Ep. 166 - Feeling Overwhelmed by World Events? Focus on What You Can Actually Change.

My friend and coworker EngSean is Gen Z. He was born in 1997. Gen Z is usually considered to be born in or after 1997. (Although some sites say 1995, the general consensus is that Gen Z starts in 1997).EngSean graduated college two years ago. He got his professional certification about 6 months ago. But he was frustrated when discussing his next steps in his career path and the answer was basically: "You stay in this role for X number of years and then move to a Senior position or another position." That sounded like a slow treadmill or dead end to him.These kinds of conversations would get blank looks from the Gen X'ers he worked with (including me).These views and goals are not limited to EngSean. I spoke with my friend Grant Payne and he stated similar frustrations.EngSean and I usually walk 1.25 mile at lunch and his mindset was so different from mine that I thought it would be interesting to have him on the podcast.NOTE: The purpose of this is not to poke fun at Gen Z, but to understand them. This is important, whether you are a boss, coworker, or family member.Gen Z Mindset - Why Gen Z Quits JobsSo we tackled these questions:* What does a career look like to you?* What does Work/Life Balance look like?* You work with older professionals. What are some of things that you would like to be understood?* If you could accomplish one goal in the next year, what would it be?* We also discussed that, generally, they do not expect to ever receive Social Security or retirement.* It is important to them to have a job description with a listed salary range.* In social situations, they do not have small talk conversations about "What do you do?". Instead, sharing what $$ you make is important to them and does not have a stigma like it does for older professionals. This can make others upset.* They expect to change jobs every 2 years or so to get a better opportunity, more challenge, and especially to get better pay.Although EngSean doesn't feel this way, some Gen Z software developers think that they should be paid the same as senior people. Some think that "everyone should be paid the same" in that job role.Thriving the Future Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Make sure to Subscribe to Thriving the Future Podcast!Seeds and trees have a “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate. Often when you buy chestnut trees or even hazelnut trees or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or the Pacific Northwest. Take it from us: Trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas or, in most cases, in the midsection of the country and Midwest.That's where Grow Nut Trees comes in. You buy nut trees from our Kansas homestead: chestnut, hazelnut, and I still have some pecans left, elderberry and comfrey. All grown and adapted to the Midwest, which will make them much more likely to be successful on your homestead or in your yard.And this year I have more named chestnuts sprouted from seed by me:* Dunstan-like American hybrids* Empire Elite, which is the chestnut that is used most often for turning corn and soy fields into chestnut farms* I have Revival which has a nut that's almost as big as my palm.* Chinese chestnuts.That’s at GrowNutTrees.com and BuyNutTrees.com. Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

There it is again. My heart races for just a few moments."What am I going to do about...?" the voice inside my head asks.Anxiety, you are a familiar "friend" in this New Normal, The Dim Age.But with "friends" like this, who needs enemies?Circle of ConcernI stop and ask myself:How much of this really matters? - That is my Circle of Concern.Does it really affect me?Let's get real. That thing that is happening in Texas or DC that is the Outrage-of-the-Day on social media. Does it really impact me?If I don't live in Texas, chances are it doesn't impact me at all.Does it even concern me?Probably not.How much of this can I actually do something about?Even if we are talking about in my home state or even in my city:Is it something I can directly do something about myself? - That is the Circle of Control.If the answer is "No", then Do I know someone involved? Are they a family member, friend, a co-worker, a neighbor? - That is the Circle of Influence.If I don't know the person and don't have any influence with them as a family member, friend, or acquaintance, the answer is almost surely "No".So why waste emotional energy on it?How many hours do I spend worrying about things I cannot control? Too many.I know that tomorrow I will have a challenging day, either dealing with conflict at work, at home, my water heater failed, or my car broke down.I like to role play out and strategize in my mind how I think that it will play out.What percentage of the time does it play out like I planned? Less than 10%.Tips to Focus on the Circle of Influence and Circle of ConcernI want to burn less emotional energy. I want to have less anxiety.I want to be free of the snares that so easily entangle me.Tip: Focus on the Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern.Only spend emotional energy on the things that fall inside these two circles; only on the things that really matter.Re-evaluate your relationships and spend more emotional energy and time on the people within those circles.Tips for dealing with adversityIn addition to focusing on your Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern, get back to what works:* Plant trees* Cultivate gardens* Raise livestock* Prepare mentally and spiritually* Grow your local communityBecause Government will not save you.Your Mindset and Worldview MatterIt all goes back to your Worldview - Your Cosmology (How the world began) and your Eschaton (How will the world end).If you are a Nihilist then you ultimately see yourself as just a cosmic accident. There is no meaning. There are a lot of kids that are this way nowadays. It is inculcated throughout school. Add in climate anxiety, perceived sexual fluidity, and the overuse of prescription drugs and you can see why young people are messed up. Then you see why most of the recent school shootings are from very disturbed teens.Once again, don't fall into the trap. Those teens in another state are not in your Circle of Influence. But your kids and grandkids are in your Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern, and you can influence their mindset. Start by spending time with them. Share culture with them. Share your faith with them. Have real conversations. Show them that they matter.Perpend and I talked about Cosmology vs. Worldview back in Episode 85 in 2023. It was the last long conversation I had with Perpend before he went to become a monk (Brother David) at the monastery.How will your world end? What are you prepping for?In March 2020, when the Lockdown started, even the preppers were surprised. We had prepped for a run on the grocery store. I had enough stuff. So why was I standing in the checkout line with more? Because we didn't believe that it was happening. We didn't really believe that it could happen in America. Our mindset was all wrong.Hard times will come. Adversity is Normal. (there, I said it). Somehow we have isolated ourselves from it. We believe the American dream that we have a Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Most people believe that means that we are guaranteed Happiness.Our lives are fake. We are unhappy about foolish things - "I don't have this or that".We have forgotten that "Hard times create strong men."We want Good times, but that creates Weak men.In "God's Revelation to the Human Heart", Father Seraphim Rose said that he met a young man who wanted to go to Russia in the 1980's. Not to bask in Socialism, but because he heard that people were suffering for their faith. "Where there is suffering, he thought, there will probably be something real, and there will not be such fakery as we have in America."Father Seraphim said, "I saw that his idea was quite sound: the idea that suffering might produce something genuine, while our indulgent life easily produces fakery."Are you preparing your mind and your heart for Hard times?Seeds and trees have a “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate. Often when you buy chestnut trees or even hazelnut trees or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or the Pacific Northwest. Take it from us: Trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas or, in most cases, in the midsection of the country and Midwest.That's where Grow Nut Trees comes in. You buy nut trees from our Kansas homestead: chestnut, hazelnut, and I still have some pecans left, elderberry and comfrey. All grown and adapted to the Midwest, which will make them much more likely to be successful on your homestead or in your yard.And this year I have more named chestnuts sprouted from seed by me:* Dunstan-like American hybrids* Empire Elite, which is the chestnut that is used most often for turning corn and soy fields into chestnut farms* I have Revival which has a nut that's almost as big as my palm.* Chinese chestnuts.That’s at GrowNutTrees.com and BuyNutTrees.com.GrowNutTrees.comRaised beds that I built to test Perennial Kitchen Garden layouts:Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Bed (which I will make 5' x 3.5', 17" tall).I use this for a perennial kitchen garden - growing herbs to use daily in the kitchen. Just come along and pick what you need for tonight's dinner. Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

This week I have Matt from FarmHopLife and Joseph the Homestead Padre with me. And we're going to talk about Orthodoxy.So why this topic? Because it seems like online, all you see from Orthodox are all these new converts and they are all arguing with evangelicals and Catholics. And there are not like regular conversations going on like Perpend (now the monk Brother David) and I used to have. And this would be the kind of conversation that we would have if he were here. We are on an Orthodox journey. I've been Orthodox for a couple of years, and I'd like to hear some more about Matt and Joseph’s Orthodox journeys. So that's what we'll do, we'll do the anti-Orthobro thing and explore your Orthodox journeys.We focus on 3 main questions:* Why Orthodoxy?* What is the most surprising thing you have found on your Orthodox journey?* What is your biggest challenge?Listen in as we share our journeys and tell our stories. Seeds and trees have a “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate. Often when you buy chestnut trees or even hazelnut trees or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or the Pacific Northwest. Take it from us: Trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas or, in most cases, in the midsection of the country and Midwest.That's where Grow Nut Trees comes in. You buy nut trees from our Kansas homestead: chestnut, hazelnut, and I still have some pecans left, elderberry and comfrey. All grown and adapted to the Midwest, which will make them much more likely to be successful on your homestead or in your yard.This year I have more named chestnuts sprouted from seed by me:* Dunstan-like American hybrids* Empire Elite, which is the chestnut that is used most often for turning corn and soy fields into chestnut farms* I have Revival which has a nut that's almost as big as my palm.* Chinese chestnuts.That’s at GrowNutTrees.com and BuyNutTrees.com.GrowNutTrees.comRaised beds that I built to test Perennial Kitchen Garden layouts:Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Bed (which I will make 5' x 3.5', 17" tall).I use this for a perennial kitchen garden - growing herbs to use daily in the kitchen. Just come along and pick what you need for tonight's dinner. Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

Travis from Backyard Berry on Substack shares about his series "Building a Sustainable Nursery".His favorite trees: Pawpaws, Persimmons, and Pin Cherries (for the birds).What is it like to be so near the central area where Pawpaws are grown, attending the festival. He is even drinking pawpaw ginger ale!We also talk about his series on "Homegrown National Park". Everyone was talking about national parks being affected by Federal land sales a few weeks ago. Travis posted that "What if the largest national park in America wasn’t a remote wilderness, but your own backyard?"The idea: "transforming America’s private land into vibrant habitat corridors that restore biodiversity and ecological health."Travis also shares about what it is like to work on an organic vegetable farm.Times are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.You’ve heard of this “food forest” thing, but it’s so overwhelming to get started. I can help.My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an edible foodscape or perennial paradise that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at:Buy my chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey that are adapted to the Midwest.GrowNutTrees.comRaised beds that I am building to test Perennial Kitchen Garden layouts:Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Bed (which I will make 5' x 3.5', 17" tall).I use this for a perennial kitchen garden - growing herbs to use daily in the kitchen. Just come along and pick what you need for tonight's dinner. Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

Travis from Backyard Berry on Substack shares about his series "Building a Sustainable Nursery".His favorite trees: Pawpaws, Persimmons, and Pin Cherries (for the birds).We also talk about his series on "Homegrown National Park". Everyone was talking about national parks being affected by Federal land sales a few weeks ago. Travis posted that "What if the largest national park in America wasn’t a remote wilderness, but your own backyard?"The idea: "transforming America’s private land into vibrant habitat corridors that restore biodiversity and ecological health."Travis also shares about what it is like to work on an organic vegetable farm.Episode show notes: Ep. 164 - Building a Sustainable Nursery with Backyard BerryTimes are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.You've heard of this "food forest" thing, but it's so overwhelming to get started. I can help.My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an food forest that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at Thriving Food Forest.Grow Nut Trees/Buy Nut Trees has special chestnut bundles - now available for shipping in Sept at:GrowNutTrees.comBuyNutTrees.com Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

What can you grow in July?The seed displays are gone from the store. You can outdo the normies by planting a great Fall garden - even in the heat of July.I'm back! Where have I been all this time? I've planted a lot of things this Spring and for a while there I was watering day and night and working in the garden and turning over soil and one of the things that really was a problem was my garden got out of hand. It got really weedy because I don't go back there all that much. It's in Zone 2, borderline zone 3. My garden in Zone 2 is being taken over by bindweed, a really big hassle that is going to require some significant work during the down seasonI started building garden beds and raised beds closer to the house. That way I have more eyeballs on them and I can intervene without it being taken over by weeds.In addition to that, I've been spending a lot of time on having local conversations or just personal off-the-record conversations. There's no need to turn on the microphone and record everything all the time! Live in the moment!I've had great conversations with friends, folks that have been on the podcast before, and I have also been developing local community.Everything needs to go hyper-local and I'll talk more about that on a future episode.It's July in Kansas, and next week we are going to break 100 for the first time this Summer. We have had a lot of rain.None of the stores have any plants left. Around here, all the seed displays disappear around 4th of July and everything goes on clearance. This year I got a ton of stuff. I followed Grant Payne’s model and I went around and just cleaned out the clearance items. I got fig trees at Lowe’s, blackberries from Ace Hardware, and lots and lots of echinacea. I've got all kinds of different colors of echinacea that I planted pretty much everywhere.The normies aren't growing anything in July. Every time I have tried to grow or start something in July from seed, it usually fails just because of the heat. But as I'm looking at Clyde's Garden Planner, I put it at my last frost date, which is October 20th, and I've got a lot of options for things that can still be planted and can still be harvested by the time the frost comes, which is almost three months away. I can plant cabbage. Of course, cabbage can go past the first frost. I can plant cucumbers, okra. Pumpkins (if they're not 120-day pumpkins). You can plant winter squash, carrots, of course, and a lot of greens. Now the carrots and the greens will not germinate because of the sun and the heat and the soil temperature, but I have a couple of garden beds that are in the partial shade and I've been able to plant Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, which is my favorite kind of lettuce. It is the cut-and-come-again lettuce. I've been able to plant it in the raised beds and get it to germinate.You could use shade cloth to shelter it enough to maybe get it to germinate in the full garden.Another benefit is if you plant squash this late, then you can sometimes avoid the squash bugs because the squash bug wave has passed by the time the squash is getting ready to bear. That's happened to me a couple of times. I have been able to get Winter Squash. It gets kind of squirrely because it gets a bit close to that first Frost date. But last year we had this kind of weather pattern where we had rain into July. And then it turned hot and dry with drought, and it stayed hot all the way through the Fall. We didn't have a normal Fall at all, and the first major frost was not until Thanksgiving (instead of October 20th). It made for some miserable deer hunting. It made it difficult to dig up some trees and replant them somewhere else, because they weren't fully dormant yet. But one of the side benefits was that if I planted trees in September that gave me a little bit more time for root growth. I planted 2 apple trees in September and they had great root growth, and came back super strong this Spring.I also have sweet potatoes that are growing really well. In previous years I have had sweet potatoes that were as big as footballs.So give it a try. Don't give up on your garden and you'll have a great harvest this Fall.Times are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.You’ve heard of this “food forest” thing, but it’s so overwhelming to get started. I can help.My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an edible foodscape or perennial paradise that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at:Buy my chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey that are adapted to the Midwest.GrowNutTrees.comRaised beds that I am building to test Perennial Kitchen Garden layouts:Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Bed (which I will make 5' x 3.5', 17" tall).I use this for a perennial kitchen garden - growing herbs to use daily in the kitchen. Just come along and pick what you need for tonight's dinner. Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

The seed displays are gone from the store. You can outdo the normies by planting a great Fall garden - even in the heat of July.It's July in Kansas, and next week we are going to break 100 for the first time this Summer. We have had a lot of rain.None of the stores have any plants left. Around here, all the seed displays disappear around 4th of July and everything goes on clearance. This year I got a ton of stuff. I followed Grant Payne’s model and I went around and just cleaned out the clearance items. I got fig trees at Lowe’s, blackberries from Ace Hardware, and lots and lots of echinacea. I've got all kinds of different colors of echinacea that I planted pretty much everywhere.Plant a great Fall garden - even in the heat of July! Hear how to start sensitive greens and carrots, and how to plant squash and beat the wave of squash bugs.Episode show notes: Ep. 163 – Plant a Fall Garden in July!Times are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.You've heard of this "food forest" thing, but it's so overwhelming to get started. I can help.My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an food forest that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at Thriving Food Forest.Grow Nut Trees still has chestnuts, hazelnuts, comfrey. Get them planted before Summer!GrowNutTrees.com Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

We are facing a crisis. One right after another.This is an episode from April 2023 with Cyprian (formerly Vin Armani). It includes the never-before-published bonus content where Cyprian talks about Bitcoin maximism, and the Cargo Cult.Cyprian tweeted in 2023: “‘Crisis’ means ‘decision’. Just knowing that fact changes your understanding of reality forever.”Crisis is a decision point. And “never let a good crisis go to waste.” – Rahm Emmanuel.* Are you prepared – mentally and spiritually – for what is coming?* As Cyprian said in March 2020, “the world as you know it has ended. You need to get to acceptance.”* The larger game at play – It’s all spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:12.* #BuildTheArk – what does that mean?* OrthodoxySpiritual Warfare – Ephesians 6:12With all this happening you need to get more self sufficient. Grow you own food. WE can help.Grow Nut Trees is now taking chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey orders for Fall. The trees are adapted to the Midwest. Check it out at:GrowNutTrees.comThriving Food Forest Design: If you like this, let us create an edible foodscape, perennial paradise for you so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule a free consult session with me at: Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

How I turned my pasture of thorny Callery pears into an Asian pear orchard by bark grafting and cleft grating.Do a Google search on Callery pears and feel the hatred.Bradford pears, planted nearly everywhere, are usually grafted onto Callery pear rootstock. Callery pears are thorny pears that I have never seen growing any fruit. On my land they spread by suckers - literally everwhere.In this episode I share about How I turned my pasture of thorny Callery pears into an Asian pear orchard by bark grafting and cleft grating.Check out the show notes for the pictures of how I did this.Times are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.You've heard of this "food forest" thing, but it's so overwhelming to get started. I can help.My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an edible foodscape or perennial paradise that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at Thriving Food Forest.Grow Nut Trees still has chestnuts, hazelnuts, comfrey. Get them planted before Summer!GrowNutTrees.com Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe

Sam Baker from Wrigglebrew and I talk about soil health, and what does nitrogen poisoning look like?My leaves turned brown, despite enough watering. Maybe I gave them too much nitrogen?Overuse of phosphorus causes plants to not be able to uptake zinc, magnesium, calcium. That's another reason why our food is mineral deficient.Wrigglebrew is even used by soy farmers to reduce their nitrogen load and move a little more toward regenerative farming methods.Compost tea only has a shelf life of 24-48 hours. How does Wrigglebrew maintain the flora and be shelf stable?Sam also shares about Wrigglebrew's research - a scientific gov't grant to use worms to digest plastic.Wrigglebrew is a fertilizer made from worm castings, but it goes farther by adding helpful soil bacteria, mycorrhizae, and mycelium. The mycelium is a species that will not grow into mushrooms, if that is a concern. You can use it as soil fertilizer or foliar feed spray. Wrigglebrew started as a project at the University of Central Florida (UCF) to offer a solution to combat the nitrogen runoff that causes red tide - algae bloom in the Gulf (of America).Episode show notes: Ep. 162 - Talking Soil Health with Sam Baker from WrigglebrewTimes are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.You've heard of this "food forest" thing, but it's so overwhelming to get started. I can help.My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an edible foodscape or perennial paradise that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at Thriving Food Forest.Grow Nut Trees still has chestnuts, hazelnuts, comfrey. Get them planted before Summer!GrowNutTrees.com Get full access to Thriving the Future Substack at thrivingthefuture.substack.com/subscribe