On Friday, I shared the incredible news about Groundwork being named the 2024 Media Award Winner (https://lnkd.in/gaMFu9tc), as highlighted by Carol Shu and The North Face.
Reflecting on the project that brings this film to life, I’m drawn back to an unforgettable farm tour with Ethos farmers in Thailand. In this coop—led mostly by women—this “boys’ day out” was filled with camaraderie, laughter, shared fruits, and constant learning.
Every step felt like a sensory waterfall—new Thai words, fresh leaves, seeds, stems, or fruits offered with warm gestures and smiles. “Try this,” they’d say. Having pranked friends with sour or spicy garden goods for years, I braced for surprises. Yet, to my amazement, each flavor was an offering of kindness, a gift from the heart.
One farmer stood under his self-built gazebo, gently tapping the timber beam, explaining: “This house was built from my own land. Practicing Wanakaset, I didn’t have to buy this lumber—saving money, saving the forest.” Moments later, he returned with a dark-amber bottle of medicinal rum, infused with dozens of species from his vibrant garden. And yes, I couldn’t help but sample (many times).
This moment, one of many, captures the magic of localized regeneration. Life ways like Wanakaset bring life, diversity, and deep community rooted in harmony with the land. It reminded me of my time over a decade ago in Peru and Ecuador with Carpe Diem Education, witnessing and participating in similar connections between people and place.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading and reflecting on the poetry and books of Wendell Berry, as recommended to me by Tim Tensen and embraced as a guiding moral compass by Mad Agriculture & Elizabeth Candelario:
Quotes like: "The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all, our most pleasing responsibility," and "a farmer of any land must also be the steward of it and must see himself as belonging to it, or he cannot possibly take the care of it that he must"
This connection—between farmers and their land, between supply systems and local wisdom—is what the Ethos Program, in partnership with VERIFI, seek to amplify (www.ethosrov.com). By deeply listening—truly listening—to the hopes, needs, and dreams of land stewards, we co-create pathways to regeneration.
