Last Saturday, I drove an hour on dirt roads to go meet Sycamore Hess, who had just signed up for my upcoming retreat. That evening, Sycamore was supposed to be giving a talk on soil health and nutrient density at Fable Farm in Barnard, Vermont, where he is the Chef-in-Residence for the summer. I was planning on grabbing a bite to eat and listening to his talk (to get a sense of him, and what he will bring to our retreat.) But when I got there, Sycamore snagged me to do the talk as a conversation with him (after making me some great food) and record it to share.
I was in full-on country mode, hair un-brushed from a jump in the river, and hiking boots under my dress. Our conversation ranged from the Middle East to mycorrhizae, from grazing animals to toddlers, from our societal addiction to fast food, to why we eat more slowly when served nutrient dense foods. We really enjoyed thinking and laughing together under a couple of ancient apple trees, with an audience of two other people who work on the farm.
About Sycamore and Didi:
Sycamore Hess lives in California, and is a Professor of Gastronomy and Sustainable Agriculture at the Culinary Institute of America. With 15 years of experience managing organic farms and leading community kitchens, he co-founded the Loaves & Fishes Catering Collective, a mission-focused group of chefs & farmers that cook for aligned events throughout California, and the world. Amidst the dystopian and apocalyptic narratives of our era, Sycamore brings an embodied awe for agroforestry and home cooking as his pattern language for the great turning.
Didi Pershouse is well known as an innovative international educator both in-person and online. She is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative. Her facilitator's guide Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function, is used in over 90 countries.
She became deeply involved in the intersection of food systems and health systems while providing rural health care for two decades at The Center for Sustainable Medicine, and wrote The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities.
She was a contributing author to The Climate Emergency: How Africa Can Survive and Thrive; Climate Change and Creation Care; and Health in the Anthropocene. She was one of five speakers at the United Nations-FAO World Soil Day in 2017. She wrote a field training manual for the UN-FAO Farmer Field School Program and the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming Initiative in India, now involving over 1 million smallholder farmers.
She serves on the Planning Commission for her town, is a board supervisor for the White River Natural Resources Conservation District, and is on the board of directors of the Soil Carbon Coalition and the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition. While serving on the state appointed Payment for Ecosystem Services and Soil Health Working Group, she helped to reorient the program back to its public roots. She led a successful effort to conserve the Zebedee Headwaters Wetland while serving as a Vermont Conservation Commissioner.
