The Global Stewardship Podcast

Rambling with RamblingHenry

• Hannah • Episode 9

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Have you recently gone down a health journey regenerative farming journey, learned about all of the toxins in your water, your food, even in your clothes? whenever I come across people who are on these journeys, I love to pick their brains about what got them started down the rabbit hole. And today my guest on the Global Stewardship Podcast, Henry Wood, is the perfect guest to do just that, go down the rabbit hole with me discussing all things health, farming, and food in this casual and fun conversation. Henry is known online as Rambling Henry, and as his bio states, he is fighting for real food in a fake food world, and that nature knows the way. That pretty much summarizes what we're gonna chat about today, the Global Stewardship Podcast. Offers weekly Tuesday. Beautiful stories of faithful stewardship. I'm not really aiming to contribute to the flow of media that's telling us that we are informed because with all this information, it oftentimes leaves us feeling hopeless and adds to the stream of things that feel out of our control. Instead, every week with this show, I aim to share stories of hope and inspire you to live more connected and rich lives. If I could achieve anything with this episode today, I want you to leave feeling inspired, and encouraged, savoring and appreciating each bite of your next nutritious meal, and eager to get outside in the great outdoors.

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So Henry Wood, welcome to the Global Stewardship Podcast. I first was exposed to you through. A video where you were talking about the massive land sizes that you were farming, but I've told you, I was really confused when I heard your British accent, the land sizes didn't add up and so I was really glad that in the comment section, I wasn't the only one who was stumbled and put two and two together and realized you were an English man farming in Australia. Could you explain your story of how you ended up where you are and. What you're doing? Yeah, yeah, sure. So, I, I don't actually have, uh, much of a farming background. Originally I. Worked on a chicken farm when I was 18 years old in England. And then I went to university and, and I was in sales for, for eight years and living in London and needed a bit of an adventure. And I have a cousin living here in Australia, and she said, come, come and live with me and, and see, see if you like it.'Cause I just felt a bit lost in, in my life. And yeah, landed in Sydney and then lived with my cousin about a, about an hour and a half south of Sydney. And bought a little sort of camper van and, and drove it around the coast of Australia and worked on a farm for three months in Western Australia. Got my foot in the door, really enjoyed it, loved working outdoors, and proceeded to then sort of work three months seasonally on farms in Western Australia. And then I'd travel various countries, on the three months off and. Yeah, so not a huge farming background, but, but just really enjoying it and, um, was, was absolutely flabbergasted at the scale of Australia and just kind of thought, I don't think many people understand the size of not just Australia, but, but like, even just Western Australia alone, you know, just the, the scale of the land there is, is something special. Yeah. Could you explain what you were farming when you were on those farms? Yeah, sure. So predominantly wheat, barley, and canola. That's basically all I ever was seeding or harvesting. Mm-hmm. Sometimes. Um, so every time I was on a different farm, so I think I worked on about five, five different farms in total, and I. Every single one of them, was growing wheat, barley, and canola. Sometimes just wheat. And then very occasionally we'd do some lupins for sheep feed. Or some, some Fava beans. Yeah. Fava beans. Yes. So, um, I saw some of that being harvested down in Albany as well, which was a nice change to see. Very cool. You mentioned the just massive size of Australia, and that's originally what caught my eye about what you were talking about because a lot of people who were born and raised in Australia kind of take it for granted. And it's really fascinating you coming from that outside perspective, really shining a light on exactly how big it actually is. The biggest farm in Australia is 5,851,000 acres, so that's over seven times as large as the biggest ranch in the United States. Uh, king Ranch, we have trucks named after this ranch. Every American probably has heard the term King Ranch, and this farm in Australia is seven times as big and. The families that are farming land, that's that massive, their kids get sent off to schools most of the time because it really is just so vast. They can't just drive from the ranch to school or from ranch to the doctor. And so there's like helicopter services and I thought that was super fascinating. And I know you may not have been on a farm that that large, but just kind of wanted to give listeners a perspective it's. Totally massive. Do you know how big the largest field was that you were farming? Yeah, so I. I did a harvest, um, sort of south, uh, in a a, a region, um, sort near Lake King Lake Grace, um, so maybe some listeners know, but they, had colossal paddocks or, or fields and the biggest one I think was 990 something hectares, which is, yeah, two, 2000 something acres. Mm-hmm. So yeah, it was just colossal, colossal, sized farm. And yeah, it is funny you mention about the helicopters flying them in and out. Um, we didn't have that on the farm, and you get everywhere by road vehicle. But if you were to have an accident in Australia, we have a thing called the flying doctors. And they have a, a red airplane that will come and, and see to you and be sort of your first point of call. Good thing that they have that in place. Yeah, definitely. Definitely helps and saves a lot of lives, I'm sure. Last time that we talked, we kind of talked about what it's like to farm land. That's that vast and large scale and you had. Talk to me about kind of what it felt like sitting in the seat of a tractor, looking out at all of that and kind of the things you were thinking about. Can you share a little more about what was going through your head as you were farming this? Just open fields. Yeah, sure. So coming from sales and offices and London, I was, uh, I worked in London for four years, but originally from a, a smaller town, but I was working in London and then going from that to being outdoors with nature was just. Amazing. Like, I felt like, wow, this is, we're supposed to be looking at this all the time. You know, this is, I just felt so much happier and so much better. And then. Over three years, it kind of dawned on me that although I was looking at the nature, I still wasn't exposed to it. You know, I was in an air seal airtight cab, air conditioned, and that's great, you know, when it's really hot and, and it's great to be out of the weather. But it just dawned on me that I was still kind of locked away from nature and, and you are working on these huge, huge fields. Totally alone. And I just kind of conjured up kind of almost ancestral memories of, you know, you'd have hundreds and thousands of people, helping to work the land and work the fields and, and a lot more people would be involved. And, and it would probably feel a, you'd feel a lot more connected to nature without those quite so large machines. And I know it's, um. I know it's for efficiency and I know that it's, it's a very profitable model and it definitely gets a lot of results and feeds a lot of people. But yeah, it was kind of just, yeah, just conjuring up those sort of things and I, I just kind of thought, I feel like I'm halfway there, you know, to, to how I want to be, how I want to be working, and how I want to be living. And, um, yeah, that, that's what was going through my head is the answer to that. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to ask if you think that that kind of farming is the ultimate answer or if you think that there's just more to it, what do you think there is that's the more to it that we're missing? Good question. Yeah, I've thought about this a lot and I think a lot of it comes down to kind of the staples that we eat. And not wanting to sort of branch out or be adventurous with food. I went to an amazing evening, uh, on one of my last nights in Western Australia. It was at a Degas station evening with all locally sourced indigenous ingredients, and we had some amazing food using saltbush and. They have a thing out here called Bugs, which is a, a, a crus station, uh, much like a lobster, and they get pretty large. Mm-hmm. And they, they live in the dams, a lot of dams. And, there's a great, they, well, they used to be a great population of them in Western Australia, and they, they really can't stand the chemicals, it drives them out of their homes. And when you spray, you see a lot of them sort of scurrying off across the paddocks. Um, you know, and it's the most, some of the most delicious food I've I I've ever tasted. And then we had, for the main course, it was a fillet of St. Fillet of kangaroo, and it was just like, um, a saddle of venison. I remember eating years and years ago. So tender, such a nice flavor. I mean, it was right up there with some of the best beef I've had, if not even better. And it just made me think, you know, and there's a huge problem with kangaroos in Western Australia. They really are a pest. And it was quite interesting that, that one we ate that night was from a local source. But, um, a lot of the kangaroo meat that sold in Western Australia is imported or, or track hauled over from the east coast. And you just think. Little things like that just doesn't, doesn't quite make sense logically, and I just think maybe. We are so used to just, you know, you get educated in a way that things need to be done and, and that's all fine. And I'm not questioning that. And I'm sure a lot of farmers will be sort of shaking their hands at me and saying, you, you don't know anything mate. You know you, who are you? Um, but, uh, I just, I'm just a guy asking questions. If there's other things and other a avenues we can explore and, you know, maybe living off. Ingredients that are more local, maybe the local shop can start championing that and we can get more education of how to cook it and, and, and just yeah, opening our minds a bit to, to other things of eating rather than sort of ultra processed bread that we see in in supermarkets. Absolutely. I grew up traveling all over the world and I've slowly seen. Everywhere around the world, slowly start eating the same foods. And this is just in the past, like two decades. And that is something that I didn't realize as a young person was happening until now I'm looking around thinking, well, shoot, this isn't what these people ate when I was here 15 years ago. And yeah, it's like the whole world is slowly starting to eat these same processed packaged foods. Or you know, maybe not even that, but just everyone's eating beef. Whereas historically, like we've talked before, my time in Australia, there were kangaroos absolutely everywhere. Before it would've been very different. And it is sad. It almost feels like there's a loss of authenticity for sure. But I've said this before on the podcast, but a taste of place, you lose that special taste of place when you're all eating the same general foods, regardless of where you live all over the world. It's definitely a hundred percent definitely very, very sad. It's almost like something's going extinct. Yeah, I totally agree. And the more I travel just like yourself, the more I see it. And I think that was going through my head so much in the tractor as well. I absolutely love traveling. I absolutely love meeting new cultures, but the more I was traveling, the more I just found it so hard to kind of be exposed. You'd have to really search and hunt for traditional methods of cooking. I know it's difficult and it comes down to, to a financial thing as well, but it's, it's definitely an educational thing, you know, a lot of, I was doing some research just this morning and for example, you know, the, the Chinese Chili Crisp, it's a sort of, um, oil based, chili into hot oil, and then it's jarred. Well, that's, that's been a thing hundreds of years in China. And, and traditionally they'd use animal fats, so they'd use lard or, or butter or ghee and, it wasn't until soybean oil was sort of sold as a cheaper alternative that that everyone switched to that. And also it doesn't solidify in different temperatures. So people thought that that was more convenient. Convenient. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I dunno about that, but scooping something hard out of. Jar or soft, even just soft, you know, you don't have to keep it in the fridge and getting it in the pan is still just the same as pouring from a bottle. You literally just have to have a spoon. It's not even that much more convenient. Absolutely. Yeah. So it's just those sort of alternative fats and things. And then, so you see that our parents' generation, they changed into seed oils from fats, and now you see my generation and the younger generation going from almost traditional cooking to now, living in seven elevens with processed foods and And it's just so sad to see it, happening. And I, I just worry about the future of what we're doing to beautiful different cultures in, in the world. we can. Talk a bit more about processed foods. During that time in the tractor you started having kind of these epiphanies about health while realizing that you're right there in the thick of it, literally producing the crops for these very foods, and kind of had to wrestle with yourself and your mind about that. Can you share a little bit more about that experience of having that major realization? Yeah, so I think my whole life I was always taught, you know, just, just get a good bit of money and sort yourself out and then you'll be fine. And I realized with that. When you want to do that, you know, money can come not easily, but if you're chasing money, yes you will get that. But the sense of purpose of what you are doing, that's so important as well. And I just think the more I was just, it just became three months working, three months traveling and it was almost like the weekday, the week and the weekend for me. It was that same body clock cycle of just doing something. To the max 15 hours a day working yourself way too much, right? Just to get a load of money to then go and blow it. Doing things that you are sort of ushered into as well when you go traveling, you know, it's not quite so much about the traditional cooking and stuff. It's, you know, people just drinking and resorts and things. And I just thought something's just wrong with how we're doing this and. That, that's kind of what I felt and I, I just thought I need to. I need to start talking about it and start thinking about it. And I, I, I hate, I hate blaming people and I don't think it's necessarily their fault, but I think, you know, nine times out of 10 when I asked a farmer where their crop goes, you know where it's sent off to. Nine times outta 10, I'd just say, oh, no idea mate. You know. We just, we just grow it and they ship it off, and not at, not at all is it their fault and why would they care? But it's just a total disconnection at the farmer level from food and it's, we've lost something so important. Farmers and the people used to be so connected and we used to talk about what food is seasonal and what's gonna grow here and what can we eat, and oh, this makes, this makes a lovely thing and this makes that, and, and it's just, yeah, yeah. There's a, a passion behind it that you can't fully have if you don't know where it's going, who it's going to, or, you know, really believe in the craft behind it. That's it. That's it. And yeah. I'm not sure how it is across the world, but I just see more and more of a, of a disconnection of, of food. Food is just fuel. Let's just make the money. You know, it's just, and, and if we continue going like that, I, I, I dunno if the world's gonna be as, as nice to be in, you know, in a hundred years time. Your posts online where you kind of talk about these things, they're really. They're real, they're very raw and honest and uh, sometimes really intense. And it seems like your conviction about health and food and farming are getting stronger and stronger by the day just being brave about starting these conversations. What would you say to somebody who thinks. On a consumer level, eh, I'll just keep eating whatever. I'll keep eating however, it tastes good, it's convenient. What would you say to that person who thinks everything you're saying? It's fine and dandy, but uh, it doesn't apply to me. Yeah, it's an interesting one because. I think people don't know what they're missing until they have it. And I have yo yoed so much throughout my whole life. You know, when I was, when I was 19 years old, I was 19 stone, which I think is 120 kilograms and you know, I was really unhappy in my body and I lost a bit of weight before uni and then I put it back on and I've really yo yoed with my weight and experimented, you know, I've been my own science experiment for 32 years now, and. The satisfaction and just ease of living. You know, I very rarely get sick. I very rarely have pain when I prioritize these foods, when I really think about where's it coming from. And not even that, it's more like. I think having a, having, being able to have a tomato from Italy is an amazing thing. You know, that, that's great. We are a global community now. We can't go backwards, but it's the stuff when it's a packet with 30 ingredients and, and ultra processed spread that lasts for two weeks and these little things, or, you know, butter spread seed, oil, margarines, that, you know, it's all well. Sort of advertised as, as heart healthy and makes you feel good. And yeah, you might be in, you might be a, a healthy weight, but it's, it's really about what's on the inside. And when you're not getting enough nutrients from a variety of veg, fruit, nuts, you know, healthy fats, you, you just are running on empty. And that's why people, I think just feel like they're just. Running on a hamster wheel and never have time to think and never have time to explore any other things. Never have that energy because it's sort of, you, you, you have these dopamine sort of energy foods that make that last throughout your working day, and then you finish the day and you just crash. And I find when I eat Whole Foods, I have a real sustainable alertness. And. I've yo yoed so much with it now that I'm just, I'm religiously sticking with it or trying to, you know, but it's, it's something that when you really just prioritize that over everything else, your life just becomes so much better. Uh, that's my opinion. Yeah, absolutely. I love that point that they just don't know what they're missing. I too have gotten really, really serious about it. When I actually started farming, I was extremely lethargic. Just exhausted all the time. And granted farming, especially the way that we do it here, where it's not tractors and no implements, it's a lot of just hands in the dirt body work. Like of course that is exhausting. But there was a huge element of it that I just. Didn't know what I was supposed to be eating and not, it's not that I was eating really highly processed foods necessarily, but I was certainly eating a lot more of them than I should have been. And, this whole journey of like switching to Whole Foods really happened naturally for me. It wasn't even intentional. It was just because I was producing these foods and had to cook what was left over and didn't sell at the market. And I, just went back to the basics. It was a good way to save money and not waste anything. And yeah, we realized really quickly, holy cow, like we feel really good. And yes, it took us a little while to figure out why we felt better. But I had been going to the doctor for a whole array of problems my whole life. And they all literally, they all went away when I started eating this Whole Foods diet. And, I was thinking about that today. At one point a doctor told me, you need to stop eating all gluten and you need to stop eating all dairy, and you'll feel better. And I've never been one to be able to follow a regimen so. I didn't do that, all the things he said would feel better, ended up just feeling better when I just ate Whole Foods and I hate to use the word clean. That kind of feels gross and like greenwashing, but it really is, it's a cleaner diet. I know exactly where every single ingredient came from and, just simple, like down to the basics. Whole Foods made me feel better. Absolutely. Yeah, and I don't sort of count fat intake or calories or anything like that, right? I just think if it's natural and I want something sweet, I'll have dates and honey and nut butter and yogurt and fruits and there's so many different sweetss and things you can make and dark chocolate that. You know, are as close to nature as you can get. Mm-hmm. And you can gorge on those and you have a few and you feel full, you, you feel like, oh God, I can't eat anymore. And when you have a box of quality street there or whatever, chocolate celebrations or whatever it is, you can get through a whole box easily and feel pretty sick later. It's a totally different feeling of being full. And once you get. Sort of trained into it. I think it's just something you, you don't want to go back on. Absolutely. Yeah. I, I could never go back. It just, for example, recently we had our 4th of July celebrations and, the quality of the food very much deteriorates with American holidays and I felt so horrible for three or four days. And of course I knew it was because of the diet that we were eating, but I could never go back to doing that full-time. Now knowing. The other side of things. And something that makes me really sad in a genuine care for my neighbor kind of way, is when I visit farmers around the world.'cause this, this isn't necessarily a health and diet podcast, this is a podcast for farmers and conscious consumers. But something that really makes me sad is when I do visit farmers around the world and I see. Them not eating well and them not feeling good, and thinking, man, if our farmers are doing this, the people who are supposed to have the most intimate relationship with where our food comes from, that only, that's actually terrifying to think, well then what are our disconnected consumers doing? Yeah. Wow. That is, that's really weighty to think about. Definitely I couldn't agree more. And I think now's the time. We've gotta catch it before it gets too bad because, I speak to, people my parents' age and it's sort of a split thing, it's half and half. And then people my age just, it, it's kind of like, just goes over their head. It's just like, what do you mean, you know? They, it's just not even a connection we make. Going from being in an office and shopping in supermarkets and, I was the same. I didn't think about, what's being grown and then what happens to it and where it goes. And these ginormous factories pumping these things out. And when it's all in a nice supermarket laid out, you just don't see the air miles, it's traveled or the factories, it's been through the chemicals, the refining, the. The different processing it's been through just to create a little product when you can literally just grow a carrot and eat a carrot. Right. As a snack. And it's just, it's a great way to sustain yourself, you know? And it just, yeah. The mind kind of boggles when you think about just how complicated we make things. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny that you say that. What do you think most people misunderstand about where their food comes from? I think. When you see so there's a brand of bread here in Australia and it's called Helga's, and you think, oh, that sounds like a really nice innocent bread name. you know, I can trust Helga. Yeah, it kind of sounds like a nice little Helga, you know, baking bread in this nice mill, but it's not, it's just another. Giant factory pumping out emulsifier laden, um, ultra processed wheat that lasts and stays soft and doesn't grow mold for weeks. Mm-hmm. And you just kind of think. Hang on a minute, that's wrong. And the amount of flour mills that I saw in Western Australia was actually zero. And I think I remember having a conversation'cause I was really interested, you know, as to where there was one. And I think there might have been maybe a couple hidden away, but I think most of it does get pumped out to get processed into that ultra processed bread that is convenient and it lasts long, but it really, I don't think is good for the body. But that's my opinion. And again, I'm sure I've got a lot of farmers scowling at me, hearing this. But it's just questions we need to start asking, I think. Mm-hmm. In our, our grocery stores here, there's a bakery section and people think,'cause it's. Here and it's in clear packaging they must have baked it here fresh this morning. Yeah. And it must be good for me. And, the list of ingredients is just as long, dozens of ingredients. And it's certainly not the way that many small scale bakers are, where it's just yeast and flour, sourdough, different than the stuff that you're buying. That did come from who knows where. And I, I think that a lot of people, have no idea and no education about this stuff. Yeah. Especially with seed oils, you know, when you're growing canola, I never really thought about canola and what it is and, it's literally. The vegetable oils that are sat on the shelves, they go through a very similar process that an industrial oil goes through to lubricate an engine. Right. It's very, very similar, uh, the process and then it goes on the shelf and it's marked as edible for consumption. And I'm sure there's studies saying it is edible for consumption. And I'm sure, you can get away with eating little bits throughout your life, but. Our bodies are quite, I feel quite. Over time. If you have, you know, if you have a good habit you're gonna end up with, with a really good behavior. And just like, if you have a little bit of a bad habit, you know, over time I think that can cause quite a lot of destruction. And I think maybe that's why maybe we see a lot more I chronic illnesses we see today in our, in our population. That's another thing that, that really has been a big drive for this. I've got, um. You know, a lot of people back home that I just, I, I feel so sorry for because these foods that. People think, you know, now they're labeled as sort of a healthy alternative or things like that, and they're laden with these seed oils and it just doesn't seem to be a clear, transparent way of what is healthy and what isn't. There's so much confusion and noise, and you look at chili in 2016, they now stamp ultra processed food with a. Sort of tobacco like warning, you know, saying this is, this is high in this, this can cause cancer, this and this and this. And just getting a bit more, um, open to things like that with a government endorsement. Yeah. Would be, would be amazing to see. And of course those things are never gonna be absolutely perfect. I. Was on farms in Spain this past winter and spring, and they have kind of a rating system, a health rating system, and legally the definition, you know, it might be legally edible and safe for consumption. And so certainly there are always gonna be flaws in those rating systems. And I know in Mexico, yeah, they have like big stop signs on the packaging, like, stop this is, this causes cancer or this oil is known to do this. And I think a lot of people. Are afraid of implementing those things because they won't be perfect. But I, I definitely think that, you know, at least it's kind of a step in the right direction. Um mm-hmm. Definitely. You know, for the countries that have implemented it, it's certainly always flexible and adjustable and it's interesting to watch from afar for sure. And I think there needs to be a clear distinction as well of a factory made sugar is totally different to a sugar in a date or, or honey, you know, there, there's, there's never really been that kind of dressing I feel and. I, I can personally say I don't mind eating a bit of sugar from these things, and I feel fine, but having a can of Coke, you know, you just, it, it completely destroys your psyche. I, I mean, I have a can of, if I have a can of Coke, I just feel weird. I just don't like it. Instant headache from the high fructose corn syrup. Yeah, exactly. It's just, um, it's totally different. And you see like health ratings of Coke Zero being in Australia, they have a star rating and it's sort of 3.5 or four stars because it's low in sugar, no sugar, and it's just carbonated water. But who knows what chemicals are in that. And it's been through a factory as opposed to a MedU date, which is organic grown from a tree, har, you know, matured in the sun, beautiful, stored all those nutrients from the sun and. I'm sorry, but yeah, natural sugars that were meant to be there, like Yeah, exactly. From the soil. They're delicious. It tastes like candy and we are demonizing something because it's no sugar. But I think there needs to be a clear distinction, nature and chemical made. You know, that's, yeah, that, that's what I think anyway. I mean, I'm not, I'm not a health guru at all, but I just, yeah, I think it's just. Totally bonkers. Right? I, I absolutely agree with you. If you could snap your fingers and change one single thing about the current food system, what would you change? I think clear labeling of what is ultra processed, you know, because a lot of people don't realize how many things are ultra processed. You know, when you talk about processed and ultra, like processed is like a nice loaf of bread from. A small bakery. You know, it doesn't have all these refining and extra chemicals and oils and emulsifiers, whereas most of the supermarket bread is ultra processed through a factory, that is such an important distinction because there are very many processed foods that are like totally fine. I mean. Canned goods from our garden are processed foods in exactly clinician. So absolutely. The term processed isn't really the problem. It's when you start adding all of these chemical additives and things that are very clearly detrimental to our health, that it starts to become a problem. I agree and just, yeah, just some clear labeling and, and things to just more education and, I dunno what needs to happen, but there needs to be some sort of huge study about natural foods versus chemical, I saw earlier a guy sort of saying how a bowl of cocoa pops is better than a salad because of the calories in it. I mean, that's just, I can kind of see what maybe he was getting at because the, the leafy greens, there wasn't much sustenance in those or something and mm-hmm. You know, but you add some boiled eggs and some, some grated carrot or whatever you wanna add, some chicken or, you know, and then you've got a, you've got a meal, but like. championing, uh, a bowl of cocoa pots over something from nature is just, it's just crazy. And it just seems to be even a trend and a thing that people are getting on board with. And that's what's scary about it. So many people are taking it as gospel because you can look great in the gym if you look after your calories, but I feel like if you're still running on those foods, there's just something. Yeah. Your body's not not in tune. Yeah, there's just something missing and, and you can work out, you know, three hours a day. But you know, now I just go on a few walks and I do some pullups and press ups like I don't have to. Before I'd, you know, I'd have to, I did months training in white tie and I'd be boxing and fighting and constantly battling these foods that I was eating. Mm-hmm. You know, and you have to work triple as hard. But when you're eating Whole Foods, it's, it's like you just naturally fall into how you're supposed to be. Yeah. And you start, listen, you start, you start listening to how when you are full, you, you can stop eating because these foods, they're nutrient dense, because they're high in fat, but they're from nature, you know, nuts and plain yogurt and, and red meat and things like that. And you, you, you can really listen to your body better rather than these. Oh, ultra protest alternatives where you can just gorge on them all day and yeah. I could go on for hours about it, but it just seems wrong. As my family and I have gone through this journey just naturally as it's flowed from me becoming a farmer. We can absolutely tell what our body needs next. It's almost hard to do our grocery shopping far in advance. I mean, thankfully we have most of it on our farm. We're very, very fortunate and blessed in that way. But it's hard to do so much planning in advance'cause we don't know what our bodies are gonna need. And that's something that we never experienced before. We would just eat whatever and it was a disconnection to our own bodies, like having no intimate awareness of how our, why our bodies were feeling, the way they were feeling how to fix it. And now, now it's so simple. Oh man, I'm feeling this way today. Gotta eat steak tonight. It's literally that simple and definitely. It's such a shame that people are missing out on it. And so, you know, if anything, if this is the only health food episode we ever have, like I would just really love for listeners to hear that, going down to the simple ingredients of it all, like could really totally change your life. It's certainly changed mine and it's been really revolutionary for my health and for my family's health and we see the world through like a brighter lens now because it's not all this brain fog. It's not so much exhaustion and that inner turmoil that we were fighting literally because of our diets. We had no idea it was because of our diets. But, but we don't deal with that anymore and it's a freedom that we never thought we would, we could have. Definitely, definitely. I think that what you say about how diet is so connected, you know, just to your psyche, if you are running around constantly craving food that kind of s out into other parts of life and you just form those sort of running around craving things and you realize when you start eating whole foods, sometimes you can go hours, you know, sometimes you don't want to eat. for a few hours. And you might skip a meal here and there you get so much more in tune to what your body needs and you just start taking only what you need and it's a lot more spontaneous and it's just such a nicer way to live, I think. Yeah, I love that. I would love for you to share a little bit more about your upcoming journey and. Where you're headed next. I know that you're no longer going to be farming on these farms in Australia. Why are you moving on to the next thing and where are you going yeah, sure. So, um, I kind of was a little bit up in the air about what I was gonna be doing. Um, it sort of all happened quite sp quite quickly and just quite impulsively and. It was kind of just like this big moment of realization and it was something I'd seen my whole life, but then it kind of crescendoed into this like, this has to stop at least in my world and if I can try and, you know, help other parts of the world see it, then maybe, you know, we can get somewhere. So it was just this big crescendo and I sort of suddenly left wa I'm back over in the east coast with my cousin at the moment, and uh, at first I was thinking of getting a van. and going around Australia again, but more with a purpose in visiting regenerative organic farms. I've had a lot of lovely people who agree with me in Australia and have invited me onto their organic farms, so hopefully I'll get to do that in the future. But then I thought what I'd love to do is go and see some parts of the world that still really hold onto these traditional ways of cooking and really champion that old school way of eating. And so I'm actually going to Costa Rica in a couple of weeks, and I've, well actually this is a new, a new development since we last spoke. Um, I've secured a place with an indigenous community, building tree houses and harvesting coffee and chocolate and learning about their culture and seeing what they eat, and I think that's a great place to start because they have a blue zone there. I don't know if you're familiar with Blue Zones. Yeah. I'm sure you are in your line of work. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so a lot of, a lot of people living over a hundred and it would just be great to see what they're eating. Learn, and who knows, maybe, maybe in the future I'll end up back in my hometown and my home country and trying to make a difference there. Um, you know, back in the sort of western world of things. But right now I just, I want to travel again a bit more, but really now with more purpose and I think, um, I'm gonna learn some great things and hopefully shine a light on alternative ways of living. That's really exciting. I know that Costa Rica, they're like some of the leaders in the world in that aspect, that it's very hyper-local. Whole foods oriented. So I think that that is a perfect choice of somewhere to go. It's, a slower, more meaningful way of life that I know you're gonna really enjoy. And I'm excited to see what you share with other people. And hopefully it inspires a lot of other people too. Awesome. Yeah, I can't wait for it. I'm really excited. So, yeah, it'll be good. it's no so nice to know how many people are quietly thinking these things and how much social media is being used for a great thing, you know. Yeah, people like yourself. And when you start sort of seeing who gets it and who doesn't, it's really, really interesting. And I don't think it takes much convincing for the people who don't realize to wake up and go, oh, oh my God, yeah, this, this is wrong. And they don't really have much to argue against. I, I get so many positive comments saying You're absolutely right, and maybe the algorithms filtering out hate. I don't know. But I, I very rarely see people making negative comments. You know, it's a lot of positive affirmation and I think we're genuinely on the cusp of a, of sort of a, a grand kind of. The old world is dying and, and the new world is, is coming into fruition and mm-hmm. There's definitely some adjustments to make and I think diet is gonna have to be a big thing of those. And I don't think it has to be complicated. We just have to make it simple, make it whole again and stop growing something to send off to a factory to come back to us. Ultra process. You know, let's just try and cut that out a bit more. I totally agree and I see. Culture shifting slowly and absolutely it's due to social media. it is totally people who are, bravely having these conversations. And I know that you keep saying, well, people probably just think, think I'm bonkers and these farmers probably think, I don't know what I'm talking about. And I think it's just really important to share that. That is totally okay. Like we're totally allowed to not know what we're talking about and still have these conversations and have ideas like we don't have to know all the answers, we don't have to have all the perfect knowledge, and I actually, I just really value that you just get on there and say like, rambling Henry. But I, that's kind of the whole point behind your page. But I love that you down there and you just. Say what you wanna say and you're totally open to having conversations about it when people have, counter arguments or whatever, and that's kind of lost. Maybe it's our cancer cancel culture kind of world we live in where you have to be perfect and right about everything, but that's just totally not how we're made. Like we're uniquely divinely made as humans to have the autonomy to. Ask the bigger questions and thank the picture. Yeah. And get things wrong. Yeah. So I really, I value that, uh, that you do that. And I definitely am taking a little bit from you and learning to be a little more brave with, uh, just, you know, speaking my mind and not worrying. Thank you. That all the boxes are checked and everything, so. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, and I think, you know, we, we, we are now in a culture where we have so much knowledge, um, from the internet and we have access to all this information. Yet still you have to have a degree to ask a question and it's, it's something, you know, growing up, hearing it, it's, you know, don't ask questions that you know, you, you dunno the answer to, or, you know, you're not paid enough to know that question things like that. It is just kind of those, those barriers that are put up around us and. People shouldn't be scared to knock them down and say, yeah, why are we doing this and why is that? And go back to our inquisitive, kind of childlike selves really, because from the moment you we're told, it's annoying to ask why, you know, when you're five years old, you ask, why, why? Why? Right. But we should, we should never lose that. You know, that that's, that's part of a, you're constantly growing. You're not, you don't just hit 18 and suddenly you're an adult and, and you know everything. No, you're far from it. You have even more questions, but you're told to just get on with it. Whereas you, you should just continue questioning. Your life and, and what you're doing, and are you happy with what you're doing and your purpose? And eventually you'll get there and you'll find something that you, that you love doing and, and something that's helping others as well. And I think we just, we're so quick to just take the paycheck and just go, yeah. I'm not gonna ask what's happening in the boss's meeting you know, if we all start thinking like the founder of a company, you know, what can I create in this world that's gonna be worth living in? And if we all start thinking like that a bit more, we'll, we'll create a much nicer place. And don't get me wrong, we're, we are living in a really great world right now. It's, it's so set. In comparison to history, we are living in quite safe times but it's, it's almost too comfortable. You know? It's like we've, wrapped ourselves so much in bubble wrap that it's getting overly wrapped, and we need to be exposed to the realities of nature a bit more, I think. Yeah. You reminded me. I recently posted about all of these birds on our farm and how I've never seen so many birds before. In my life and like we have the highest bird populations of anybody in our town. And some follower from the internet replied with an artificial intelligence answer. So they had plugged in, why does this girl have more birds than ever before on our farm? And they just. Copy and pasted me the artificial intelligence answer to try to explain to me why I have more birds on my farm and I thought, man, what a shame that somebody. I know that they were trying to be helpful, but that somebody was relying on AI to just explain away like this beautiful natural wonder of actually no, it's not just because of migration patterns that these birds are here. It's because we plant for the pollinators and because we have hedges that are made, especially for this kind of bird that nobody else in our state even considers doing. There's just so much more depth and richness to life than just. The Google answer. Or the, yeah. The thing that the OR organization has told us, we were talking earlier about, whether or not seed oils are edible and safe for consumption. There's just so much more and when we ask those deeper questions, it is totally okay to come up with an answer that's even different than, what the answer might say on Google. And that's something I've been learning a lot lately and kind of wrestling with also. Yeah, I think it's, it is interesting you mentioned about AI because it's an, it's an inevitable thing that's going to become part of our lives, and I think it can be a really good thing. I think, you know, you look at things like chatt PT and it is designed not to spread misinformation and it's been fed all the laws, all the books. Everything that's real factually documented, it has all that knowledge. So actually, if you want to research things, it's a great tool for, for going down a rabbit hole and you know, you have to train it. You can say, you know, can you fact check this? Can you fact check this? And, you whittle it down and you do realize that a lot of the stuff, it's getting it right, but it, you've gotta remember that you are the final point of call and it's your brain. And it, you've gotta, you've gotta kind of think, well, what do I think and what question do I want to ask? And not rely on it to write email responses for you without feeding it what you want to say. You know? Yeah. So many people just copy and paste and say, what shall I respond? You know? And, and the AI has no idea because it doesn't know your life, it doesn't know, you know? So. Yeah, I mean that's maybe, that's maybe a crap example, but what I'm getting at is no, the human, the humanness, the ancestral wisdom element is totally missing. Yes. That's kind of what I meant by like working with the land. Like I know on a deep, ancestral level why these birds are here. I did not need that person to tell me, oh, it's probably because, you know, chap, GPT says it's probably because you're in a perfect migration pattern. Like, that's not what I meant. Yeah, yeah. There's just, there's a lot of depth and richness and so I think that the more we have these conversations, the more we open up people's minds to just this whole world of vibrancy and, yeah. And it starts with food. I'm all for wherever it starts. For people that wakes people up and brings them to this richness of life is fair game to me. Yeah, I completely agree. And I think just the similar, what, what I should have said about AI is it's, it's a bit like, you know. A farmer who's been educated in, in a farming model that is, there's no other way. And it's kind of that set way. Whereas, you know, breaking out of the, the, the, the ways that are told to us is, is going to Costa Rica and asking someone who's a hundred years old and can get up and dance around, you know, what are they eating and what are they doing? And, you know, that's, that's the human element that we need to bring, you know. That is so why isn't fascinating that you just made that connection? Because that's so true. Chat, GPT is gonna give you the seat of a tractor answer, not the. A hundred year old. Yeah. Cocoa farmer in the woods Answer. Yeah. Unless you ask it to, you know? Yeah. That's, that's kind of what I'm getting at. Unless you say, give me some alternative ways that people use around the world that are regenerative and organic, you know, and it will, it will give you that. So that's why, you know. AI is only as powerful as the user. You know, I've, I've done a lot of research about this as well. Obviously you do have to look at who's owning these things and who's funding them. But at the moment, as a far as I can see, Chachi, BT is an open source ai. And, I think the owner is very, keen on kind of pushing the truth out there. Um, so it can be a tool yeah, I think we should, we shouldn't fear it, you know, it is, uh, I heard a great quote from a, a, a man called Naval Ravikant. He's a, he's a real pro capitalist actually, and he, he thinks, you know, we can all be wealthy in a capitalistic world. He's got a brilliant, um, overview of things. And he said, you know, once, once upon a time, fire was a technology. And, you know, those that learnt to wield it, um, became sort of powerful and those that didn't fell behind and mm-hmm. You know, that's what, that's kind of what I'm all about as well. We can't, we can't go backwards because no one's gonna accept going backwards. We have to work in synergy with machines, but we have to start thinking what's gonna be good for a human brain and a human life and give happiness, um, you know, working with technology instead of. Letting technology completely take over. And it's just about finding that balance. Because at the moment it feels like the balance, the balance is tipping too far to just autonomous and machines. And maybe we just need to not go completely backwards, but strip it back. You know, think about that and, and, and start championing human relationships and, having more, more multiple people working on a field is gonna make those people feel great. And if they do three hours a day, you know, I, I know that sounds bonkers, but that's kind of my thoughts on, on things. Yeah. Yeah. Like bringing forward aspects of the past. Very beautiful. Well, I love your perspectives and point of view, and I'm really excited to see where you go from here and learn from you yeah, no, definitely. And we'll a hundred percent stay in touch and if I meet someone that I think you'd love to meet, then I'll, I'll a hundred percent send them your way. I think what you're doing, and I love the name Global Stewardship, that's exactly the kind of thing that I think needs to start happening. Um, and you're doing great work, so I'm really, really happy to be part of it. Yeah. Thank you so much. Cool. Awesome. Well, have a great day and um, or evening and um, yeah, I'm sure I'll speak to you soon. Yeah. Okay. Bye. Thanks Hannah. Bye.

If you have listened this far today, thank you so much for tuning into another week, another episode of the Global Stewardship Podcast. I leave this episode with just this feeling of this is not a throwaway planet. We do not have throwaway bodies. These are the ones that God has given us and. They have been entrusted to us, so we each have a stake in it and in our health and the health of our planet. You know, powerlessness can be comforting. Feeling like the issues are too big for us to solve as individuals. It allows us to pass off the responsibility and just say, oh, it's someone else's problem. It's not my fault I'm eating junk. But if you learned anything today, it's that something as simple as switching to Whole Foods could totally transform your life. I just thank Henry again for joining me on the podcast today. at the time of this. Publishing. I believe Henry's actually traveling back from Costa Rica and so on his social media pages, I'm sure he's gonna be sharing even more about his journey in Costa Rica and what he learned there and where he's headed next. And I definitely hope to catch back up with him on the podcast at some point because he is just great at talking and great at sharing his point of view, which in many ways I resonate with and think a lot of you do too. As always, I am so deeply beyond grateful for you tuning in week after week. If this is the first episode you've listened to, please do go back and listen to some others. We've had interesting guests on lately, and we'll continue to have inspiring guests on for the entire month of September and throughout the fall and winter New episodes are posted every Tuesday Eastern Standard Time here on the East Coast in the us and so they make it, they funnel into everybody else's Spotify's Apple podcasts, YouTube, wherever you listen, whenever your time zone matches mine, Henry's. Social media information is all in the podcast description as well as mine. If you haven't gone over there to check out some of the photos that we post, that correspond with the weekly episodes. If you liked this episode and would love to leave a review, that would be super cool too. And I'll be happy to shout out somebody who leaves the review on the podcast next week. And. Until then, I hope you guys have a great week. Get out there and eat some whole foods and support your local farmers.