Wild Shropshire is a ‘way of being’ in the world. Cultivated from the soil, pollinated by influences and engineered through experimentation. It’s an experience that not only demonstrates the skill of the artisans behind the plate and the storytellers behind the grape; but a deeper and more rooted desire, to develop a fully sustainable dining experience.

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Anthony De Mello once wrote that; happiness is our natural state. That happiness - is in fact - the natural state of little children until a sustained exposure to the stupidity of society and culture, contaminates them. 

The material world frames happiness through a means of acquisition. The attainment of wealth and goods, through a pursuit of self-indulgence.

Whereas the enlightened world cultivates happiness through a means of subtraction.

A simplification of self.

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There is a sound synonymous with devotional practices and sub-continental symphonies. A vibration from a twin-drummed instrument where its tonal depth is built into the hands of the musician.

The instrument is the Tabla. And its composition – encoded in the musician – is a lexicon of love.

Meet Dalbir Rattan. A Jedi of the percussive and mystical. A musician, teacher and artist, devoted to a centuries-old classical order.

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Ambitions are cultivated by a stream of audacious and consistent actions. Actions that propel us beyond, self-imposed limits. And accelerate us past the fringe of our imaginations.

Personally; I fear nothing more than potential; untapped and ambition; undiscovered. And through this conversation, I’ve discovered that the attainment of what – once – may have seemed outlandishly impossible, is done so by nurturing an imaginative optimism. 

Meet corporate accountant turned ultra-endurance swimmer Emma France.

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As humans we seek belonging above all else. In our professional, physical, emotional and spiritual relationships. We survive, we achieve and we love through belonging.

Our relationships within these domains are seasonal. More nuanced than the output of a planet’s axial tilt. We can embark on a new professional season with little or no change to a physical one. And we are often unsure of when our seasons may change.

John Lennon wrote in the song Beautiful Boy - “life is what happens to you, when your making other plans.” And sometimes an event, a decision, or simply “life happening” can project every domain where we seek belonging, into a new season. 

My guest on this episode of the podcast; (Sgt.) Gavin Watson was making other plans and life happened. 

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Cultures were forged by the food they consume and the ingredients that they once traded. Centuries of specialised crafts – which are still livelihoods – were developed around animal-based products. I’m becoming more aware of how the rapidly changing global narrative around meat consumption is unfairly denigrating cultural identities. Industrialisation and unethical animal-based farming practices have now been identified as a significant contributor to global warming. Our demand. Our overconsumption. And our distorted relationship with food is the root cause.

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Meet Rev. Jeff Grant. Once a drifter. Now a traveller.  One who through suffering, pain and wreckage discovered a community. Hiding in the shadows. Under the abject shame of rejection. A community providing acceptance and belonging to fellow travellers. Rev. Jeff is an ordained minister serving the white-collar justice community. His position holds a special reverence. His divinity – granted by the seminary – and protected by the state. Enables him to provide confidential counsel to those in need of crisis support. A crucial nexus for travellers that have just entered a liminal state. 

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Vanessa Osage is a journeywoman. On a voyage of remediation to mend a loophole in the schooling system. One that has concealed the historic sexual exploitation of children. And a governance model – that unfortunately – still fails to adequately protect and serve our most treasured assets. Our children. Vanessa is a sexuality educator, president of the Amends Project and founder of the Justice CORPS. As a sexuality educator, she operates on the fringes of sexual health. Her personal mandate is to pull this conversation out of the perimeter and into the mainstream. She does so by honouring this topic with the honesty and reverence it really deserves.

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