The Crooked Forest Podcast

Joe and Holly on KURU- Local Flavor

Tune in for this 27 minute segment on the January 24th “Local Flavor” show, when Joe and Holly talk about the origin story of Crooked Forest Institute, and what they see coming for 2025.

Ecorestoration and Indigenous Agroecology Traditions

Join us for this deep-dive interview with Coakee William Wildcat, an Ecorestoration and Syntropic Agroforestry educator who originally hails from the Oklahoma Seminole Nation. He celebrates having two lenses to navigate the modern world; He integrates the western science studies of soil biology, botany, ecology, Miyawaki reforestation and ecology/climate physics--including the Biotic Pump Theory-- with a deep historical and personal understanding of indigenous agroecology traditions, and weaves them into a coherent picture of what human relationship with Earth looks like when we act as a steward species. When studies show that biodiversity is highest on indigenous-managed land around the world, how do we empower indigenous knowledge-holders during this global climate crisis?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/indigenous-lands-ace-biodiversity-measurements/
 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1462901119301042
 
https://www.wri.org/insights/indigenous-and-local-community-land-rights-protect-biodiversity
 

Regenerative Rural Resilience: Leveraging Community Power for Economic Transformation

Couldn't make it to the Crooked Forest Workshop at the Tranquil Buzz on Friday, June 21st? Here's the recording of the Regenerative Rural Resilience: Leveraging Community Power for Economic Transformation workshop so you can take it with you. This workshop focuses on the Economic aspects of the Crooked Forest vision.
In this workshop, Joe Kennedy and Holly Noonan engage the audience to discuss the Problem we are solving for, the Process we should use to solve for it, the Solutions that are already working around the world and the Partners that Crooked Forest would like to work with or is already working with. Join us!
 

Environmental Illness, Women and Housing

Join the Co-hosts Susan GoLightly and Renee Provencio of "Gender Trouble," a program on Gila Mimbres Community Radio, as they interview Holly Noonan and Jade Sawyer of Crooked Forest Institute. Join us as we explore the questions of "What exactly is Environmental Illness?" and  "Why are women disproportionately affected by it?" and "How is the Crooked Forest Institute working on housing options for this demographic?" Also, how can the extreme experiences of the environmental refugees who become hypersensitive to the chemicals in modern society be a harbinger that can keep all the rest of society safer and healthier?
 
Here's the link to the article in the Stanford medical review about why women are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases.

Bob Estrin Interview-- The School of Constructive Arts celebrates both Ancient and Modern Technology

Bob Estrin is an architect, builder, teacher and life long student. In 2020, he founded the School of Constructive Arts (SCA), a laboratory for the experimental study of holistic, healthy, and affordable methods of building and living in dry lands environments. SCA seeks to integrate ancient approaches with modern technology to derive new models for the current ecological, social, and housing crises. The son of a builder, Bob worked in conventional construction in Florida before moving to New York to study architecture at the Cooper Union. His thesis research on ancient uses of natural energy and natural materials led him to travel to North Africa.Join us for this wide ranging conversation that touches on deep human history, what it means to be "regenerative" and how to understand the causes and potential solutions to the current housing crisis in America.

Larry Roybal -- A Master Adobe Builder looks back on a Fascinating Career

Larry Roybal is a master adobe builder who has built and renovated more than 20 adobe homes in Silver City/Grant County (and two in Sante Fe) since the early 1970s, when he moved down here from Northern New Mexico. Originally from Corrales, he built his first home there out of "terrones," a sort of "living adobe brick" used by the Isleta Indians. Join us as Larry regales us with dozens of capitivating stories, like building an adobe in front of the HUD building in Washington DC, visiting the Ignacio de Roybal House, an adobe that was built in 1705 by his ancestor, building the pagoda in Silver City's Gough Park, and looking back on the turbulent history of New Mexico through the unique lens of an artist with both Spanish and Indigenous ancestry.
SPECIAL BONUS: Don't miss this online photo album featuring four of the houses that Larry Roybal built and one that he renovated.

Hempcrete Homes with a Building Biologist

Nora Ureste is a Building Biologist who, together with her husband, Chris, is creating a small retreat center outside of Austin, Texas that can host people who are chemically and environmentally sensitive. The project, called Flourish Here, is working towards completing the first of 6 hempcrete homes and will feature a 5 bedroom retreat house, a comprehensive water catchment system and wellness amenities that include a tadelakt sauna. I visited her project in December 2023 on the Rolemodel Roadtrip and am looking forward to following along in the development process. https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/the-lower-sioux-in-minnesota-need-homes-so-theyre-building-them-from-hemp
https://buildingbiologyinstitute.org/
 

Year-End Update from Holly on the RoleModel Roadtrip

 
Listen in as Holly hits the road on a road trip to visit three of the organizations that are inspiring us to believe that our dream is not just possible, but already succeeding in different places around the country. In this episode, she visits an agrihood, a hempcrete retreat center in development and a community land trust in the borderlands. See the Rolemodel Roadtrip Map here.

Community Rebuilds is Getting Things Done!

Join us for an Interview with Leah Olson, the Community Outreach Coordinator for Community Rebuilds in Moab, Utah. Community Rebuilds is a visionary affordable housing program that pairs natural building with a community land trust and finishes 12 to 16 houses a year using volunteers, interns and home-owners to keep workforce housing affordable in a crazy market. Their inclusionary education model was just celebrated by Patagonia, and as Leah will tell you, it's the people that make the magic in this amazing rolemodel program.
 
See how they pulled off creating the first affordable home to meet the Living Building Challenge by focusing on carbon-negative, locally sourced materials, passive solar design, water catchment and an almost zero-waste build site. Learn more about their process in this The World's First Affordable Living Buildings.
 
Be sure to visit to https://crookedforestinstitute.org/ subscribe for more.

Interview with Kristen Lundgren of Interconnect

Join us for an hour of conversation about the origin story of Crooked Forest Institute, with an interview by Kristen Lundgren, for her local radio show called "Interconnect." It begins with the health saga of getting sick in America, a hero's journey and then the crystal clarity that the world would be better with one hundred more tiny adobes.
 
Be sure to visit to https://crookedforestinstitute.org/ subscribe for more.