0:00

So a few years ago a film came out

0:02

called Kiss the Ground and Woody

0:04

Harrelson produced it, and it

0:07

was basically about the importance

0:09

of soil in the fight to

0:11

stabilize our planet. And there's

0:13

this new film directed and produced

0:15

by the same team as Kiss

0:17

the Ground. It's got some pretty big Hollywood

0:20

names involved. It's called Common Ground.

0:23

I was lucky enough to get a special screening

0:25

of it, and let me tell you, it's very

0:28

powerful. Film just really

0:30

really knocked me out and made me

0:32

think. Taught me a whole bunch of stuff

0:34

that I had no idea about, having

0:37

to do with soil and

0:39

farming and food and the environment,

0:42

etc. I really recommend it. My

0:44

guest today is Ian Summerhalder, who

0:46

was one of the producers on the film. So

0:48

if you're someone who is environmentally minded

0:50

and looking for ways to weather

0:53

this moment in our planet's history, so to

0:55

speak, you're going to enjoy

0:57

this episode. So I am glad

0:59

you're here. Leaning. Hey,

1:09

it's good to see you man.

1:11

Good to see you man, Thanks for thanks

1:14

for doing this. Congratulations on this. These are

1:16

these are cool, man. This is like, this

1:18

is a cool thing to be, a worthy

1:20

thing to be spending time on you.

1:22

Know, yeah, I I it's been it's

1:24

been great to you know,

1:27

everybody and their mother has a podcast,

1:29

and it's been really really

1:31

fun to to you know, connect

1:35

with people, but also to see the things that

1:37

they're interested in, and you

1:39

know, it's it's

1:41

often really really inspiring

1:44

and and and also I think

1:46

the people are are you know, getting

1:48

a kick or or oftentimes being you know,

1:50

moved or or touched by some of the stories

1:53

that they've they've heard. But you know, you were

1:55

just talking about your

1:57

roots, and I'm really curious about

2:00

that. He grew up in Louisiana, right.

2:02

Yeah, deep, deep, deep, right outside

2:04

of New Orleans.

2:06

And you were saying that your

2:09

dad was of Cajun descent.

2:12

So my grandfather was born here. A

2:15

great grandfather was born here in seventeen

2:17

forty seven, so I think

2:19

his parents had already been here for like

2:22

twenty years. So I think they got

2:24

here in like the seventeen twenties. Man,

2:26

Wow, long time ago and

2:28

all Louisiana. Yeah,

2:31

my grandmother was born in nineteen oh six. She

2:34

didn't speak English until nineteen

2:37

thirty, so she was twenty four years

2:39

old. And yeah,

2:41

so people don't realize like in until

2:45

until like the

2:47

forties, you

2:49

could live in the United States, Louisiana

2:52

in particular, and never have to

2:54

speak English. It's

2:57

so funny. It was just looking up my grandmother's

2:59

My birthday just passed on the eighth,

3:02

and my grandmother was on the seventh. You

3:05

know, my last birthday whatever

3:08

three days ago was forty five. And

3:11

I called my mom and said, happy birthday,

3:14

is the day you gave birth to me. But I'm

3:17

now on the other side. I'm

3:19

technically closer to fifty than

3:21

I am to forty. And

3:24

at that point that sound like, you know,

3:26

like a morbid thought. This is just I'm

3:28

a numbers guy, so you're

3:31

more than halfway through. It's like

3:33

whatever we consider a life cycle. But

3:35

what's crazy is because

3:37

of our health situation in this country,

3:41

food, medicine, healthcare,

3:44

lifestyle, all that stuff the

3:46

United States. And don't quote

3:48

me on this data. I typically have so much

3:50

data here in front of me. We are the

3:52

only developed nation in the world

3:54

where life expectancy is declining.

3:59

Interesting, but I always

4:01

offer up this and I learned this twelve

4:03

thirteen years ago. So if you look at the planet

4:05

right, you look at trees,

4:08

you look at water systems. If you look

4:11

at them, there's a reason that they're

4:13

carbon copies, right, They're coral in

4:15

the ocean that look identical like a lung. If

4:17

you take a you take a pine tree, an oak tree,

4:19

turn it on its side, it literally looks like

4:22

a lum. So if you would imagine

4:24

just for a second, like taking a step back, that the

4:26

earth is the same biological

4:29

process as us for not any different. Those

4:32

river systems, I mean, those forests

4:34

are basically our lungs, right.

4:37

Those river systems and oceans are

4:39

those party of vascular systems carrying

4:41

all the vital nutrients and organ nutrients

4:44

to the organisms. So if you think about

4:46

it, once you dam and pollute all the waterways,

4:51

than the organism can't get all those vital nutrients.

4:53

If you cut and destroy all the forests,

4:55

that organism can't breathe and recycle

4:58

so effectively. We you

5:00

know, when you put it in those terms, people start

5:02

really looking and go, oh my gosh. And then you go

5:05

to the soil. Well, the microbiome

5:07

of the soil. The health

5:09

of that depends on the health of the soil

5:11

and what grows out of it. The same way

5:14

we think about it from health perspective, the

5:16

human body, the health of the human

5:19

being is directly related to the

5:21

health of the gut microbiome. It's

5:23

the same, right, Without a healthy

5:25

gut microbiome, there's no healthy human

5:28

and without a healthy soil microbiome, there

5:31

is no healthy soil. So you

5:33

know, we keep forgetting that what we

5:35

do to the earth, we do to ourselves. And

5:37

that's why going back to what you were just

5:39

asking, diving into

5:42

I want to know where I

5:44

came from, whom I came from, and

5:46

when I go back to my roots, like way

5:49

way way back, both on my mother's side and

5:51

my father's side, they were farmers.

5:54

They were long long lines

5:57

lineage of farmers.

5:59

That is who I am in my.

6:01

Blood, maybe even before they got to this

6:03

country.

6:05

Most likely in the forties.

6:07

My grandfather was an agricultural inventor.

6:10

He was the first guy to introduce in

6:13

Mississippi, like nineteen forty. The

6:16

idea was taking the manure from all of his cattle,

6:19

cow's, chickens,

6:21

hogs, everything. He built

6:23

the press that took dried it out, took the manure

6:26

and pressed it into these little cups where

6:28

he would then germinate all of his seeds, and that's how

6:30

he he germinated all of his seeds to plant.

6:33

So you know, we've all seen those. I

6:35

wish you would have patented those. We

6:37

would probably have been a very

6:39

different family. Anyway,

6:41

The long im was short of it is people always

6:44

say like, how and why is this like your

6:46

you know, you left acting, you literally

6:49

walked away.

6:50

From Let's talk about that's let's talk

6:52

about first why it is that you got

6:54

into it, because I'm guessing that probably

6:57

you were at least in

6:59

the mind already of people in your family who who

7:02

who found at least

7:04

at least initially a life in the

7:06

theater. So what was it do you think that pushed

7:08

you in that direction?

7:11

Since I was a kid man, since

7:13

I was a little kid, and I hear this, you

7:16

know, I'm sure it was the same for you and a lot

7:18

of people I talked to. It was just in

7:20

me from the beginning, you know. And

7:23

I started doing local theater

7:25

when I was six or seven, and it was my mom

7:28

that brought me to all the auditions and read

7:31

everything with me in the car and singing

7:33

and helping me through it. And then and

7:36

we were we had a

7:38

very intimate relationship with the poverty

7:40

line. So we didn't you know, like

7:42

I wanted to play the sacks. We

7:45

couldn't afford a saxophone. I wanted to play the trumpet,

7:47

couldn't afford. So we were going to school and

7:49

it wasn't like it was disappointing. But my mom

7:51

was so great at explaining things. It's

7:53

such a great you know, we

7:55

were just so tight bros. And but

7:59

yeah, one brother, one sister. They're seven

8:01

and eight years older than me. And it was

8:03

my mom's foresight that when she

8:06

it's like that, it's

8:10

like, you know, it's so funny. Man. I'm

8:13

a huge Malcolm Gladwell fan, and I

8:15

know that when Outliers came

8:17

all came out. When Outliers

8:19

came out, we all read this

8:21

book and we looked at society and we realized,

8:23

oh my gosh, she broke it down in

8:26

such a beautiful way. But in all of

8:28

our lives, we have those outlier moments

8:30

that allowed us to get to whatever

8:33

we got to do right. And

8:35

my mom received

8:38

She worked at a state hospital, a mental hospital,

8:41

but she wanted to be a massage therapist

8:43

and do actipressure and roam the therapy stuff.

8:46

She couldn't get out of that rut. She

8:48

got laid off and the state gave her a

8:50

severance check. I think

8:52

it was ten thousand dollars, and no one

8:54

in my family had ever seen that amount

8:56

of money in one piece of paper.

9:00

And it's crazy, dude. You

9:03

know what she spent every single dollar

9:05

of that on and in a borrowing money from

9:07

my aunt Nancy on top of it,

9:09

was to send me to modeling

9:11

and acting classes in New Orleans when

9:14

I was ten years old. Every

9:17

dime of that plus some went

9:20

into me getting a contract

9:23

with Ford for three

9:25

years when I was ten.

9:27

Well, were there ever moments when you

9:29

thought this is something I'm

9:32

not sure I want to do this, this is something

9:34

that you want to do for me?

9:36

No.

9:36

I loved it. I was already

9:38

I was already doing theater and stuff, you

9:40

know, like the head of like the young theater

9:42

department at school and going to all these local

9:45

playhouses and not getting the roles

9:48

for the most part, the ones at school

9:50

because I think they had to. They

9:52

had to, you had to have like a level of participation.

9:55

But it was that moment she came

9:57

to me and she goes, look, I have a I have a deal. I have

9:59

a proper position for you.

10:01

You know, we don't have

10:04

a lot, but I can give you this opportunity

10:06

if you really want it. But you gotta want it. She literally

10:08

said that, She's like, this is not for me, and I

10:11

want absolutely no way get me in. And

10:13

so she would slept me back

10:15

and forth from you know, the North Shore

10:18

to New Orleans every

10:21

week so I could train and train and

10:23

train. And then there was a

10:25

model scout, you know, a lot of it. It's

10:27

like people did get a lot of people

10:29

did find contracts out of it, but

10:32

it was a huge, big money grab for

10:34

these people. They made a lot of cash.

10:42

So when I was ten, I got this

10:44

contract with Ford because I went to this big

10:46

convention and model convention and like

10:49

a talleentn.

10:50

Ford modeling right not for motors, yep

10:52

and.

10:52

Hillton Head, South Carolina, dude, in nineteen

10:55

ninety you can believe that. And

10:59

I got this contract and so we would she would

11:01

take some you know, she would take off work

11:03

and we'd go to New York for the summers

11:06

and and that's how I started

11:08

working, you know, and doing

11:10

Ralph Lauren and Gap and all

11:12

these cool things. So you're ten years old

11:14

from the bides Louisiana. All of a sudden you're thrust

11:16

into you know, these huge

11:19

sets with art directors

11:21

and photographers and you know, all

11:23

these just super cool people. And by the

11:25

way, this is nineteen ninety, right, so like

11:28

everyone is, you know, it was a very different time.

11:30

People are in these studios,

11:33

they're you know, they

11:36

have big mood layer mood

11:38

boards laid out, and everyone's around

11:41

tables and they're smoking cigarettes

11:43

and drinking coffee. And the French

11:46

are like, you know, boring Bordeaux

11:48

at noon and you know, we're sitting there eating like

11:51

steaks and lobster and shit, and

11:53

you know, at lunch on this job. And I looked at

11:55

it. I remember looking at my mom once she goes, this isn't

11:57

so bad as a kidd and I said, not

12:00

at all. Along this is pretty

12:02

this is pretty awesome, and

12:04

so I and so anyway, that was three years of

12:06

that. I went home for two years back to Louisiana

12:08

and did normal stuff, played football

12:11

and sports and rode my horses and

12:13

you know, did stuff. And then at

12:16

fifteen I realized, like, wow, this

12:18

is not exactly what I want to be

12:20

doing. Mom, I want to get

12:22

back to doing what I was doing.

12:25

I think this is like where I want to be. So

12:27

again, we did another convention on

12:30

my sixteenth birthday and

12:32

then that was it. I met agents

12:35

and three

12:37

days three days later or five

12:40

days later, get a call that

12:42

they had taken a bunch of polaroids from me and this

12:44

photographer Stephen Myzell. So if

12:46

you remember Stephen Myzell in the nineties

12:50

was the biggest photographer pastiptographer

12:52

in the world. It was like Steven you know,

12:54

Bruce Weber, any Legal, It's you

12:56

know, a couple of Richard Avedon, Like those guys

12:59

are still around. So anyway, two

13:01

days after that, I was on a plane. So one week

13:03

after my sixteenth birthday, it's

13:06

December fifteenth, I think I

13:09

land in New York City to shoot like they

13:12

Stephen myself booked me for like twelve

13:14

pages of at the time, the Warmo Vogue,

13:16

which the time was the biggest men's magazine

13:18

in the world. And that was

13:20

it. And you know what's crazy is because it was just the

13:24

the sixtieth anniversary of fiftieth

13:26

anniversary of CBGB's and

13:30

they were going to do it at the store because

13:32

it's a John Breveta store. Now I was going to

13:34

go for that, but they put it into the Grammy Museum.

13:37

I went to CBGB's that night.

13:41

I was, you know, I was a week out

13:43

of having like my emancipation paperwork

13:46

done and anyway, so

13:49

that's like that started to imagine you're

13:51

sixteen, you're one week over sixteen,

13:54

you fly to New York City, you land drop

13:57

your stuff at the hotel. You

13:59

know, the other people you're shooting with, like, Hey, come

14:02

down to the lobby. We're going to this

14:04

place. CBGB's cool, let's

14:06

go listen to some music. You walk in and it's

14:09

like Patti Smith is there

14:11

and Debbie Harry are there, and you know,

14:13

you're just like, what the hell is going

14:15

on? And so that was my that was

14:17

my childhood. Yeah.

14:19

Yeah, and then you obviously

14:23

you were doing it sounds like you were doing a lot of

14:26

modeling as well as having the roots in

14:28

the acting. But then that pretty quickly turned

14:30

into, uh, you know, an acting

14:32

career with television and

14:34

movies, and you know, we always thinking about,

14:37

you know, connections, we have the connect

14:40

I mean, I know there are paths have crossed in the past,

14:42

but we have the Kevin Williamson connection,

14:46

and.

14:46

That guy changed my life for sure. Man.

14:49

How long were you on that show on Vampire.

14:51

Diveris We did eight years?

14:54

Eight years in what was the town

14:57

Atlanta? Atlanta? Right right,

15:00

yep? Right? Were you? Were you mostly

15:02

right in the center of Atlanta or did you there

15:04

was a I feel like I feel like I was recently

15:07

in a small town shooting

15:10

something, and they they it was almost

15:12

like a like a Vampire Diaries museums

15:15

or of thing. I mean, is there a town Covington, Yeah,

15:18

Georgia, that's it, Covington, Georgia.

15:20

I was down there making a movie and

15:22

living in Covington, and it's it's

15:25

like they practically have like statues

15:27

in the town square, you know, for

15:29

Vampire Diaries.

15:30

They call it Coveywood, and it's a that

15:33

was the fictional town of Mystic

15:35

Falls, Virginia. Was Covington, Georgia

15:38

as wild because I was born in Covington, Louisiana.

15:41

Yeah, right, and then that's weird.

15:43

Now I'm in Covington, Georgia. And obviously,

15:46

you know, when you first started shooting and show, you think, oh man,

15:48

this thing is probably gonna go five years cut

15:50

to eight years later. But people

15:53

in Covington, the police, the friends,

15:55

the business owners, is we're all

15:57

so tight it

15:59

now. The Covington

16:02

You know, if you go back and you look at the Chamber of

16:04

Commerce numbers, Vampire

16:07

Diaries brings one hundred

16:09

and sixteen million dollars

16:12

a year to that town.

16:14

Still, yeah, every

16:16

year.

16:17

Wow, that's how much.

16:20

You know, because the show has been seen by over

16:22

a billion people now, so

16:24

at that time point is just a numbers game, right, you

16:26

figure one in eight people in

16:28

the country or in the world have seen

16:31

interface understand or know

16:33

or have heard of this ip and

16:36

so it's just a testament to the power of

16:39

story and how

16:43

story can bring us together

16:46

and shared experience. Right, That's what bonding

16:48

is, and that's it's actually where the reason you

16:50

know, Paul and I actually built this

16:53

brand, Brothers bond over that same

16:55

ethos, which is this is about

16:57

bringing people together. And I think you can argue

17:01

right now, actually not argue

17:03

right now, we need togatherness more than

17:05

ever and so

17:08

and so whether it's sitting

17:12

sharing a dram of whiskey, or

17:15

your health and wellness journey or

17:17

your meditation, whatever it may be, we

17:20

need that connection and Paul

17:22

and I, you know, I

17:24

might not be the smartest guy in the room, but I'll I'll

17:27

try and outwork everyone in there. And

17:29

I realize, like, I might not be

17:31

the smartest guy in the room. I don't even have a college

17:34

degree. But the one thing I realized

17:36

I could do is leverage entertainment

17:39

value to create

17:43

quantifiable change

17:45

in the world, right, whatever that may be. And

17:49

we've the data don't lie, you know what I mean,

17:51

We've shown that in a couple of different

17:53

instances. There are definitely

17:55

some use cases for it, and

17:58

it's been un you know, it's unbelievable.

18:00

As you know, He's like, how long were you guys on The Following?

18:03

We were only on The Following for three years, three

18:06

years, and and that's the

18:08

longest that I've ever done

18:10

a show. The last series I

18:12

had was three years as well. You

18:14

know, it's it. I got sort of secondhand

18:17

knowledge of this eight year

18:19

cycle from Kira because she was on the on

18:21

The Closer.

18:22

For those years.

18:23

Yeah, and that was you know, it was

18:25

an interesting it was an interesting

18:27

thing to watch from Afar. I mean, up until

18:29

that point, I

18:32

I often used to say that, and

18:34

this just shows how different.

18:37

How things have changed so much in terms of you

18:39

know, what we call television. I

18:42

used to say that if my agent called

18:44

me and told me that they had

18:46

a series for me, I would fire my agent because

18:49

there was such a division between being

18:51

a movie star and being on television.

18:54

It was like something you would never ever ever do. That's

18:56

all gone completely, you know, I mean just

18:58

it's it's dissolved into this

19:00

other world that we have. You

19:03

know, I'm I'm fascinating you.

19:05

You you have the

19:09

Brown liquor, and yeah,

19:11

I'm incredibly successful,

19:13

and you also just do so

19:16

much sort

19:18

of charitable. The charity

19:21

is not even the right word. I mean, it's more awareness

19:24

and very very hard work on all kinds

19:27

of things having to do with excute and the environment.

19:29

I mean, I watched this movie Common

19:32

Ground that you Oh.

19:32

You saw the film.

19:33

Yeah, that's spectacular, I mean spectacular.

19:37

But you know, I guess my question is is

19:39

that you're you're not really doing too

19:41

much acting right now, am I right? It's mostly

19:43

producing and doing other kind

19:45

of stuff.

19:46

I you know, man, I walked away from

19:49

acting. The last time

19:51

I was on SHOWM. I can tell you it was

19:53

October, sorry, August nineteenth,

19:57

twenty nineteen.

19:58

Okay, so this is what I've I want to know about

20:00

it because.

20:01

I know the day.

20:03

I mean, that's when I walked that's my wife's birthday,

20:05

by the way, August nineteenth. Yeah, you

20:07

you as you walked away on Curious

20:09

abtects birthday. You know, so

20:13

I would say.

20:14

That, which, by the way, was one of my biggest crushes

20:16

ever. I used to watch singles

20:18

over and over and over

20:20

again. And obviously, you know, we

20:23

we've had the same pubblicist for you

20:25

know, Anik Mueller has been with me. We've

20:28

been I've been with her for eight nine

20:30

almost nineteen years, so it's like I've

20:32

always we've always been in the same sort of

20:34

like ether. She's such a special

20:37

you guys are such a what an

20:39

inspiration you are to a lot

20:41

of people.

20:41

You guys have really thank you.

20:43

It's pretty amazing.

20:45

Yeah, she's she's a lot of fun to

20:47

hang out with. But you know, you

20:50

there's not that many people. Uh,

20:53

people will leave the film business

20:56

of acting. I'm mostly talking about acting,

20:58

Yeah, because they retired, because

21:00

they get old. People will believe

21:03

because they just don't have any

21:05

money. A lot of people leave mysteriously

21:08

because of you know, drugs or alcohol,

21:10

or or scandal or getting cancer.

21:12

There's a million ways to leave, but there's very few

21:15

young actors who are

21:17

willing to just stop

21:20

and say I don't want to I'm

21:22

not gonna do this anymore. So I'm I'd

21:25

like you to just kind of And I can tell

21:27

you that at the point, Well,

21:29

first of all, I don't think I'm ever gonna

21:32

stop. It's just I

21:34

know that it's just too If it's

21:36

too much, I'm too I'm

21:38

too wrapped up in it. In terms

21:40

of my own ego,

21:43

my own sense of self worth is

21:45

so so completely

21:48

tied to being

21:51

a performer and being I

21:55

know, but still so one of the most.

21:56

Well known actors in the world

21:58

period ever.

22:00

So I'm just wondering what that was like, how

22:02

how did that how did that feel? And

22:04

and and do you ever do you ever miss

22:06

it? Or or or are you completely

22:09

satisfied and happy

22:11

doing what you're doing.

22:14

I loved what I did.

22:18

You know, I didn't have a lot of success in films,

22:20

and that I did not like you did. I

22:23

My success came from television.

22:27

There was some life changing moments on film,

22:29

like doing life as a house when

22:32

Hayden Christiansen was a baby and I

22:34

was a baby, and uh, you

22:36

know, Kevin

22:39

Kevin was just Kevin

22:41

kleinb was obviously just you know, it's

22:43

just one of the greatest. He's

22:46

like you you just you watch him. You

22:48

believe every second of this man. Anyway,

22:50

I had a couple of really great film experiences,

22:53

but TV was the bulk

22:55

of that success. And I think

22:57

what I realized was it

23:02

came as no

23:04

surprise to anyone in my inner

23:07

circle except

23:10

my management team

23:15

that was.

23:16

Like, it's like, that's a definition

23:18

of a spit take when they they're

23:20

just sitting there drinking their coffee and they get the call

23:22

from you before you know.

23:24

And but I, you know, I had, I had

23:27

in that time when I had completely

23:30

stopped. They convinced me to

23:32

put myself on tape for two things

23:35

that were just absolutely mind

23:38

blowing. One was the dope

23:41

sick that won the thing with Michael Keaton,

23:43

which is amazing. And then there was another

23:45

one. Jessica Chastain like, look, we

23:48

know you don't want to do this. Just do it.

23:50

You're too good in this, Just make it happen.

23:52

So I did it, and it was all very close,

23:55

and but the roles were they needed

23:57

to scan a big a little older, and

24:00

so it was all fine. But I've never

24:02

felt more at peace with

24:04

the decision ever. But it's

24:07

scary, man, because when you walk away

24:09

and I have a wife and children,

24:11

and when you walk away from the

24:13

only thing you've ever known that

24:18

supports your life. And

24:20

also too, you know, I had gone through a really

24:23

wild financial

24:26

mishap, which is during Vampire

24:28

Diaries. I was using all the money I was

24:31

making to finance and build

24:33

companies, right that

24:35

was, And so being

24:37

an entrepreneur versus being on a successful

24:40

being an actor on a successful television show is

24:42

very different. And I

24:44

used a lot of that cash to finance a

24:46

company that should have been worth

24:49

a fortune that I owned a third of. At

24:53

the time, we had the most powerful LED light system

24:55

in the world, right and we

24:58

were saving lives in the oil patch because

25:00

of our safety mechanisms and all sorts

25:02

of cool stuff. Only to find

25:04

out that our biggest customer was stealing

25:06

from us, Like to the tunes of Like Millions,

25:10

the CEO was embezzling its that old

25:13

famous story, young actor

25:15

person gets into a business they don't necessarily

25:17

know, and they just get posed.

25:20

The big problem was I had made personal

25:23

guarantees on all

25:26

of the loans, which.

25:27

Is so stupid.

25:28

What are you thinking? You know, you're like, you're in your early

25:30

thirties, you feel like you're invincible, super

25:33

idealistic, you know you've got this, and

25:35

then one day you find all

25:38

this stuff out as you're transitioning

25:40

out of a television show, a successful

25:42

one where you should be retiring. On

25:46

that faithful day, I get a phone call,

25:48

Hey, are you sitting down money chance? Uh huh

25:51

from my team for my lawyers. When

25:56

you literally get that phone call, Hey, I know

25:58

you're wrapping one of the biggest TV shows world,

26:00

but I just want you to know you're

26:03

in an eight figure hole that

26:06

you're gonna have to get out of. And my

26:08

wife is really a gangster and spent

26:10

eighteen months negotiating us out of this, figuring

26:13

out how to do it. But it was I

26:15

mean, obviously life changing

26:17

right throws you upside down and

26:20

so you pivot. And I would have never been

26:22

able to do that without her. It's her genius

26:25

and tenacity and finesse

26:27

that allowed us to do it. But I

26:30

had to rebuild on top

26:32

of walking away from the one thing

26:35

I knew. So

26:38

it was bizarre, but I've

26:41

never felt better. And I

26:43

think, what when you step away from acting, what

26:45

it does is it

26:48

gives you the clarity to

26:52

focus on what's real, which

26:55

is your family, your children, your

26:57

health, because I lost my health, you know, going through

26:59

this. And I looked at my wife and I just

27:01

said, she said, is this something you really want

27:03

to do. I'll support you in every way you

27:06

need. And

27:08

I left. I left the

27:10

entertainment business to build my companies,

27:13

raise my kids, and launch these films,

27:15

which there's three of them.

27:17

And I want to talk about the films, but I also

27:19

simultaneously want to bring on Mea

27:21

Vaughan's who is the

27:23

CEO and founder of Good

27:26

Neighbor Gardens. Hi Mia,

27:28

good to see you. Thank you so much,

27:30

Kevin, thanks for joining us.

27:32

Hi Maya, it's my honor, it's my

27:34

privilege. Really, thank you so much

27:36

for this blessing.

27:38

Hey, you know, first

27:41

off, well, you're

27:44

you're living on a farm. Is that correct? You live on a

27:46

farm.

27:46

Now we are we're in we're in

27:48

the city right now. We're actually I'm going to

27:51

go back out there in just a little while.

27:53

I was so knocked out by by

27:56

the film.

27:58

Thanks you.

27:59

It's really it's simultaneously.

28:04

For those of you that haven't seen it, it's

28:06

it's it's it's a little bit hard to pitch.

28:08

It's a it's a lot about food.

28:11

It's a lot about soil. It's a lot about

28:13

farming. It's a lot about uh,

28:17

you know, uh, chemical

28:19

companies. It's got conspiracies,

28:22

it's got the government. I

28:25

mean it's you said, so Common

28:27

Ground is the one that I watch, and it's part of it.

28:29

It's it's part of a trilogy.

28:31

Is that right?

28:32

There's three of them.

28:33

Okay, so what's the first one called.

28:35

It's called Kiss the Ground.

28:36

Kiss the Ground.

28:37

I gotta go by the way that that's on

28:39

Netflix. You can find that right so

28:41

easily. I don't know what Harrelseon

28:44

narrates for us. So it's like that great

28:47

melodic you know, it's.

28:48

Like he's got a great

28:50

voice.

28:50

What do you It's it's such a great voice,

28:52

like guys like what

28:54

do you Harrelson or McConaughey, Like you could just listen

28:57

to those guys all day long.

28:59

And so we're really grateful that what he did that and

29:01

me and much too. You know what, the amazing

29:04

work that me has been doing. Kiss

29:06

the Ground was the beginning of this.

29:08

And I and I think you know

29:10

Mia, like remember when we all

29:13

saw that film cut together. It

29:15

changed, it changed, It changes

29:18

your life, right, you can't unsee it. So

29:20

kiss the ground and common ground. Kiss

29:23

the ground was the promise of regeneration. Common

29:26

ground is why it happened and how we

29:28

can get out of it. Ground Swell

29:31

is going to be the international version

29:34

and why and how it can spread globally

29:36

and the economic value of it.

29:38

So me, for those of us that don't know

29:42

this this term, can

29:44

you please describe to us

29:47

what regenerative farming is

29:50

in a nutshell so to speak.

29:53

Well, you know, to be honest, there's

29:55

not one one definition

29:58

of regeneration my mind

30:00

and in my spirit. But

30:02

essentially what the utilitarian

30:06

use of the word is that we are doing

30:09

what we can to benefit the earth

30:11

in our practices here on the earth, Okay,

30:15

instead of taking away from the earth, depleting

30:17

the earth, you know, I

30:19

mean I have to borrow from my own African

30:22

roots in that. You know, in

30:24

the Western world, you're taught that the earth is yours,

30:27

you know, and that you're the master of it. But

30:31

you know, in African cultures, you're

30:33

taught that you're the Earth's

30:36

you know. Yeah,

30:38

And so you know, not

30:41

to get caught up in the language, but to

30:43

understand, like Ian was saying in the beginning,

30:46

you know, your composition

30:48

is so much like the

30:51

composition of the earth. And that's what I teach

30:53

the children in the schools. You know that you

30:55

are a living organism, so as a

30:57

plant, so it's a bug. Then I ask them

30:59

what else and they say, a tree, you know, and

31:03

you need five things to thrive

31:05

and not just survive. You know, you need water,

31:08

you need air, sunlight,

31:11

nutrients, and you gotta have love in

31:13

order to really thrive. Right, And

31:16

so does a plant. Plant needs that too. The

31:19

soil, the soil needs that, you

31:21

know. And so regeneration is

31:24

really about for me, it's about

31:26

teaching the next generation so

31:29

that we have the opportunity for

31:32

sustainability to

31:35

truly give back to the Earth, to become

31:37

engaged with the Earth, to understand

31:40

it, to start to identify with it

31:42

in such a way that you're motivated to develop

31:45

a conscious relationship with it. That's really

31:47

for me what regeneration is

31:49

about and you know if you

31:51

put if you pick up a handful of soil, there's

31:54

more living microbes, more living organisms

31:58

in that handful of soil than all the human beings

32:00

that were born on the face of the earth. And I don't

32:02

think they're completely unrelated. And

32:05

it's my it's my passion,

32:07

it's my developed, it's my cultivated

32:09

passion to make sure that that

32:12

I get that out there.

32:13

Okay, So now I want to

32:15

know before

32:17

we get into the details of the work that

32:19

you're doing, I want to know what it is

32:22

that you think drew

32:24

you to this. Have this as a passion,

32:27

right, Some people are passion about music, some people are

32:29

passionate about acting or politics

32:32

or whatever it is. What was the

32:34

connection to the earth. Do you think in your

32:37

life or your child that or your upbringing them?

32:39

Well, you know, it's a great question.

32:41

Some things are known and some things are unknown,

32:43

right Because my mother would say, do you really think

32:46

you lead your own life? Honey?

32:48

You know?

32:49

And so little did I know that

32:54

I have a history? Like Ian was saying, his family

32:56

come, they were farmers. You know, little did I know

32:58

that I really have a history of that, Because most

33:00

families don't necessarily. I don't know. My family

33:02

didn't really talk about that too much. We

33:04

were just dealing with the day to day.

33:07

But to be honest, where you grow up just out of curiosity,

33:09

and.

33:10

You know, I was a military brat, so we grew up everywhere

33:12

and I didn't really have a place to call home

33:14

until I moved to San Diego in eighty three and I've

33:17

been here ever since. But in

33:20

two thousand and eight, after being a financial planner

33:22

for more than twenty years, I was kind

33:25

of I started dating a new guy and we both were

33:27

praying to live in our purpose. We were like, what, you

33:29

know, what were we really put here to do? You

33:31

know, whatever that is, that'll be our form

33:34

of worship, that'll be how we live, you

33:36

know, what is it? And little by

33:38

little, you know, when you ask that question, it's

33:40

almost like, did I really ask that question? Now? I'm

33:42

scared. But my old life

33:44

started to pass away and I found myself digging

33:47

in the dirt and I

33:49

remember I had a hoodie on, you

33:51

know, a raincoat over that, and I was it

33:53

was actually raining in San Diego, which is rare,

33:56

and because I was losing so much of my

33:58

prior life, I was crying while

34:01

it was raining. But I was digging in the soil at

34:03

this garden that we had planted together, and

34:05

I was feeling depleted. But the

34:08

soil was just wriggling with worms

34:10

and the nutrients that we had just hoped for

34:13

the plant. I mean, we were I was pulling up turnips

34:15

and I couldn't believe how plentiful and bountiful.

34:18

And I just felt like, this is what I want to do. I

34:20

can hear what I'm doing this. There's something

34:23

in this that is compelling

34:25

me, you know, And so I

34:27

thought, you know, we've got to do

34:29

this for other people. Because

34:32

the very first gift that this gentleman had offered me,

34:34

he said, can I build you a garden? And

34:36

I thought, oh that's.

34:39

Hey, that's the best pickup line ever. Hey,

34:42

could I build you a garden?

34:44

Well, you know, three hundred

34:46

and fifty home garden

34:49

installations.

34:49

Later, I tell us about that,

34:51

tell us about good neighbor gardens. I

34:54

want to hear. I want to hear how that, how that

34:56

goes, and how you do it.

34:57

And what Okay, Well, you know, I

34:59

remember one day we're on the phone, we were arguing, and I said,

35:01

you know, I don't think we're supposed to argue. You know, we just harvested

35:04

this garden and it was more bountiful

35:06

than we could ever imagine. We prayed over every seed

35:08

we put in the ground, and it was just so productive.

35:11

But the sad thing is is that we ended up well

35:13

it's not so sad now, but we composted

35:15

two thirds of it because we just didn't know who to share

35:17

it with, because we were in a new space.

35:20

And get that one giant zucchini that could

35:22

feed you for the rest of your life, and you don't

35:24

know what to do with it.

35:29

And so I thought, you know, this would be much sweeter if we

35:31

were able to share it, you know, And

35:33

I said, I think I'm hearing something. I think we're think

35:35

we're supposed to start something, and I think it's supposed to be

35:37

that we share this act with others and

35:39

we generate food for each other. You know, people

35:41

were so adamized at that time, and I

35:44

just felt like neighbors really needed to open up

35:46

and love each other and this will be a loving

35:49

my neighbor and neighbors feeding neighbors thing. And so

35:51

there was a garden across the street I

35:54

could see the raised beds. They are completely full of

35:56

weeds and the people hadn't done anything with it, and I

35:58

thought, I'm gonna go knock on the door and see if they'll

36:00

let us, you know, farm that land.

36:02

I mean, I'm living in a neighborhood here in San Diego,

36:05

two blocks north of the San Diego Zoo. You

36:07

know, craftsmen's and Spanish style homes.

36:09

There's small yards, but man, there's

36:12

twelve raised beds right there. And sure enough

36:14

they were like, do you

36:16

really do this for us? We've been looking for you, and

36:19

you know, it's a front yard garden. So

36:21

we didn't have to put out the word. Everyone's like, I

36:24

want that, you know. In the moon COVID

36:26

hit, it was like, Wow, everyone

36:28

wanted a garden. Everyone wanted

36:31

to learn that. Yeah. Every so we

36:34

you know, have installed over three hundred and fifty

36:36

gardens in people's yards in the last ten years.

36:38

And I haven't done much social media because

36:41

I've been in it, you know. But

36:44

what happens is the gracious neighbor,

36:46

the person who allows us to grow food in

36:48

their yard. It's their garden. They get to

36:51

eat their fill. But if and when

36:53

there's ever too much because we're maintaining

36:55

it weekly. We basically hire and train

36:57

people how to do it. Call

37:00

those people the urban farm hands, and

37:04

they they will ask the homeowner, Hey,

37:06

there's a lot of holopanos there. I don't

37:08

know if you can eat all that? Would you like to share it?

37:11

So it's really about the ask and

37:13

please share it, take as much as you'd like. So

37:16

every other Wednesday, we aggregate all the

37:18

harvests from all of the surplus from

37:20

all these yards and we bring it to our

37:22

urban barn which is on the alley, and

37:24

we make harvest boxes that other

37:26

people subscribe to, so they get a

37:29

box that's got ten items in it from all the

37:31

aggregated gardens and local

37:33

regenerative farmers. So that

37:35

way we're connecting these local regenerative

37:37

farmers with the homeowners,

37:40

the people that are patronizing them with you

37:42

know wherever at the farmer's markets or whatever. We're

37:44

driving their business hopefully.

37:48

And so really what this is is this is a community

37:51

development project, right because

37:53

those people that get that

37:55

harvest box, a portion

37:58

of the proceeds goes to support school garden

38:00

education. So we've taught in sixteen

38:02

schools. I wrote my own curriculum eight lessons

38:06

that we administer in schools, elementary

38:08

schools, and you know, that's

38:11

really regeneration to me when we

38:13

can inspire the children to develop

38:15

that relationship with the earth in

38:18

such a way that they're willing to care for it and

38:20

to understand that when they do that, they're

38:22

caring for themselves.

38:24

You know, that's awesome and

38:26

is a So

38:30

is there the possibility I would think

38:32

that something you know, this is in San

38:34

Diego, but something this kind of plan

38:37

or this kind of structure could could be

38:39

started all over the country, all over the

38:41

world.

38:41

Oh yeah, that's my goal. I mean right now,

38:44

you know, I'm trying to flush

38:46

out what I consider this regional co

38:48

op here in San Diego. Even though we've

38:51

installed over three hundred and fifty gardens, and

38:53

we've installed gardens and schools and we had

38:55

the opportunity to teach children, we

38:57

want to be able to dim

39:00

and straight to schools and to

39:02

policymakers that this is critical. Every

39:04

child should have the opportunity to learn outside.

39:07

And if we are given the opportunity to

39:09

demonstrate that here in California, then

39:12

we can replicate this in other areas.

39:14

You know, Package it because the program

39:16

works because it's regional. It's neighbors

39:19

feeding neighbors. The harvest boxes

39:21

are picked up at the local yoga studio

39:23

or the local you know, wherever.

39:27

We've got a bagel shop, you know, and

39:29

that way, people walk in, they buy bagels,

39:31

or they walk in they pick up a yoga class.

39:33

You know. Again, it's a

39:35

way to feed one another, not just with food,

39:38

but other ways. I can't tell you

39:40

the stories.

39:42

But the big word is is connection.

39:44

Connection. That's it.

39:46

That's and now, because

39:48

these things are so prevalent,

39:51

what you're doing, Mia is you're You've

39:53

created a form of connection that

39:57

is untouchable. It's

39:59

like that is more powerful than

40:01

pretty much anything, you know. And the

40:04

states or municipal governments, we can

40:06

spend billions and billions of dollars

40:08

a year, but if people don't have a way to

40:10

connect, you know, or

40:12

kids don't have things to do after school, then

40:15

we lose them. We lose that connection.

40:23

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40:26

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40:56

You know, I want to ask you Ian

40:58

about uh An and please

41:01

me and feel free to You've

41:03

had your fingers in the dirt quite

41:05

a bit. So my question is, you know, I'm

41:08

watching the film Common

41:11

Ground and

41:13

and it is at

41:15

times really overwhelming

41:18

in terms of the problems

41:21

that exist in our food chains,

41:24

with with the chemicals,

41:26

with the lobbying. You

41:28

know, there's a lot of big, big issues

41:31

there that are existential to us.

41:34

And and then you I

41:37

kind of think to myself, well, I have you

41:40

know, a small farm. And

41:43

I started kind of going,

41:45

you know, online and seeing how

41:48

to approach this just on

41:50

a personal basis. And I'm wondering

41:54

if either one of you have any

41:56

direct sources

42:00

resources in terms of how people

42:02

can either get involved with

42:04

a community garden or if they

42:06

do have farms farmers

42:08

or small farmers or gentlemen farmers

42:10

or whatever happens to be, you know, actually

42:13

start to start to do this, to try

42:15

to embrace this regenerative idea.

42:18

If you're in San Diego, you're going straight to me. But

42:23

if you're not, you know, one of the things, so

42:25

Mia one of also the things that just blew

42:27

our mind. So we released, we

42:30

released Kiss the Ground. We cut

42:33

a forty five minute educational version

42:35

that we released to thirty five million

42:37

students globally for

42:39

free that changed

42:42

the way kids saw the world. But

42:44

Kiss the Ground the

42:47

website, because it's also a nonprofit, the

42:49

Common Ground is not tied directly to

42:51

the five oh one C three as Kiss the Ground was. But

42:55

you can go on our Kiss the Ground website

42:58

and you can find people

43:00

well, first of all toolkits, but then find

43:03

people in areas where you are that

43:05

all of a sudden directly connect

43:08

you not with just tips,

43:10

but with actual toolkits and people.

43:14

And I think that is the big thing,

43:16

because you know, and I know because

43:19

and I know people ask me of this all the time too. But

43:21

people literally look at me and and

43:23

and a lot of journalists and and they're

43:26

they're they cut

43:29

through the bs because they don't want to. They

43:31

don't. Everyone's sick of like greenwashing.

43:33

Same, what is this regenerative agriculture,

43:35

and why should I care? One

43:38

of the biggest things is not just bringing people together.

43:40

No matter what side of the aisle you sit on,

43:45

regeneration, regenerative agriculture

43:48

not only will stop climate change in its

43:50

tracks. The greatest existential threat to humankind

43:53

is climate disruption, right, because it's going to disrupt

43:55

our food system. It's going to cause a whole

43:58

lot of issues that we're staring down the But

44:01

not only that, Regenerative

44:03

agriculture produces higher yields,

44:06

which produce bigger

44:11

profits when used.

44:13

Because so money talks bs walks,

44:15

right, regenerative agriculture

44:17

produces more money. So

44:20

you can't argue with that. Right. So

44:22

when people say why regeneration, what

44:24

is it? It's just the use of planned

44:27

grazing methods and using living growing

44:29

plants literally agriculture at scale

44:31

to sequest the enormous amounts of carbon dioxide,

44:34

store it safely back in the ground belongs. Now,

44:36

when you do that, you feed all the vitaminal

44:38

organs in the soil. Healthier soil, healthier

44:40

plant, healthier planet. But then higher

44:43

yields, more money for farmers, higher tax

44:45

bases, school districts get better, and rural

44:48

area water districts gets better, you know what I mean, It's

44:50

like we're doing it together and

44:53

that's the beauty of regeneration, you

44:55

know.

44:56

Yeah, I wrote a poem. I mean, yes,

44:58

you know, we tend to relate to one another

45:01

sometimes in terms of the dollars, the potential

45:03

dollars, but I think on a spiritual

45:06

level, you know, we're really

45:08

disoriented as it relates to the earth

45:10

and how we are the earth. And

45:13

I want to make sure that the children don't get missed

45:15

because they are the next generation. They're the ones

45:17

that are going to inherit whatever it is that we're doing.

45:20

And so you know, I wrote a poem

45:23

about it that kind of guides

45:26

me. And it's essentially, I

45:28

don't know if I have time to read the poems, very short,

45:30

but you know, making sure that if

45:32

we do amass these dollars, that we put it

45:34

back into educating the youth, you

45:37

know, so that they can carry this torch

45:39

forward. You know, that would be the most responsible

45:42

and sustainable thing we can do.

45:43

I think that's great.

45:44

Yeah, all of this, Yeah,

45:47

this is all for them.

45:48

It is yeah, exactly exactly,

45:51

and we you know, we

45:53

haven't done so well, so let's let's

45:55

hope that they can they can do a little

45:58

do a little better.

45:59

Yeah, they're great ambassadors, you know. I mean they

46:01

believe, you know, they still have the ability to imagine

46:04

and believe that seed that looks nothing like

46:06

what it's destined to become can actually become

46:08

that thing that we're telling them, you know. And

46:10

so they're great ambassadors. And if they'll eat

46:12

it, they can. Their parents will eat it. But if

46:14

you try to offer it to the parent, they might just say, oh, I'm

46:16

good, but hey mom, I grew it.

46:19

Okay, I'll try it.

46:21

There you go, there you go. Well

46:23

listen, I want I thank you guys

46:25

so much for saying here common ground film you really

46:28

need to see and kiss the ground I'm going

46:30

to watch and what are and

46:33

and also uh, where

46:35

are the websites that that we

46:37

can uh find out about the work that you're

46:39

doing? Me me and and uh

46:41

and as well as the films and where

46:44

this is the call to action? How can people get involved

46:46

and how can people check out the good work?

46:49

Tell Mia?

46:50

Okay, well, my website is good

46:52

neighborgardens dot com and it's plural

46:54

gardens, uh single singular

46:56

neighbor good Neighbor Gardens dot com.

46:59

We've got a couple calls to action right now. We're

47:01

trying to raise money to put more gardens in schools

47:04

so that we can, you know, create this

47:06

opportunity for kids to learn outside. So

47:08

we have a donate button on the bottom of

47:10

our front our home page of our website.

47:13

We're trying to raise a substantial amount of money.

47:15

I'd like to see this these gardens be

47:17

established in different states, not just here

47:20

in California, because the school

47:22

is really the hub of the flower of the home

47:24

gardens, which are the pedals that will

47:26

drive this big garden of us all being

47:29

interconnected in this country. We

47:31

also, you know, we're always looking to

47:33

be familiar with who is our local farmer, who

47:37

wants to grow food in this town, who wants to get

47:39

food in this town. So we have a button for each of those

47:41

things on our website because

47:43

our goal is to connect all

47:45

of these people together. People who build good

47:48

composts, we want them to be a part of our

47:50

co op. You know, anyone who wants to grow

47:52

food in their yard and it just continues to ripple

47:54

outward. So it's all there on our website.

47:57

I love that. Well, maybe

48:00

as a way to close

48:03

this episode out, you could read

48:05

your poem.

48:06

Oh, you gotta read that poem.

48:08

All right, we go. We're

48:10

following the path of little feet, that's what it's

48:12

called. It says. Most adults are

48:14

feeling it now, although the

48:16

promise of spring is here. I wrote this a while

48:18

ago, and the weight of the unpredictable

48:20

virus seems profound in our environment.

48:22

Thankfully, the children keep it light

48:25

and are eager to plant new seeds in

48:27

fresh soil. Let's be like them.

48:30

Every time I tend to one of the sharecrop

48:32

gardens, I heed the call for childlike

48:34

submission. My questions are elementary.

48:36

Did I water the kale enough at the root level?

48:39

Well? Well, the aph it's take over my broccoli

48:42

or wild mind astursium? Trap crop and prayers

48:44

prove effective. If I prune this tomato,

48:46

will it yield good fruit? And where exactly should

48:49

I cut it to direct its energy? Plainly

48:51

put, I'm seeking spiritual guidance,

48:54

and these are my humble conversations with God.

48:56

It's grounding. It's where I express

48:58

my curiosity and intelligence, hope,

49:01

creativity, and patience. It's

49:03

divine relationship. No

49:05

one not Sandra Bose or even

49:07

George Washington Carver ever uncovered

49:10

all the sensitive secrets of mother nature.

49:12

But they were compelled and

49:15

they prove that as your birth mother, she just

49:17

wants your love. So come spend

49:19

time with her. She will nurture your inner child

49:22

and reward you dearly. If not with food,

49:24

then at least with practical wisdom

49:27

for trying. How much time, that's your

49:29

choice and how will you spend it. That's

49:31

up to you as well. Just follow the path

49:33

of little feet and get in there.

49:36

That's amazing for sharing

49:38

us with that and someone Halder, thank

49:41

you guys so much for being here. Thank

49:43

you, thanks for having it fascinating

49:45

and insightful conversation

49:48

and I appreciate the great work that you guys are doing, so

49:50

thanks. Thanks for doing this. Hey

49:54

everybody, thanks for listening to another

49:56

episode of six Degrees with Kevin Bacon.

49:59

And if you want to learn more about the

50:01

Common Ground Film or Good Neighbor

50:03

Gardens, head to Comicgroundfilm

50:05

dot com and Good Neighborgardens dot

50:08

com. You can find all the links

50:10

in our show notes, and if you like what

50:12

you hear here, make sure

50:14

you subscribe to the show and tune into the rest

50:16

of our episodes. You can find six Degrees

50:18

with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio,

50:21

Apple Podcasts, or

50:23

wherever you get your podcast