This video is a compilation of my harvests in the agroturismos of Italy, the desert of Argentina, and the sunshine of northern California. The music is one of my favorite songs of all time, it’s called Voyageur by Enigma. I moved out to California a year ago with a bottle of GrapeThinking, a bottle of ideas I guess you could say, that started filling up 5 years ago with conversation between myself, Jacob Bohall, Ruarri Rogan, Meghan O’Malley, and many others. Over the past year, those ideas have delightfully fermented, and the time has finally come for us to have a taste…

~circuit to cell, web to water, mind to vine~

The placebo effect, in particular, is a fascinating phenomenon… if the mind believes it is taking a medicine that is supposed to heal, even if that medicine is just a sugar cube, that belief still has the power to heal the body. A mesmerizing concept and implication for the power of perception and the human mind. If the mind has the ability to heal, then it also has the ability to self evolve. It simply needs to be activated… infused

Many will say that thinking and the mind gets in the way of intuiting or feeling your path. That we should live from the heart. Buddhists profess that the path is in quieting the mind through meditation. I am a fan of that, however I’m also a fan of creating an electrical vortex in the mind in rhythm that connects me to the moment. With this method you are attempting to use the mind to its fullest, pushing it to its maximum ability in order to connect.

The mind is the most evolved essence of life on our planet. It comes from the neural mycelial network of nature and is expanding into the neural network that is the Internet. So what is the future for our minds and ourselves? Are we going to realize the vision of the matrix in being plugged into a virtual world, with our physical self being inanimate, or are we going to use the web to harness the collective mental capacity of the world to begin to physically self-evolve? Both?

ThinK about it

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The basis is an engine… a thinking engine that drives sustainable development, and more specifically, the health of the world. How do you create something in which the consumption heals the body and the production heals the earth?

Think about it

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To simplify… how can a wine benefit mental health, environ(mental) health. See the layers? When we realize the sustainable mind, the healthy mind, we realize the sustainable world. To create a real elixir you have to be a neurologist and a psychologist just as much as you have to be an oenologist and a viticulturalist. With this, the liquid becomes the frontier of technology… the liquid technology. To connect technology to the earth. A fusion between circuit and cell, between web and water… between mind and vine.

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The essence of this movement lies in increasing the ease and convenience for people to grow their own food, and thus their own energy. This will be what drives the greater connectedness and expansion of consciousness that so many believe to be at the core of the sustainable revolution. This can be through the use of personal gardens or more practically, through the shared space in an urban garden or biotower.

This is amazing work that feels solid and dense. Urban farming doesn’t feel flaky and granola like so many other things “green.” It is literally bringing nature to the grid. Green roofs are already starting to gain traction as they have functional purposes, such as better thermoregulation for buildings and rainwater capture. Urban gardens are accelerating especially in sustainably minded cities like San Francisco, and the concept of biotowers is becoming more practical (click photo below). The room for architectural innovation with urban farms is seemingly endless.

Again, the essence of this movement is inspiring people and making it easy for them to begin to grow their own food. Taking the innovations of the industrial and technological revolutions, connecting them to the land and agriculture, and thereby sparking the sustainable revolution. This very well could be the most powerful shift our world has seen.

Check out www.farmerd.com and his consulting practices. He is doing awesome things with school gardens and inspiring people to grow their own food. He’s also beginning some very interesting urban development projects. Stay tuned…

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They bought a car with another girl (the rock star of the group), and were planning to head way north to work on a farm for a little bit. They invited me to go, so I left my suitcase with a friend in San Francisco and hit the road with them. The following few weeks were beyond amazing… so many serendipities. My favorite was running into one of the winemakers I worked with everyday for 2 months in Argentina earlier this year in a small grocery store parking lot in Napa, and I just so happened to have a bottle of the organic wine we worked on in my backpack. Our car turned into a sustainable circus. We worked on the farm we set out for, did a little harvest work at a winery, but mainly stayed on the road visiting sustainable farms all around northern Cali. We touched Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, and Marin.

A couple of our favorites were Filigreen Farm in Anderson Valley, where Chris Tebbutt has built an amazing mixed biodynamic agriculture setup of vines and fruit orchards, it was incredible. He also had huge solar arrays setup that produce 100% of the farm’s energy… a true thinking farm. We also visited Paul Dolan at his biodynamic Dark Horse Farming Ranch in Ukiah, which was powerful. He has an “energy center” with his flow form, preparations, and a stunning “bug strip” of crazy flowers and vegetation that generates the biodiversity and balance in his vineyard. On our way south, we made a stop at Solar City somewhere on 101 south of Ukiah, which is a sustainable building/living community. We slept in a teepee and talked about what it takes to build sustainable communities.

Somewhere along the way we got tipped off about the Bioneers conference down in San Rafael so we trekked down there and crashed the conference for the weekend. I talked to Rebecca of the Biodynamics Association about heading up their booth for a day in exchange for a free pass, and she graciously accepted my offer. We got to see some amazing speakers and share even more amazing ideas, and I was able to pitch biodynamics all day Sunday at the trade show. I met some more of the folks with RSF Social Finance as well, which, in my opinion, is one of the most innovative financial organizations that exists.

We just kept going, drinking, laughing, breathing, seeing how these amazing farms are changing the environment, all while staying break even along the way. We went crazy and then sane and then crazy again. It was a ride. Now, I’m back in San Francisco to do some GrapeThinking. Represent some biowines, bring our own GT wine to market… use the elixir to drive the sustainable development of farms and communities.

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I think about the rise in mental illness in our world, and we have no explanation for the cause. We just treat the symptoms and give big pharma a reason to make more and more money. Sure drugs help in extreme cases, but it will never treat the cause. So why is it happening? Is it pollution, waste, chemicals in our food and water? Sure those things have something to do with it. But it goes deeper, right? I obviously have a lot of questions, as I’m sure many of us do who share an interest and passion for this issue. The graphic above is awesome, but sometimes it’s not that simple.

I’ve begun to have some pretty intense ideas about it. I’ve even come to the hypothesis that these forms of mental illness, whether it be intense bipolarity, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, are natural progressions in our evolution. But why? What are we evolving to? Is it nature’s evolved method to cleanse the mind (step 3 above)? Could it be some type of accelerated empathy? A form of telepathy if you will. To be able to have a deeply personal experience, that most would perceive as crazy, and yet it be what binds us, what allows us to understand what each other is feeling, what each other is thinking. I always noticed this with my uncle. As much as he seemed to be unable to function “normally”, he always seemed to be in tune with what other people were thinking and feeling much more than most. More so, it is rather well known that some of the most creative, innovative people in history dealt with some form of mental shift. Maybe we all have this in us, the natural pull to attain personal enlightenment our own way, and when we are unable to pursue that personal journey, to cleanse and enlighten ourselves our own way because of environment, family, personal fear, or whatever, the negative symptoms of mental illness realize themselves.

It’s a very touchy subject that has impacted many peoples’ lives, and I personally find that those who have experienced it indirectly through someone close to them, have somewhat of an aversion to discussing and talking about it deeply due to fear of it possibly being in them. Our society has stigmatized it so much, and we’ve got to get past that. Again, it is idiopathic, which means that we don’t know the cause, and we fear that which we don’t understand. It is something I have the deepest compassion for and I hope you won’t take it as my rationalization, in case I’m just as crazy. Although, as a seeker of truth, I can’t rule that out

Whether it be a natural response to the decaying systems of our world that are disconnecting us from nature, or if it is the natural evolutionary process of our species to cleanse ourselves and reach a higher cognitive telepathic ability, this subject serves as one of the great debates of our times. Psychology and the mind is the final frontier. It will lead us to the depths of ourselves and the edge of the universe. Think about how you think.

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Serendipity is commonly thought of as an event of destiny. In the shamanic world of the Amazon and the Andes, they think of it as synchronicity, which is a great word that blends rationale with mysticism. They believe that there is a force guiding the development of our world, and it is our purpose to become in tune or in sync with that force. There is even an anatomical hypothesis to this. The sensor is our heart, using it to pick up the synchronicity events when they happen, which sends the appropriate signal to our minds to recognize it and do something with it… to remember it, to have it mean something in your life, to build a story, to contribute to building a sustainable world. Sure this sounds very fairy tale, but what if it is the simple truth?

The question everyone will have is, if this is real, then how do you get in touch with it, how do you feel it, how do you recognize it? The answer begins with a cleanse. We dampen our ability to feel and recognize this signal through so many things. Our food supply fills us with so much degrading substance, whether it be synthetic chemical pesticides or preservatives. More importantly, we constantly fill our head with unhealthy thoughts and then reinforce that chaotic circuitry by repeatedly thinking the same things.  We attach ourselves to create a false sense of permanence… to stuff, materials, relationships, an exterior god… and we develop a fear of losing these things. You have to cleanse this all away, let it all go, and get to the core, to the source. It’s only when you let all this stuff go that you can sense the guiding synchronicity that surrounds you. You won’t question the next step, you won’t regret. You’ll be filled with wonder as you experience the serendipity of your life.

The meditative practices of the East are very enlightened at this, however it is the shamanic ceremonies of South America that are driven by an inescapable practical magnetism… a drink with a sonic complement that brings forth a powerful cleanse. A loss of control and a cleanse of mind body and soul. Think of yourself as an instrument that needs to be tuned, and this ceremony is the tuner. The goal is obviously to be able to tune yourself, but everyone needs some help in the beginning.

Check more into these ceremonies if you’re interested. Ayahuasca is the name of the drink which drives the ceremony. It is important to be ready, but I’m guessing if you’ve read this far, then you’re on your way.

There are more and more health studies piling up showing the powerful effects of Resveratrol. As we noted over 3 years ago (The Human Elixir), there are companies, such as Sirtris, in existence specifically to synthesize this molecule into an anti-aging drug. Supposedly Resveratrol helps the production of more efficient mitochondria, whereas most antioxidants only neutralize free radicals in the system. This is like creating a more efficient engine that pollutes less vs. sequestering carbon. Beyond this, there have been numerous tests showing Resveratrol’s ability to kill forms of cancer, help with caloric restriction, increase life expectancy through diminished probability of contracting diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes, and many say it is the reason for the famous French Paradox. As a result of all this press and consumer awareness, the market is flooding with Resveratrol pills and supplements, claiming to extend life and end all ailments.

However, interestingly enough, there is evidence that suggests that it is not the Resveratrol that gives red wine its health benefits…

There is supposedly such a small quantity of Resveratrol in red wine that it couldn’t have any type of significant impact, not to mention that the bio-availability is even smaller, meaning that most of the Resveratrol consumed is not absorbed into the blood stream. So where do the health benefits come from?

Roger Corder, professor of experimental therapeutics at the William Harvey Research Institute in London, has been studying the health benefits of red wine for 15 years and has written an interesting read called The Red Wine Diet. He proposes that it is not the Resveratrol, or even the anti-oxidants or alcohol that give red wine its magical benefits, but rather another set of special molecules called procyanidins. These procyanidins are showing to be powerful inhibitors of Endothelin-1, which is known to constrict blood vessels and lead to a build up of artherosclerotic plaque. Thus, a consistent diet of procyanidins will keep your body clean and functioning well. Most importantly, it is found that certain red wines produced from grapes grown in certain natural environmental conditions contain enough procyanidin to give you the powerful health benefits (such as those outlined in the French Paradox) in only 1 or 2 glasses of wine a day!

This is fantastic research continuing our alchemical pursuit of the elixir of life… and remember, it isn’t about living forever, it’s about living well. More research to come…

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