Ruminations

#14 – Sarah Murphy is a first-generation bison rancher and founder of Murphy Legacy Bison, a 900-acre cow–calf operation and meat brand outside of Durango in the SW corner of Colorado.

Before her ranching days, she led marketing at Whole Foods Market and later at the Savory Institute where her dreams of managing bison emerged. Her leap into ranching was enabled in part by the mentorship of Mimi Hillenbrand of the famed 777 Bison Ranch in South Dakota, as well as a hefty dose of both creativity and persistence. Despite having no land, no animals, and no money when she got started, today Sarah is one of a select few raising 100% grass-fed and regeneratively-raised bison.

In addition to ranching, she continues to work part-time for the Savory team on a bison reintroduction project with tribal nations. And as a lifelong outdoorswoman—river guide, mountain biker, backcountry skier—she brings a rare perspective on how recreation, livestock, and land health are deeply connected.

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

– https://savory.global/90
– https://murphylegacybison.com/
– https://777bison.com/
– https://nationalbison.org/
– https://theamericansouthwest.film/

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This episode is brought to you by Savory’s Regenerating Members, a global community restoring over 100 million acres through Holistic Management. For less than $1 per day, you can help regenerate 400+ acres every year:
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Music written & performed by https://www.youtube.com/@travismcnamara9313

#13 – Donna Kilpatrick is the Director of Regeneration at Heifer Ranch, the 1,200-acre U.S. agricultural training center of Heifer International based in Perryville, Arkansas where she directs regenerative land management, supports farmer-led supply chains, and pilots on-farm innovation to improve ecosystem outcomes. In addition to overseeing livestock operations at Heifer Ranch, Donna has helped establish the ranch as a Savory Hub and now collaborates with Heifer’s international programs to deliver monitoring and training support in diverse contexts, from Central America to East Africa.

 

In this episode, we explore:

– how Heifer USA fits into the broader mission of Heifer International

– Donna’s early days at Warren Wilson College and the tractor moment that changed her life

– training farmers from Arkansas to Honduras in Holistic Management

– what she learned attending two advanced-level Savory courses

– how she manages an all-female ranch team and what that’s meant for culture and impact

– R&D efforts happening at Heifer Ranch

– how beavers, bobwhite quail, and gamagrass signal ecological recovery

– and what Donna’s “lifequake” taught her about patterns, healing, and personal regeneration

 

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00:00 Intro

01:54 Welcome Donna

04:34 Heifer International's Mission and Work

08:04 Grassroots Farmer's Co-op

16:34 Donna's Journey in Agriculture

28:16 Advanced Holistic Management Courses

39:40 Heifer Ranch Operations and Innovations

45:40 Innovative Technology

46:01 Cost and Labor Efficiency

47:41 Exploring Virtual Fencing

49:45 Staff Training and Management

53:43 Female Leadership in Agriculture

01:01:47 International Regenerative Agriculture Efforts

01:18:25 Personal Growth and Future Plans

01:25:04 Closing thoughts

 

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

– https://grassrootscoop.com/

– https://www.heifer.org/

– https://heiferusa.org/

– https://savory.global/eov/

– https://savory.global/calendar-event/holistic-management-comprehensive/

– https://savory.global/calendar-event/hands-on-holistic-management-course-at-the-hickory-nut-gap-hub/

– https://nrhythm.co/

– https://www.hickorynutgap.com/

– https://pasturebird.com/

– https://www.gallagher.com.au/

– https://www.ukkorobotics.com/

– https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/the-process/

– https://zachbushmd.com/

– https://www.acresusa.com/

– https://hoards.com/

– https://www.chelseagreen.com/writer/allan-nation/

 

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This episode is brought to you by Savory’s Regenerating Members, a global community restoring over 100 million acres through Holistic Management. For less than $1 per day, you can help regenerate 400+ acres every year:
👉 https://savory.global/member

 

Want to sponsor an episode? 👉 https://savory.global/podcast

 

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Music written & performed by https://www.youtube.com/@travismcnamara9313

#12 – Michael Frey is the co-founder of DIRT Wine and second-generation steward of Mariah Vineyards, producer of the world's first Land to Market Verified wines. Located on a remote ridge 2,400 feet above sea level in Mendocino County, California, Michael and his wife Nicole have transformed her family’s vineyard into a thriving model of regenerative viticulture—farming without irrigation or synthetic chemicals, integrating livestock via Holistic Management, and using real ecological monitoring to drive land management decisions.

 

In this episode, we explore:

– how Michael and Nicole convinced the older generation to embrace a new regenerative path

– the specific vineyard practices they’ve adopted—from diverse cover crops and contract grazing to sap analysis and pollinator trials

– the disconnect between terroir and soil health in mainstream wine culture

– and why transparency, not just flavor, might be the most radical thing you can put on a wine label.

 

We also dig into the challenges of regenerative farming in a dry-farmed vineyard at elevation, the aesthetic tensions between “clean” and “complex” landscapes, and how Michael is thinking about measuring nutrient density and flavor outcomes at a deeper level.

 

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00:00 Intro

01:56 Welcome Michael Frey

03:06 Regenerative viticulture

07:41 Michael & Nicole's journey to regenerative

22:29 1st steps of their transition

36:37 Trade-offs & considerations of regenerative viticulture

43:59 The importance of data

45:30 Terroir

47:16 Conventional vs. Regenerative viticulture

52:15 Transparency (or lack thereof) for additives

55:10 Introducing DIRT Wine

59:54 The Future of Regenerative Viticulture

01:06:59 Advice for consumers & wine growers

01:12:24 Favorite failures

01:17:25 Looking ahead

01:26:50 Closing thoughts

 

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

– https://www.dirt-wine.com/

– https://mariahvineyards.com/

– https://savory.global/eov/

– https://savory.global/land-to-market/

– https://sonomawinegrape.org/paul-dolans-deep-sonoma-county-roots/

– https://www.stephanvanvliet.com/

– https://www.bionutrient.org/

 

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This episode is brought to you by Savory’s Regenerating Members, a global community restoring over 100 million acres through Holistic Management. For less than $1 per day, you can help regenerate 400+ acres every year:
👉 https://savory.global/member

 

Want to sponsor an episode? 👉 https://savory.global/podcast

 

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Music written & performed by https://www.youtube.com/@travismcnamara9313

#11 – Hunter Lovins is a regenerative-economy trailblazer, co-author of the bestselling books Natural Capitalism and A Finer Future, and a force behind initiatives that help farmers, CEOs, and even entire nations build “economies in service of life.”

In this episode, we revisit the big ideas of Natural Capitalism 25 years on, unpack Hunter’s blueprint for a just, regenerative economy, and hear why she’s co-launching COPx—a people-powered alternative to the UN climate talks. Hunter also shares stories from the field: scaling community-managed natural farming with 4 million smallholders in India, quadrupling yields in Zambia, and advising Gulf states on turning desert sands green. Along the way we talk about regenerative economics, the double-edged sword that is capitalism, “global weirding,” and how every plate she spins—finance, policy, ranching, activism—aims at one goal: tackling climate, water, and food crises all at once.

 

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00:00 Intro

04:00 Hunter’s current projects

10:03 Where does resistance to change originate?

16:36 Neoliberal economics

23:46 Origins of neoliberal capitalism

28:17 Mercantilism

34:08 Regenerating Membership

35:10 Capitalism vs. the Degrowth movement

38:40 'Natural Capitalism' 25 years later

40:53 Introducing 'A Finer Future'

44:25 COPx

58:47 What’s on the horizon?

01:02:35 Final thoughts

 

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

– https://www.natcapsolutions.org/natcapinc/

– https://apcnf.in/global/

– https://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr.

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gustave_Speth

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker

– https://natcapsolutions.org/

– https://www.copx.earth/

– https://www.clubofrome.org/

– https://capitalinstitute.org/team/john-fullerton/

– https://capitalinstitute.org/regenerative-capitalism/

– https://www.kateraworth.com/

– https://doughnuteconomics.org/

– https://drawdown.org/

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This episode is brought to you by Savory’s Regenerating Members, a global community restoring over 100 million acres through Holistic Management. For less than $1 per day, you can help regenerate 400+ acres every year:
👉 https://savory.global/member

 

Want to sponsor an episode? 👉 https://savory.global/podcast

 

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Music written & performed by https://www.youtube.com/@travismcnamara9313

In this episode, we sit down with Jen Hunter and Andy Wear of Fernhill Farm and Fernhill Fiber, recognized as the 2022 Sheep Farmers of the Year by Farmers Weekly. With decades of shepherding under their belts, they share insights on how they've transformed their hilltop farm into a thriving cultural and ecological hub, cross-breeding 6 types of sheep to produce premium wool, on-farm events with 20,000 attendees, how EOV data informs their management, and more. 

 

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00:00 Intro

01:25 Fernhill’s Fiber Experience event

07:19 Setting the stage

11:10 Jen’s background

15:57 The history of Fernhill

22:38 From shepherding to Holistic Planned Grazing

28:24 Trading weddings for wool

37:17 Join the movement

38:18 Financial planning

47:23 Field observations

56:27 Balancing ecological & nutritional needs

01:00:38 Ecological monitoring

01:09:16 Partnering with HD Wool

01:11:17 Cross-breeding 6 types of sheep

01:21:47 Future aspirations

01:28:27 Final Thoughts

 

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

– https://www.fernhill-farm.co.uk/

– https://fernhillfibre.co.uk/

– https://fernhillfibre.co.uk/events/fernhill-fibre-experience-21st-march-2026

– https://www.fieldmargin.com/

– https://www.3lm.network/

– https://fernhillfibre.co.uk/eov-regenerative-verification

– https://www.hdwool.com/

 

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This episode is brought to you by Savory’s Regenerating Members, a global community restoring over 100 million acres through Holistic Management. For less than $1 per day, you can help regenerate 400+ acres every year:
👉 https://savory.global/member

 

Want to sponsor an episode? 👉 https://savory.global/podcast

 

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FIND US ON SOCIAL:

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Music written & performed by https://www.youtube.com/@travismcnamara9313