ExploreMore Podcast

After a long day, I went for a short hike at a local park. This wasn't a crazy wilderness experience but really just some time outside in nature. I do this often and I always feel refreshed afterwards even if I'm only out there for 5 minutes. These are some thoughts I had while on my hike. I hope they resonate with you ❤ 

Kristina Holleman and her husband RW bought a hundred-acre farm in Greenville, Texas in 2004, looking for some space, a slower pace, and a simpler way of life for their growing family. It took a few years to realize that the farm could be used for more than a giant playground for the kids.  In an attempt to supply cleaner and more wholesome food for their family, they started raising chicken, eggs, pork,  and beef, milking the family Jersey cow, and growing lots of fresh produce. They learned and grew through the adventures, disasters, and rewarding moments. The journey has been a powerful experience, making the connection between land, labor, and  food, and enjoying the privilege of providing clean and healthy foods for family and friends.

Kristina also runs a private Academy on the farm that started this year. St. Isidore Academy began as the result of a small group of Catholic home schooling families coming together to support one another in their faith and in the formation and education of their children. The mission of home schooling is a unique and beautiful calling; those who answer the call seek to build up the Church by protecting and nurturing their families and passing on the faith by the intentional formation and education of their children.  But the challenges to answering this call are many.  Most families struggle to maintain consistency in schooling in the presence of life’s ups and downs and busy seasons, new babies, illnesses, work schedules and pressures.  Teaching many children of different grade levels can be difficult, and most parents do not feel competent in every area of academics, especially as their children reach middle school and high school.  Many struggle with the burden of paperwork, records, transcripts, standardized testing, or college applications.  In addition, home schooling can sometimes feel isolating, and many parents recognize a need for social interaction and group learning opportunities, and the presence of a supportive community of families.  St. Isidore Academy was founded to address all these challenges for the home schooling family, and to provide support and solutions that enable families to continue and to succeed in home schooling.

As much at home behind the pulpit as he is in his classroom, where he teaches history to students of six different grades, Lewis also loves walking down ancient riverbeds seeking to add to his museum-like collection of stone artifacts left behind by Texas’ ancient inhabitants. He has even helped excavate the fossilized remains of a Mosasaur, a type of marine dinosaur that roamed the shallow seas that once covered his neck of the woods more than 70,000,000 years ago. 

We sit down and talk about Indian artifacts, fossils, history and the many adventures Mr. Smith has had on the North Sulphur riverbed. On the interview he does some show and tell which obviously we cannot see on the Podcast but I'll try to upload to YouTube. In the meantime, check out his YouTube (link below) to see some much better quality videos of his many fossils. 

Follow his many adventures below:

Emily Cable works for Solid Rock Outdoor Ministries which is the group I did my 40 day backpacking trip in Wyoming with in college. I love everything SROM is doing and wanted to get someone on the podcast who works for them. Emily and I talk about crazy adventures, pooping in the wilderness, amazing moments with God in the middle of His creation and so much more. 

Learn more about SROM here: 

A few weeks ago I had a wonderful conversation with Kelly who is in school to be a therapist in California. She shares about Forest Bathing and what it is like to use nature to help her work with people and specifically children in her school where she works. 

Books Kelly recommends: 

Forest Bathing by Dr Qing Li 

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv