our disconnection with nature and how it begins in childhood and how it might separate us from the truth that we, as humans, are also animals. It explores what it might mean to come home to the realization that...

In this episode, I (Kate Kavanaugh) sit down with Cole Mannix of Old Salt Co-Op to talk about vertically integrating the agriculture of the middle with systems that are built to serve ranchers and consumers alike. Cole talks about his innovative business (and funding) structure, the upcoming Old Salt Festival in Helmville, Montana in June (I went last year and spoiler alert: it’s amazing) and the business they’re building to serve a regional food system. At least, those were all the topics...

Robby Sansom is one of the founders of Force of Nature Meats and has a mind for marrying the qualitative with the quantitative. In this episode, Robby and Kate explore what it means to build sustainable business models, try to make really massive numbers a little bit more tangible, and speak candidly about the meat industry. It’s an episode that explores candidly everything about the tight-margined meat business, competition between smaller and larger shareholders within the industry, and...

Lily Nichols returns to the podcast to discuss what it means to optimize for fertility - and for vitality. This episode is for everyone: men, women, people trying to conceive and not! Lily’s new book “Real Food for Fertility,” centers on how whole foods can enhance fertility. The book is backed by extensive research with over 2,500 citations and comes recommended for those looking to improve their health. In the episode, Kate and Lily draw attention to the similarities between soil, animal,...

In this episode, Kate sits down with author Ben Goldfarb to discuss the profound effects of beavers and humans on ecosystems, particularly through the construction of roads and habitats. Ben Goldfarb is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. In this episode we explore a world filled with paradox, interconnectedness, and circularity. It’s a dialogue about the differences, and...

In this episode, Kate sits down with Dr. Julia Skinner to discuss all manner of things, as it tends to be when two generalists sit down together. Julia’s work is multi-disciplinary, weaving together threads of her interests into a celebration of creative practice, fermentation, food history, the history of libraries, and beyond. The conversation explores the cultivation of both process and practice for creatives and how it can be made tactile in the art of fermentation. Julia, a writing and...

Scott Carney makes his second appearance on the podcast to talk about his new book Dream: the Art and Science of Slumber. It's a deliciously short book that reframes sleep. It's a little bit science and a little bit art and it manages to quote Jurassic Park once, so it's a big win. In this episode, Scott and I chase some rabbits around ideas related to sleep. Have we couched sleep in the language of economic productivity and forgotten what it is to dream? Does our sleep distill our life into...

In this solo episode, Kate dives into those spaces that are neither here nor there, the "in betweens", exploring the idea that when we set goals now (point a) for a place in the future (point b), the real gift is the process that unfolds in between. With that in mind, Kate explores the tension between not wanting to fall into the hustle and productivity-driven culture of goal setting but also enjoying, frankly, the process of evaluation and setting goals. This is also an exploration of Type 2...

In this episode Kate is joined by author Rebecca Clarren to explore her book Cost of Free Land; Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance. The Cost of Free Land explores an entwined history; one of Rebecca’s Jewish ancestors and their land in South Dakota and the Lakota that had been forced off that land by the US government. In the podcast, Rebecca explores the profound role of storytelling and history in shaping cultural narratives across different communities within the broader tapestry of...

In this episode, Kate is joined by Dan Egan, author of the Devil’s Element: Phosphorous and a World Out of Balance. Why  phosphorus?  Phosphorus is vital for life on Earth and plays a pivotal role in fertilizers that sustain agriculture. However, it’s also a finite resource where its overuse in fertilizers has led to significant environmental concerns such as toxic algae blooms. The history of phosphorus, from its isolation as an element, to its sordid history and its various applications,...

This week, Kate sits down with author Cat Bohannan to talk about her book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. This conversation takes you on a captivating journey through the intricacies of human evolution viewed through the stories our bodies have to tell - and the female body in particular. In this podcast, they explore elements of the book as well as exploring what it means to look at the narrative arc of female bodies through deep time. We look at how our...

Lindsey Browne Davis is a writer, hunter, entrepreneur, and naturalist. Based in Salt Lake City, Lindsey draws from her experiences farming, foraging, hunting, and running businesses to talk candidly about chasing our dreams, even when it feels almost impossible. This is a wide ranging and inspiring podcast where we discuss the overlap between stewarding land and our own bodies, building connection with our ecosystem, failing, hunting, and being a citizen scientist. Lindsey has a way of...

Hey. It’s Kate. I’ve been absent and I want to talk some about why and what it means to be in a challenging season of life. So often we hear from people once they reach the other side of challenge - but we rarely hear from them when they’re in the thick of it. Well, I’m in the thick of it, and so this vulnerable episode is three parts: where I’ve been and what’s going on, how I’ve been literally and figuratively putting one foot in front of the other, and where the podcast is going (hint:...

Irene joins the Mind, Body, and Soil podcast for her third visit to discuss what it means to become apprenticed to your body. Better yet, a little tardiness on Kate’s part at the beginning of the episode allows Kate and Irene to explore in real time the difference between a regulated and dysregulated nervous system. In it, the idea of “window of tolerance” is teased apart. All in all this is a short and sweet episode about connecting in with your body.  RESOURCES SmartBody SmartMind Program21...

In this episode, Kate gives us an update about regional food systems through the lens of her butcher shop, Western Daughters, and the decision of whether or not to close. What does it mean to support regenerative food systems as a food business - and where does financial sustainability come into the conversation? Kate leads us through the struggles each shareholder in the supply chain, including the consumer, is facing as she sees it. This leads in to an excellent panel that she was on in...

Rob Krapfel has been challenging himself for a long time. Whether teaching himself how to upland hunt as a teenager, navigating a career as a fish biologist, or becoming a smokejumper in his late 20’s, Rob has something to say about persistence and perseverance. Envisioning a life of adventure from a young age with a desire to do many different things, Rob has sought out the place where challenge, adventure, and honest work. In this episode we explore his philosophies on life, teaching...

How do we begin to explore and illustrate the multi-factorial complexity that surrounds us? This has become one of the guiding questions of the podcast and Alanna Collen, author of 10% Human, has a gift for navigating the tangled webs of connection. Author and evolutionary biologist, Alanna’s book set an early stage for conversations around the microbiome a decade ago. In this episode, we look at some overarching themes around the blurred lines of self and other, how influenced we are by the...

In this episode, I bring back Tara Couture for a second round of talking about the intricacies and complexities of health and what it means to reimagine and reclaim that at a personal, familial, and community level. In this episode, Tara and I deep dive into some of our personal health journeys and exploring the knowledge of not taking a one size fits all approach - that there are many factors that found you sick in the first place and many bioindividual considerations that will support the...

Over the course of a couple of months, Fred and I spent a lot of time writing back and forth about mystery and uncertainty with the intention of bringing that conversation to the podcast. Fred Provenza is well known for his research contributions to the field of livestock nutrition and behavior, but this conversation goes beyond that and into the great unknown. Fred is, at his heart, teacher and student both, sharing his curiosity as ‘a cosmic voyager’ here on earth. Through that lens, we...

On today's special episode, host Kate Kavanaugh shares a talk she gave in Fredericksburg, Texas for the What Good Shall I Do Conference. It is an exploration of the myriad of ways that we are deeply interconnected - pulling threads from soil science, ecology, botany, cellular biology, mysticism and spirituality, and philosophy. At the end, is a message of hope and healing. Kate introduces the episode with an exploration of what it means to be a 'participator' rather than just an 'observer'...

Andreas Weber has studied marine biology and cultural systems alongside his work with theoretical biologist Francisco Varela. Andreas has worked over the years on the concept of enlivenment and looking at the “biosphere as a meaning-creating and poetic reality”. This episode is about dissolving the boundaries of a mechanistic worldview and finding a new depth of meaning, reciprocity, and service. Becoming edible is the touchstone for the talk as Andreas walks us through ideas of reciprocal...