From Lawyer to Farmer: The Surprising Truth About Soil Science That Could Revolutionize Our Farming Future with Robbin Pott

Discover how Robbin Pott's bold shift from lawyer to farmer is driving justice and regeneration in the world of sustainable agriculture. 

Join host Coy Brown as he explores Robbin's journey from academia to founding Pott Farms, a regenerative hemp farm focused on social justice and environmental sustainability.

Key Points:

• Robbin's transition from a legal career to farming.
• The impact of regenerative farming on communities and the environment.
• Innovative uses of hemp and fungi in sustainable construction.
• The importance of empowering youth through hands-on agricultural experience.

In this episode:

• 00:00 - Introduction: Meet Robbin Pott, regenerative farmer and youth mentor.
• 01:16 - Robbin's Background: From law to farming, her journey and mission.
• 07:10 - The Transition: Leaving academia and finding the right land.
• 15:50 - Regenerative Farming: The science and philosophy behind it.
• 26:25 - Youth Program: Empowering young people through agriculture.
• 40:28 - Hemp & Fungi Research: Innovative building materials.
• 55:07 - Business Philosophy: Building outside broken systems.
• 65:02 - Closing Reflections: Gratitude and the essence of joy.

Connect with Guest:

• Pott Farms
• Living Soil Services: Workshops and Consulting: Mention LIFEISPOD10 to receive 10% off. 
• Instagram 
• Facebook

Resources & Links:

• Mental Edge Coherence Diagnostic 
• The Self Discovery Blueprint 
• Book That Built the Life 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Life Is Podcast, where creativity, culture, mindset, and intentional living come together through real conversation. I'm your host, Cloy Brown. Each week I sit down with entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, travelers, and visionaries who didn't stumble into a life they love, they built it. We go deep into how they think, how they reconstructed themselves, and what became possible on the other side. This is not just about what people have accomplished, it's about the internal work that made it sustainable. Because when you build from the inside out, life expands. Let's get into it. This week, I'm sitting down with someone who decided that leaving the world better than she found it wasn't a philosophy. It was a business plan. Robin Pott is a regenerative farmer, a soil biologist, a cannabis pioneer, and a mentor to young people who needed a reason to believe something different is possible. She didn't stumble into this life. She built it. Slowly, patiently, on purpose. And what she built on the outside started with something she rebuilt on the inside. Here's what that looked like. All right. Well, uh, good afternoon, everyone who's listening. Uh, this is another episode of the Life Is Podcast, hosted by myself, uh Corey Brown. And today we have another extraordinary guest, uh, Robin Pott, um, that's going to share her story and um not only just her value, but her journey into what she's doing now with regenerative farming. But uh with that being said, Robin, I want to welcome to the show. And how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_03 1:23

I'm great. Thank you so much for having me on your program, Coi. I'm really looking forward to our conversation.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yes, absolutely. I'm I'm super excited. Um, and you you're really the first person um throughout this theme of the podcast of those who look at the kind of the notes of this podcast, really kind of the sustainability regenerative kind of aspect. So I'm really excited to kind of dive into that and have the viewers be able to listen in really what you're doing, because I'm very much uh passionate about the same thing. I'm very interested in that and I support that. So I'm excited for you to share um your story, how you got into that, and really what you're doing from an impact standpoint within the regenerative um environment. So, really quick before we kind of get into it for all the listeners, if you can, Robin, take the time, um, you know, kind of just tell people who you are, you know, where you're from, and what are you doing in the world now and kind of what brought you up, you know, to that point now?

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Yeah, so um right now I uh live on a farm in Willis, Michigan. It is where we operate our uh regenerative hemp farm. Uh I co-founded Pop Farms, which uh is my last name that I was born with. Um it's a regenerative uh cannabis farm. We grow hemp right now. And uh we are an educational research farm. The primary purpose of the creation of the farm was to provide uh supportive job training for young people who are coming out of situations such as poverty and trauma. And and that is how I got here was uh I was uh I am a lawyer and I was a researcher at the University of Michigan. I've been working with children and youth and families uh in situations like that in child welfare and juvenile justice, and uh I just we'll talk about this a little bit later, but I um came to understand that I really wanted to be working directly with these young people that I care so much about and live a life doing the things I want to be doing every day, and that was being outside and and growing and caring for things. And uh I've been able to um combine combine those two uh interests and it's been uh a very fun, very challenging path. But uh we're here and uh and it's happening.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah, awesome. Well, thank you. I appreciate you kind of laying the land for everyone kind of listening and kind of setting the stage here. You you actually hit the nail on the head um because that's where I was gonna go about you know realizing right the life that you're not living, uh what you wanted to do, right? And also, too, I think it's it's challenging, I think, for people maybe like yourself or others who are creatives or have a passion about something, and how do I segue that together of what I really want to do when you're in a different field, as you mentioned, being a lawyer. So before we get into like all the certifications that you have, and and of course your farm we'll talk about here shortly in the research. Um I want to kind of talk about really the woman who made all of that, right? Before you got into that, when did you first feel you know, there was maybe I don't wouldn't say tension, but when you felt like, okay, this is not the life I want to live or would want to be living, um kind of what was that like in that in that space or that tension?

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Yeah, it was really a hard time because I was in my dream job. I worked for I was a lawyer doing research at a top academic institution in the field that I love. And yeah, I got there and it turned out to be a dead end, and I was not living uh a happy life, and I also it was towards the end a kind of a bale fell, and you know, my research was showing that if you give children and families what they need, they do better. And I you know, I was a scientist proving this and it was ridiculous, and so um that I that was the the that it was a hard it was a hard moment and uh to to realize that this is not it.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah. No, it I think to your point, it's like when you realize, you know, this is like you said, the data, this is the research, and then we're not doing what the research says or even living up to it, that that really makes it hard to you know when move forward when you're kind of you know beating a dead horse.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Kind of yeah, so I had to figure out what my next steps were about ten years ago.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

And and that led you into what you're doing now, right? Looking for well, doing the farming and the hemp. Um now we can you can kind of fill some some context here as I go to my next question, but I know we spoke offline and you spent um a good amount of time, right? You spent like a couple years searching for the right land that you're on now from 2016 all the way to 2021, uh from what it sounds like. So there's there was some time there. Um and I even asked you, like, you know, why what took so long because most people would want to settle. They just you know, give me the give me something and run with it. You know, what kept you from settling? Um, and what were you actually maybe waiting for if there was something that you were like, you know, I want to find the right one?

SPEAKER_03 6:56

Well, so um finding the I I farmed on leased land for four years before we found the farm. And the cannabis, starting a business is difficult, starting a farm is harder, and starting a company in an industry that was illegal for 80 years, nearly impossible. And so uh a lot of it was uh navigating slow movement towards opportunity and and doing all the things that I can prepare prepare for those opportunities to arrive. And a lot of that we we found a one and a half acre piece of land with a landowner who owned it and was willing to work with us, and um just learned on lessons first few years, and by the time we um I found the farm, you know, five years is a long time, it's hard to have patients. We saw a lot of farms that just you know, there's a lot of near misses and a lot of no's but ultimately the farm we found is way better than we ever imagined. And it came at the absolute right time, and you know, you can connect the dots backwards, um and it and it teaches to you know, I've learned this lesson many, many times through this, that trust the process and trust your inner voice, and trust that you know, if you do what you can do right now and you do the next step that appears and you keep doing that, uh it it you'll yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, there's a quote by I think Martha Lutheran King, like basically take the next step and the next step will appear. Like do what you do now and it and you'll find your way. Or I don't know, there's another one, like when you get to the top, like you'll see where you're at, but then you'll see how far you can go. Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Um but no, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

I don't want to but that's you you that's exactly it. That metaphor is like I um for about seven years from like when I decided to leave, I took about 18 months to wind down my academic career while I certainly learned business entrepreneurship and like farming and yeah, yeah, right. And I the I always so I felt like I was on a stone in a stream, and the next stone is not there, and I had to begin that next step with it not being there. Yeah, and somehow every step appeared when my foot landed.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Yeah. Yeah. And too, I I want to uh you know gently take a step back. Can you kind of give a time frame of when you left? Uh, because I kind of gave you 2016, and maybe for someone listening, I know we kind of jumped ahead, but can you you obviously you did research at U of M. Um when did that what was that time frame and maybe some context of when you left, what that looked like?

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Yeah, so in 2015 is when um so I was on soft money and um grant cycles in 2015. Yeah, I I was um about 18 months, two years, eighteen months away from the end of the grants that I was working on, and I was starting to figure out what my next thing was. And is when I realized that you know, I'm a I can fund very I fund it all myself and I was like oh I decided that I wanted to like set aside my identity as an academic, a lawyer, a researcher. I was at the top, I was just like, there's nowhere else to go. I was at the top, like I was I I had a really successful academic career. So there's no like lateral, there's no like upwards.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, you couldn't go.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

So um I decided in you know, uh August 29th, 2015, that I was gonna start a pot farm. And it was gonna be a youth training center, and I had it like it can't I get I it's a single day I had my work plan, uh, and then I had 16 months from that point till my when I had to, you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

So I spent that time writing and wrapping up my projects. And yeah, I told you this before, you kind of mentioned is the week I left the university in September of 2016, is the week the Michigan governor signed the commercial cannabis law, which I had been writing this plan to get into because they've been talking about in the legislature, and uh and and then it was uh you know lots of slow, it's just yeah, you know, I was off and uh I didn't look back.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Okay, well, good. Yeah, I want to at least provide some context, but to your point too, it was like you said, the stone appeared, like soon, which was crazy because when you told me that, that was like like I said, perfect timing, right? You've been gearing up, kind of ramping up to get the business plan. You've been getting all the research, and like you said, going around, and it was like as soon as you left, boom, right? They they pass it, and then it's like the gates are open and you're ready to go. So going kind of forward now, when you when you found the farm, right? You found the farm and you even mentioned it was surrounded by mature trees, like away from chemical drift, um, and the house was in good shape, which was obviously key. Um, what did it feel like to know that um like that was the one? Like how did you describe that kind of inner recognition? Like, okay, this is the one we need, and this is the one we want to go with.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Like a new beginning. I felt like I was at now at the starting line. Like after uh now we're at the starting line. And um, and it wasn't just like it was beyond knowing. Like I felt when I was here like it was this welcoming uh excitement from from the land. Like it was I can't even put it into words. It was um beyond knowing. It was just a like a they were waiting for me as much as I say they is like this land is right, the soil.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

The water that's here is uh can't really uh yeah, describe but it's uh very much somatically, like I think somatically, maybe spiritually too, like there was like this um you could say confirmation, conviction, yeah. Um that was like almost reinforcing. And you could pick up on it.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

It was there's no doubt. Yeah, there's a lot of doubt. We put yeah, there was it was clear, there was zero doubt.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Okay. Well, good. It was you were locked in. So obviously you you find the farm, right? And which is which is great because now you find where you want to kind of settle and move forward. Now talking about like kind of rebuilding the soil soil up and getting into regenerative farming and kind of the philosophy behind that.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

And what do you want to what you wanted to do as you were describing through your business plan for for for the listeners that are you know listening or when they will listen to this, can you explain to them like what is regenerative farming to someone who's never heard this? Because I think all of us we hear it a lot, right? Regenerative and sustainable, but like what is like what are you really doing, right? I think it's a lot of a buzzword for a lot of people. And if you could kind of explain that to them, um, maybe the the philosophy behind it and what you're actually doing, uh maybe to the earth or to the soil.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

So um the word regenerative, I like to, you know, what just when I first kind of am introducing it to people is is focus on the re, you know, we're returning health, we're restoring health and balance, we're repairing the damage. And you know, the before regener regeneration and regenerative farming is kind of this rising term, and but people before was talking about sustainable, we need sustainable. Our systems are so broken. If we sustained what we have now, yes, we would just we need to repair what we have, and then so that's just like a print the principal part of your question, but on the practical side, you know, regenerative agriculture is a modern term for ancient thinking, and it's right so under this bubble we see a rise of traditional thinking. So, you know, you might hear there's different kinds of term practices of say biodynamics is the rise of European indigenous knowledge, permaculture is um maybe stolen indigenous knowledge from the Aborigine population. Um, Korean natural farming is Asian traditional farming, and then on top of it, you know, I'm trained by the Soul Food Web school by Dr. Elaine Ingham's program, who the woman who discovered and identified and has spread the word about how living soil works, it's the science. And what I've learned is so I started off as biodynamics because I'm um that would just really resonated with me. Totally, I'm 100% German heritage and it's and the German pagan farming tradition, and but it was it's a little like unexplainable, some of the practices. And when I found Dr. Elaine Ingham's program, the Soul Food Web, I got the science. And you know what? The science confirms all of these traditional practices. These people who did not have a microscope, who didn't know science, knew that the soil was alive and they knew how to treat it um very well and to keep it living, and that's what we're returning to. Regenerative agriculture, we are returning to practices that allow us to live in balance.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Good. And I I appreciate the answer because I think a lot, even myself, I think a lot of people hear that and like, what does that really mean? I think you even told a story where you talk to someone who was in the field and really didn't like understand it from a you know deeper level. It was very much surface level. So um having that kind of yeah, having the explanation and the understanding is like that's key because that's what's really because that the repart is is important. We're going back to what it should be. Um so you you also studied uh soil biology formally, as you already mentioned, for four years, actually under uh Elaine Ingram's program. Um, as I just alluded to, most people don't go that deep, or they wouldn't go that deep, they would just kind of go service level. What did understanding the soil food web change about how you see growth? Um, not just in the ground, but you know, as a principle as well.

SPEAKER_03 17:39

We get in our own way of a culture that nature is here to help us and it is way wiser than we are. We are the young youngest siblings on this planet.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

And we like to think we're the big bossy, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

We know better.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

We know better, and um the hubris that is involved in modern agriculture um is completely unnecessary. That uh we need to uh the the planet wants us here and nature wants to grow with us and help and us to steward it. That's what I learned.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah. I agree. I think um we just need to get into like unison with it, like work in cooperation with it rather than trying to create your own way and then making it worse than what it was.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

And way worse. Yeah, when I say way worse, which we've done, and and I know we can both talk offline. That's another copy for another day of just breed and all type other stuff. But speaking of that, right, speaking of your farm and you your farm opera operates, excuse me, without any like off-farm chemical inputs. Um, like you and I think you said you only purchase the seed, right? So when your farm, like your hemp farm, you only purchase the seed, um, everything else comes from when within the system of regenerative. What is that, I guess what does or what has it taught you about self-sufficiency and what are the limits of that model of regenerative?

SPEAKER_03 19:12

So it is it's all it was always our goal to to get to this place. Um our fertility is supplied completely on our farm. Um it demonstrates that there is a lot of excess surplus unnecessary stuff in our lives. And that's not just not farming, but it it's uh and um it is assuring I know this is like a a kind of it is a scary, uncertain time that we're living through, but security is accessible and uh we can uh change course. And uh there's lots of people like me and around the world uh and in our country who are moving in that direction already.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah, you you kind of hit something because I'm I'm actually curious. I said you said self-sufficient self-sufficient um self-sufficiency, excuse me, is possible.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

In the community. In the community.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And I what I was gonna get at is like I seen some of the other day where I think I won't say the word trend because it's not really a trend. I think people are just waking up to the idea of like this is possible to your point of like because of times we're in, because of the idea of food short shortage and just food in general, and the the um what's the word? I don't want to say the word honesty, but maybe the transparency of our food. People want to go back, right? Go back to actually getting their own food. So I think that's important. Um and I would I definitely agree with your idea of like people wanting to go that route and knowing it's possible, um, especially with the environment that we're in and just going forward and beyond. Even self-sufficiency, I was just curious about too as you were speaking, like maybe from um I don't know, maybe a practical sense. Uh the words I'm I'm losing my train of thought here, but I guess maybe it it shows you that you can do more with less. Maybe that's a simple way to put it when you were when you're going through your practice and your program, is that maybe something you've you've learned or maybe picked up like, hey, there you can do more with less and be more effective?

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Absolutely. So the way we farm is we underst uh I understand the science of the soil. Yeah, it works. And if left alone and if you have the living soil and balance the way it should be, there's not much to do. I mean, once you get the system in place, it takes very little maintenance, it takes a little very little irrigation, the pests are under control, the weeds are under control, and it's actually a it can get to a relatively low effort farming method. And you know, uh we think I mean it's har it's har you know, it's hard work when you're doing the work, but a lot a lot of I think a lot in a lot in most industries, a lot of the work that's done is not necessary and we're just in this this uh hamster wheel like running to get nowhere. And uh whereas I'm living a calm some like a calm I'm not going I'm here yeah and I don't I'm not stressed, I don't I'm not living a hectic life, I'm in control of who's in my life and what I do every day, and uh just have gotten to a point where anything unnecessary is has been removed.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Yeah, that's a good boundary. It's a good boundary um ecosystem too that you have in place. And and too, I wanted to add, like to your whole process, right? It it almost seems like you said it's low effort, but once you kind of almost input the system, the system runs itself. And you know, and that's also including you know nature and mother mother nature and earth and soil. It's like once you kind of operate and put the right inputs, it's science, like you said, the outputs are gonna be there. It's just you know, kind of monitoring monitoring. Um hundred percent. Yeah. Um, I want to kind of move forward too, right? Because we're gonna kind of segue into you know cannabis, your justice, and kind of courage to build differently of what you've been kind of describing. Um, and the decision to go to cannabis, cannabis. So your your decision to pursue farming was rooted in addressing the generational damage. I know we talked about like the drug war, poverty, incarnate incar uh incarceration, which is from your past, you know, your past history and systemic systemic in uh inequity. Um talk me kind of through that decision. Like, what did you see that made you believe a farm could be a part of that repair, right? Because as you kind of talked to in the beginning, it was like this is a whole different vehicle to allow me to do what I really want to do and have an impact for kids.

SPEAKER_03 24:03

Well, I'll say um it started. I mean, my first thought was okay, I'm leaving my academic career. What do I want to be doing day to day?

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

I wanted to be farming. This was this was me, and this is part of your framework. Like, like on it, my someone might like in the selfish, self-centered realm. I wanted to be doing this.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

So, okay, I want to be farming. What can be farming that's gonna be useful to train young people with in terms of like profitability?

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

And the cannabis industry was coming online, and I am a longtime consumer. Yep. I had I had a medical card, um, but uh uh I've been smoking since the 1900s. I like to joke with my young people. Um and and I'm just and I uh it just clicked. This opportunity, this new industry, and at the time, it was like a gold rush. Everyone's like, cannabis and everyone's gonna get rich. And um and so uh, but I was coming, and it just the two was when it when I thought of the two, my previous work, you know, I've always since I was 18, I've been working with young people affected by poverty and trauma, and the structure of poverty and trauma in lots of these neighborhoods are rooted in the drug war.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

It's generational harm, incarceration, community destruction, um, family destruction. And so I am now have been working with the y young people who have inherited not just the trauma, but the um limitations, the barriers, uh harm that by no means they contributed to. And I so to be able so my goal, like from day one, from August 29th, 2015, my goal was try to capture some of this opportunity and hand it to those who inherited the harms. And that's and that's um that's what that's kind of this what this is all about.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Yeah, so it's derivative.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

Make sure because cause a lot of m you know, money people who don't come from the can the you know the cannabis culture flooded in and wanted to get quick rich quick. And uh it's like, no, I'm gonna try to capture some of this for those who really deserve the fruits of it.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Yep. Yeah, people who actually really deserve it. Yeah, and give them give them a good direction. Because you're right. I mean, you know, people who are either in your field who are listening, um there is a lot of systemic, you know, in your just limitations, like you said, guardrails that just get put on you. And we've seen it, right, for decades, but I think it gets just kind of pushed aside, almost just accepted another another thing in the wheel, right, in the wheelhouse that no one's really dealing with. And those who are dealing with it, I would assume um, you know, it's they're fighting up an uphill battle. So to kind of turn that into something that can generate, create, bring awareness, bring value, and uplift and give a new opportunity is like, you know, it's perfect that you kind of package this, right, and doing something else. Um so as we move forward here too, you you've been doing really you've been doing this for a while. You've been doing this for 10 years. Um you've navigated, you know, regulatory legal complexity, um, largely on your own legal um expertise, which is great because as as you said, you're you're a lawyer, so um, that helps, right? You have that working for you. And that's a long time, right, to hold you know, a vision where like the world hasn't caught up to yet with like hemp and cannabis. What kept you from like walking away and say, you know what, maybe this isn't for me, maybe I should go somewhere else?

SPEAKER_03 28:11

I never once doubted it. Never once. Um it is uh so we we for one, you know, the mismatch of you know, I d it my it's interesting in your intro, like you didn't mention that I was a lawyer. It's like an identity that has been shed, but the skill set that keeps my farm going. If we had to pay a lawyer to do all the things I do that require a lawyer, we would have been out of business a long time ago. Um and um so that helped. I mean, uh so but it I just I just believe in the enormous potential of cannabis, and I just never I don't it was uh an inner knowing.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

And it was just an inner knowing that never once uh never folded, never wavered.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

I mean I think it helps the the emotional and the drive, like the in the the passion and the emotional tie is like like synced up and was like here's where I'm going, like I'm not looking back. I I know where I want to go and this is where I'm going, pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yeah, and somewhat like um so uh the the industry when I I've been involved when the gates opened, so there was a blank slate, and I knew from the get-go that it's anyone's game.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

And uh I went for my vision of how I would like to see the industry, yeah. So it was uh uh because a lot of things going on in in cannabis um is not how I would like to see it. It's very uh they considered manufacturing instead of agriculture person. So um I just crazy. Right. So I'm just trying to get my vision, and it it's my vision is here for how we can work with cannabis.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah, and I'm sure there's other there's others like you. I mean, you're not the only one. I'm sure you got people within your network that share the same thing.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

That's the amazing thing about hemp. So um we were pre-approved for a medical license um in 2019, like uh at like the fourth or fifth meeting they had, like we were just we were just right there. Um, and the same month we got pre-approved, the state opened hemp licenses. Yeah. And we grabbed one. We were like, we're this is gonna take a while, let's try hemp for a while. We really want to do the farming. And uh, where was I going with this? I forgot.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

No, I was just saying that, hey, it's it's I would assume other people share the same values of you.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

Like so this being on the hemp side of things is totally different than the marijuana side of things because there are small and underrepresented farmers like me doing this, they are doing it regeneratively like me, um, using on-farm inputs, and um they're nonprofits, they're wanting to serve their communities. That mindset is just baked into this side of things. And so I do find my people over here on the hemp side of things.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah. Also, too, I I want to extract something from what you said, maybe just to give context to folks. Your your your company, it's not a B Corp, is it? Or is that what it's called in Michigan?

SPEAKER_03 31:50

It's uh it's an L, it's a low profit limited liability company. It's an L3C. It's uh That's what it was.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Not all the states have them. Michigan does. It's um so for the not many people really grasp this, but for profit companies are legally required to maximize profit.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

That's what the state endorses you to do is to make profit. And so our legal structure is a hybrid, um, where we are a for-profit registered limited liability company, but we are legally able to pursue other me other purposes. So we we uh we do have investors, I have members in the farm, and um in our operating agreement and in our state legal structure, um, the farm is legally able to not maximize profit in exchange for our people and our our environment. Yeah, but that doesn't mean we are limited for profit. We uh we have no limit on the amount of money we can make. So it's a nice it's and so I come from a world I have a lot of nonprofit experience. I've started several, I was the executive director of one, I've been on boards, I've been president of boards, and when I had to start my own company to start um what is usually considered charitable um work, youth job training, supportive, trauma-informed youth job training, I didn't want to do a nonprofit. It is a it is designed for you to fail. And uh so I was like, well, if I can farm and make income and the income can pay for the program, that's what I want. And the state of Michigan has a business entity that allows that.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Yeah, no, that is that's the perfect for both worlds. Like when you when you explained it, I was like, oh shoot, that makes a lot of sense. That is that's nice. Um Yeah, and you said there's only you're right, there's only a few states that have it. I mean, it is very much rare or limited to to many other states. Before we keep going, if what Robin just shared about building something that gives back more than it takes as landing for you, she works directly with farmers, land stewards, and organizations on exactly that through Pot Farms. Go to her website, link is in the show notes, reach out directly, mention code LifeISPOD10, and she will connect with you personally. Um, I want to talk about the farm, um, really kind of the your program that you have in place. So talking about just like the youth and obviously the soil and the healing, you know, part of this. Um you know, where you know, tell me, I guess, more about you know the young people who come through your farm, um, and not just the program, but the people, because I know that's really really the leading driver from this whole story, right? Is the work you were doing. What what do you see in them when they are first arrived and what shifts while you know while they're there?

SPEAKER_03 34:46

Right. So I absolutely adore this age range between like 18 and 25. It is um so my undergraduate degree is in psychology and child psychology.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

And developmentally, it is like a second toddlerhood where the brain is like a sponge, it uh let goes of some wiring that it acquired during childhood and it's open for rewiring. And it is this moment that I see, you know, as young people who are coming out of these extremely challenging upbringings, who still have capacity and demonstrated deep resilience, but they're at this point where they're disillusioned, they're depressed, they have um, especially with you know, and then you add just all the world nonsense going on. You just they don't see the point of trying or going to school. Like, there's just this like, what is the point? Uh, and they also don't want to participate in the system that exists, they don't they over consumption, the working a job for no reason, they just see it all. Like the people that the young people that I I work with just have this open view of what is really going on in the world. And so they come to the farm, and it's um it's beautiful, and it's not very it's it's not structured so much like a normal job, and we uh do what needs to be done during the day, and we we harvest food and we cook food and we eat food together, and uh we just there's bees and there's chickens and um woods, and there's this shift where uh they start to see there is a way forward. Yes, that that change is possible, that there are solutions in practice today. And I um there's this one intern who I just I carry uh her comment with me. Um she had a lot of trauma around cannabis growing up, and it was very, very difficult for her to be here, but she was brave enough to come out and and do the internship, and towards the end, she uh she says the farm has a happy ending feel to it. Like a happy ending is possible, and that is you know, just heart it it gets at heart of of the feeling of the farm that we try to um uh share.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Yeah, you try to yeah help out. What when and too, when are the kids coming?

SPEAKER_03 37:24

Is this using the summer um time frame, like when they're coming, or is this yeah, so we don't really have of it's been uh we've done summer internships since 2021. It took a couple years to it's it's like going, yeah. Yeah, and then um they uh come, I've done spring beekeeping internships, I've done um you know, just eight or ten week internships with um local programs uh that are doing this kind of neat work sites. Um and then what happens is after they've been here and I because of the nature of you know the work and who I am, I be I stay involved with these young people's lives.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 38:13

And and they become part of this pool that I draw upon for paid work days. We have a project, and so I send out an email or text be like, hey, we need we're gonna be working on this this week, anybody available? And so they continue to come out and connect and and get paid. We don't we don't ever uh um have volunteer work. If you're here working, you're either being I help train um other soil food web students. Um and so um they could those I've I help facilitate their training, they can come here and practice, but then if you're just coming here, we you're gonna be paid. Yeah, because well, we believe that the work we're doing, like caring for the land, producing food, producing crops, and restoring health is the most important job there is right now. And there's we put value on that, and people should know that that has value and their their contributions to it is valuable.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Yeah, I I love too, because as like Rob, once again, as you're speaking, it's like one, I'm kind of smiling because it's like these kids come here kind of like mother pot, right? Like you're the mother kind of helping them out, and you're an educator, right? So we spoke offline. I think it's it's always unique, right? People we have on the show, yourself included, it's like everything you did in your life has led up to what you're doing now. So the lawyer work, the research, the educator, like that is awesome to help you do what you're doing now because you're bringing kids and and you know where they're coming from, so you can relate to that because you were in that system helping them. And right, these kids are probably coming very uh walls up for the most part, right? And as you said, as it evolves, right, now they start to open up, and not only are you trying to give them another way out, one concept, you're two making them feel safe, which then you know from an emotional level, right? That's that's making their uh their like almost cybernetic set point feel good. And then you're giving them the education on the back end of like here's another possibility. So it's like you're checking off so many boxes that I think for most people just brush right over, like, oh, that's a cute story, but it's like no, there's so much that I'm doing here um and investing in, and then you're also still keeping in contact with them on the bot back in to help um you know further their development, right? So they can say, hey, like this is important, like you said, help helping the soil, the earth, that's that's vital, and it should be like top priority. So I uh respect that of what you're doing. And I I wanted to I guess say that so most people don't don't miss that. That there's there's many layers, it's layered to what you're doing, I guess is the way to say it. A lot a lot of aspects.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Yeah, and I'll say just to put a finer point on it, is the social s I built a company around the social program. I often get people like, oh, how do you incorporate your social program into your business? I'm like, I incorporated my business into this.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, very, yeah, very much uh I think that's uh you know evident what what you're doing. Talking even further about that, right? You you talked about nature-based like healing, which we talked about prior, right?

SPEAKER_03 41:19

Uh, can I can I say something? That was another thing I wanted to say. Yeah, go ahead. This is this is respite care. These young people are coming out away from chaos, away from noise, away from you know, maybe difficult living situations. It's respite. Being in nature, being around chickens, getting your hands dirty. There's microbes in the soil that have been shown to boost your mood. We know that movement outdoors boosts your mood.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

For sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 41:50

It's all kind. I mean, there's it's there's science is catching up to what our ancestors knew in here in natural.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

I know it it um I wouldn't say maybe frustrating. I think sometimes it's um I mean fortunate. It's just I guess it's to your point, it's like science is catching up, so it's it kind of sucks that people have to wait for the science to show them, which is good because we need the science, right? But it's like it's been there. Like it's always been it's just like now here's the proof, so you can you know make I guess a choice to actually believe it or not, but it's but it's there, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:25

And it's a validation of your inner know like those you're listening to like this inner knowing that is uh we should trust a lot more.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Yep, yep, yep, that intuition, um, inner voice, yeah, yeah. No, absolutely right there. And you kind of led me to my next question because uh we're talking about right, nature healing, you kind of seguated that there's there is to your point, right? There is something that happens by putting your hands in the soil, right? Right, there's people change, things change. Um, if you can, if you want to talk about it, what do you think actually happens or is happening um in that moment? Um, maybe with maybe a uh maybe your intern that you had, um or what is maybe the land doing to them that the classroom or program can't for that matter.

SPEAKER_03 43:12

Um I think it's a safe place for the young people who come out here to discover that they are capable. That like even if they don't go on to farming, that they can go they're capable and they they that there are there's hope and that uh they're capable of hard work and they're capable of learning and they're capable of compassion and they're capable of uh connecting with others and with nature. I mean it's it's it's uh they go forth with a more resilience and more confidence. And I like I said, I stay in touch with them, so I know I I they go on and increase. Their capacity as young adults.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Yeah. I think you said that perfectly. Because like confidence, resilience just gets reinforced, like you said. I think for many people come from backgrounds, or I even have to be that background, but speaking just because it's the subject matter, like you get told things, you don't believe certain things. So being able to step in and like do hard things, have compassion, um this just moves the needle even further to the the side that you want to go to of possibility and like oh I can I can do this, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:32

So and getting back to the age group that I'm so focused on is this is the moment in their lives where this like it closes mid-20s. But this is the point in their life where they either have these experiences that reinforce their capability and give them, you know, the um understanding that they can do whatever they set their minds to moving forward and they go into adulthood with this capacity, or they don't have opportunities like this, and they learn that uh they they just can't, and they fall into um the trap that society has set for them.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 45:14

Is which is uh poverty and failure.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Speaking of the kids though, right? That's my question for you next. It's a good one. So if one of your kids, and I say your kids, but one of these young people that come from your internship that are, you know, that are listening right now, someone who maybe came through your farm is still figuring out what their life is, you know, supposed to look like. What what do you want them to hear for from um from you today? If you had to share something.

SPEAKER_03 45:42

Yeah, so um I I uh so like I said, I am in contact with so many young people that I've worked with in at the farm and even outside of the farm, um, most of them, but I would say get in touch. I this that's the I love when they reach out and they tell me how they're doing. And um, I will say to them right now directly, I'm so proud of you. And I enjoyed our time together, and I'm sure you are doing great and you should be easy on yourself and absorb your successes and uh keep going.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

I love that. Yeah, it's important and what you said was like have compassion, be nice to yourself. Right? That's that's important. That's a good reminder. Like honestly, for kids, really anybody, but you know, people who are coming from that, like that's you need to hear that, right? Be be nice to yourself and it's uh don't beat yourself up. But no, I I if they are listening, maybe they'll they'll hear this someday down the road. This will be good for them to hear. And I appreciate you appreciate you sharing that. Um, so I want to switch gears here and kind of talk about um kind of what you're doing now, right? Kind of going forward, kind of the frontier work, which is kind of your you know, fungi, hemp and kind of agriculture architecture together. So you're you're partnering up um with the University of Michigan, right? Almoto there, and professors on using hemp and fungi to grow structural building materials, which is really exciting, which is you know crazy thing about I feel like all I feel like now with sciences and AI, I feel like all these things are like coming out, like all these possibilities. But to to dial back in, can you kind of break that down for me and the listeners? Like, what are you trying to build and why does it matter? Like, what's what's important about it?

SPEAKER_03 47:29

So um, my role in all this is the farming.

unknown 47:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 47:33

Hemp hemp is so uns unstable still, and access to it is difficult, and processing is almost non-existent. So the pipeline to get these amaz amazing potential hemp products, we've got hemp plastic, hemp fuel, hemp clothes, uh, hemp food, hemp building, like you said, structural material, um all possible, but there's this bottleneck, if you will, or juggernaut that just it isn't there yet to let this all flow. It's there and it's a lot, it's blocking this flow. And so what happened was this fall, we had a the very the my collaborators around the state, we had an event at my farm um around hemp creet, which is a building material. It's not it's it's a misnomer, it's not like concrete, it's um like uh uh insulation material. And uh we had this event, and this professor from U of M came out, and he's already working with fungi and and hemp that he gets from far away. And uh this is just next level. He's he is him and his team are able they applied for a small pilot grant that we got, and his team are is gonna start coming out this season to learn about hemp growing, and we have a we have this on-farm processor now, the corticator, that um we could we could process the hemp in different ways, and he's gonna be working with me to figure out the best output for his idea and then uh that he's already have he has prototypes for, he knows this works. And so we're just early days still, you know. This is seed money to do a proof of concept to apply bigger grands. But if you can grow regenerative hemp and then grow fungi in that to build structure material, he's focused on furniture in particular. So imagine getting a couch. You know, couches are bulky and they're they when they go at the end of their life, you're like, what am I gonna do with this thing?

unknown 49:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 49:37

What if you compost it?

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

Compost it. So yeah, the future is really exciting. And it's starting the ideas are there and they're starting the opportunities are starting to this is my eighth season, and this is last year it feels like doors creaked open, and I have a sense that this year the they're gonna swing wide open and and there's gonna it's finally happening.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Slowly but surely.

SPEAKER_03 50:05

Yeah, and that but that's a tiny part of what we're what we're doing. Um, but you know, this takes off, maybe we'll be a a site to provide hemp for all the research happening at all the institutions, you know.

SPEAKER_00 50:19

Yeah. No, that that's exciting. And I I appreciate you giving um clarity and and clarification of what you're doing, because I think when you said that too to me offline, I was like, that is crazy. Like they're gonna use this plus hemp to build furniture.

SPEAKER_03 50:33

Like but literally taking a mold, stuffing it with hemp crete or um hemp herd, injecting a very specific species of fungi, and letting that fungi grow out till it's a solid form and it's structural and it it holds weight, it's and it's compostable.

SPEAKER_00 50:52

I know, it's crazy. But I love it. Like for me, I love it. Like that's I eat it up, but it's just wild that you know that's possible. And it's great that you're doing it. Like you're you know, which once again, you're just getting started. You're on the you're on the front front end of this. Um as the founder. Yeah, early, yeah, on the early end of this, kind of piloting it. What's possible? Um, so yeah, that's that's exciting. So thanks for sharing that. Um the head street, you already touched on it, right? Super infant, uh, really a baby in the grand scheme of things now that it's kind of came back into our world, if you will, after being banned, right? Up and down regulatory, regulatory, uh, regulatory uh uncertainty, market instability. Uh, obviously, it's a long road to be maturity, and you've been in it for a while. Um, just kind of curious. If if you had a share, you know, what would you tell someone who wants to build in this space that maybe isn't ready um that isn't ready for them yet, or maybe not ready for them to kind of get into it?

SPEAKER_03 51:48

In the hemp space or in any space?

SPEAKER_00 51:52

That's a good question to myself. I would yeah, I would say I would say maybe hemp because that's kind of what we're in, right? You're in regenerative farming, you're using hemp. I would say maybe, yeah, that that that'd be kind of our focus.

SPEAKER_03 52:03

Um for hemp, I would um I would start networking because those of us who are still doing hemp uh have learned the lessons and we have uh a roadmap in our hands finally, and you absolutely should uh connect and you don't want to reinvent the wheel. I mean, so the thing about hemp is it's lost knowledge.

SPEAKER_02 52:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 52:36

You know, when it before it became you know wanned for decades, it was an essential national crop. And farmers had the equipment and there were mills, local, regional mills, and the sea like everything the genetics were uh farther along, we all and the people who did all that are gone. Like when we started in 2019, there was no institutional knowledge, yeah, you know. Um, so you don't have to go through that. There are people who have figured it out. Um, but on a broader sense, um if you're if you're interested in something that you don't see anywhere else, you're on to something.

SPEAKER_02 53:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 53:24

So early, early, early on, say the first year when I started, you know, doing internet searches, how do you start a business? Uh a quote that I came across that just sticks with me. And because I wanted to do something, a just I wanted to be a disruptor. I didn't want I wanted to be I just wanted to build something new as an opportunity to build something new. And the quote was um to change something, you need to build something that doesn't exist and makes obsolete the existing system. It's not working within the system on the margins to kind of reform. You need to build outside the system that makes the old no longer necessary. And um, that's what that's my advice is uh don't follow everyone. If you're following everyone, you're gonna have maybe a good business that you know operates profit on the market. But if you're courageous enough to not follow that, uh it's the the potential and the excitement and the opportunity is way faster.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

Man, I love that answer. That was awesome. That's so true. I guess because I was gonna ask you, you know, make it maybe a broader stroke, but you hit that right on. There's actually the quote I think that you you mentioned was from um Buckner Buckmeister, I think.

SPEAKER_03 54:51

Yes, whatever is I can't uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:53

Yes, but you summarized it or paraphrased it perfectly. Yeah, you make the old ultism obsolete. Um there was another one I had in my head that I was thinking of, but it's in in essence the same, you know, the same vein of you know, you you gotta do something different, you know, don't don't follow the masses, I guess, is another way, you know, do the complete opposite.

SPEAKER_03 55:14

Yeah, and have the courage to be different and an outsider and niche.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

Yeah, and that's important too, I think, because it's hard, right? I mean, I have other guests that are coming on that have done something different. Um, and to our point, society gets comfortable in that in that realm. So you do something different, your friends, your family, your colleagues, you know, they they they may say negative things, they may bash. So it's hard to say to your point, like, hey, I'm doing something different. They're like, Why would you do that? Like, that's just do this. This is easier, right? And it's it's them trying to pull them, pull you, right? Indirectly to the norm, the status quo. So what you said yes, resistance. Yeah, the resistance, the uncomfortable, like that's yeah, just be like everyone else. So what you said was spot on. I love what you said. Create a new reality, a new um, and we need a lot of that right now.

SPEAKER_03 56:09

We are seeing uh our many across the board systems showing their cracks, failing, no longer serving. So we need this kind of thinking in every every space.

SPEAKER_00 56:26

Yeah, no, I agree. Uh be a disruptor in a triblazer. That's that's what comes to mind. So as we wrap up here, uh Robin, kind of toward the end, right? You've been farming, building, right? Mentoring, researching, and holding a vision for a better, better world for a long time, often without external validation, now that it's eventually kind of coming, as you mentioned, off in the head of where the industry's at, as we just talked about. Um, looking at the life that you've built, what do you know now that you wish you could go back and tell the version of yourself who was just starting? Which I feel like is like a million-dollar question for everyone.

SPEAKER_03 57:03

It is. And so I this when I told you I have weird answers, this is one of them. Okay, already believe that I was already hearing what I'm saying now to my younger self. And there's this concept of um uh time traveling mentally. And today I send, like where I am now in my life, I send gratitude to the young my younger self who did take the risk, who did make all those mistakes and um kept going. And I can go think back to that time, and I believe that my the source of my thoughts now were the source of my certainty then.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:54

And um so I don't think I would say anything, didn't you? Yeah, I always knew it was gonna be okay. And it is okay.

SPEAKER_00 58:05

It's uh it's amazing that you say that because it is yeah, there is right gratitude. And and I think I don't know if people are listening, right? They're they're I think from my perspective, it's very evident that you were very like committed and to look back now, like you said, you wouldn't change anything because I think in that moment you knew. So now, fast forward ten years later, you're just like, hey, I I thank you. I appreciate you you fought through right the resistance and you stood, you kind of planted your flag, if you will, in your own in your own top of the hill and never wavered. But it sounds like there was very much um intuitiveness um and this guidance uh internally that was like, yep, this is this is it. And uh no looking back.

SPEAKER_03 58:53

No. And I I um am very great. I I recognize what that younger self went through, and I just every day I'm like, keep going, we made it.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

Yeah, well wait till you wait till you get here, like where I'm at now.

SPEAKER_03 59:11

Yeah, you'll make it. You know, but I think I heard that back then.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

Yeah, yeah, very much, very much so. So, my my last question, we we kind of talk obviously a broad range of things, but for people who are listening, where can they find you, right? Follow the farm and get connected with your work, uh, with what you're doing. Because I also want to talk about before you answer that, you also do have a program that you help people. Is that correct? I mean, we didn't really touch on it or expand upon it, but you you teach others as well, is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 59:41

So, yeah, so the farm is funded by the regenerative certified organic hemp we grow, but also through my living soil services. Yes, where I do a lot of consulting and educating. I do workshops, uh, especially on living soil. It's I if if I had uh heard a podcast question and that I stick with um that was a question if you could make any change in the world, what would it make? And I would have everyone instantly understand how soil works. We should have learned this in elementary school. It is almost completely unknown across our populations, and so a big I do um try I I teach people how living soil works and I do workshops, I do invaria I partner with MSU. Um I'm I do I'm doing one for my county, I'm doing a uh one at a community farm. Um and so my training is beyond the internships. I pay for the internships through going out into the public and consulting and educating. And I have and I have clients that I work with directly who are transitioning to a biological approach to farming. Um so that is that's how I pay for the internships instead of instead of donations and grants and foundations.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

Yes, kind of the whole traditional.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:10

Yeah, I fund it myself through my work.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:12

To before you answer this last question, I'll I'll re-ask you are those clients a lot of farmers too? Like, are you because I'm like, man, this is like I support your work, right? I'm like, man, I'm even thinking there's a company here in South Bank called Unity Gardens, which does a lot of planting for veggies and foods and help out a lot of um unfortunate, right, groups. Um, but I'm thinking like also farmers. Like you're kind of um, I had Adam Klein, who does hemp beverages in Indianapolis. I had on my first podcast. I say that to say that, you know, using the word crusader, right? I'm crusading to help other farmers or other people in the industry to help them. And are those clients farmers also too, or is that businesses?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:54

I have a um across the board. I work with um uh I don't have a huge group of clients, but um, but like I uh compost producers, indoor cannabis groves, uh flower farmers, I work with uh a hospital site, I work with a third generation apple and grape producer on the west side. I worked on the winery in Wisconsin. Um and it's and then I have home just gardeners who I do testing for and and provide microbiology for. Um it's you know, it's it's anybody comes hung out of shingle and uh so many different people. There's no I can't tell you there's one profile for my door.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:44

Okay, good, good. That's good for those who are listening. Like that's that's amazing. I love that you're you're helping all different types of, like you said, profiles and different uh interests and sectors within kind of that that field. Um and I know we didn't touch on it, but I I did want to give some highlight and that that question kind of sparked it that I wanted you to be able to share that as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:03

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:04

Yeah, very much so. I want to then ask you again for those who are listening, where can people find you, right? Follow the farm and get connected with you um with your work that you just shared about.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:15

Yeah, the best overview is our website, potfarms.com. Um, and you can learn about um in particular the Living Soil Services. Um and then I uh I have a newsletter that I am committed to putting out more often that is uh um and then Facebook and Instagram are the accounts that I most uh am active on.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:43

And is that Robin Pot, like Facebook, uh at farms or at pot farms. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:48

Well all that is at pot farms is the account I have my own, but I don't I I work all everything I do is through the pot farms account.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:57

Perfect. And what I'll do too, I'll make sure to put that in the show notes for those who want to get connected with you, whether that's your work or your website, Facebook and and um also newsletter, definitely will get that. So um myself included, because that's I didn't know you did that. So that's good to know that we can get on that list uh to hear what you're doing and what you're sharing. Um I guess maybe a bonus question before we hit this exit. I've all my guests, right? Podcast is called the Life Is Podcast. And I always ask people, you know, if you could fill in the blank, right? You say life is on the back of that small phrase, what would you fill that in with if you either phrase or a word?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:36

What I saw this is what I see rising right now and what is necessary. I would say life is joy. Stay in a mindset of joy and wonder and awe and curiosity and raise your vibrations, don't get bogged down in things you can't control. And uh life is meant to be enjoyed with others, with nature and make that a priority, whatever you're doing. Find joy every day.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

Life is joy, that is a good way. Keep the curiosity. That is very true. Well, good. I wanted uh, you know, wrap it up on that last question, and I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:18

Yeah, it was a good one.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:19

Yeah, no, uh your answer was even better. So I I appreciate the the response. But from here, uh, like I said, Robin, I want to thank you. I really do. You have been a wealth of knowledge and just um, you know, very pleasant on the show and and giving all your information, your expertise, your journey, um, and the reality of what you're currently doing. So I want to thank you for coming on here and sharing that with myself and the those who are um listening. Um, but from here we'll we'll let you get back to what you do best, which is uh what you're in now.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:50

Yeah. Well, I appreciate your your your format and the and the issues that you're you're pulling out and highlighting. It's That's uh absolutely what we need right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:02

Yeah, yeah, we need we need we need to um yeah broadcast it. We need people to look at it, see it, hear it, um, get invested in it.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:10

Yeah, and I see your work is part of this. You're you're making a big contribution.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:14

Yeah. No, I am. Thank you so much. Well, from here we will uh let you get back to it and uh enjoy the rest of your evening, Robin.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:22

Okay, thanks so much, Choy.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:23

Alright, take care. What Robin showed us today is that the most radical thing you can do is build something that gives back more than it takes. She didn't start with a finished farm, she started with a philosophy and had the patience to let the land and herself become what they were supposed to be. That's what intentional living looks like when you build from the inside out. The soil is a metaphor, the work is real. I'll see you in the next episode. That's a wrap on today's episode of the Life Is Podcast. If something in this conversation landed for you, a shift in perspective, a reminder, or something you needed to hear, don't let it stay there. Take it with you, put it to work. If you're ready to go deeper, I have tools built specifically for this journey, a self discovery blueprint, and a diagnostic designed to show you exactly where your foundation needs attention. Links are in the show notes. And if this episode added value, share it with someone who's building, leave a review, help us grow this community of intentional people doing real work. Remember, fulfillment isn't found, it's built. Life is art in motion, and you are the artists. Until next time, keep building.