Latest / hol+ with Dr. Taz MD | The Future of Medicine is Holistic / Should Regenerative Agriculture Replace Veganism for a Healthier Future? with Ryland Englehart
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- Should Regenerative Agriculture Replace Veganism for a Healthier Future? with Ryland Englehart === Ryland Englehart: Most people's cognition about the future is pretty grim. Dr. Taz: There's not a lot of hope and optimism, so we really don't have the recipe for health and for being whole if we are living outside of these natural Ryland Englehart: rhythms. It just feels like it's slowing the damage down versus what is the mechanism to create healing regeneration of our health and of our planet. Dr. Taz (2): Do you think that can happen? I Ryland Englehart: do. I do. We are not separate from nature. Dr. Taz: It's just so fascinating to me that what's happening in farming mirrors what's happening to the human body. Okay, here's a fun fact, guys. I actually do want a farm in. My husband thinks I've lost my mind. Here's the deal. After seeing so many patients over the last 20 years, one thing I know for sure is that the quality of food that we're eating and how that food is made is directly impacting our health. Dr. Taz: And while I spent a lot of time talking about the gut microbiome, much of that. Is influenced by the soil microbiome. In fact, the very soil that grows our fruits and vegetables is determining what our health is gonna look like. I became fascinated with regenerative agriculture, and that's why I invited on my next guest. Dr. Taz: Please meet Rylan Englehart, who co-founded the nonprofit organization Kiss the Ground. He was the catalyst producer of the Kiss the Ground film released on Netflix, which has been seen by over 10 million people and the EP of the award-winning sequel. Common ground. Ryland has been a leader in the health and wellness space for almost 20 years. Dr. Taz: He helped pioneer and manage the nationally recognized plant-based restaurant chains, cafe Gratitude, and SIUs Madre, which I love by the way. He was co-creator of the transformational documentary film. May I be frank and has been a leader and advocate in this space? He's a dedicated husband and father of two young boys, and now lives on a 200 acre regenerative ranch in hill country, Texas called Sovereignty Ranch, where he's learning to practice exactly what he preaches. Dr. Taz: Please join me in welcoming Ryland to the show. All right. I am buzzing with excitement, and I know I say that a lot because I'm so passionate about our field and what we do. Mm-hmm. But Ryland, I'm so thrilled to have you on the show. I don't know if you remember, but I think it was Covid. I don't have the year exactly in my mind, but I think it was sort of around Covid time or maybe right before where you and I actually did an Instagram live. Dr. Taz: Mm. And we were talking about soil and regenerative agriculture. And just to give you a little bit of context, the reason that I'm so passionate about this topic is because Dan and Day out, I've been doing holistic and integrative medicine for 20 years, and what we see in the exam room winds, its way all the way back. Dr. Taz: To what we eat and how that food is produced and how it's grown. We know the microbiome is not the same as it was 50 years ago. All the gut bacteria, we know that part of that we can blame stress and blue light and a thousand other things. But a big part of that is soil and soil health. And when I pull back, you know, I was, I was even joking with my husband. Dr. Taz: I was like, I wanna farm because I wanna go tinker and play with the soil and, and see what happens to properties of crops. And you know, when you change soil quality and soil microbiome, you know, but I was like, who? Could be. There's no one better to talk about this than you, you know? So thank you for being on the show. Dr. Taz: I'm so excited for you, you know, to be here and to share your wisdom and expertise. But just give our viewers and listeners a little bit of context, like, how did you fall into this space? What's your backstory? And we'll go from there. Ryland Englehart: Amazing. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for the invitation to be here. And, uh, yeah, really it's, uh, I. Ryland Englehart: Going back to my childhood, and I grew up on a 20 acre farm in upstate New York, in Ithaca, New York. And, you know, we were, my parents were homesteaders hippies, uh, back to the landers. My dad spent a couple winters in a teepee, uh, cooking meals on an open fire. Uh, you know, I was born by a midwife in, in Lincoln, Vermont. Ryland Englehart: You Dr. Taz: were the original, like you guys were the originals probably, right? That's how the movement probably even started is with the originals. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, there's, um, cycles, there's recurrences, but yeah, definitely I came from, uh, an amazing, uh, couple parents who had, you know, a deep. Vision and understanding that we are one with nature and that we're one with God, we're one with the creation. Ryland Englehart: And how do we serve is to remember that oneness and our, have our actions be in alignment with service to the whole. Dr. Taz: Hmm. Ryland Englehart: And what Dr. Taz: a neat way to grow up. So they really believe this from, I mean, we all get some spirituality and religion right as we're. Growing up in a family. Yes, most of us do, at least. Dr. Taz: But it sounds like they had a different, this was not just about going to church every Sunday. Ryland Englehart: No. In fact, we didn't, I didn't, I didn't have that experience, uh, very much at all. You know, we'd go, maybe when we'd go to our grandparents for Easter and for Christmas, maybe we'd go to a service like that. But really this was more, you know, my parents were definitely, uh, seekers. Ryland Englehart: Mm. Uh, you know, they were into meditation, studying esoteric religions, psychedelics. Uh, you know, I just to sort of put a point on this, you know, at. 19 years old, my parents invited me to go and to drink Ayahuasca In the Marin Headlands? No, at 19, at 19 years old. Wow. Dr. Taz: What was that like? Ryland Englehart: Yeah. So, and Dr. Taz: tell, you know, some people might not even be familiar with what that is. Dr. Taz: Maybe describe that for a Ryland Englehart: second. So, yeah, so Ayahuasca is a, the combination of two, uh, plants, uh, from the Amazon rainforest and for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. Uh, those, the combination of those two plants, which are sort of like almost a phenomenon that without science and technology, that you could actually discern that the cooking or the mixing of those two plants would lead to a, a psychedelic experience. Ryland Englehart: Experience that, you know, they, they call it, uh, the, the vine. Um. Ayahuasca. It's the, uh, what is the, it's a term. It's some, some version of the v the vine of death. Mm. And so it, it is a experience that people describe as an ego death. And it's a six hour experience where you take this medicine and it, you know, you confront your, all the things, all your vices, all your, uh, the way of our, our or my, my arrogance or my pride or where I've been cruel. Ryland Englehart: And you reflect on that in a very intimate way. Uh, and oftentimes that leads to purging. And then there's a point that comes where I. You find yourself, uh, connected to a presence, a spirit, a energy that is. An undeniable, oh my God. Experience. Wow. And in that presence, there's nothing that ever feels more like home, uh, where we feel we belong. Ryland Englehart: And in that presence, there's a, a love and there's a being held and there's a celebration, uh, of belonging that is unlike anything that I've ever experienced. Dr. Taz: You know, this is something that I have never personally experienced, but I've listened to so many stories about people that have, you know, done this. Dr. Taz: And it's been transformative. And for many people with mental health issues and, you know, a lot of like deep seated trauma, it's been something that's helped them to move the needle forward. What did it do for you? You're 19. Have you done it again since? Ryland Englehart: I've probably drank 50 times. Dr. Taz: Wow. Okay. So let's talk about the first one and maybe the last one. Dr. Taz: Yeah. Yeah. You probably don't have time for all the dates. No. Not, but, but there, talk to us a little bit about what Yeah. And, and Ryland Englehart: again, it's, it really, I, I wanna speak about it from the profound how something can touch us so deep that can then last a lifetime of providing service guidance and stamina and resilience towards a purpose. Ryland Englehart: Mm. Or towards a mission. Mm. Because I think that's what's really important and key within my story mm-hmm. Is that. When I, when I drank at 19, I didn't go to college. I had learning disabilities. I was, you know, I tried to become a pro snowboarder. That didn't work out. I was sort of grasping for where I found belonging, where I could make a difference. Ryland Englehart: And on one hand I was a dreamer. I always knew that I somehow could participate in making the world a better place, changing the world for the better. And that, you know, love was the, the, the way to do that. And how do we be, or broadcast be an expression of love in the world, and, you know, how does that actualize, how does that become action? Ryland Englehart: And so there was these big aspirations and then this also fear and, yep. Uh, not sure so right. How to, how to, how to place it. And I was living in San Francisco, working@a.com place, sort of chasing the technology dream of the early.com times, and. Uh, and my parents said they had, they had heard about this. Ryland Englehart: They, they had done it once and they had had a profound experience and they said, Hey, we're gonna take you to this church experience in the Redwoods where we drink this tea. Mm-hmm. And it's going to give you a really profound experience and connection to God and, uh, and an intimate, you know, an intimate connection with what that is, what that means, and also maybe will help you. Ryland Englehart: Find your purpose or find, you know, what's, what's next for you and what Dr. Taz: a gift. Can I just say for a second, because I think finding your purpose and finding your mission is something so many people struggle with, right? Like, they're banging their heads against a wall, they're filling it with all kinds of things, whether it's, you know, food or drugs or alcohol or whatever it is. Dr. Taz: You know, relationships that may not be right for them, but like that, that's a lot of the mission of Whole Plus is bringing everyone to bringing your whole self together so that you get into alignment with what you're meant to do. And I feel like this is something I've been trying, trying really hard to verbally express. Ryland Englehart: Yes. Dr. Taz: But it seems like a concept that's way out there in the shadows somewhere. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. Dr. Taz: But you're saying the same thing. You're basically saying the same thing. That, that our job is to find our mission and our purpose, and we get so clouded with noise from our parents and their expectation, or from our schools, or from our community or our cultures or whatever, and we get lost. Dr. Taz: So anyhow, not to derail you, but I'm just, I'm getting kind of chills because this is exactly what this entire platform show that that's what this is about. How do you find you, you know, and you got the gift at a very early age. Did you have clarity with that first experience? Ryland Englehart: Um, so yeah. The, the, it wasn't here, here's what it was. Ryland Englehart: Okay. What it was, was, I. An hour of, and again, just to set the context, we're in the redwoods in a grove of redwood trees, beautiful dressed in white and all, all white clothing in sort of a ceremonial setting. And men on one side, women on the other. And we have Portuguese hymns and we're singing these hymns mm-hmm. Ryland Englehart: Outta these hymn books. And, and, and I start to feel this experience coming on and I can see my mom across the way and at a certain point I don't even recognize or know who she is. And I'm in a lot of struggle and a lot of resistance. And then finally there was this breaking point of letting go and surrendering and allowing the medicine to have its way with me. Ryland Englehart: And ultimately there was a dissolving of the i, the me who Riley Englehart is. Mm-hmm. The ego. Yeah. The ego. And I found myself. On my knees weeping, uh, feeling this presence, this pulse of the mother, almost an, an umbilical cord of energy connected from my heart to her heart. Mm. And her just communicating her love and her devotion, and really her asking for my devotion to love and serve her. Ryland Englehart: And also some of the darker images were the reflections of being entrapped in the technology world of, um, chasing technology as the solution for all of our problems. And, and I saw that vision and then this split screen vision of me and my body being, you know, fully, you know, imbued and unified with the earth, with the mountain, with the trees, with the roots, with the soil, and. Ryland Englehart: Again, it was visually and experientially the most profound, but didn't necessarily, and, and there was actually a clear ask, will you serve me? Will you protect me? And so I didn't exactly know what that meant. Mm-hmm. But that led to me, um, joining with my parents and the birth of a restaurant chain called Cafe Gratitude. Dr. Taz: Okay. And Ryland Englehart: Gra Madre, which were, oh, I Dr. Taz: love Gra Madre. It's one of my favorites. It's one of my favorite restaurants. So, yeah. Ryland Englehart: So, so yeah, that you can you, even that statement Gras madre, uh, that is that deeper. That, that deeper level of Thanksgiving for Mother Earth and for those experiences. I Dr. Taz: didn't realize that was, that was started by you. Dr. Taz: I have eaten there so many times. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. Um, so, so yeah. So that was, that was my dad and stepmom and me and my brother. And we had a chapter in the Bay Area where we developed and opened seven restaurants there. And then we had another partner we opened in LA in 2011. Mm-hmm. Uh, and had a huge, you know, boom of the plant-based whole Foods, uh, revolution that, you know, happened, uh, in the earl in, you know, 2011 for a decade later. Ryland Englehart: Uh, and then, you know, that actually leads me to sort of where we are Dr. Taz: now. Well, no, no. That's not quite where we are now. Not quite, yeah. So Ryland Englehart: a big, a big part of it, and again, I think, you know, me and my friend Ric Carlo, uh, handy, uh. We did a lot of landmark education throughout our lives. Mm-hmm. Which is a transformational, uh, training course. Ryland Englehart: And, you know, one of the things we were always, you know, looking at distinctions and one distinction we were always looking at was, you know, what is wisdom? And we were always sort of just, you know, bantering back and forth on these distinctions. And we came up with this idea that wisdom is to walk with dedication and conviction, but at any moment, be willing to give it up for something else that makes more sense. Ryland Englehart: And so it's profound. Because it's challenging, right? Yeah. Because we, we wanna be convicted. 'cause to have energy, to have passion, to, to be able to break through the malaise and the criticism and the fears. We need to have conviction, but then we can become convicted to where we become belong. Stubborn. Ryland Englehart: Right. Stubborn and arrogant. Yeah. And, and also ideologically trapped with, um, you know, some belief and then we can start lying. 'cause we actually see where it's not true. Mm-hmm. But we become such a evangelist for an idea. And so that, that is actually something that took place within our, uh, you know, reality around veganism. Ryland Englehart: We were, we were considered the vegan mafia, the vegan kind of titans of Los Angeles. Yeah. We had all these vegan restaurants, two different chains. And then my sister had another chain called Sage Vegan Bistro. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, the kind of first transformation was we started, uh, my dad got a farm, be love farm in Northern California. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. And started growing vegetables for the vegan restaurants. But what we started to realize was that to grow vegetables, we needed constituents, you know, ingredients of animal agriculture. Dr. Taz: Interesting. Ryland Englehart: That we realized, realized that our vegetables weren't vegan. Dr. Taz: Vegetables weren't vegan. I know Everyone's like scratching their head right now being like, yeah, what, what are you talking about? Ryland Englehart: Yeah. So if we think about the healthiest soils around the planet and how soils get created, soils got created through grasslands. Yep. And grasse animals eating, pooping and peeing, moving along. Dr. Taz: Enriching the soil. That's Ryland Englehart: right. They're creating the microbiome, their, their fertility of their dung and urine, and then moving on and being moved by a predator prey relationship mm-hmm. Ryland Englehart: Where they'd stay in large herds. Mm-hmm. And rove in those large herds across the landscape led to, you know, uh, the, the, the largest and deepest soils. Uh, and if we're talking about America Right. That was the bison. Right. And that's what the, the middle of the country is. Is, is is soil bank account built by animals grazing on grass. Dr. Taz: So what does that do to vegans? I mean, I met. I meet vegans daily who, for example, won't even take a supplement if the filler or the capsule is animal based. I find, you know, this is just doctor talk, but I find often that, you know, many of us are deficient in something called lipase, which is a digestive enzyme that breaks fats down, but the majority of lipase is animal based. Dr. Taz: So I have this huge patient population that probably needs it but won't take it 'cause it's not quote unquote vegan. So if vegetables aren't vegan, where does that land? Somebody like you and your family and sort of this vegan movement when you guys are sort of spearheading the movement? Like what would you say to people now? Ryland Englehart: Yeah, I mean really the, we kind of had to burst our own bubble, which Dr. Taz: is so brave by the way. Right? Like, I think it's so important to say, like, I. You know, we believe in this, but then as you learn, because we're all on a learning journey, just like many people are on a healing journey, as you learn and grow and expand, sometimes you have to pivot. Dr. Taz: You know? So. Totally. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. I mean that's, that really is it. I mean, we, we had, uh, multiple restaurants, hundreds of employees. We had become, you know, this vegan empire. Yeah. Uh, and we realized in growing food, we needed animals to make those vegetables grow. And so it started just on our farm. Wait to get manure. Ryland Englehart: Where are we gonna get that manure? Oh, that comes from a concentrated animal feedlot operation. Mm-hmm. Well, that's not a, a vegan solution. Right. So then, okay, now we have our cow on our land. Okay. To make that cow viable and part of the farm ecosystem as well as the economic system, they have to bring something to the table. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. Whether that's milk and if you're, you know, making raw milk and cheese, which I brought, which have I brought you some. I love that. Grass fed raw. I love Dr. Taz: to talk about that too. Ryland Englehart: You have, you know, sometimes a, a, a female cow, sometimes, you know, a a male cow. And once that male cow becomes full grown, what, you know, what are you going to do with that? Ryland Englehart: You know, you could yes, have it graze and be part of a rotational grazing situation, but at a some point you're gonna have more cows than you have space for. Right. And what are you going to do with that cow? Right. And so actually the first sequence that we shot for the Kiss the ground film was the sequence of this vegan family, the Englehardt family. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. That. Started growing our vegan vegetables for our, our not our vegetables for our vegan restaurants. Realized that in nature veganism isn't a viable option. Hmm. And even in agriculture, it's not a real viable option to grow vegetables without the use of animals and without the killing of animals to protect those vegetables that we're growing. Ryland Englehart: Because that's another thing, you know, any grain crop where you're tilling the ground, you're killing hundreds and thousands of creatures just to create a monoculture of chickpeas. Right. Or, you know, wheat or corn, uh, or soybeans. So the, the, the idea that we can escape the design of the creation, which is eat and be eaten Mm, is just, it's, it, it is it urban ideological idea. Ryland Englehart: That's actually never been tried with anyone who's living and, you know, living in relationship to nature. I mean, an example of this is there's never been an indigenous or, uh, non westernized culture that's living, you know, in relationship to land, whether it's agriculture hunter gathering that has selected for being a vegan. Dr. Taz: So what's your opinion now of people, I have my opinions as a physician, but what's your opinion now of veganism as a lifestyle, as a medical solution to things that we talk about today, like heart disease and diabetes and all these other things. What's your sort of take on being vegan? Ryland Englehart: Yeah. I, I think that, I mean, I, I, I ate my first hamburger at 35 years old. Dr. Taz: Wow. Wow. I'm 44 years old. Yeah. Ryland Englehart: Uh, so, you know, we, we've served millions. Mm-hmm. Literally not of vegan organic meals. It's been awesome. It's, it's been an amazing service. Yeah. And an amazing contribution to the overall food intake of, you know, what food people are taking in. But as a ideological framework of, I wanna live on the earth and consume and know that what I'm consuming, something has to die for me to live. Ryland Englehart: Just that is the, the, the design of the architecture of the creation is that, you know, it, it, you know, in the Lion King, they talk about it, you know, the grass. It's an Dr. Taz: ecosystem, right? Yeah. Like you need the bottom feeders to feed the next level, to feed the next level, to feed the next level, and then there's competition for resources. Dr. Taz: Then they're killed and it starts back over again. It's just like a constant cycle. That's right. Whether it's the ocean or the earth or the Yeah. And it's managing Ryland Englehart: for balance is not managing for. Nothing will die. Dr. Taz: So in this urban setup where we kind of park in different food movements, right? Yes. Dr. Taz: Whether it's veganism or people that are vegetarian or people that are gluten-free or dairy free or all of these things, they're all kind of artificial constructs essentially, right? So. So if we are living out of alignment with the way that creation means for us to live, and we're not being religious and weird here, we're just saying what the natural agricultural rhythms are. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. Do whales, I. Whales are eating phytoplankton, zooplankton, mini krill, mini fish. They're pooping in the, the, the, the forte zone and creating more life such that more phytoplankton zooplankton can grow. They are playing a role in an overall ecosystem of health. And yes, they eat and kill things when they eat because that's the way that the creation works. Dr. Taz: So we really don't have the recipe for health and for being whole if we are living outside of these natural rhythms, regardless of which fad you choose. Right? There are a million different fads and things out there, but I think that idea of living out of balance is what creates Ryland Englehart: disease. Which is very interesting, and again, this is not some scientific right, right, right. Ryland Englehart: Proven hypothesis, right. Mm-hmm. But as I've become a stu and student of soil ecosystems and regenerative agriculture and how do we regenerate the earth, right? It's interesting, we, we all talk about, we know that monoculture. Is not a good thing. Right. You know, monoculture agriculture is, you know, one thing, one crop, one crop over hundreds of acres or you know, and nature doesn't like monoculture. Ryland Englehart: It likes diversity. There's resilience, there's health and diversity. And then we also, in the green revolution, we actually separated animals from plants. Mm. We put animals in barns and we put plants on hundreds of thousands of acres in just one different, you know, corn, soy, wheat. Dr. Taz: Right. Ryland Englehart: And we, we, we decoupled those two things and to decouple those two things, what do you think we had to do? Ryland Englehart: We had to invent and create huge amounts of synthetic chemistry fertilizers. Pesticides insecticides because when you took those plants and animals in an ecosystem which are inherently tied and they need each other for health, when you separated those, you needed to continuously strengthen this with artificial, uh, you know, antibiotics, uh, all propping up the cafo, sick care. Ryland Englehart: You also had to prop up the plant sick monoculture with more and more synthetics to uphold. It Dr. Taz: sounds like you're almost talking about the human body, Ryland Englehart: which is that, so that's a while. So that's a so, and then to, to bring back the vegan thing. Right. I never even realized this until like, you know, I had this kind of revelation, maybe, you know, six months ago. Ryland Englehart: Because there's a piece of art that has the two versions of monoculture agriculture and regenerative agriculture, and it has plants, animals, uh, you know, this huge diversity, and you have thriving and you have totally de, you know, destroyed and, you know, uh, being eroded and looking like a dead zone. And, and I thought, oh, wow. Ryland Englehart: The, there's a parallel between this idea of veganism with this monoculture. We just want plants only plant-based. Right? It's plant-based. Right. That makes it natural. That makes it more whole. That more makes it more connected to saving the planet plant. But no, it's, it's another sort of human construct of trying to separate nature, which doesn't Dr. Taz: work. Dr. Taz: I mean, what is happening in farming? And food manufacturing sounds almost exactly like the approach to the human body. We have a million specialists. Yeah. We have a lot of propping up of sick care. We have sort of a monoculture when it comes to how we eat or what we eat or how we live, right? Yes. We have a lack of diversity in our microbiomes. Dr. Taz: We live in Ryland Englehart: sterilized environments. We Dr. Taz: live in sterilized environments, and we're finding it simply doesn't work. You know? It doesn't work long term. And it's really about going back to balance, like these ideas of balance and mixing and mingling and all these other ideas. And even when it comes to medicine, I think the failure of medicine, and I know we'll talk about some of your involvement with where medicine is headed, but like I think even the failure of medicine is that same approach. Dr. Taz: You know, like you're gonna do all these very highly specialized things for all these different list of problems and symptoms and complaints, but you're not gonna pull back and try to understand how they all come together. And it's just so fascinating to me that what's happening in farming mirrors what's happening to the human body. Dr. Taz: All right. So, Ryland Englehart: and it, and it is just, and just to put a Yeah. A period on that. Yeah. Or to put an emphasis on that. We always are trying to remember that we are not separate from nature. Right. And we have that as a, a big kind of mental construct idea. But at this level of diet, what are we mixing into, you know, the alchemy of our health and, you know, what we're mixing on the landscapes of our land is all part of, again, that same vision of balance, diversity, integration of these different things. Ryland Englehart: Understanding the, the, the holistic view on life. And that we are one. Cell in the body of this creation. Dr. Taz: So fascinating to me. Now, many people may not know about Kiss the Ground. I know about it 'cause we talked about it when we did our Instagram live years ago. But, uh, maybe fill everyone in on what Kiss the ground is or was, uh, regenerative. Dr. Taz: Yes. Still agriculture still, you know, just the field of regenerative agriculture. I do wanna dive into a little bit because, you know, it's interesting to, and you know, once you make the connection between food quality and food sourcing and soil health and our personal health and the health of our families, you know, what is the future of regenerative agriculture? Dr. Taz: So maybe just catch us up on that. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. Amazing. So. Yeah. So there was that kiss the ground moment of being 19. Yeah. And drinking ayahuasca. Yes, yes. Wanting to serve the mother. Then there was a decade and a half of Cafe Gratitude serving people through healthy whole plant-based food. Right. Then there was the realization, well, this is awesome, and Whole Foods are great. Ryland Englehart: Maybe this idea of veganism isn't the full picture. We told the truth about that. That was part of this whole revelation of me understanding. How soil plants, photosynthesis works and that how soil is being built is from carbon in the atmosphere. Mm. And then there's this whole other conversation about climate change. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. Carbon footprint. Carbon footprint. And, and, and what if, you know, I think, I think the big, the good news about regenerative agriculture is that most people's, I think cognition about the future is pretty grim. Hmm. There's not a lot of hope and optimism because even the best solutions that we think and talk about, like recycling or paper straws or, uh, you know, eating better, you know, it doesn't seem like, it just feels like it's slowing the damage down versus what is the mechanism to create healing, regeneration of our health and of our planet. Ryland Englehart: Do Dr. Taz (2): you think that can happen? Ryland Englehart: I do. I do. You do. Okay. That, that's, that's actually, that's the good news. That is, that's the, that was, that's the ministry that was been put on my heart. Mm. And that was this awakening moment. Uh, you know, 15 years after that ayahuasca experience being in New Zealand, seeing a guy speak about climate, soil, regenerative agriculture, restoring the health to our food by pulling carbon outta the atmosphere by every plant is actually a straw sipping carbon. Ryland Englehart: And if we can keep that soil in the ground by not tilling the ground, by having a diversity of crops, uh, by not using chemicals that kill that bacteria, by allowing that bacteria to grow, making the nutrients much more available for the plants, which they then make the plants resilient to pest. So you don't have to use pesticides. Ryland Englehart: It was just this, oh my god. Moment of seeing. A system, an organizational principle that led to a better, more beautiful future. Dr. Taz: That's so encouraging. I know, but we don't hear about this very much. We don't hear about the ability to regenerate. I hear on in my world, and I'm sure what most of my viewers and listeners hear too, like, know your carbon footprint. Dr. Taz: You know, uh, we're destroying the planet. You know, use paper straws, watch your plastics. Like, these are the things we're hearing. You know, we're not hearing about regenerative agriculture and the ability to rebuild, which is such a. A promising message, right? It doesn't sound like we're all gonna blow up and disappear and the planet's gonna go away in a few generations, right? Dr. Taz: So I think that's a really important message. But what are the, so regenerative agriculture, I feel like, so, Ryland Englehart: so, yeah. So jump into that. I feel like, so regenerative agriculture is a, a principle of agriculture and it's broken down into practices. Okay. And those practices I mentioned in my little rant, right? Ryland Englehart: But essentially, right. Love Dr. Taz: the rants, by the way, Ryland Englehart: the, the, the idea that we're modeling agriculture after nature's image. And so in nature there is. Diversity. So we're focused on an agriculture that holds diversity. Uh, we're focused on, uh, not tilling the ground, so the least amount of mechanical disturbance. Ryland Englehart: So we don't wanna till we mostly think of agriculture as tilled, right? Ground. Right? And that is a long-term, you know, mistake that ultimately leads to a degradation of soil and the need for synthetic inputs. Okay? So least amount of mechanical disturbances. Um, we wanna have a living root. We wanna have live plants in the soil for the, as much time as possible because the living root is the way that the soil microbiome is fed. Ryland Englehart: So what's a living root? Gimme an example. So, um. So these plants mm-hmm. Uh, they have a root that is in, in the, in the soil and the sun, if they were outside, they're taking in the sunlight, empowers them to drive photosynthesis. They grab carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, they convert that carbon into carbohydrates, carbon and water, carbon and hydrogen. Ryland Englehart: And then they pump 30 to 60% of those carbon sugars into the soil and they feed the microbiome of the soil. And in exchange for the micro, in, in, in exchange for the plant gives the microbiome or the microorganisms, uh, sugar and the microorganisms break down minerals and give that back to the plant. And that is the symbiotic relationship of soil plants, roots and microorganisms that, um. Ryland Englehart: Is essential for regenerative agriculture. We need a living root, feeding the soil, micro organ, the soil microbiome. Otherwise you're going to have a die off or you're gonna have, uh, a reduction of that, that healthy microbiome, which is ultimately the, um, they are the converters of the mineral kingdom to make the plant have bioavailable, uh, minerals and nutrients to be able to, to take up into the plants. Dr. Taz: So if you're not tilling the soil, are you just. Planting constantly or how do you, how what, what happens there? Yeah. Ryland Englehart: So there's something called a no-till drill. Okay. Um, which is essentially just, it creates a little sliver and it puts a seed in that little sliver, and then it put, it tucks that seed in real quick. Ryland Englehart: And then, uh, you can plant, uh, with much less fertility or much and much less water because you're not tilling when you break up the soil. You break up the soil tilt, you break up the aggregation of the soil, and you, uh, denude the ability for soil to hold and store water and for water to infiltrate. Dr. Taz: And then where do the animals fit into this regenerative model? Dr. Taz: Yeah. Ryland Englehart: So animals, that's, uh, one of the next principle is that animal integration. We need to have, uh, animals, um, basically grazing. And turning the fertility of whatever forage grass, um, plants, uh, matter that's on the surface of the soil, they basically cycle those nutrients through their multi chamber stomach. Ryland Englehart: They put that fertility as dung and urine and that breaks down back into the soil and creates more fertility such that you can have, you know, soil, uh, nutrient bank account can be enriched such that you can grow another cash crop, another, um, crop of vegetables or, uh, grains. Or fruits. Uh, Dr. Taz: do we have any studies that show the difference in nutrient quality between crops grown in this particular way versus sort of the standard, more industrialized way of farming? Ryland Englehart: Yeah, there's. It's definitely an area that needs a lot more study and a lot more money and pure peer review to give it. But there's a ton of anecdotal evidence. There's a, a group, uh, out of, uh, on the East coast called the Bio Bionutrient Institute, uh, that is doing a lot of studies around, uh, carrots and other root vegetables and finding, you know, that you can have, you know, 10 times, uh, or even, you know, 50 times the phytonutrients, um, of one carrot. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. Grown a particular way. And again, they're not. Basing it, uh, you know, on organic, right? They're, they're saying, okay, what, you know, this is one genetic seed grown in, you know, multiple different settings and are able to see yes. When you have a very, very vibrant soil health and a very, very vibrant, uh, microbiology in that soil, you are getting a huge amount of nutrient transfer to those vegetables. Ryland Englehart: Um, and ultimately, you know, making that food much more nutrient, uh, dense. Dr. Taz (2): So interesting. And Ryland Englehart: there's also, you know, some citrus growers that are, you know, doing it with citrus and showing, you know, incredible, uh, increases of, you know, all the essential, uh, vitamins that are in citrus, uh, between an industrial model versus a regenerative model. Ryland Englehart: So Dr. Taz: then what happens with the actual. Like, where are you on meat consumption and the animals themselves, you know, there's so much about that. Reduce your carbon footprint by eating fewer, you know, fewer animals. There's the whole beyond the meat movement, you know, explain some of that to me in this model of regenerative agriculture, what happens to meat? Dr. Taz: Where should meat consumption really be? Yeah. And you know, all the medical literature around it I can comment on, but I mean, I do think even that is pegging meat as like a very poor quality food when in fact it isn't, when it's made in the right way or produced in the right way. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. I just saw someone's sight stop making beef. Ryland Englehart: The enemy, Dr. Taz: right? Ryland Englehart: Of the climate. Dr. Taz: Yes. Ryland Englehart: 8% of emissions come from, uh, animal agriculture. 13 or 20. 13 or 23% comes from rice production. Dr. Taz: Oh, wow. Yeah, we don't hear about that. We Ryland Englehart: never hear about that. Uh, so, so he, here's, here's what I'll say. 80 to 90% of the meat that we're consuming is grown in pretty, um, you know, poor conditions, poor conditions. Ryland Englehart: Just say it. Yeah. It's like ridiculous. Um, I would say something to know is that, you know, uh, beef for the first year of life, beef mostly is gonna be grazing on grass no matter what. Even if it's gonna be, uh, the problem is, is beef being finished is mostly being finished. 90 plus percent of beef in this country is being finished in CAFOs, concentrated animal feedlot operations. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. Being fed really poor quality feed, lots of glyphosate, residues, lots of, um. Injections, lots of, uh, pharmaceuticals, uh, and lots of antibiotics that are, you know, directly going into us. And so I would say we want to be eating meat as the, the 35 year vegan, right? Uh, right. As, as a healthy food. I, I'm 44. Ryland Englehart: I feel stronger, right? And healthier than I've ever been. And we want to be. It, it, it's something that we, we, we want to be respectful that. Things do die for us to live. Dr. Taz: So as a consumer though, and I'm, I'm a hundred percent on board with this. Yeah. I feel like people take meat out and we see all kinds of nutrient deficiencies. Dr. Taz: We see muscle wasting, we see cognitive decline. There's so many different things we see, and I'm all often finding myself say, well, it's the amount you're consuming or the quality. These are the things to pay attention to. But for the consumers out there, in all fairness, like how do they know they're picking a quality meat and where can they find, you know, well sourced meat and even maybe vegetables. Dr. Taz: What do you recommend to them? Ryland Englehart: Yeah, so it's, it's, it's. Ultimately difficult to find good quality food, but I think it's one of the most important treasure hunts of our life. Yeah. Dr. Taz: And always has been. Yeah. Honestly. Yeah. Since the beginning of time. Since the beginning of time. Right. Finding, Ryland Englehart: and to be honest, it, it is easier now than it's ever been to find high quality. Ryland Englehart: I mean, not ever been, but in the, I think the last 20 years. Um, right now, I mean, just to speak into the microcosm right. Of regenerative, right. So Kiss the Ground, the film came out in 20, 20. 10 million people have seen that film. Um, incredible. It's led to the transition, just what we're aware of, of 30. 4 million acres of land in the us. Ryland Englehart: Uh, and that's, that's a lot. That's a huge amount of land. That's Dr. Taz: amazing. Wow. You know, props Ryland Englehart: to Gabe Brown, Alan Williams, understanding ag, they're an amazing mm-hmm. Uh, consultancy group that really was, you know, elevated their story and their, their skill and their amazing work was elevated in both kiss the ground and common ground mm-hmm. Ryland Englehart: The films. And they've now, you know, had this huge, um, you know, insurgence and desire for how do we do regenerative agriculture? Clearly it's, it's happening 34 million acres of land. And just to put that in context, that's four. I think four to 5% of what organic Ag land is in this country. Wow. Okay. So it's taken 40 or 50 years for the organics movement to get 1% of the acreage in the US for agriculture to be in organic, which again, I love organic, right? Ryland Englehart: I'm a huge organics fan. If I can, if I can purchase organic, I do. Right. But there's some limitations to getting wide scale adoption in the regenerative context. You know, understanding ag, they've been really successful in being a farmer and rancher led organization and movement and adoption. Uh, that's led to, in the last seven years, this 34 million acres of land, which is, you know, hugely, um, inspiring and again, hopeful that we can do this. Ryland Englehart: Uh. But back to the question, you know, we wanna be buying, you know, grass fed, grass finished beef. Uh, I would say chicken and Turkey is their mono gastrics. They mostly require just eating corn, um, and other grains. Mm. And that's gonna oftentimes could be gonna be carrying much higher loads of glyphosate. Ryland Englehart: So I would actually say, you know, it's more important to be eating, uh, organic and, um, pasture raised eggs, uh, and chicken and, you know, the bird, Dr. Taz: right? The bird groups. Yeah. Ryland Englehart: Because they're gonna be having much higher levels interest. I didn't know that. Uh, where all beef is gonna have at least the first year of its life eating grass is, which is gonna be coming from a natural environment and then into a concentrated animal feedlot operation where birds, you know, chickens and turkeys and other poultry are gonna be in. Ryland Englehart: Houses in total containment for their entire life. Mm. And never have any na they're, I mean, essentially they're being f you know, force fed really poor quality food to fatten 'em as quick as possible to get 'em in the grocery store. Dr. Taz: So organic chicken and organic Turkey, those birds are also getting primarily corn as their feed. Ryland Englehart: They, they, they, they will be. And, you know, that's, that's the other thing, like the idea of free range has sort of been a co-op term. You know, that just means that there's a door at one end of the barn that some small percentage of the birds could walk outside and that they're free to move out there. Uh, you really wanna be focused on pasture, pasture raised, uh, meats, eggs, uh, and, you know, any kind of animal products. Dr. Taz: And then is there any labeling currently of like, this is regenerative Ryland Englehart: or like on I. There's actually three primary label. There's probably six total, but the three primary that you can find at Whole Foods and Natural Grocers and Is Reified. Okay. Uh, which is inspired by that same group, uh, understanding Ag. Ryland Englehart: Gabe Brown, rare Chota, Alan Williams, who were in the films. Uh, that is, uh, probably the biggest one you can find. Uh, vital Farms. Ified. Vital Farms. Yeah. Uh, eggs, regenerative Eggs. Uh, so Regen look for Ified products. Look for, uh, ROC Regenerative Organic Certified. Okay. And then Land to Market. And there's probably, I would say a total of maybe 2,500 products on the market as kind of my loose guess. Ryland Englehart: Uh, so that's at, at the, at the main grocery stores. You, and even, even the regular Right. You know, HEBs or Safeways, you can start to find those, uh, regenerative labels. But I would say really, if you're inspired by this idea, yeah, you, you want to, right. Join the regenerative movement. Really. The, the, the game is you look at your plate, and the plate is the creation of your health and the planetary health. Ryland Englehart: It, it, the circle of your plate is the planet. No pressure guys. And, and what are, what, what's one thing you eat a lot of? And my invitation is find a really great farmer or rancher in your region and start buying directly from that, from the farmer. Create a And there's, right now again, there's never been so many ways to buy direct from high quality farmers and ranchers. Ryland Englehart: Like most people have seen, you know, Joe Rogan. Mm-hmm. And he had Will Harris on that farm on, on, on his podcast a couple times. White Oak pastured. Mm-hmm. Amazing. I know about White Oak. Yeah. Uh, you know, force of nature. Another amazing company that's aggregating, uh, you know, Gabe Brown, uh, farm, uh, is, uh, brown. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. Gabe Brown's farm. Uh, you can also find. So there's, if you look up regenerative farm box, regenerative meat box, you'll find it, you can find 20 different, uh, ones that they're all, you know, again, there's probably, but they're all gonna be a hundred x better than anything you're finding. And, and that actually is the paradigm of having small quality regenerative producers to thrive and succeed is buying direct from them. Ryland Englehart: 'cause for them to wholesale and then to sell into larger and larger markets and into the commodities. There's a much. Littler chance for them to be able to financially make it. Mm. So when we're buying directly, it's a direct line. We're to helping them help the soil, help the ecosystem, help, you know, sequester carbon, help infiltrate water, help get chemicals out of the streams and the waterways. Ryland Englehart: So it really is a very, very powerful, direct way to get connected to again, and then by osmosis and by, um, you know, placebo and by reality your, I. Taking in food that, you know, that comes from a regenerative system that is regenerating soil, that's enlivening the microbiome of that soil, which is infiltrating more nutrient density into that food, and then you're getting to receive that medicinal quality food. Dr. Taz: It's amazing. And it's amazing that we have the choice nowadays. I know we didn't have it before. You mentioned 34 million acres have been transformed into regenerative land or regenerative farming. I'm just curious, just for context, how many acres of farmland do we have? Maybe in Amer, is this in, in America, or are you talking globally? Ryland Englehart: No, that's, that's in, that's in the us. In the Dr. Taz: us okay. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. The, uh, the total number. It's a good, it's a, it's a, it's a number I should have on the top of my head. I'm just curious, Dr. Taz: just for context. Ryland Englehart: So, so let's see if, uh. If that's about 5%. So if, if 34 million is 5%. Mm-hmm. Uh, Dr. Taz: math time. Ryland Englehart: Math time. So, uh, so about a Dr. Taz: hundred, probably about a, Ryland Englehart: yeah, I think it's probably 200 billion. Ryland Englehart: Two, no, 200 million. Two. About 200 million. Yeah. Yeah. Again, Dr. Taz: and where is most of our farmland? Is it mainly Midwest or is it all throughout the country? Ryland Englehart: Yeah, I mean, it, it, the, the big acres are in the middle of the country. Obviously there's lots of little farms along the coast and there's farms, you know, everywhere. Ryland Englehart: But the big, the big acres, the big, uh, 5,000, 10,000, 50,000 acres of land are, you know, in, in the Midwest, in the middle Midwest of the Dr. Taz (2): country. Ryland Englehart: Uh, you know, one other, I just wanna, yeah, it's a, it's a key point to kind of, um. Bring some validity. Uh, there's a guy, friend of ours, friend of mine named Rick Clark. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. Who is a farmer out of Indiana and he's growing 7,000 acres. Uh, he's growing on 7,000 acres and he's done a regenerative, organic model of agriculture using the no-till, using a roller crimper, uh, not using any kind of glyphosate to. Burned down his crops. Right. Uh, and no seed treatments, no GMOs. Ryland Englehart: And with his model, he aggregated, uh, an estimate that he's saving $2 million a year by not using those synthetic inputs, uhhuh and depending on the biology and the health of his soil to grow a crop. And so if you took that model and you scaled it to the majority of the grain farmers about his size across the country, uh, you could, each one of those farmers could be saving a million dollars a year. Ryland Englehart: Wow. Which is serious. Mm-hmm. Serious. Money. Dr. Taz: Right? Ryland Englehart: Uh, and you could invest about $180 billion back into rural America through, uh, the saved those savings that each one of those farmers would be, uh, having based on adopting credible. Dr. Taz: Well, how does a conventional farmer feel about regenerative agriculture? Dr. Taz: Is it a hard sell? Is it difficult to get them to cross over? Are they resistant? Do they see less profits? Like, kind of what's their take on that? You know, the Ryland Englehart: barrier? Dr. Taz (2): Yeah. Ryland Englehart: And obviously there's so many different kinds of farmers, right. So many different crops. Right. I know we're generalizing time. It's hard. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. It's hard to generalize in a, in a, in a, in a clear way. But I would say there's, you know, a few different, there's a, a cultural barrier. Mm-hmm. Being that I've been doing it this way. Right. These are my tools, this is what works, and don't try to take my tools away from me. Mm-hmm. Farmers, it's hard enough to do what farmers are doing, and they're doing, you know, God's work. Ryland Englehart: They're doing some of the most important work to sustain life, and they've just been trained that this is the model and the way to do it, and they're getting results. I think where people are open to doing it a new way is if they're seeing their results, uh, wane, or they're seeing they're, they're hitting a wall and really, you know, the, the, the farmer practitioners, right? Ryland Englehart: Gabe Brown, uh, Alan Williams, who come from understanding Ag. That group that's transitioned 34 million acres when people are. They're, they, they, they are looking for something to change. They, they need a change because they're not, they're not making it in the current paradigm. So it's, so again, back to the, the parallels between people changing their health practices. Ryland Englehart: Right, right, right. Uh, lifestyle is not easy to change. Right. It's easier to take a pill, it's easier to continue to have your Coke and your fries and your seed oils and your processed Twinkies. You know, it's just familiar. Right. Uh, and until you're in crisis, it's not. A motivating factor to make that change. Dr. Taz: Is farming a realistic profession for our younger generations? Is it a way of, can it be a way of life to regenerate the planet and, and a sustainable way of life for them, Ryland Englehart: or? Yeah. It's, it's, it's a, it's a, the, the answer is yes, and it's definitely not a slam dunk easy. Right. You know, it's definitely not, it requires a lot of work. Ryland Englehart: Right. And it requires a lot of complexity, and it requires having to have many different kinds of skillsets because you're managing animals, plants, weather, uh, books and business. You're Dr. Taz: not a specialist. You're a, you need to be a, you're a generalist, right? Yeah. Yes. You, you Ryland Englehart: need mechanical abilities. Uh, you need a lot of common sense. Ryland Englehart: So there, there's a huge, uh. And as someone who was a total urbanite from California, who moved my whole life, moved my family and am exploring right, the idea of living on land, being a homesteader, and developing a regenerative farm and ranch, it's definitely difficult and definitely a, a very, very, uh, complex, uh, choice to make, to make our, to make to, you know, to choose as a lifestyle. Ryland Englehart: And for me, it is the thing, again, back to this, you know, what is guiding my passion, right? Having this purpose, right? It's. I, I can, you know, on paper, does it look good? I was like, oh, this is a good, no, it doesn't look good on paper. But does it feel like the right thing to do? Is it the mission that's put on my heart? Ryland Englehart: Is it a big, foolish project? That's, that's my, my consultant company is called Big Start, big foolish project. Start a big, foolish project. It's, it doesn't, uh, on some level it's, it's, uh. It doesn't make sense, but the heart, it's okay. It it, and, and, and, and the vision is compelling me to, yes, this is, there's faith. Ryland Englehart: There is a requirement of faith to go in this direction. Uh, and there's inspiration to go in this direction. Uh, but it's definitely not an easy, safe path. Dr. Taz: I think the greatest movements and the greatest change and the greatest innovators have been led by that vision, which to the human eye sometimes does not make sense. Dr. Taz: It sits very deeply within folks, and I can see it in you. And I think you've started a movement. You've started this movement around regenerative agriculture. You're spreading it, you're living it. Talk to us a little bit though, about how you're living it. 'cause I know now you are on a 200 acre ranch, right? Dr. Taz: Sovereignty Ranch is the name I believe. Tell us about it. What's that like? How long have you been there? After moving from California. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. So we've been there only a year. Okay. Uh, I moved my, with my wife and my two sons and my sister and her husband and their four kids. Okay. And we all live on this 200 acre ranch, two houses, and we have a restaurant there. Ryland Englehart: Uh, and we have a developing brewery. Mm. And we have tiny homes and we're building a agro hospitality event center. Dr. Taz: Amazing. Ryland Englehart: To really embody our conviction and our commitment to regenerative agriculture and being an embodiment of that. We are, you know, we put, we planted our flag mm-hmm. In Bandera, Texas, which means flag bandera and we are. Ryland Englehart: We're, we're opening this space. We have a restaurant that we're open two days a week, and we're serving all pastured meats from our farm. Okay. We're serving vegetables and fruits from our farm. Uh, everything is organic. That's not from our farm. Uh, we're frying our food in tallow, uh, so no seed oils. And we're using our dairy from our cows on the farm to make cheese. Ryland Englehart: You brought, you brought meat, raw milk. I brought you raw milk. Tell Dr. Taz: us about raw milk for just a second. What, what's the health benefit of raw milk? Ryland Englehart: Yeah, so, uh, we, we've been doing some raw milk fasts on the, on the farm, and I've done a lot of different fasts over years of doing juice fasts and water fasts and, uh, and, you know, just do liquids and, and even bone broth. Ryland Englehart: And I. Raw milk is a super food. Mm-hmm. And it's a super food in that it's a complete protein. It's got amazing, you know, fatty acids. It's got a lot of biological life, a lot of good bacteria, uh, enzymes. And the, you know, one, one thing that becomes a pretty clear point is that if you feed a baby cow pasteurized milk, the cow dies. Ryland Englehart: Mm. Why is that? It's a good, it's a, it's a good question. Like what? The, the, the, the, the nutrient, uh, Dr. Taz (2): profile of that milk, the nutrient Ryland Englehart: profile of that milk that is designed to bring vitality and health to that early stage of that animal is somehow broken within that pasteurization process. And so, Dr. Taz: but we feed it to all our humans. Dr. Taz: We're all dead, you know? Well, Ryland Englehart: again, there, there's still nutrient value there, right? Uh, but this is a, a, a far superior, and again, it goes back to why did it become pasteurized? We oftentimes managed for scaling things really big, right? That become really dirty and breed bacteria, infection, disease in a big sort of. Ryland Englehart: Not well-kept system. And so then we have to manage for that at the level of cleansing, you know, fluoride in the water or you know, pasteurizing all milk and sanitizing everything. It, it become, we go too far. And raw milk is, you know, I don't know if you're familiar with Western A Price? Yes. Oh yes. And that whole, you know, world of thinking. Ryland Englehart: Uh, but yeah, it, it, it, it is a really, really amazing superfood and there's, uh, lots of people and, and it, it's, it's honestly been something that the, uh, food and the FDA, there's been a war against raw milk. And, you know, thinking about, you know, make America healthy again. We gonna talk about that? Dr. Taz (2): Yeah. Ryland Englehart: Uh, you know, it's, it's, as you said, it's an ex, before we started the conversation, you were saying it's an exciting time to be alive, to see some of these, what have been fringe ideas being brought into the light of maybe this actually does make more sense. Ryland Englehart: And to have a healthy living, uh, high quality milk that is, is again, built in the image and likeness of nature. Mm-hmm. Not being so adulterated, so processed so that we can do it at such a scale. And then ultimately the point of it has been totally obliterated and becomes pointless and it becomes an a almost a hollow. Ryland Englehart: Harmful calorie versus a nutrient dense, healthy food, medi medicinal food Dr. Taz: life-giving food. Yes. It's so interesting. I can't wait to try it. What's your hope with the ranch? What do, what direction do you hope the ranch will take? Do you want it to be sort of the epicenter of a regenerative agriculture movement, or do you want it, tell me, tell me what you're thinking with it. Dr. Taz: Yeah, so really Ryland Englehart: I spent a lot of time in Los Angeles commuting to restaurants, right, for my job. And I now have two young kids. And I was looking at what is the lifestyle I want for them? What's the environment I want them to be growing up in? And so it was, how do I bring my life and my work and my passion? Ryland Englehart: And my family together, all Dr. Taz: together Ryland Englehart: and, and also do something with my sister, do something with my family. Uh, which also I think is a transformative act because we oftentimes think about Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. It's like time with family is, you know, a relationships that we can't seem to sort out and restore love and create respect and honor and, uh, workability and so on. Ryland Englehart: All these levels. The ranch is, the vision is to be a. Example of this healthy lifestyle that is including service of education of others, farmers, and also eaters around nutrition and health. And we're actually hosting two get, we're actually hosting two conferences, uh, on the farm. One, which is called Food Is Medicine, which I actually wanted to invite you to maybe come be a speaker. Ryland Englehart: I think I've Dr. Taz: been to one of those before in New York. I've been to, well, yeah, I mean there's, there's Ryland Englehart: people have used that term, right? Yeah. Yeah. But, um, so yeah, it's called, uh, eating Your Healing. Dr. Taz (2): Yeah. Ryland Englehart: I love that is the sub subtext. And then there's another event called Confluence, both happening in May. Ryland Englehart: Okay. On, on the, on the ranch. So we hope. We hope to be a, a local hub for nourishment and education in the hill country of Texas. Uh, we hope to be an educational, uh, center and space for all different kinds of practitioners to come to share their deeper knowledge and understanding such that we can enrich ourselves as well as inviting our community and to be enriched. Ryland Englehart: And it, it, and it also to be, uh, yeah. Example exemplifying that we as a family can get along, we can get along with nature and have nature heal under our stewardship and our care, and also live and cultivate a healthy, happy, wholesome family Dr. Taz: whole. I love that. I love that you got the hole in there. Yes. Dr. Taz: You know, as we're sitting here though, you're, you mentioned make America healthy again. You mentioned having been with Bobby Kennedy and some of his early efforts, you know. Where are you with what's happening kind of in our political landscape, in our health landscape right now? For somebody like me, we were talking about this, you know, I've had to. Dr. Taz: Navigate gently, delicately, I don't know what the best term is. You know, kept my mouth shut in certain situations, opened it in others, and it's been an interesting time to watch everybody start to get uncomfortable and really start, for many of us now, we're finally allowed to have these conversations, to really dig into, you know, what's happening with medicine, what's happening with our pharmaceuticals, what's happening with vaccines? Dr. Taz: Like, let's talk about it. Let's stop being afraid to have a conversation around it, or being censored the minute we open our mouth. So, you know, I too have been watching, you know, the Make America healthy again, sort of movement, you know, from over here, you know, because it's, I honestly was surprised that it's even gaining ground or traction, and I think it's such an exciting time. Dr. Taz: Where do you fit into that? You know, what, what are you hoping for as you watch, you know, this movement start to, to really get some wings and take off? Ryland Englehart: Yeah, it's. It's exciting. It's, uh, it, it is exciting. I, I, I had met Bobby Kennedy maybe five years ago through a mutual friend. Uh, you know, we had some conversations, some affinity for, you know, he was appreciative of the work we were doing with Kiss the Ground and Soil Regenerative agriculture, advocacy and education. Ryland Englehart: I had known his work with Waterkeepers Alliance, uh, during Covid. He was the most bold, brave human being to very much Yeah. Uh, really be, uh, destroyed, uh, in the public eye as far as questioning, you know, what was happening. Was the vaccination safe and effective? Was it necessary, was the different, and I moved out of the city at that time, moved to, uh, to Ventura County outside. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. And. I became quite estranged from what was happening in California and the sort of group think, which was definitely connected to the liberal left right, ideological idea of, you know, you didn't love people, you didn't care about community if you, you know, didn't wanna get the vaccination. And I, I definitely, uh. Ryland Englehart: Was pretty, because I was running an organization, a nonprofit. I couldn't get that involved in politics. Right? And then when I saw Bobby Kennedy, uh, stick his neck out and, and start running as an, or originally as a Democrat, I watched his first campaign video and I was sitting on the toilet and I was weeping, crying. Ryland Englehart: And it just got, my heart got touched and I thought, wow, this is, uh, I see this happening. And actually a psychic once told me that my job in life is to point at things and grow movements behind those things that point at. And so I said, I said that, that a psychic once told me that, and that I'm pointed at Bobby Kennedy for president. Ryland Englehart: And, and then it became very clear within my organization and my business affiliations that it was not okay to speak about politics and to endorse a candidate. And so I kind of went underground for. Uh, a year of just sort of observing from the sidelines and helping out here and there where I could, uh, making a couple recommendations around regenerative agriculture and how that could be really good for his platform. Ryland Englehart: Uh, and, and then I had an opportunity to sit in a sweat lodge with Bobby, uh, and a bunch of other people who were around him and working on the campaign and supporting. Uh, and yeah, I just heard this sort of whisper on my heart that we wouldn't be where we are today unless we had champions behind us. Ryland Englehart: And, uh, we have an opportunity to champion this vision of making America healthy again. And it's definitely gonna be inconvenient, right? And it's gonna be, uh, risky and it's gonna require sticking our necks out and. I just, yeah, it just felt like that was the prayer on my heart and I said, uh, I was gonna do that. Ryland Englehart: I declared that in the, in the, in the, in the sweat lodge after kind of feeling insecure to say anything. And that next week I just, I, I got in touch with my organization and said, I wanna transition out and I wanna, uh, be able to be free to express myself wholeheartedly and openly about, uh, about supporting him. Ryland Englehart: And I think that the, the biggest impact that I can have is supporting the growth of his vision and as it, as it relates to human health and regenerative agriculture. And. That definitely came with some rocky roads, Dr. Taz (2): I'm sure. Yeah. Ryland Englehart: And, uh, you know, it led to me, uh, you know, after some rocky roads gracefully, uh, departing head high with total admiration of the organization that I co-founded Kiss the Ground. Ryland Englehart: And, uh, and I, I did some work with the campaign as a surrogate for Bobby. Um, you know, speaking at a couple events and working on his finance committee and being a, a regenerative agriculture advocate Right. You know, to support his campaign and. Uh, you know, that's led to this now moment. I got to be present for the, the Maha Ball in DC and the inauguration. Ryland Englehart: I know. Amazing. That was an amazing experience. You know, I went to DC for the first time, uh, and I got to be there on MLK Day on the inauguration, and I traveled around the whole, the mall and Yep. Had moments of, you know, weeping and being moved by the experiment of America. And we're such Dr. Taz: an incredible country. Dr. Taz: And I think the minute our collective ability to speak gets taken away and to have differing viewpoints and to have creative ways of thinking, whether it's about farming, whether it's about medicine, whether it's about law, raising a family, whatever it may be, that will be our undoing. And I think, you know, what has made us great, you know, if we're gonna talk about what makes America great is the diversity of thought, which has been kind of truncated over the last. Dr. Taz: 30 years or so, I would say, you know, like you have to walk between these two lines and if you don't, you're either a quack or not credentialed, or not scientific or like all the, all the things everybody has heard over the years. So I think I'm with you and being super excited for like this new dawn of creativity to emerge where we think a little bit differently about farming, health medicine, what it means to have a family, what it means to be whole, you know, all of these different ideas, and I think I'm with you in this mission of. Dr. Taz: Wanting to heal, you know? Yes. And wanting to heal, you know, not just, I mean, we're always on a journey, and even my personal journey, we're always trying to be better, but like wanting to heal the planet as, as like, you know, Pollyanna, as that sounds, I too feel that like we're on a mission to heal, you know? Dr. Taz: That's right. And however we can do it through our different, you know, lenses at the end of the day when we come together, it becomes incredibly powerful. So I am so excited to watch you and see what you do next. And if people are wanting to learn about your work, what's a good place for them to go to? Dr. Taz: Maybe just get educated and learn more about what you're up to. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. So yeah, people can check out sovereignty ranch.com. Uh, you can check out my, uh, consulting company page is, uh, called big foolish project.com. I like that. And yeah, really that comes down to, you know, as you said, I've always had the. Ryland Englehart: Audacity to know that I can somehow make a difference and change the world. And as foolish as that sounds, it's, it's seemed to be true and it, it seemed to be possible. And I, you know, continue to water those seeds of possibility in my own heart. And, uh, you know, in the face of my own cynicism, my own resignation, uh, my own fears moving Dr. Taz: forward. Ryland Englehart: Uh, yeah. And so, Dr. Taz: so you may have just answered my last question, and I think you've been answering it throughout the episode. I was thinking, you know, my question to every guest, my last question to them is, what makes you whole? Ryland Englehart: Hmm. Dr. Taz: And I've heard it, I've heard you say it multiple times throughout our, our time together today, but I'm, I'm curious as to how you would end it. Ryland Englehart: Hmm. Yeah. So, yeah, what, what makes me whole is. When I am, Ryland Englehart: I am being the presence of love. Mm. I love that when I'm present and my objective is how can I serve? How can I contribute? How can I make a difference? And I'm not thinking about what's in it for me. Dr. Taz: I think that's such an important lesson for all of us. As somebody who is also very mission-driven, it's very easy to get lost. Dr. Taz: And I think that we try to strategize and you know, plan, but I think the key to not getting lost is to remember that we are here to love and to experience love and to love the planet and to love one another. And as long as we kind of have that in our framework, we won't get lost. And I think I'm just as guilty of like. Dr. Taz: Maybe getting lost in the logistics of things and not always remembering that that's the center. Ryland Englehart: Mm-hmm. And Dr. Taz: that's the focal point. So thank you for reminding me of what, where I need to be landing in those moments when I'm like, what am I doing? Where am I going? What's happening? You know? So Thank you. Dr. Taz: Yeah. And thank you for being an incredible guest. I love this. I knew I would love this episode, but this has been amazing. So thank you so much for being on Whole Plus and coming onto the show, and I actually can't wait to come and visit the ranch someday. Ryland Englehart: Yeah. Thank you so much. And I, you know, just was gonna say, uh, for looking forward to what's coming. Ryland Englehart: Uh, I'm just launching a new organization called American Regeneration. Mm. Healing Soil and Health. I. And it's sounds Dr. Taz: like you're speaking my language and Ryland Englehart: Yeah, it really is, uh, you know, taking and, and stepping into the opportunity of this Maha moment, this Maha American climate, and, and seeing that there is an opportunity to maybe do some things drastically or very different and helping be a catalyst and a facilitator for outside of the administration, but working alongside it, how can we move. Ryland Englehart: Agricultural policy to support farmers, to support soil health, to support nutrient dense food, uh, so that we can have a bloom of health on the land, which leads to a bloom of human health when we're able to receive those nutrients and that food is medicine. Dr. Taz: Well, obviously this conversation will be continued since we are so in alignment. Dr. Taz: But thank you again for taking time out today to share with my listeners and viewers all that you have been up to, your history, your story, starting with that 19-year-old experience that you had with your parents. I think that it really just shows how this all comes together, how when we find alignment, how when we become whole, it turns into a purpose, into a mission that we can finally see. Dr. Taz: The timing is often not up to us, but we can finally see it unravel and unfold before our eyes. And I think at the end of the day, we want. To leave a legacy. And I know for me and for so many people that I talked to, being able to look back and say, I played a role in bringing us all to a place of healing and health and happiness. Dr. Taz: I think that's just such gratifying work. So thank you again Ryland Englehart: for being here. Absolutely. My pleasure. And thanks for the invitation. And you know, as I said, we have, uh, the two events, the Confluence, uh, May 8th through the 12th, and then 16th through the 18th. Food Is Medicine and I'd love to extend it an invitation to your audience, everyone. Ryland Englehart: Right. Uh, so yeah, check out, uh, sovereignty Ranch events, uh, the Confluence and Food Is Medicine. And I'd also love to invite you as potentially a speaker for, uh, food Is Medicine. I'm Dr. Taz: Game. I love it. Well, thanks again. Ryland Englehart: Yeah, thank you. Dr. Taz: Thank you so much for listening and watching today's episode of Whole Plus, be sure to share this episode with your friends and family. Dr. Taz: And if you have it already, please take a moment to subscribe to this podcast on YouTube, or click the follow button on Apple, Spotify, or wherever it is that you get your podcast. Don't forget to follow me on all social channels at Dr. Taz md. Until next time, stay healthy and stay whole.