Natural Medicine Interview Sessions: Consciousness and Co-Ops with @sagescrub from Homesteaders Co-Op

'But... can you BUY anything with it?' our friends ask us when we talk about crypto. Now, the answer is absolutely and definitely YES! - @sagescrub brings us @homesteaderscoop which allows homest worldwide to buy and sell products for Steem. If you haven't heard of what they do yet, please IMMEDIATELY check out their website here - you will be amazed by how well it's put together and the vision it has.

Homesteaders Co-Op describe their venture as such:

Steemit has provided a safe and open community space where homesteaders exchange knowledge, support and camaraderie. We are proud that homesteaders are rewarded with SBD for sharing knowledge and experience. Our mission is to empower homesteaders through a concerted marketing effort that would support each other’s livelihood to offer more diverse choices of quality and sustainable products made by small businesses to offer more market options for using SBD.

@sagescrub is one of the original members of Natural Medicine and has delegated to the collective and supported it right from the beginning. We were so thrilled with what he and his partner @idyllwild had put together that we HAD to get @thetreeoflife to interview him IMMEDIATELY!

We hope you enjoy this interview.

TOL: Soooooo @sagescrub! Finally we talk! How are you guys!
I've been reading through your various blogs lately, on homesteading, seeds, and herbs. And you guys have a new venture, a homesteading co-op! Can you tell us a little about what you are up to?

SS: ***Hi @thetreeoflife !! I am so glad we are able to have this chat today! @Idyllwild is furiously working on some wreaths that she will hopefully be able to display at a local venue.

It turned out that we became quite ambitious during this, our first year homesteading together, about starting some new projects related to homesteading and are so glad to share much of what we are doing with the steem communities.

TOL: Ah cool! That's awesome you guys get involved locally as well, not just in the D-world!

SS: Yes! We feel so grateful to have found an amazing local community and we are surrounded by homesteaders, permaculturalists, herbalists, seed growers, organic farmers and many more amazing people. We just moved here in march of this year and were blown away by the love and "back to the land" skills and commitment. It was everything we were hoping to find without even knowing it. People here are very open about sharing love, knowledge, food and good times. We are learning what it means to be in a positive community environment and are bringing this love and energy with us to the steemit world!

TOL: It makes such a huge difference, that community spirit, doesn't it! It's like the difference between surviving and thriving.

SS: I am learning so much @thetreeoflife. While I belonged to various communities while I was growing up, I was missing a feeling of really belonging, and a community that helps me feel appreciated in many levels. This is one thing I appreciated right away about steemit as well. I felt so glad to be encouraged to be myself, share my passions and speak from my heart through reward, but also positive feedback and encouragement from the people that engaged with me. I got to steemit and realized there were all these people encouraging others to drop their guards and speak from the heart. What!? That just blew my mind. This is not what I am used to while interacting with much of our culture and especially on much of the internet where anonymity can encourage more ego-centric communication. At first I thought it was only the steemit homesteading community, but I realized that there are many people on steemit that want this way of interacting with pride, passion, love, encouragement and honor.

TOL: I know exactly what you mean! It's so rare we find such supportive community, and also such open minded people. Steemit seems to be full of both!

SS: Now that I think about it I've reached a point in my life where I want to surround myself with this love and encouragement because it helps inspire me to better myself. I have some altruistic goals but I have to accept my weaknesses and learn how to emotionally support and encourage myself before I can really be good at helping other people.

TOL: You bring up a really good point that somehow seems to be an echo throughout all these interviews... The concept of self care. It's so important that we nourish ourselves from the roots up, so we can first find health, and wellness, and then share it by connecting with others.

And also, yes, finding the positive and loving niches in the world that we resonate with, man that can't even be overstated a bit! When you find people you vibe with, it's the best. It's similar to that feeling of being in the flow with self, except there's more energy flowing around, and more stimulation. It's pregnant with potential.

Can you share with us what made you want to live in this way? You guys are doing your own version of homesteading, which I admire, and we love that here at @naturalmedicine. Growing food, herbs, sharing seeds. What inspired you to go off the beaten path and start growing?

SS: You brought up finding people you vibe with and the importance of that resonance and you mentioned the importance of nourishing ourselves. Well, both of those were the inspiration for really going off the beaten path. In my past life I was married and my ex wife and I were both having problems nourishing ourselves. Although we were fairly alternative in our beliefs we fell into line walking the "beaten path" that was laid before us. Sometimes we questioned it but we never strayed too far. Our feeling under nourished led us to part ways.

Up until that point we had both created some pipe dreams of homesteading or at least living rurally and gardening but it seemed impossible to achieve. Speaking for myself, I would easily turn down a dream that seemed risky in order to have more stability in my life.



Our divorce turned out to have positive effects on both of us individually because we were able to look deep and begin to heal ourselves and find that nourishment we needed. Subsequently we each followed our individual dreams and overcame some fears that were holding us back from taking leaps of faith.

TOL: It's amazing what time to one's self will do for a person. And what complete overhaul of life tends to catalyze!

Wow... You know, I have never experienced divorce, but I can relate to that experience, of complete life and lifestyle change, of having to start over. Or, maybe getting the opportunity to start over. It sounds like you really made the best of it.

SS: Leading up until that moment I had found my greatest passion in my life was gardening. After realizing I did not want to follow my previous career path I realized I wanted to be paid to garden full time. So I started pursuing farming and volunteering and working for all the local farms I could find. That led me to overcome my fear of being unemployed and having no income and follow a dream of wwoofing at organic farms and homesteads. And so I packed up, sold a lot of my stuff and began volunteering in the pacific northwest. Meanwhile my ex wife also overcame many of her fears and began apprenticing at a flower farm.

After some time we realized that we were on parallel paths and we were much more nourished in our new lives by following our passions, being more true to ourselves and being less willing to hide out in comfort zones. Well after 2 1/2 years of being a part and growing separately we decided to come back together and walk off the beaten path together.

TOL: Wait now, what! You are saying that this ex wife you speak of is @Idyllwild!

SS: Yes!

TOL: Oh my gosh, no way.

This has indeed been an incredible journey for you guys!

SS: We hopped onto each others paths and spent time at the farms we were each apprenticing/volunteering for last year. Now this year we called ourselves graduated from the apprenticing life and decided to homestead together on this property that our landlord graciously let us rent/caretake.

That was a long answer to your question.... but I wanted to say all that to share that now we have come to an unofficial agreement that we don't want to hold ourselves back from putting our passions and positive intentions in the driver seat of much of our pursuits in this world, because we've already lived the other way and although its a lot easier its not as fun, rewarding or meaningful.

TOL: That's a fantastic rule of thumb to live by, for sure! Taking the solid, stable and easy path is never as rewarding or fun, you are right about that. There's a saying that I love, it's from the movie Bottle Shock, when Bill Pullman's character is talking to the young intern about how grapes grow best in challenging conditions, and how a "comfortable grape is the lazy ingredient of a boring, flavorless wine”. It's such a metaphor for life! Yes, it's good to have something stable to count on, but all things in life that seem to really be worth it, are dynamic, full of change, full of that spark of movement, and life energy.

SS: Oh I have not seen that movie but its a nice expression!

TOL: I just love the unexpected and serendipitous surprises that life has to offer when we are open and willing to experience something... Challenging? New? Out of our comfort zone!

SS: Yeah!!! Those surprises and challenges are amazing! But it is so easy to be in a new comfort zone! My ego is always ready to convince me, consciously or not, that the comfort zone and old habits are OK!

TOL: Yes, if there's one thing we know about the subconscious and ego, they love the comfort zone. Haha

SS: Well since I must have comforts, I will try to build them closer to my heart, my ethics and my passions.

TOL: I'll be taking a leaf out of your book then! I love that!

SS: Aww thank you! You also asked me to share more about what I am up to and I'd be happy to finally get to that because it falls right in line with this topic too.

TOL: Yes, please!

SS: Our seed project Seeds of Abundance is symbolic to me because it is the first project I have started that does have some monetary goal attached to it - but is driven first and foremost by our passion for working with plants, seeds and nature and wanting to share that passion with others. We asked our self much of last year in long brainstorming sessions, what do we want to do for a living that fulfills meaning in our lives? We had many ideas and working with seeds was one of them. When we really committed to the idea this summer the idea blossomed into something that more resembles play and fun time than it does working or business because we have been able, so far, to keep it special.

We are not relying on it for an income at this point - we have other part time work. Making money in seeds is fairly difficult because the compensation for the time put in is not very high by industry standards. We knew this going into it and yet we still gave ourselves fully to the project because we knew that the experience, knowledge and enjoyment we would receive would be invaluable. This is why we said passion first. If it makes money at some point, thats great because that income will be fueled by our pursuing meaning. But if it doesn't make money, that's fine too because we will come out of it more enriched and nourished. And we would have hopefully shared a lot of that passion with others.... which we have already succeeded at by the way.

Its not a good model to follow for making money, but if we do make money it will be more sustainable in our hearts and souls. Getting this far in the venture so far has taught me to let go of a little more of my attachment to making money. I used to think about my time spent in terms of money made or not made. And I still do, but much less so and having less of that attachment is relieving.

Oh I just remembered something I wanted to say!

Which is that lesson was only learned after committing to this project.

I could not have known what my reward would be for committing to following passions first and foremost.

TOL: Well, the passion and gratitude that the both of you have definitely shines through! And it's contagious!

SS: Thanks for recognizing that @thetreeoflife !

TOL: I have known some businesses that have based their plan on something besides making money, I think we've talked about it a bit before, things like donation based yoga as a business plan. Those types of businesses, they have an entirely different energy about them, and draw an entirely different kind of crowd than the usual business. They become centered around gratitude, and abundance. They grow differently, there's a kind of energy there that you simply cannot replicate with a traditional business plan. It's exponential and multiplies, ripples through everyone, the business owners, the clientele. It's awesome. I can't even express to you how cool I think it is that you guys went in that direction with this pursuit!

Just the name of your project says it all! Seeds of Abundance! You guys understand the power of words, that's just so cool.

I have no doubt that what you guys have started will grow into something amazing. I can feel it!

SS: You are kind with your words as well, thank you @thetreeoflife! Those ripples that you talk about feel so good when they pass through me. Now that I know what they feel like and have a better idea of how to encourage them in myself I am hooked on pursuing the gratitude and abundance that you speak of! For me its one step back and two steps forward... but once I made the intention just like I am speaking these words, I committed myself to encouraging that practice of gratitude in myself. Its often hard!!! but its rewarding.

On that token Seeds of Abundance led way to the idea for Homesteaders Co-op, thanks to Idyllwild for putting two and two together and realizing that we could share our hard work on a website and accepting SBD for our seeds with other homesteaders so they might share their sustainable products for SBD as well.

Almost 4 months later and that idea has come far, and now the best part has arrived where we can share it with others and learn from the community how we can create a useful service. Here too, steemit has taught me so much, in its openness and transparency and pursing Homesteader Co-op has already helped me to give up just a little more desire for control in my life - because of intention!

I had plenty of fears leading up launching the website!

In fact it almost didn't happen because of my fears. My fears had to do both with money and acceptance.

Thanks to @pennsif, as well as @walkerland and @mountainjewel who were generous with their support and help I was able to see past my fears in a weak moment and I am grateful because that support helped me to take a positive action which I believe has helped me become one baby step closer to my own personal goals of dropping more attachments, and come back inline with my original intention of helping others.

While I am expressing my gratitude I also want to thank @greenacrehome, @professorbromide, @makinstuff who graciously took time out of their busy fall harvest schedule to help beta test our co-op marketplace.

TOL: I'm taking this all in! Yes, money and acceptance, those are both things that really feed on fears of instability, or a feeling of groundlessness, where we lose our roots... as well as the acceptance that we feel for ourselves. You bring up two really human needs here. I feel they come from a good place, where we desire stability, roots, and self love. It is such great intuition you have, instead of grabbing on to those fears and reacting from them, you instead transform them by embodying abundance. Wow. You guys are growing more than veggies, you are sharing more than seeds here!

SS: You are so wise @thetreeoflife !! I suspect I could learn a lot from you about groundedness!

TOL: Hahaha I can't help that this conversation resonates in that way! But thank you, I appreciate this very much. It's great that you have the courage and creativity to look inward and then express outward. We have to wrap this up soon! I am loving this though! Let me ask you one last question. If you look forward 5 years, or 10 years, where do you see this project heading?

SS: You are giving me a lot of credit, thank you @thetreeoflife ! I am enjoying speaking with you too and I appreciate all the time and attention you have given to this interview.

That's a really good question! I'll answer it in two ways:

Personally I hope to learn more from community so that I can keep improving myself little by little and get better at fostering those ripples in my life.

As a project I would like to see, should the co-op grow, that as it grows it becomes more like a co-op with community feeling ownership and making decisions together, rather than just one or two people holding all the decisions and responsibility. Ultimately I want the co-op to help provide more economic viability and freedom to hard working people that care about our planet.

TOL: I have enjoyed this very much, thank you @sagescrub! That's a great answer, and a great vision as well. You guys have an awesome project with a lot of energy behind it, we truly can't wait to watch it grow and evolve!

SS: Thank you so much @thetreeoflife! You are doing a great service here and dedicating your time and energy to help others. I really appreciate what you are doing and I have been enjoying reading some of your recent interviews and the care and attention you put into your work. I am so glad to know you here on Steemit.

TOL: Thanks for sharing this time with me @sagescrub! Please give @idyllwild a huge hug for her hard work and contributions as well... And at the risk of speaking for the whole group, all of us at @naturalmedicine feel super blessed to know you all!

SS: Aww! I will give her a big hug!!! I don't need too much prompting for that haha. Thanks for sharing the love. I am so glad to be part of @naturalmedicine also! Everyone there is so kind and generous and amazing!

Why, thankyou dear @sagescrub! We wouldn't be the same without you! And with that, @thetreeoflife bounced off to find another person to interview with her kindness and generous approach, and @sagescrub from Homesteaders Co-Op went to frolick through in their gorgeous landscape, thinking of how else they can best supply the Steemiverse with amazing homecrafted, homegrown and homeloved products for Steem. Vive la steem, vive la Homesteaders Co-Op.

Natural Medicine Needs YOU! Please consider delegating to @naturalmedicine by clicking any amount below to help keep this collective going. The minimum entry for membership is 20SP (free for members under 150SP), and helps support and celebrate your work with natural remedies, healings and nurturings on this gorgeous blockchain! Join us on Discord here - we'd love to have you!

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