Regenerative Agriculture Meets Personal Finance | Eddy Garcia & Sam Schiebold

Today’s episode features the most resourceful guests ever, Eddy Garcia & Sam Schiebold from Living Earth Systems.

Eddy and Sam bring a wealth of information on how to re-think how we feed ourselves.

From living on the land to growing tonnage of produce and feeding 20 people from a tiny parking lot.

They are on a mission to inspire and educate the world on how to properly grow and sustain food through plagiarizing nature.

Listen, learn, and let us know what you think about Eddy and Sam’s awesome cause.

Episode Summary

Eddy & Sams’s Background

Eddy talks about living off the land as a kid in Hawaii on fish and coconuts
An experience that many would pay hundreds of dollars for
That reshaped Eddy’s thoughts on wealth
He realized he could acquire more or desire less
At a young age, he also realized giving was really important to him
He never stayed at home and skipped school for surfing
Sam went a more traditional route
This included a Physics degree from a top-10 university
She quickly realized that her degree didn’t mean much to her
Sam ended up finding her way to Hawaii and got into a concept of permaculture

Permaculture vs Regenerative Farming

Permaculture is the idea of making a sustainable food source much like a forest
Eddy & Sam practice something different than Permaculture called Regenerative Farming
Eddy gives a history lessons on these methods that stem back from the 70s
He says he just tries his best to just copy nature
This means not bringing in plastics and artificial fertilizers
It also means a lot less human interaction
Patagonia recently released a regenerative farming certificate

Starting Your Own Crop

Eddy calls out a potato as a great starter
These grow in warm or cold climates with little effort
Another option is radishes
Seed to radish is only a 25-day process
He also recommends different types of greens
Eddy also says you can grow a lot of things from organic vegetables

Teaching & Empowering

Eddy and Sam are producing courses and videos on growing
These tackle anything from composting to urban farming
Also helping others overcome a fear of not having a “green thumb”
These are all around a closed-loop methodology
This means not bringing in or taking out materials
That means growing is way cheaper
We also cover how this could work for busy professionals
They also teach classes and make films on-site in Hawaii
This is done on a 170-acre farm in Maui
They also have tours and farm to table dinners
Eddy and Sam are also actively bringing a portion of Maui back from being a trash dump.
Finally, there’s also an intern program!

Key Takeaways

Acquire more or desire less: Eddy talks about rethinking how we look at money and how nature plays a huge part in that.
Less with more: It’s amazing what Eddy is able to grow in such tiny areas, some as small as an eighth of an acre

Call to Action

Try to grow something. Potatoes, radishes, or an aquaponic system. If you really aren’t ready, then find some sustainable sources of food for your next grocery run.

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