Grounded in Maine

I loved getting to hear all about The Bloom Edit; a beautiful collaboration with Holly Berry's Floral Design Company, A Natural Design and Laura Grauer Photography to create a beautiful day of self appreciation! The Bloom Edit will be in person in the Seattle, WA area on July 17th - which is also around Lara's 50th birthday... Lara said she usually does a birthday selfie, and for her 50th she's sharing it with YOU if you're nearby!...

I know I've said this before, but being asked if cat overpopulation was a conversation I'd be interested in was an easy yes for me! I'm so happy to share this conversation I got to have with Deborah Felin Magaldi. Deborah works with Helen Sanders Cat Paws in the Los Angeles area, where they're making progress, and have learned a lot to be able to teach others (us). 

Deborah met Helen Sanders back in 2001, and Cat Paws became a ...

First, I want to give a big fat thank you to our friend Joan Kanner who hooked me up with Hazel, knowing this would be a great conversation! 

It's fun when things just line up really perfectly - for me, at least. Last week we heard from Austin French, of the More Than Outdoors podcast, and it was just chance that today we're learning from Hazel Stark, of The Maine Outdoor School - both in Maine, both focusing on outdoor activit...

I want to just start by acknowledging that this is episode 200! If you've been here since the beginning of Grounded in Maine, bless you, and thank you! If you're new here, I'm so glad you're here!Let's learn to be better stewards of the land as we can!

I only learned about Austin French and More than Outdoors podcast in March, I think, but I loved getting to know him. By chance, someone tagged the New England Podcasters Group on Lin...

I hadn't heard of Ethical Seafood Research until Wasseem Emam reached out to me, but I'm so grateful I know about it now! Drawing on his background in applied aquatic ecology, conservation, and sustainable aquaculture, Wasseem recognised a critical gap; aquatic animals are the most numerically exploited, and least protected animals in the food system.

Wasseem started Ethical Seafood Research in 2021. He had an experience working on ...

I loved this conversation with Blair Northen Williamson, aka The Island Writer. Blair is a sailing Captain, dive instructor, ocean activist, global traveler, author and speaker, and she is talking to us about raising curious, empathetic global citizens with care and curiosity, instead of fear. 

Blair has published 3 children's books so far about caring for the ocean: Island Girls, Birthday Bash and Ocean Protectors, to teach ki...

*Please forgive my echoey audio in this episode! I had cleared out my office to move, and it was - well - echoey.*

Vale Siegrist won a year of Public Relations work from Publicity for Good, who has been sending some pretty great podcast guests my way lately! I was watching their contest, so curious to see who won - and while talking with Vale, she let me know it was her!

Vale started Circular Mom Club after struggling post partum. On...

I've been bugging Elizabeth Bruckner for months to come back on the podcast, because I've been listening to her other podcast guest episodes and feeling like we've been missing out, and I finally wore her down. I'm kidding - she's been wanting to go deep about Kefir with someone, and I've been interested in learning about it, and finding a fermented food I can actually ingest. And boy oh boy, did we get an education!

Elizabeth was a...

I was so looking forward to talking with Susan Poizner - I've heard so many times that the first thing you should do on a homestead is plant perennial fruits, so I wanted to make sure we/I know the best practices, And Susan's story about learning about fruit tree care is so incredible. Susan planted fruit trees in her city park in an empty space, only to hear from some community people that they didn't want it. She did it anyway, a...

I got an email asking if I'd want to have a conversation with GreenFi Banking very soon after talking with Maya Lily the filmmaker, who recommended knowing that who's holding our money is in alignment with our values, so that was a really easy YES! George Mazzella is the VP of Marketing for GreenFi - he was sought out for the position by Tim, the CEO, who had worked with George before, and knows that he is passionate about climate ...

I feel like this conversation with Mark Winters was so needed. Things feel so desperate and divided, and in comes Mark with his bubbly positive outlook to neutralize any heaviness. Mark Winters is an bonafide rocket scientist turned full time touring musician, spreading his positivity wherever he goes. He's currently on his Good Vibes Highway Tour of 120 cities and counting.

For Mark, music is his bridge between the analyzing world ...

There were so many great moments that it was hard to narrow them down in this conversation with Stephanie Gross, Founder of Bumby Wool! She built a sustainable fashion brand with merino wool in Canada. Stephanie is a married mom of 2, and is passionate about circular fashion, using what's already existing and her community. 

Bumby Wool started out in 2007 as cloth diaper covers, because the wool wicks moisture away from the ski...

I absolutely loved talking with Rebecca Newburn, the Founder of the Seed Library Network! Past podcast guest and friend Ranya Dube connected us after a workshop that Ranya hosted and Rebecca spoke in. I remember hearing recently that I think it was Israel that destroyed Gaza's national seed library, which got my mind wanting to learn more about seed libraries, and why that mattered so much. I had heard of seed libraries, but I didn...

I met Lauren Lovejoy last fall in a Women in Regenerative Agriculture group and was so silly excited to learn that she was the creator of the Red Hen app that I already had on my phone. Ren Hen app is a farm finder, so wherever you are, you're able to support small farmers- you can message and set up a meeting and pay for stuff all through the app - it's kind of like a mobile farm stand!

The Red Hen app is still relatively new, so t...

If you're following me on Instagram, you may have noticed me sharing posts about Barterloo bartering app - community powered and community building, sharing strengths and caring for each other. I'm talking with the founder, Kelly Dempsey. I learned about her when she was a guest on another New England podcaster, Molly Amatangelo's Local Treads podcast. Barterloo is just a few weeks away from launch, and it's so exciting!

Kelly has q...

I loved this conversation with Michelle Heberling, and learned so much about the gut role and how to care for it with fermentation. Michelle shares her very intense story of finding her way to fermenting foods, and she shares many more in her soon to be published book The Guts of Fermentation, along with some of her favorite recipes.

We talked a bit about the Germ Theory and the Bristol Chart, calming our gut with mindfulness, BELLY...

Talor Stewart has a very different way of looking at home design, and I am here for it! Conscious Home Design is Talor's business and the name of his #1 Best Selling book. 

What does a home truly need to provide? There has been research done about what makes people happy as they age; Talor has incorporated both of these studies and more with his Architecture education to offer Conscious Home Design. He offers a workbook and als...

Christa Dhimo is a New England Podcaster who I hadn't had much of a chance to get to know until I talked about my sustainability podcast in our community, and Christa, Founder of Impono - Senior Business Advisor, went full-on nerdy about DIRT. 

Christa hosts a podcast about business questions called Ask Christa, where people will write in whatever business questions they might have - from executive to employee and everything in...

This conversation with Doug Katz went deeper than expected, but it was SO good! Doug is a retired Military Veteran who has used his disability as inspiration to create adaptive items. He just started selling the Nulu adaptive knife last summer - it's inspired by the Inuit ULU, but adjusted to accommodate his and others' disability. 

Talking with Doug, I learned that there are Adaptive Libraries across the country, so that someo...