Episode 7

full
Published on:

16th Jan 2025

Burning Man, Beekeeping & Back to Basics with James Malcolm

NOTE: there was a bit of an audio issue with our guest and for this episode we recommend watching on Youtube and turning on the captions for a better experience. You'll also get to see some great video and photos from James' life. https://youtu.be/oUHIBdEzJSE

James Malcolm is truly a Renaissance Man. He’s a beekeeper who runs his own Manuka Honey business, he is an avid gardener and outdoorsman, he is a world traveler, husband to a real cowgirl and father of a 2-year old. James has a great philosophy and approach to living a meaningful and mischievous life.

Alvin and James met at Burning Man and we discussed that and many more of his interesting, hilarious and hair-raising experiences.

You can find James’ honey business online at https://foothills.nz/

Don’t forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and, if you enjoyed our podcast, please leave a review and share with a friend!

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For more, join us on https://www.midlifemischiefclub.com/

Transcript
Speaker:

This is the Midlife Mischief Club podcast

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with Jon and Alvin.

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We are launching into, the podcast.

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that we talked about at Burning Man,

and we're glad to have,

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guest James Malcolm here.

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And to put some context around this,

our, guest here, James, wears many hats.

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He lives in New Zealand.

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He's a father of a two year old. He's,

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got an adorable,

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young wife,

that I got to hang out with all you guys,

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for, six days

and six nights in the Nevada desert.

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What else can you tell us?

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Just so we know about about who you are

before we launch into the details?

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Okay, so I am mid-30s,

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I am self-employed.

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I've been self-employed since I was about 21.

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Probably unemployable.

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Probably why I’m self-employed.

Went to uni for a year.

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Failed miserably.

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Me and my best friends.

And kind of you know my life

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was kind of mapped out for me

to become like a sixth generation

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cropping farmer on the family farm

and that like, yeah, my

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my parents end up selling the farm,

luckily and it broke the family curse.

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And then I kind of stumbled

upon beekeeping and fell in love with it

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and like I said,

become self-employed at like 21

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and now 36

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yeah, I've had a cool relationship, with

Rachel for five years.

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and definitely pushed the boundaries on

what a relationship stands for

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and since then, we have a two year old child.

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and her name’s Middie,

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And we just pack her around with us like we,

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we do all sorts of cool trips,

over seas, around New Zealand,

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and have a pretty funky life,

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where we work hard in the season,

spring and summer in New Zealand,

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And then.

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Yep, always looking for some sort of

adventure and shenanigans

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wherever, you know.

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It seems like you,

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have a lot of adventures.

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You go on and a lot of, hobbies

and things that you like to do

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with you and your family, you know,

going to Burning Man where you met Alvin.

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Then can you guys describe a little bit

about that experience

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of what that was like?

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You know,

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I heard that it felt like

you'd be dropped on the moon,

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and that's what it felt like

when we got there.

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There was a white out that lasted

about 20 hours and is not a joke.

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You had to shelter in place.

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You had dust, even in your teeth.

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And, then we had the best weather ever.

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And so you go from kind of

hellish conditions to, building a camp.

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And we, became, like, best friends

with James and about, you know, one day

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to then, in the middle of the night

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when you launch out in these lit up

bikes to the best parties of your life,

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you go, you hit one,

and then someone pulls you by the arm

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and goes, all right, we've been here

long enough. It's been 30 minutes.

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We're going to go to the

next best party of our lives.

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Well, I

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probably, I guess I'm used to extreme

environments.

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Like, for me, like, my hobbies are like

hiking, hunting, the outdoors.

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I. I work in the mountains like,

harvesting the honey, with bees and

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and and whatnot.

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And so I'm used to being

in a harsh environment.

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So it wasn't too much of a shock to me.

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And probably what I did think is that

it's way more normal at Burning Man,

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it’s out of the gate and you can't

explain it, but there's a lot of normality

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and everyone thinks it's like Instagram

models and,

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and nudity and whatever else it is that.

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But there’s everyone else that's sort of

participating in every different format,

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So it's like,

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and just the scale of that, like the scale

that blew my mind and that it doesn't

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sleep for eight days like it's 24 hours,

it's really gets under your skin

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and you know, the part that cracked me up

is that I took a two year old there,

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and the two year old

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had more fun than I did because, like,

everything is, like, amazing.

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Like the default world for her is boring,

she’s like, Holy shit, I want to go back there.

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Wow. Yeah.

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I'm like, you know me and Alvin are biking

around, looking round like, wow.

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And this child is like, you know,

everything is just stimulation overload.

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You know, and I think,

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I don't know, like it, but for me, it's

something that I'll partake

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in every couple of years,

probably for the rest of my life.

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Like Alvin probably has mixed feelings about it,

because, it is a harsh environment.

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Right? Right.

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I'm good for it.

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But, like,

I was so impressed by James building

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the camp and, like,

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with just endless energy.

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But but to your point,

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James was making some one of my takeaways,

Jon, is that there's

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a sense of community

that is, like, almost like never before.

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I mean, strangers who hug you

and no cars to hide

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behind, no houses to hide behind,

no cellphones to hide behind.

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No egos to hide behind.

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No nothing. There isn't a VIP ticket to Burning Man.

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It's like a ticket for everyone.

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And it's like cut your bullshit.

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I like I came away from it a

little confused and probably took me.

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It's probably take me two months

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to to really reflect on it, to be like,

fuck, that was cool.

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Yeah.

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And and to think about the interaction,

so this is the part that turned me

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on the most, because, well,

I think and look for

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so I look for stimulating,

intelligent conversation.

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So everywhere I went,

there was intelligent conversation.

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I just intelligent people like the banter,

the stories, the laughs, whatever,

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that you know everything about the

is intelligent like you.

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Everyone's on the spectrum. Yeah.

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And I'm cool with that.

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Yeah, totally.

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And that's one thing about it just I was

going to say it just filters out the,

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a lot of, a lot of people who,

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I don't know,

you end up with the most extreme people.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So we borrowed

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this old camper van from

friends from Alberta, Canada,

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and some Kiwi friends of mine

that live like ten minutes down the road.

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And they had this camper van

based in Alberta.

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and I borrowed it once before. Last time I borrowed it

Rachel was pregnant and we did a 13,000km

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road trip down through the US.

ended up down in like

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We went down through the Rockies,

the previous months.

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So down through the Rockies,

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to Denver.

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we went across the midway to Nashville

and through New Orleans,

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Through Texas, to New Mexico up to Vegas.

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And then back up through Nevada

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and then Oregon,

Washington and back into Alberta.

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Sorry.

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Rita is a bit of an old dog,

and doesn't have A/C,

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unless your plugged into power at night.

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the power steering broke on the most recent trip,

so now it doesn’t have power steering.

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I bought a generator for it.

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So we’re actually pretty sweet.

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But anyway, that first mission, Rach was like

three months pregnant

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and she had really bad morning sickness,

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This trip was kind of designed

like eight weeks.

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It was designed to,

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have a bunch of friends

join us for two and three week stints,

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and a bit of a boozy sort of trip

with their mates,

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Rachel was pregnant

45 degrees for three weeks in a row.

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There was a heat wave.

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Yeah.

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And so the humidity kicked

in, in Nashville.

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And then it just the whole way around

the bottom down through New Orleans and

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and around through to Texas.

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And it wasn't until we got back up

to Oregon that it actually,

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the temp to cool off.

She wanted to stab me, like it was bad.

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And we were, like, on the booze

every night. Freaking having fun.

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Like like a boozy boys trip,

with my pregnant wife.

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And we would get to the RV park that night

or in the afternoons,

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would plug in the power,

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and it would take like an hour to cool

the wagon down, because it was so hot.

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And we're like the oldest

vehicle on the motorway,

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with, with windows down.

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It would just sitting there

like half naked like on fan bake,

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and people are just looking at us,

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like who are these red necks,

like Alberta number plates

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You know, way down south.

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That's the first trip of Rita.

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And then we sign up again

because we're that freaking stupid.

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But then once we got to Burning Man,

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Rita was a God send, wasn’t it, Alvin?

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Like, we all took refuge in there.

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We made coffees when it wasn't coffee set up.

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We’d cook breakfasts.

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We hung out in there.

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It was like it was my refuge

from my messed up tent life.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just.

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It was pretty severe,

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The first couple of days

we were at Burning Man.

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Like, I think like that dust storm,

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It didn't last for a long time,

but the big dust storm,

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there would been probably two meters of visibility.

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And it moved through there pretty quick.

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I'd heard stories

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that the worst I'd ever seen it was you

couldn't see your hand in front of you.

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So you have to look at.

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It's a pretty arid environment, right?

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And its sucking the life out of you.

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Like we had it done as well. And.

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And I hit up Rach at the end of the day and said,

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I said, you know,

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are we good for another Rita mission?

And she said, I think we’re done with Rita.

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But I'm, I disagree with it.

I think Rita’s got Burning Man in her,

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one more, without a child.

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But I will send her in for preventative maintenance

before we go.

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Yeah.

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Maybe a tune up and, Yeah.

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Typical for running an 89 e350 old Ford camper.

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And. Yeah, I like to strap everything to it

and head into the desert.

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I do a lot of trips,

but none of them are glamourous.

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So I don't need glamor in my life.

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Right.

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I need

I need longevity. So it's like, hey,

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I want to go, go away for a long bit,

but I want to do it on the cheap.

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And yeah, it's not that I'm backpacking,

so I'm lavishing up

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enough at like, nice restaurants and stuff,

but it's like,

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you know, borrowing bits and pieces of your mates

and just making shit work like,

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you know, that that's

kind of who I am, like a bush mechanic.

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That like, having a laugh..

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Well, it's

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great to be able to to know enough

to fix something on the fly,

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because when you're going

through the Rockies or wherever, there

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might not be a service station

or anything for miles and miles.

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So you could have that

could have been a trip ender right there,

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and up. The worst part?

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That first trip.

But I forgot the detail. Right.

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So we were driving up through Nevada

on that first trip when Rachel's pregnant

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and we were going through Death Valley,

and it started overheating.

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And, we were in roadworks and it was, like,

45 degrees, and that's just, like, what it does.

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And, and, and I had to pull over the side

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in this roadworks and we limped to the next town,

and then I rang a friend.

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In New Zealand, a mechanic,

and got some advice from them.

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anyway, so I thought, hey, what?

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Yeah. Tell me what's going on. Okay.

The water pumps crapping out.

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And so then we looked up and there was a

radiator shop in Bishop, California.

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And so we limped there through the night.

Once it was cold. And I end up having

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to use the gray water underneath the shower.

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But yeah the grey water tank to fill up

the radiator. And we limped there and like,

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in 15 minute increments, pretty much,

for like an hour.

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It was an hour’s drive, but it took

the whole night to get there.

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Right.

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And, and then we parked off of this

radiator shop.

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And Jose, this Mexican dude.

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He was an absolute legend, you know?

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And so we parked up there, pregnant wife,

plugged into his power, using his A/C.

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He says to me,

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like, you know, I’m leaning on the side of the the hood.

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And he's working on it.

We’re there for three days

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And he says to me,

if you ask me any questions, I’ll charge you double.

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And I didn't ask any questions at all.

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I just, I just leaned there

and I could see him like frustrated,

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looking for tools and stuff

and he asked me little comments and stuff.

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Sure.

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And then I knew I knew what tools he's

looking for, so I’d pass him the tools.

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And then he warmed to like me to the point

where we drank beers every night.

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And he had kids my age, and it's like,

he was a cool guy.

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Okay. Oh that's great.

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Well, we got to the end of that Friday

afternoon.

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I said I'll go to the bank and get you cash

to pay the bill.

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And I asked him about how much was it?

and he said, 500 bucks.

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And I said, Man, there’s 500 bucks worth of parts here.

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I said, you’re ripping yourself off.

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So I went to the bank and got some cash out

and gave him $900.

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I was like just, you know, it's

500 bucks worth of parts.

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So he was kind of doing you a solid, but,

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He was he was being a legend.

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He didn’t care.

He didn’t need much.

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The you know, when people like that,

that are super humble

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and willing to help you and

don't have much themselves.

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And actually don’t care.

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That’s a cool feeling. And you’re like,

No man, like you’re a good person.

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And then it's like, I know what it cost.

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Even if you jumped to 900,

its probably half of what shit costs.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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But I think,

I think a lot of that is your attitude.

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You know,

you were right there with them throughout

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and not coming in entitled like,

fix my truck.

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I'll be in the hotel,

you know, with the AC cranked.

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You know, you were right there with,

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you know, befriending in helping him out.

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I think I think that really means a lot,

you know?

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Well, and it's about being unassuming

as well, like.

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Yeah.

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Like, I, I've run a pretty good business,

and and I'm just chipping away doing me.

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But it's like he probably thought

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I was this broke backpacker

with his poor wife in the back.

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which is cool, because

it's like it doesn't actually matter.

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Like you can drop your ego like

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and just be real.

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We we live in a tiny house,

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down into the paddock, like where our

business and stuff is based.

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So the bee business is based at one end

and then at one end of the block,

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and then we're down the other end

and Rachel has a setup down there for horses.

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yeah, she,

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she’s an interesting woman

because he's like super relaxed,

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but she's got like the fierceness

in her as well.

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Like she trains animals for a living.

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She starts them.

She’s the first person to ride these horses.

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and the connection she has with them

and feeling and stuff like that.

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Yeah.

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Like it's a it's a pretty special talent

and and just a cool woman, like that.

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Yeah.

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Understand to

then work for the hands like she.

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Yeah, she’s cool. She’s a cool woman.

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And you know like she's

a pretty soft in her soul as well.

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Like you’ve met her, you know, Alvin.

She’s kick ass.

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She's so amazing.

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She's, she's she's a charmer.

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So let me hear, where you live

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in New Zealand

because we, I don't know anything about,

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the countryside.

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I've seen great video of of where you are.

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You've got a big vegetable garden and,

and, a view of horses and hillsides.

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Can you tell us about where you live?

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Yeah.

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So we live in the center of the South Islands.

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So there’s the North and South Islands

that make up New Zealand.

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plus a bunch of small islands.

But two main islands.

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And we're in the center

of the South Island

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and the closest city

to us is called, Christchurch.

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And we're 45 minutes,

towards the mountain from Christchurch.

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So we're right on the edge

of some beautiful mountain is awesome

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walking trails, beautiful clean, pristine

rivers, beaches like 30 minutes away.

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Winery is about 30 minutes away.

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Like, it's

actually quite a cool area where we live.

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And, yeah,

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the only thing I could probably fault

about New Zealand is it's weather. So,

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yeah, we get to

nice weather in the summer, but it's like

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you can have like four seasons in one day

just because it's a little island nation

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surrounded by water just gets smoked

by different weather systems.

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Versus you guys, being in a big continent whatever.

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Like, so you know,

New Zealand is beautiful because of its harshness.

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So, you know, mountainous terrain, lush forests,

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you know, green rolling hills, but because,

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Yeah. Like it.

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Yeah.

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There always can come sort of adverse

weather system smacking into it.

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But I love how you can live off the land.

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I mean you've got your,

you got a big vegetable garden

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and then you, you've mentioned

that you can,

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you can go down the road

and fish for yourself.

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Can you, can you tell me a little more?

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Aww so, you know, like some of my hobbies,

like I'm into vegetable gardening.

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Like, for me, vegetable gardening in therapy.

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My granddad was a keen vegetable gardener.

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My grandparents retired young.

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My parents were super busy, so I spent

heaps of time with them.

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So my grandparents were into fishing

and hunting and living off the land.

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And they retired at 50.

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Uhm,

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Well, they had plenty, plenty on time on their hands

and then they had a massive veggie garden.

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So I guess I was brought up with that.

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My parents were,

well, my dad was an organic cropping farmer.

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So, like that has been instilled in me.

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You know that living off the land concept,

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So I have a big, veggie garden.

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I'd say that we probably don't buy any

vegetables, for about eight months of a year.

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We can we purely live off this veggie garden

for eight months of the year,

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four months, where we’re over seas,

or, buying from the store.

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Or whatever.

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Fantastic.

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My, my vegetable garden is my therapy,

so I don't have TV.

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And I go in there at night, like after dinner

and I pull some weeds and plant some stuff,

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like, it's, it's pretty basic,

but there's, like, I guess there's

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some fundamentals that you've got to be

you've got to understand,

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like how to look after the soil,

compost and things like that.

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And, you know, i’m into fishing and diving.

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So when I'm fishing, I'm like,

collecting seaweed

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and keeping my fish bodies and stuff like that.

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I then and I bury them in my garden

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and I make my compost

and I make them up and bucket and make.

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Yeah. Let them rot away too.

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It's like yeah it it pretty wholesome.

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I think a lot of people don't,

don't think about that in terms of,

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how to add,

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more, nutrient rich,

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products to their garden.

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You know, they think of what bottle

can I spray on it or what can I add to it?

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But, really going with compost or,

creating your own.

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And so, so you're almost into, like, a

no waste,

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kind of lifestyle,

which is just fantastic.

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And I guess it's probably interesting

that I've done this you know,

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you know, a younger person, because

it's been instilled in me and,

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Yeah, like I said, like I'm,

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I've got some cool mates and mentors

that, that, that fully live off the land

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and they own nothing, but

they're like the richest people I know.

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Yeah.

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I'm living in little bush shacks and stuff like,

you know, and coastal communities

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and the in New Zealand,

and I’ve learned some cool stuff off them.

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And just like cool appreciation, and

you know I'm like everything's treasure.

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So it's like you know

like yeah for us,

375

:

like we have this big wood fire outside our house.

376

:

On the deck and we,

377

:

yeah.

378

:

I say to my friends when we’re standing around with beers and stuff, we barbecue with wood

379

:

and we stand around the fire

cooking on it and stuff like that.

380

:

And I say to my mates, don’t put any

rubbish in there because in that fire,

381

:

I'll try to like meat bones

and fish shells and stuff

382

:

and after we have cooked in them.

383

:

But then I used the ash

from that fire to put

384

:

use that as pot ash on my veggie garden.

385

:

So nice. I'm like, it is the whole.

386

:

Yes, the cycle of life.

387

:

Yeah. That's so cool.

388

:

Yeah.

389

:

So, you know, like, you keeping your fish

bodies you’re picking up the seaweed,

390

:

for mulching you garden and, and you know,

391

:

and the pot ash and stuff from your fire.

392

:

Yeah. It just it just everything.

393

:

I'm quite conscientious

394

:

of like of my footprint and,

and you know, I'm not saying I'm like,

395

:

I don't believe in chemicals,

but I'm like, you know, minimize them.

396

:

Only use them when

397

:

You really get a problem

like. And trade and spray everything.

398

:

It's like, yeah.

399

:

Like you've got to have the tools

in the toolbox if you've got problem. But,

400

:

you know,

401

:

try and just keep it as simple and,

and basic as possible

402

:

with like, you know, fundamental,

you know, policies and it's.

403

:

Well, I, it's the nutrients and stuff

that you really need.

404

:

Yeah.

405

:

It's also like, you know, I'm not saying.

406

:

I use my human waste on my veggie garden,

but I definitely use horse shit.

407

:

Yeah.

408

:

But it but it's all just nutrient, right?

409

:

Right.

410

:

And again you've got some

because you've got the horses

411

:

and so why not use it.

412

:

Yeah.

413

:

James, can you talk a little bit

about the beekeeping?

414

:

You know, that's another

415

:

another thing

that I would love to learn more about.

416

:

I currently run 5500 beehives,

and we've got a, full time team of 15.

417

:

We've got two full time queen breeders,

418

:

like 10 beekeepers,

419

:

and some other staffers and [???]

420

:

holy cow.

421

:

we produce roughly about 300 ton of honey.

422

:

So we are Manuka honey specialists.

423

:

So that's what we do.

424

:

Manuka honey.

425

:

Pretty much.

426

:

Yeah, yeah.

427

:

Work with landowners and whatnot that own

the property that we produce it on.

428

:

Share the profits with them.

429

:

the on the get it to a barrel

and then we sell it

430

:

to package exporters.

431

:

So that's what we do.

432

:

So I started it from nothing.

433

:

I thought I would 10 beehives

when I was 18 and have built up

434

:

like, not a bad little business.

435

:

Yeah. Oh, I love it.

436

:

It frustrates me,

because the farming, the weather,

437

:

And I live in New Zealand,

that. Sure. It's.

438

:

Yeah. Like, there's a lot of, like.

439

:

Yeah. Moving parts pretty much. So.

440

:

And you've got to be pretty nimble.

441

:

So it's like decision making.

442

:

Like last week

we had 100mm of rain.

443

:

Before that, things were pretty dry.

And I'm thinking okay sweet.

444

:

Well, lets change this. This is our new game plan.

445

:

So we pretty like fluid

446

:

to how the plan works, we make a game plan

of what we're up to for the year.

447

:

So like, yeah, that’s what we do.

448

:

And you export to,

449

:

tell me what countries.

450

:

So I mean, we use a lot of freight forwarders, but,

451

:

you know, we'll go through the middle men,

but I mean direct,

452

:

we do stuff in the US,

453

:

Australia and then Europe,

454

:

and then through the main

other companies and stuff

455

:

we deal with our

honey goes to China, Europe,

456

:

UK, and Japan, and,

457

:

other parts of Asia.

458

:

It’s pretty much going everywhere.

459

:

You’ve got me putting honey in my coffee,

since you mentioned that at Burning Man.

460

:

Honey in your coffee?

461

:

Wow. Yeah, he's got he's

got me on to that.

462

:

It's actually really good, eh?

463

:

It's so good.

464

:

And then before before we met, my,

my 17 year old was a honey, enthusiast

465

:

because he somehow found out there's

testosterone boost from honey.

466

:

I didn't know that.

467

:

Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

468

:

Sounds like we all need to eat more.

469

:

Well, I was gonna say, where's where's my,

Manuka honey?

470

:

Excellent.

471

:

Yeah. It's like, get the libido working.

472

:

Yeah, yeah.

473

:

I want to ask you about Kiwi culture, James.

474

:

And I like the culture of travel.

475

:

I mean, the and I figure,

you know, similar to the Aussies

476

:

too forgive the, the analogy, but,

477

:

it's just so outward looking, the culture.

478

:

Right?

479

:

I mean, we talked about meeting up

in Thailand next year,

480

:

but could you just speak to what it means

to be a Kiwi, for,

481

:

from a travel perspective?

482

:

I think because it's such a small country.

483

:

It like at any time.

484

:

So we only have a population

of like 5.5 million.

485

:

And I think any time is up to a million

486

:

Kiwis over seas.

487

:

yeah.

488

:

Like at any one time.

489

:

Like, so like that

much of our population is abroad

490

:

just because like there's definitely negatives

to New Zealand,

491

:

as far as you know, stereotypes and

small poppy syndrome.

492

:

And, you know, I'm like, just, you know,

like, you've got a big personality.

493

:

It's like you're probably too big

for this place.

494

:

depending on where you are, like,

you know, typical. But.

495

:

Rural settings. There’s definitely

a lot of tourists and stuff here.

496

:

So they bring, like, more open mindedness

and its cool seeing that.

497

:

But, you know, definitely as a Kiwi,

there’s a real urge to

498

:

ready to go have a look overseas and trip.

499

:

So a lot of people and it's

kind of like the concept of an OE,

500

:

like it's a real Kiwi/Aussie thing to be like.

501

:

You going on an OE.

502

:

He finished uni, we go to school

and he's like, I'm going to go, go travel

503

:

and find myself and figure myself out

for the next 3 or 4 years.

504

:

It's like, so travel is

education for life, man.

505

:

Fully agree, fully agree.

506

:

Like it makes you worldly.

507

:

Like I love Ozzie.

Like Australia is a good place

508

:

and I and I have some really good friends

over here.

509

:

And it's pretty easy for us to travel

over there like, we we need a passport,

510

:

but we don't need a visa to go there,

so we can go over there.

511

:

Vice versa.

512

:

yeah, a lot of periods and all the like.

513

:

Yeah. And just like that.

514

:

They’re like our cousins pretty much. Yeah.

515

:

From Christchurch City to any of the cities

on the, the East coast of Australia,

516

:

like, you know, Brisbane, Sydney,

Melbourne that pretty much like a 3 or 4 hour flight.

517

:

So its nothing.

518

:

Oh, okay.

519

:

And that's really,

that's really close. Yeah.

520

:

Yeah, yeah. And it's

521

:

Yeah, it's, it's not that far.

522

:

And more often than not it's cheaper

to fly to Australia than it is to

523

:

than it is to fly domestically in New Zealand.

524

:

Yeah. Totally.

525

:

Yeah. That's where we'd go holiday.

You wouldn't go holiday in New Zealand.

526

:

As a Kiwi. You wouldn’t go to the North Island.

Uh, should.

527

:

But like it would be cheaper to go

to Australia.

528

:

Wow. But yeah.

529

:

And it's like another.

530

:

You were telling me

531

:

it's like another country

going to northern New Zealand to cities

532

:

and you know, New Zealand is a long,

skinny country,

533

:

and it’s got its Alps running the length of it.

The length of the South Island particularly.

534

:

And in the North Island,

535

:

it's got one third of the land mass,

536

:

and it got two thirds of the population.

537

:

In the South Island got two thirds of the land mass,

538

:

and one third of the population.

539

:

And it's generally because it's colder down

here.

540

:

Yeah, people moved up there

because it's like more tropical,

541

:

Especially in the northern half the Island.

542

:

LIke its a nice climate, its more balmy,

543

:

and yeah, people gravitate towards there

544

:

and, and,

and theres bigger centers up there.

545

:

Our biggest city is Auckland,

the top of the North Island.

546

:

But, you know,

547

:

the North Island is a beautiful place.

548

:

And it's interesting, like,

New Zealand, it's the same as the US.

549

:

It's like, you know, here the landscape

changes every 3 hours.

550

:

Whereas, in the US it takes a couple days

for the landscape to change.

551

:

So, but it's the same concept of

552

:

of that changing landscape, but

it just compressed into a tiny small area.

553

:

But it's very similar, you know, like,

554

:

if you thought about, any part of the west coast

of the US, from top to bottom,

555

:

and you say, hey, thats the same as New Zealand

556

:

just compress it.

557

:

Yeah.

558

:

Like I, I probably can't

wait to retire for myself.

559

:

And obviously I’ve got a lot of living to do

between now and then, but I,

560

:

I can't wait to retire

so that I can do my hobbies full time

561

:

the bit.

562

:

Yeah.

563

:

Because I've got so many hobby like, Yeah.

564

:

I into diving, fishing, hunting.

565

:

I started enjoying golf.

566

:

Oh wow.

567

:

Like traveling.

568

:

I like veggie gardening.

569

:

yeah.

570

:

And like traveling and seeing cool shit,

and being stimulated.

571

:

like, I like doing new things.

572

:

As a Kiwi we’re all into, like, food

and we're surrounded by water.

573

:

with, surrounded by probably

some of the best seafood in the world,

574

:

that which is still so plentiful,

like, it's, it's like,

575

:

yeah, there's regulations and stuff on

how much you take, but it's like,

576

:

it's and it's starting to get deteriorated,

just because of,

577

:

you know, human impact.

578

:

Like, it's like,

you know, recreation and commercial.

579

:

But yeah.

580

:

Like we, we do a lot of power diving,

which is abalone, lobster.

581

:

Scallops, oysters,

582

:

other creatures that people eat

from the water, lots of mussels, but.

583

:

Yeah, like, particularly like crayfish.

584

:

Like crayfish and lobster. That’s,

585

:

the main thing we dive for.

586

:

And abalone, so.

587

:

And and it's kind of like,

you know, you came out with a mate

588

:

oh, the seas flat.

589

:

Such and such a place.

590

:

And it's like, I'll meet you here and

591

:

and we'll go for a dive and,

you know, collecting food.

592

:

That's part of our life.

593

:

So, you know,

594

:

instead of buying that stuff from the store.

595

:

So like it would be cheaper

to buy from the store, but,

596

:

You know, the money you spend

on your equipment and driving to that spot,

597

:

but that's just part of the the whole part

of being Kiwi in the outdoors. And,

598

:

and a way of life, pretty much.

599

:

it's like fishing, you know,

600

:

sometimes you don't catch anything,

sometimes you do, but it's the fishing.

601

:

That's the point. Yeah.

602

:

Yeah.

603

:

And like, so earlier this year,

604

:

before I went to the US,

I went to the Isle of Man.

605

:

and I went to the Isle of Man TT Race.

606

:

So yeah, it's, that that motorbike race,

607

:

That famous road bike race.

608

:

Where they race around that island.

609

:

Yeah.

610

:

And and I was hosted by a honey buyer,

and that's why I went there.

611

:

Who, the honey buyer’s based there.

612

:

And and that was a bucket list thing.

613

:

And I kind of have a bucket list of stuff

that I'm starting to tick off.

614

:

Now. I don't want to wait till later.

615

:

I’m like, right-o.

616

:

I start ticking the stuff off, like,

you know, like, some real cool adventures.

617

:

And that was one of them,

to go to the Isle of Man TT.

618

:

And this is the first

619

:

year in 107 years that no one died.

620

:

At the Isle of Man.

621

:

I mean, so and it's only been two years,

622

:

Sorry, there’s only been 2 years, and

it’s been 107 years, that no-one has died.

623

:

that was one of them. And it's.

624

:

Yeah.

625

:

Like, I guess it's just after living

and ticking stuff off.

626

:

I'd been invited to,

627

:

a desert rally,

this next winter.

628

:

New Zealand winter, so May / June.

629

:

and it's in Australia, and it’s called the the [???] Rally.

and it's kind of like the DAKAR,

630

:

but it's like in Australia,

631

:

there’s a mate of mine from New Zealand,

632

:

and he’s down there doing an endurance

motorbike race.

633

:

And a couple of mates and me,

one of them is a helicopter pilot.

634

:

So we said, let’s charter a helicopter,

635

:

and we’ll pitch them together,

636

:

and we’ll be this guy’s support crew,

and drink beers and have fun.

637

:

So, you know, that random hobbies and interest that

638

:

that interest me and I want to have a look at that.

639

:

you know,

640

:

and and beyond beekeeping,

I would like to.

641

:

Yeah, yeah.

642

:

I don't know what I want to do,

but I would like to do a bunch of stuff,

643

:

I think be based in the US,

I'd like to go do a summer in Antarctica.

644

:

Like,

it's just a bunch of fulfilling things.

645

:

And and generally it might be to, like,

I'll hear about some sort of mischief

646

:

that happens at events, you know.

647

:

So they'd be like, oh, there's the event,

648

:

And they'd be like, oh, I hear there's

this about a wild party and naughty Woman,

649

:

and this debauchery that goes on and I'm like,

lightbulb, I want to see that.

650

:

Yeah.

651

:

And and luckily I've got a cool partner

that's like, yeah, let's go.

652

:

Let's go have a look at that, you know.

653

:

Or go have fun.

654

:

You know, but don't tell me about it.

655

:

It’s, just...

656

:

it's such a great, philosophy of life.

657

:

You guys just,

658

:

just say yes and then figure it out later.

659

:

How the heck you're going to make

it happen.

660

:

And more recently in our relationship,

you know it.

661

:

There's some stuff that happened in the past,

662

:

that’s like, oh, Devil’s Learnings.

663

:

But it's like now we

we kind of have an attitude with like,

664

:

well, yeah,

you're allowed to do whatever you want

665

:

and then it becomes such an afterwards,

you know, you decide to do that

666

:

and then like we'll figure it out

and then, you know, just be like, well,

667

:

you're allowed to have a full life

and live and make choices

668

:

that sometimes are marginal,

but it's like, we'll figure it out.

669

:

That's part of what impressed me

about meeting you.

670

:

Like your energy, your energy really comes

across, like, right away.

671

:

James, like, is magnetic.

672

:

And it wasn't just Rita.

673

:

Or the coffee.

674

:

Yeah. James. James was.

675

:

James was holding a cup of coffee

and a beer and in each hand.

676

:

So that that's how we were.

677

:

How we were rolling.

678

:

What are you doing to stay fit, my friend?

679

:

You're fit.

680

:

Yeah, I I I, I have been

681

:

maintaining some fitness like,

682

:

for me because we live beside the mountain

and we've got two dogs.

683

:

Like that.

684

:

Those dogs need exercise, so,

685

:

they have the roam of our that 5 acres,

where they have electrical shock collars.

686

:

With a boundary fence.

687

:

And they've got five acres

where they can just roam.

688

:

Yeah. All day.

689

:

We don't even lock them up when we go

every weekend

690

:

they hang at home and sort of watch the

property and, Yeah. So.

691

:

So we spend a bit time in the mountains,

walking, running the dog.

692

:

And those trails are like

ten minutes from my house.

693

:

The beach is pretty close.

694

:

So, yeah, I like running at the beach and,

695

:

just live a pretty active life.

696

:

So, yeah, I'll let the gym.

697

:

I've got a real soft spot for the sauna.

698

:

Yeah, yeah, I just

699

:

yeah, I've got myself a smoothie right

here that I had for breakfast.

700

:

Yeah, just, I don't know, it’s just kind of how I live.

701

:

I lit like it. Just.

702

:

You can put a bit of negatives in there,

but you gotta.

703

:

Everything else has to be healthy.

704

:

Hey, speaking of being active and

705

:

and not healthy, tell us a little bit

about your bull riding, days.

706

:

Okay,

so back in the day when I used to rodeo, so.

707

:

I rodeo’d from 17 to about 23.

708

:

And the only reason I stopped

is because the bee thing started

709

:

getting quite serious,

with the bee business.

710

:

And I, you know, realities

of responsibility and self-employment,

711

:

which I probably experienced too young.

712

:

But in hindsight,

I should have just maximized my twenties,

713

:

and been irresponsible

and just lived it up and had my fun.

714

:

You know, to let the world cheer me up.

715

:

Yeah, so whatever.

716

:

I rodeo’d for that stint, six years.

717

:

Riding bulls and bareback horses.

718

:

We did that in New Zealand,

and then in the New Zealand winter,

719

:

I would go to Canada,

720

:

to Alberta and rodeo over there, for their summer.

721

:

so that that's what I did for like,

six years.

722

:

And, I wasn't great at it,

a bunch of my friends were better at it than me,

723

:

but I loved it and,

724

:

you know, I, I probably rode,

725

:

probably got on like, 500 bulls and maybe,

726

:

50 bareback horses.

727

:

So not like I didn't do it

[???] on the bareback stuff.

728

:

I was just getting into it,

but the bareback scared the shit out of me.

729

:

that much that it made my bull riding,

that much better.

730

:

Because, I wasn’t scared of bulls

after riding bareback horses.

731

:

Yeah, I just, I look back on it,

732

:

Riding bareback’s dumb.

733

:

Some of the dumbest things I’ve ever done.

734

:

but I, you know, I still loved it.

735

:

And bull riding,

736

:

Yeah, that's about like,

737

:

I still think about bull riding now,

I just think, but, yeah.

738

:

If someone dared me too, you know,

or drunk some night probably get on.

739

:

Oh, that's that's six seconds away

740

:

from a broken hip and, Oh, boy, I just...

741

:

Ouch.

742

:

I'm impressed.

743

:

Yeah, I'm very impressed.

744

:

I, I hope you got out of that

without any serious injuries.

745

:

Probably the worst one, I thought.

746

:

I honestly was really lucky.

747

:

compared to a lot of my friends.

748

:

Lke my friend, had horrific injuries.

749

:

I had a lot of like, muscle injuries, and,

750

:

And I'm sure I’ll pay for it later on in life, but,

751

:

the worst one, was I fractured my skull, just here.

752

:

I got kicked in the head

753

:

got hung up under a bull.

754

:

and dragged underneath it.

And I was pretty young at the time.

755

:

And I wasn't wearing a helmet,

so after that,

756

:

my mum pretty much was like,

if you’re going to keep on doing this,

757

:

You gotta wear a helmet. I'm like, yeah.

758

:

Fair. So I started wearing an ice hockey,

hockey style helmet.

759

:

But yeah, the bull kicked up my face

760

:

and the hoof went under my eyelid.

761

:

Split my eyelid, right through to my eyebrow.

762

:

Fractured my eyebrow, my eye socket.

763

:

And, I spent a week in hospital, and

and when I blink,

764

:

the inside half of my eyelid worked,

765

:

and the outside half didn’t.

766

:

So they did a pretty bloody good job of

patching me up.

767

:

My eye being pretty functional.

768

:

When I’m a bit tired, it hangs down lower,

but whatever.

769

:

So that’s my worst injury.

770

:

You know, I’ve had broken fingers

and things like that.

771

:

But I had mates with double

collapsed lungs and just yeah horrific

772

:

things like yeah they, they should be dead

and they survived.

773

:

Yeah.

774

:

Rodeo was a cool thing when I was younger

but you know, but like, it’s dumb.

775

:

it just like, i’ll pay for it when i’m older.

776

:

Yeah exactly.

777

:

Do you horseback ride with Rachel?

778

:

Yeah I do, I do.

779

:

So yeah, there was a period there,

hasn't happened for a while,

780

:

Where I was

the guinea pig that got on her

781

:

Horses that she just started.

782

:

So, she’d, break them in,

783

:

and then I'd be the first non horse

trainer to get on them.

784

:

So we're taking to the beach and ride

them out in the open.

785

:

The beach is pretty good because like there's like

nice firm sand, like by the shore.

786

:

And then you come up the beach

a little bit softer.

787

:

So you'll be riding along by the shore

and you can like turn them out into the deep sand,

788

:

when they start to get a bit [???] on ya.

789

:

Take the buck out of them, or slow them down.

790

:

Yeah, get to full control.

791

:

So is it is it dangerous?

792

:

Me and Rach have a lot of fun.

James. Is it dangerous?

793

:

What she does if she's breaking horses,

is she getting on wild horses like you?

794

:

Like that.

795

:

She does a lot of groundwork.

796

:

So she does a lot of ground

work on the ground.

797

:

Before she’ll get on them

for making the horse trust her and,

798

:

sussing it out and trying different things

so that the horses is desensitized

799

:

to anything that might stress it

out, like, you know, like

800

:

you could be riding it and see something

and freaked out at it.

801

:

Something blowing in the wind, like

a big tarp or something might be flapping.

802

:

So she wants to desensitize them so that nothing

803

:

will spook them, within reason,

804

:

you know, still, a young horse

still needs a lot more miles on it, but,

805

:

she. Yeah.

806

:

Yeah, definitely.

807

:

Her job’s dangerous.

808

:

Yeah, she’s a cowgirl. Like, she’s doing it.

809

:

But probably the worst part is that

she's at home alone, doing it.

810

:

She’s not far from where we’re based, like

we’re only 500m away.

811

:

But you know, she's at home,

812

:

by herself. Getting on these horses.

813

:

Yeah, its not like there’s 2 or 3 of them there

to help each other out.

814

:

She’s doing it by herself.

815

:

Yeah, like, I, I don't know, like,

I encourage her to wear a helmet

816

:

as much as possible.

When she’s getting on new ones.

817

:

But she doesn't. She’s a cowgirl.

818

:

Yeah.

819

:

And she’s been bucked off a few times.

820

:

And, you know, her hip and her knee are a bit stiff.

821

:

But both me and her are

probably going to be quite geriatric.

822

:

When we’re older.

823

:

So, Yeah, that's just life right.

824

:

Play silly games, win silly prizes.

825

:

Is, is there anywhere in the,

in the States

826

:

that you gravitate towards

that you really enjoy.

827

:

You know that speaks to you at all.

828

:

Probably for for my hobbies

and what I'm into

829

:

other than not being close to the ocean,

like I really like Washington.

830

:

It really resonates for me

just because I'm like a cowboy at heart.

831

:

I'm pretty much a right wing hippie.

832

:

Is what I am.

833

:

like, I, I care about the environment,

but I believe in making money, so.

834

:

Yeah, like, I,

you know, like, I, I'm, I'm torn.

835

:

I'm a walking contradiction.

836

:

And it frustrates the shit out of me like,

837

:

but I love Washington and Oregon.

838

:

and probably

just the attitude of the people. And.

839

:

Yeah,

I probably need that kind of rainfall,

840

:

for things to be growing and plentiful,

and my headspace.

841

:

Yeah.

842

:

I can't handle living in a desert for too long.

843

:

But, yeah, it is beautiful up there.

844

:

I, I do believe that I will end up in the U.S at some point.

845

:

I don't know if it's living on his couch

or on my own momentum.

846

:

We’ll wait and see.

847

:

I do want to end up over there, I probably need

848

:

I need a bit more stimulation than what New Zealand’s

giving me at the moment.

849

:

Gotcha.

850

:

Just a new challenge.

851

:

Yeah.

852

:

A bigger pond for the fish, you know..

853

:

Yeah. You know, you're a worldly soul.

854

:

Have have you

have you seen Seattle yet, James.

855

:

No I haven't, I haven't.

856

:

There's one I haven't done that corner

I've been at Vancouver,

857

:

I've been to Vancouver Island, but I haven't

done up in that corner there.

858

:

I just want to put it out there.

859

:

My oldest friend, like in the world,

has a house on Bainbridge Island,

860

:

and, we've we've got open invitation

861

:

all the time,

862

:

And are they a legend?

863

:

just I mean, I've lived within four times,

James.

864

:

Yeah. It's so good. It's like.

865

:

Yeah, we just we just go. We want to go.

866

:

We go try to go large

every single time.

867

:

Yeah.

868

:

And that's the problem is that we.

869

:

I look forward to when I come and see you.

870

:

and I guess I look forward to,

I look forward to the chill bit as well.

871

:

as well as the wild, you’re putting it on for me

and showing me what happens.

872

:

But I look forward to this.

873

:

Hanging out on the couch.

874

:

Just yarning, a bit hungover but,

875

:

laughing at each other

and laughing our [???] at each other.

876

:

You've inspired.

877

:

I have to tell James, that you've inspired

Jon here about living off the earth.

878

:

Off the land.

879

:

Definitely, definitely.

880

:

I think it's like like back to basics.

881

:

We've lost connection with our food.

882

:

Like, I physically like

eating with my hands, like.

883

:

Yeah, because we’ve lost connection with our food.

884

:

Like we eat things that look like food

that are made from things that aren’t food.

885

:

like, yeah, it's like

886

:

back to basics, like,

you know, like my cholesterol

887

:

Yeah, it's fine.

888

:

I had it tested recently,

but you know, like I'm, I'm

889

:

a massive advocate for cast iron pans

and butter.

890

:

Like.

891

:

Yeah like, cook with butter.

It tastes good.

892

:

It's like yeah.

893

:

You're just going to make sure that you're

healthy in all the other parts of your life.

894

:

Where you use that energy and don't just,

be a fat fuck.

895

:

So like, back to basics, is just like.

896

:

You know, less is more like fresh ingredients,

897

:

and then and collecting it and,

and you know, coming to the ceremony

898

:

or either gardening or fishing

or hunting or preparing food and like,

899

:

you know, cooking for friends like, and

900

:

and putting some love into it

and yeah, fuck it feels good.

901

:

Very fulfilling and so basic.

902

:

It doesn't take that much effort

just to, to be a little more cognizant

903

:

of what you're putting in your body,

what you're putting in your shopping cart.

904

:

Just to think about that.

905

:

Yeah. I agree with you.

906

:

I think it's so important.

907

:

And I think for me as a food producer,

908

:

like, yeah, I'm a beekeeper and we're

in, we're in the honey business,

909

:

we’re food producers like I,

910

:

you know, in the short amount of time

that I have a career in beekeeping,

911

:

which is still long enough,

like it’s 15 years,

912

:

I’ve committed to beekeeping.

913

:

Yeah, it's

914

:

it's getting harder and harder

to keep them healthy, keep the bees healthy.

915

:

Look we use a lot of like alternative

like for our treatment that we

916

:

there’s a parasitic mite that feeds on the bees

and we use a lot of oxalic acid

917

:

to treat that mite.

918

:

But we’re like, trying to kill an

insect on an insect.

919

:

Yeah, yeah, I'm watching you know

climate change happen.

920

:

So in the 15 years, I’m like,

it wasn’t that hard to keep them healthy

921

:

Wow.

922

:

15 years ago.

923

:

10 years ago. 5 years ago.

924

:

Like it's getting tougher and tougher.

925

:

So you you take a step back

and you're like we do have a footprint.

926

:

And we are seeing changes.

927

:

And it's like, yeah, that stuff's real.

928

:

Like it’s effecting us.

929

:

It’s effecting, you know, what I do for a living.

930

:

Well if there's if there's any way

that we can support you in terms of,

931

:

pointing people towards

your, your website or your farm.

932

:

We'd love to do that.

933

:

Cool. So,

934

:

our business.

935

:

We trade as Foothills Honey. So.

936

:

Yeah. Foothills, dot N Z.

937

:

This has been great.

938

:

Jon, I appreciate your time as well.

939

:

Super good.

940

:

And, James, we will introduce you to,

941

:

some of our previous podcasts,

942

:

Perfect. I'd appreciate that.

943

:

Awesome.

944

:

Well, thanks, everybody.

945

:

Hope you enjoyed listening.

946

:

And, we'll see you next time.

947

:

Okay. Roger and out.

948

:

See ya, by.

949

:

thanks for listening to the Midlife

Mischief Club podcast.

950

:

Please be sure to subscribe

in your favorite podcast app

951

:

so you don't miss an episode.

952

:

You can find Shownotes

links to our socials and see what else

953

:

is cooking on our website

at MidlifeMischiefClub.com.

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About the Podcast

Midlife Mischief Club
It's not a crisis if you're having fun
Whether it's learning to ride motorcycles, keeping fit, eating well, picking up a musical instrument, creating art, starting a business, growing your own...tomatoes, Jon and Alvin discuss the midlife mischief they've been getting up to. Join us on our adventures! It's not a "crisis" if you're having fun!

About your host

Profile picture for Jon Altschuler

Jon Altschuler

Over the past 20 years Jon has walked the line between Creative and Technology, combining two of his passions. Most recently as a leader of Liveperson's Conversational Ai Engineering team, Jon helped brands to leverage automation to enhance their customer connection. A creative jack-of-all-trades and team leader, he lives to learn something new every day.

Started in 2020, Herbie is a passion project Jon began to help people suffering with chronic pain, sleeplessness, stress and other issues by bringing high-quality, affordable CBD/Hemp based products to market. Learn more at helloherbie.com