The Quill Nook Experience Podcast Por Tristan Roberts arte de portada

The Quill Nook Experience

The Quill Nook Experience

De: Tristan Roberts
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Sporadic, honest conversations with people doing real work in the world—farmers, builders, herbalists, designers, practitioners of all kinds. Host Tristan Roberts -- a farmer, father, and former legislator -- talks with guests willing to think out loud, admit uncertainty, and go deep on what actually works (and what doesn't).

Episodes are released sporadically. If you're looking for life hacks or inspirational success stories, this isn't it. But if you want to hear what honest conversation sounds like between people doing real work—with all the nuance, doubt, and hard-won wisdom that entails—you're in the right place.2026 Biografías y Memorias Ciencia Ciencias Biológicas Ciencias Sociales Crianza y Familias Relaciones
Episodios
  • Ep 8: Dan Ackerstein: Has My Work Been a Failure?

    Ep 8: Dan Ackerstein: Has My Work Been a Failure?
    Mar 5 2026
    "There is a degree to which the work I've been doing for 25 years has been a failure, and a degree to which we collectively as a generation of people working on the problem haven't moved the needle as much as we need to." – Dan Ackerstein, Ackerstein Sustainability

    Dan Ackerstein reviewed 35 of the first 45 LEED for Existing Buildings projects. He's worked with big companies doing big, creative sustainability work—public waste audits, imaginative projects that made building operations fun. Then those projects evaporated.

    In this conversation, Dan processes what it means when the momentum stops. He talks about "the massive con"—the idea that individual choices can solve systemic problems while letting corporations and governments off the hook.

    Ackerstein and host Tristan Roberts discuss climate grief, the fragility of corporate sustainability, acting locally, and the San Lorenzo River as a metaphor for irreversible decisions.

    Subscribe to The Quill Nook Experience:
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    Get in touch: tristan@tristanroberts.org

    Website: http://www.tristanroberts.org

    Music: Produced by Turner Andrasz, beat-boxing by Felix Roberts, guitar by Tristan Roberts, drums by Merrill Garbus
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    56 m
  • Ep 7: Richo Cech: Herbs to the Rescue

    Ep 7: Richo Cech: Herbs to the Rescue
    Jan 25 2026
    Richo Cech is the owner of Strictly Medicinal Seeds and author of Making Plant Medicine. He's a legendary figure in the herbalism world who has spent decades growing medicinal plants and teaching others to do the same.

    In this conversation, Richo moves seamlessly between scientific observation (seeds erupting under microscopes) and spiritual practice (transmuting desire through incense), between practical farming advice (why he abandoned no-till methods) and philosophical insight (how mandrake teaches you about greed). We discuss:
    • Plant consciousness and what seeds reveal under a microscope
    • The consequences of separation from nature
    • How he's avoided doctors for years using homegrown remedies
    • The trap of avarice that mandrake revealed—and how he countered it by giving freely
    • Why many medicinal herbs (thyme, rosemary, hyssop) actually need bare soil, not mulch
    • His marriage and how opposites attract and complement each other
    • Practical advice: late-season cover crops, herbal teas, parenting without food neurosis
    Richo doesn't romanticize farming or herbalism. He's honest about what works, what doesn't, and why food self-sufficiency is "a chimera" that requires community and trade. This is a conversation about connection—to plants, to earth, to each other—without any new-age fluff. Resources:
    • Strictly Medicinal Seeds: strictlymedicinalseeds.com
    • Books: Making Plant Medicine, Growing Plant Medicine (Volumes 1 & 2)
    • YouTube: Strictly Medicinal LLC


    Subscribe to The Quill Nook Experience:
    Apple | Spotify | RSS

    Get in touch: tristan@tristanroberts.org

    Website: http://www.tristanroberts.org

    Music: Produced by Turner Andrasz, beat-boxing by Felix Roberts, guitar by Tristan Roberts, drums by Merrill Garbus
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    52 m
  • Ep 6: Joe McKay: Pick a Fire and Put It Out

    Ep 6: Joe McKay: Pick a Fire and Put It Out
    Apr 27 2024
    Where were you the morning of September 11, 2001?

    Joe McKay was on a Staten Island golf course, but not for long. A New York City firefighter for thirteen years, McKay spent that day, and dozens of days after, filling his lungs with debris, searching shoulder to shoulder with his fellow firefighters. He, and so many others, lost loved ones that day—coworkers and friends. And then, six months later, he started suffering from unidentifiable, debilitating headaches. After a number of appointments and tests, he discovered that he had developed cluster headaches—a condition considered incurable.

    It wasn’t until 2015 that Joe decided to take a risk and pursue psychedelic treatment for his pain and his PTSD. After years of living in the dark, suffering from such debilitating pain, he could go whole days at a time without an outburst.

    Now, McKay works hard to spread the news: plant medicine heals. He hopes that the negative stigma that surrounds the use of psychedelics in healthcare will continue to lessen, and that those whose lives are ruled by pain will feel emboldened to take a chance on a treatment that might save them. “It’s not a red versus blue issue,” McKay told Tristan Roberts. “It’s a red, white, and blue issue.”


    Subscribe to The Quill Nook Experience:
    Apple | Spotify | RSS

    Get in touch: tristan@tristanroberts.org

    Website: http://www.tristanroberts.org

    Music: Produced by Turner Andrasz, beat-boxing by Felix Roberts, guitar by Tristan Roberts, drums by Merrill Garbus
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    1 h y 12 m
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