Van Life: A poet and power plant operator's nomadic shift fosters joy, creativity and community

This episode is sponsored by Marvelous, is a software platform that has everything: courses, bundles, memberships, live streams, community, integrations, a mobile app, and live tech support from real humans. It is the world's most beautiful and easeful teaching platform. Check it out at: heymarvelous.com

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Renaldo Holmes, Holmes to all who know him, he is the person behind HolmesFindsFreedom on Youtube and Instagram. Holmes is a talented poet, educator, farmer and nomad.

Holmes says that poetry saved his life and wants others to experience the healing power of spoken word. He had a bad stutter as a child and had hard time communicating and making friends. He would write a lot of poetry and eventually discovered spoken word. Holmes went to his first open mic, knowing he would stutter, and was terrified. The host told him he had two options - stay on this stage and recite your work no matter how long it takes or quit. He stayed on the stage and that changed his life. He began going back every week and his stuttering improved until he was able to cure himself of it completely. This is a perfect example of the courage, passion, dedication and creativity that Holmes approaches life with. 

Several years ago Holmes sold his home, left a career as a power plant technician in Connecticut. He wasn’t feeling fulfilled in his life and didn’t want to live out his days continuing to feel like something was missing. He traveled all over the United States and eventually found a  city to settle in, bought a plot of land and started growing food for himself and his community.

During the pandemic, Holmes felt called back to nomadic life. He sold his property, bought a van and embarked on a new adventure, spreading seeds, his farming knowledge and joy in every community he visited. He found his way to Mexico, working for a few urban farms before settling in a small rural  community. Holmes fell in love with the people, culture,  and way of life in Mexico. Holmes also felt greater love, acceptance and ease being a Black man in Mexico. He didn’t feel like people looked at him differently because of the color of his skin.

With funds running out, Holmes made the difficult decision to return to the US so that he could put a plan in place to move to Mexico permanently. He returned to his power plant job in  and is continuing to live out of his van so that he can save money. A passionate grower, Holmes hasn’t let vanlife keep him from farming. When he returned to Connecticut, he put a call out to his community to see if anyone would let him grow food at their house and someone offered their front yard. This summer he grew a ton of produce and continued making  wonderful tutorial videos for his online following. His goal is to build  passive income streams to sustain him for the long term and save enough  to buy a small parcel of land in Mexico to homestead and live off of the land.

This is a story about the healing effects of poetry, the community building power of growing food, and commitment and vision to work towards your dreams.

Transcript

Alissa Hessler: 0:00

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Holmes: 0:33

your gifts, your talents, that is your currency. That is how you can give in for back into people. That's how how you can, in my opinion, really impact people in the world the most is to cultivate your gifts. Cultivate that art that light inside and share it.

Alissa Hessler: 0:56

Have you ever dreamed of making a radical shift? What does it take to build a more intentional life? What is gained from reconnecting with yourself with community and with the natural world? I'm Alissa Hessler. I've spent the last decade meeting with people all over the world who have made remarkable transitions in their lives. How do they do it? What did they sacrifice? What have they learned? Stepping away from convention isn't easy. But we all have the power to reclaim the things that we've lost, to slow down to change course to create the life we want for ourselves and for future generations. The urban Exodus podcast shares, practical advice and inspirational words to embolden and guide you on your own journey. These are the stories of those brave enough to venture down the road less traveled. This is the urban Exodus. Urban Exodus is community supported programming, please consider sponsoring an episode or making a contribution so we can keep these conversations going. The easiest way to contribute is to click the support button on the top of urban exodus.com. You can also become a member of the urban Exodus community to peruse our archives of hundreds of photos, stories and interviews of people who left city life or subscribe to Apple podcast premium to have access to bonus episodes, or rapid fire interviews with guests in our new mini podcast. Ditch the city where I answer listeners questions and offer practical advice on a whole myriad of topics. If you have a question for an upcoming episode that you'd like us to consider, please send us a DM on Instagram, or through our contact us page. Thank you for helping me continue to do this work. I couldn't do it without all of you. And if you haven't already, we would really love it if you'd leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or whatever service you listen on. And please recommend urban access to your friends. I'm excited to invite you to my conversation with Rinaldo Holmes, known by Holmes to all who know him. He is the person behind homes finds freedom on YouTube and Instagram homes is a talented poet, educator, Farmer and nomad. He says the poetry saved his life and he wants others to experience the healing power of spoken word. He had a bad stutter as a child and had a hard time communicating and making friends. He would write a lot of poetry and eventually discovered spoken word. Holmes went to his first open mic, knowing that he would stutter and was terrified. And the host told him he had two options. Stay on this stage and recite your work no matter how long it takes, or quit and walk off the stage. He stayed on the stage and that changed his life. He began going back every week, and his stuttering got better until he was able to cure himself completely of it. This is a perfect example of the courage, passion, dedication, and creativity that Holmes approached his life with. Several years ago, he sold his home, left a career as a power plant technician and set out on a journey of adventure and self discovery. He wasn't feeling fulfilled in his life, and he didn't want to live out his days continuing to feel like something was missing. He traveled all over the United States and eventually found a southern city to settle in. He bought a plot of land and started growing food for himself and his community. During the pandemic, Holmes felt called back to nomadic life. He sold his property, bought a van and embarked on a new adventure, spreading seeds his farming knowledge and joy in every community. At that he visited, he found his way to Mexico, working for a few urban farms before settling in a small rural farming community. He fell in love with the people and culture and the way of life in Mexico. Homes also felt greater love, acceptance and ease. Being a black man in Mexico, he didn't feel like people looked at him differently because of the color of his skin. But with funds running out, Holmes made the difficult decision to return to the United States so that he could put in a plan to move to Mexico permanently. He returned to his power plant job and is continuing to live in a van so that he can save money. A passionate grower Holmes hasn't let van life keep him from farming. When he returned to Connecticut, he put a call out to his community to see if anyone would let him grow food at their house, and someone offered their front yard. This summer, he grew a bunch of produce. And his goal is to build some passive income streams to sustain him for the long term, and save enough money to buy a small parcel of land in Mexico, where he can homestead and live off the land. This is a story about the healing effects poetry, the community building power of growing food, and fostering courage, commitment, and vision to work towards your dreams. So I'm very excited to have on the podcast today. Rinaldo Holmes, known by most of his friends is Holmes and I have been following you online for quite some time. And we just talked about this before we started recording, but I just really appreciate your passion, and your kindness and your willingness to just put beauty and joy into the world. And I think that it's really infectious. And I feel it when I see the stuff that you create. So I'm really excited to have you on and to have you talk about your journey, because you've been on quite a few journeys as of late. So first off, I would love if you would just share a little bit of your backstory kind of where you grew up, and the paths that you've taken that have led you to where you are now.

Unknown: 7:10

Thanks for that grateful I'm actually where I grew up in Miami, Florida right now. So I'm actually visiting my parents in Miami, Florida. And I grew up you know, in kind of a rough neighborhood in Miami, Florida, and kind of grew up didn't have a lot of money, but have a strong foundation of family. So family came first and was very tight knit. And kind of growing up, you know, I went to school did okay with school, but I didn't go to college, because I haven't helped my mother and my family, kind of what the house and I got introduced into kind of power plants technician, you know, by like chance a friend of mine, I was think I was working at Walmart. And a friend of mine was like, hey, you know, they got a job over here. And like they for three months. I was like, you know, tell him, I'm good. And after, you know, eventually I went there and actually started a long career, about 10 or 11 years working with PowerPoint.

Alissa Hessler: 8:07

And what was that job? Like? What did it entail?

Unknown: 8:11

It was nothing, it was something I've never seen or experienced before. So it was a lot of big, large machinery, equipment, very hazardous environment. And at first for the first couple of years, you know, I didn't really, it was just like a job. But it wasn't until I started to move up in the company where I started to really get passionate about the efficiency of power plant operations, that it's a very efficient process, you know, the garbage comes in and you know, you have to pay to have your garbage pulled in then you extract the you recycle extract metals, you get money from that it was just a very efficient process that I got very passionate about the efficiency of the Power Plant Industry.

Alissa Hessler: 8:57

After you'd worked at this power plant for 11 years. You made a sudden move and you quit your job, and you changed your kind of whole approach to life. I wondered what the catalyst was for that paradigm shift.

Unknown: 9:13

Well, everybody definitely thought I was crazy. Even such a good job like that. But so it turns my view of success. You know, I had the big house, nice car, the marriage and everything. And I was still unhappy. I didn't feel fulfilled because of some, you know, feeling decided that I needed that I didn't even identify a time but I needed you know, it stressed put stresses on my relationship and my marriage, I got a divorce. And once I got a divorce, I was about 13 years old. And I started to really question everything question what is really like what is going to be happiness like, what what truly is and I started to identify that I am going to just go out there and do whatever that makes me feel You feel, you know, whatever it is, even if other people disagree with you, they definitely did it first. But I am going to go and do whatever I believe is going to make me happy and make me feel

Alissa Hessler: 10:14

It's so wild, because that is such a profound thing to come to that conclusion and kind of our current societal norms. Like, how did you build up the courage or kind of the bravery to step out of kind of society's expectations of what we are supposed to do?

Unknown: 10:35

Well, after, you know, 30 years of my life, kind of doing what I thought, you know, what, make me happy. And going through that process, I sacrifice a lot of my passions, I sacrifice a lot of things that I wanted to do reaching this goal of, you know, of happiness and success that I thought I would get that I never had. So what really terrified me the most, was living my life without trying to do the things that I really wanted to do, or having those second guesses, or those, you know, I wonder if that terrified me the most, I felt that it was for me to try doing something that I wanted to do and failing, was a lot better 10 thinking, what if I ever tried doing that? So that's what kind of helped me just kind of go out on a limb and try things because I was afraid more of not of regret for not trying it then actually failing, trying to try,

Alissa Hessler: 11:39

what did you do to prepare for taking this big leap, were there things that you kind of got in a row to like, make sure that you felt more comfortable stepping into this kind of new, unknown,

Unknown: 11:50

after after my divorce, I pretty, you know, started from scratch. So I stayed at my parents house, like two years, save a lot of money, and then said, okay, it was like three places in the country, our research to have, you know, low cost of living, and it was like Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina, where I feel comfortable at then want to go to cold at the time, or place the climate too cold. And it just ended up happening. It just drove me to Georgia. So after the two years, I was like, Okay, this is it. Actually, a friend of mine, a childhood friend of mine was living in Georgia. And I went to go visit him. And he was like, showing me around and I was like, nice, like, I can do this. And he told me Well, you know, my job has has an opening right now. And I said, Well, I'm gonna put in for it. So on the visit, I literally put in for the job. So on the visit, I literally put him for the job. And when I got the job, I just told my current job, I was like, I gotta go, like, you know, I apologize. I didn't even give two weeks notice, which is crazy. I was just like, I gotta go. And I did. I just packed up my u haul. And I love. What was

Alissa Hessler: 13:03

that transition, like to Georgia? And what did you discover about yourself?

Unknown: 13:07

It was lovely. It was a lot of new beginnings. Even though I'm from the city. You know, my Florida, I just really liked the greenery and nature in Georgia was full of trees and green, and nature. And I really felt at peace around that environment, especially for myself just having so many thriving black businesses. And Georgia and Atlanta area was something I have never experienced in Miami, Florida. So that was very empowering. And encouraging to me that like, you know what, a lot of people who look like me are thriving out here, then maybe I would have a better opportunity.

Alissa Hessler: 13:45

So when did you start getting your hands dirty and growing food? I'd love for you to kind of talk about that process. Because I know that that's become a real great passion in your life.

Unknown: 13:55

Yeah, so actually, in Miami, Florida, you know, when I had my property, I was married. And I, I did a little bit of growing but also sharing, you know, I had to sacrifice a lot of my time. So I couldn't really dive deep into it. And when I went to Georgia, I was like, you know, I identified the few things that I was extremely passionate about. And gardening was one of them. Fortran was another and I said, You know what, I'm going to invest in this. This is what I'm going to invest in. After working about 10 months at a job that my friend got me on, I saved up enough money to actually buy some property and closer to Atlanta. And that's when kind of it just started I once I bought that property. It was actually a multi living property. So I brought there had some people living in the units and I started growing just in any piece of land I put on the property wasn't a lot of land at all, but starting with the backyard and then the side yards and then the front yards and then, you know eventually the community started to ask a lot of question I

Alissa Hessler: 15:00

think that people feel like they're blockades for growing or learning how to grow, especially if you're living in a city. And maybe you don't have a lot of access to land. But you can grow a lot on a small piece. And you can at least like start to learn some of the mistakes, you're inevitably going to learn. I'd love to know, like what, you know, you said, the community started asking questions, I'd love to know, like, what the response was, and how you started to see like the ripple effects of just this thing that you love doing?

Unknown: 15:31

Well, one thing how I see growing and gardening, especially starting on like, a clean slate, so like, just, you know, new New Earth, and it to me, it's like a painter. So it's like, it's art to me, because, you know, I know what I have in my mind. But it's going to happen, right? So, so I'm digging up the earth, and I'm cultivating the earth. And you know, for a lot of people, that's a lot of sweat equity, and they're looking at me the first like, few months, like, what is this guy doing? Every day is I hit with a shovel, he's in the sun. And they look at me like I'm a crazy person, you know, it's like, in my mind, I know how it's going to turn out. So it's like, I'm okay with that. It's okay, just like an artist starting with a plain Canvas. So after, you know, the community seen me for months, just putting all this sweat equity into the earth and building the earth and cultivating the earth and amending the earth. And then, when summer comes around, and the plants that I planted in, the seeds are growing, it's like, wow, it's like, it's like a bigger reality, because it's something that they wouldn't they didn't expect when they first seen me. So it became like larger than life. It came like wow, like, this is what all of that energy who was putting in for and they really seen how much wood that was being grown in a small area. And that's when the community started to ask, you know, can you teach me what you're doing?

Alissa Hessler: 17:01

No, that's amazing. That's what it is. It's like alchemy, and it's artistry. And it's like adding layers and it's investments. And it's teaching you about patience and about that nothing is actually within your control. And so there's so many lessons that growing food can have in addition to nourishing your body and nourishing your community. I wondered how growing food has impacted your mental, your physical and your spiritual health.

Unknown: 17:31

It has definitely impacted growing food to me are just growing and being into the earth. I like to say stewarding the earth, that is my piece. So you know, some people meditate in other ways. For me cultivating the earth, stewarding the earth is my meditation. So, the Earth has taught me to like slow down, I used to be a really fast person want to do everything fast, fast, fast. And you know when when you have to cultivate a piece of Earth for like 12 hours, you go there think he's gonna grab that shovel and move 100 miles an hour like that urban nature would teach you really, really soon that hey, that this is a marathon, not a sprint, if you keep going like this, you know, you're not going to last. So he taught me to really take my time to embrace whatever I'm doing embrace the moment, it really connected me and grounded me, you know, after being when you're sweating, and you're hot and a breeze come and taught me to like, take that time to put the shovel down and just embrace the breeze and receive the breeze and just, you know, identify how beautiful you know that this, this breeze is coming to cool you down and begin to work it really taught me a lot about myself, you'd like internally just kind of working the earth, being grounded having my hands in the soil, which is a part of healing, you know, just kind of identifying that doing this work, you know, stewarding the soil rebuilding the soil is actually we are healing each other we are connecting and healing each other. So it really became like a huge part of my life to the point that and even now in my journey. I don't feel complete if I don't have some kind of relationship with the sword. Yeah.

Alissa Hessler: 19:20

Summarize that experience in a way that kind of gave me goosebumps. But like that is so true. And, and it is meditation and it's especially meditation, I think for people that are used to moving very quickly and have gotten kind of swept up in the pace of things and feel like they're chasing a cart down a hill and they're never in front of the cart. Like it's this really nice way to reconnect but it's still physical and like you're actually working at it. it quiets your mind. What advice would you give to people who are maybe living in a city or a suburb who don't have access to land on creative ways that they could get their hands dirty that they could start to Learn this on their own.

Unknown: 20:01

So I've actually had had a lot of experience in this, myself growing on pieces of land that wasn't that large and also 2020, we kind of started when the community started kind of gravitating and wanting to learn, and we outgrew my area, a piece of land plan, we started just to find what you know, we'll call guerilla gardening. And we will just find empty lots and grow. So I would say the first thing is to think outside the box, be the example. So your example would inspire, encourage, and also attract opportunities to you. So even if it's growing in pots, I will say somebody's going for the for the first time, start going in pots, and then being creative, you know, and grow whatever that you can. But we literally for six months during the growing season, every Sunday, we would pick either somebody's somebody's neighbor or friend or family member to have a yard we're growing or it gets to the point like we would just find, we will scout abandoned lots, and we would just like grow literally for six months. And it was crazy, because the volunteers got more excited. It like granted these abandoned lots than anywhere else. And I'm like, you know, this is not 100% legal, but there was just like, so high and so on it. And by doing that we actually acquired a grant, just because you know, the word got around growing and that, you know, the community was involved and needing more land. So we actually got a grant to to actually grow more on abandoned lots. They didn't know how to 100%. But you know, that's what we did with with the money. And I remember going to a urban farming event in my city, my city council of my city came to me he was like, Are you home? And I was like, Yes. And he said, I see what you're doing around the community, you know, he kind of leaned in, and he said, I see what you're doing around the community. And like when he said he was facing serious, and then my space got serious, then he was like, I support what you're doing. Keep doing good work, and not gonna be in your way unless, you know, somebody forces me to and I'll always give you the heads up. And when he said that it was just like, you know, a breath of fresh air, I felt like I had the support. And actually we became really good friends. And he reached out for a lot of a lot of things to me to kind of help. So I will say the first thing is just be an example. Regardless if you have resources or the land, your energy, your passion, your example with a track, everything else, all the resources and everything else that you need. So it's definitely hard at first, I am not going to tell you will definitely hard starting, but just be consistent. Your example will attract the opportunity.

Alissa Hessler: 22:50

Calling all small business owners are you looking to expand your customer base beyond the reach of your local community, speak to our loyal audience of over 38,000 listeners by sponsoring an episode of the urban Exodus podcast. For more information visit urban exodus.com/podcast. And you don't have to grow fast to just like you said with slowing down and growing stuff like it can be like a slow thing over time. But people take notice and and taking over a vacant lot and filling it with food and adding abundance someplace that there had been no abundance. What did you see in your neighborhood? What were some of the facts this growing tidal wave created,

Unknown: 23:35

it really touched me in more ways than identifying it really, it really helped me identify like, the power and the healing of, of growing, and just plants and the life and the energy that plants have possessed and inspired where, you know, we started and started drawing and everything. It was a very bad neighbor, like very bad neighborhood had a lot of drug abuse, it was a lot of traffic, a lot of drug traffic going back and forth. And you know, that was one of concern with me, you know, starting the volunteering was the safety of the volunteers but it was such a high respect for the garden inform everybody was doing it was almost like that was a protected space. And it was times like volunteers will come and they will say you know what, it's so crazy that your lot feels like it has a forcefield a different energy around it compared to everything else, you know, and it just feels different. Like you go across the street, the energy is totally different and you come here and you feel safe. One of the things that I was I will never forget and it really you know, touched me is that actually a local a you know, a local prostitute came to me and was like, You know what, that this neighborhood has a lot of deaths and your garden is live Every time we walk past your garden, we feel like we receive life. And we see the flowers like that it's a part of life. And I got really emotional, as she said that you know, and identify. And that's when I really identified that, you know, this thing of people call gardening was more than just gourmet food, it was a lot more difficult.

Alissa Hessler: 25:21

It gives like pride and community to places. And I feel like there are a lot of communities out there in rural areas and urban areas and suburban areas where like, nobody talks to each other anymore, there isn't a sense of community and like growing things together can be so impactful. So I know that you then embarked on this big adventure, you went on this journey, this kind of nomadic journey, I'd love for you to talk about kind of your time vanlife vein and traveling around and meeting new communities and kind of spreading this further.

Unknown: 25:59

Yeah, so that was really cool. It's like, every part of my journey, I learned a different part of myself. And it's just like I wrote into myself, and the van lighting event, I think, was the first a little hard, because I was a semi hoarder last year, because being urban farmer, you just collect whatever you can on, like, you know, trying to take money and you know, use whatever resources you can. So you would collect a whole bunch of things, you know, for projects that you would eventually build, and just coming and having to like, really downsize to the point where you're only taking your essentials, it was extremely tough. But it was probably one of the most healing and freeing things I have ever experienced in my life. Like, because I what I did identify that a lot of these things that I collected over the years, actually almost had me like in prison and where I was at, like, I couldn't move forward, I couldn't try other things. I couldn't just just adventure because these things was holding me back it was it was tying me to a specific place. So when I cut loose all of those things, it was like this freedom. It's like it's nothing is holding you back, you have your your bare essentials you have everything you need, you can do whatever you want. And that was such a freeing experience, just being able to say, You know what, I'm gonna go to Texas and see how everything works out. And in too much Texas don't work out. Well, I go back to Georgia. And we'll see how everything works out. And then after that, I said, Well, okay, you know what, there's better opportunities in Connecticut. Let's go to Connecticut. And that's, that's how the journey was. And every time that I stopped with a place I, I build a community I build with like minds, and just sharing your experiences and just other like minds, it's really fulfilling. So it's been a great freeing experience with them. Like,

Alissa Hessler: 28:00

I wondered, like, it's hard. I think that people feel like it's hard, especially as we get older, and you know, it's hard to make friends in new places, it's hard to step into a new place and just be out of your comfort zone. Do you have any advice for like someone that might want to move into a completely different place, or we might want to cut all of those ties that they have to the things that are holding them down in their life and build a new community somewhere else?

Unknown: 28:28

I will definitely tell you, it's extremely hard. It's definitely not easy, especially because a lot of times, even with myself a lot of these things that you that you say afford that you collect, right? Those are, are things like false happiness. Like, again, society says, Well, you know, what, if you buy this, it'll make you happy. So if you get this, it'll make you happy. So for a lot of these things might be expensive. And you may have saved or you know, worked for a long time for these things. So not once you acquire these things, it's hard to say, well, you know, this thing or things that I have worked for five years for, I'm gonna let go and just just go that is very hard, or that can be extremely hard for people is definitely not easy, but I think it has to just come to a point where it's either you're happy where you're at, or you don't feel happy, and you don't feel fulfilled, and you're gonna say, You know what, I'm not going to be living in regrets. I'm not going to be living into what if I would have just did whatever I think would have been free to myself and take that jump, and take that leap and it's extremely hard, but from my experience, like even through the ups and the downs like I would have never chosen differently.

Alissa Hessler: 29:44

That's amazing. That's profound. I think they like people, romanticize van life, they romanticize going on the road and, you know, seeing all the sights, what are some of the realities of it that like maybe people would overlook Just like people over simplify country living or growing food, all of those things, what were the hard parts and what were some of like, the things that you want people to consider from like safety perspectives, or like making sure that you have all of the things that you need, what did that look like for you?

Unknown: 30:16

So I would definitely 100% Say that van life is not for everybody that is 100% Like, not to be a little disgusting, but if you don't feel come to peeing in a bottle of Van life is probably not for you. And that's just some of the things you know that you have to go to if you're not comfortable, you know, taking showers and public areas in your local gym, Van life might not be be be for you, if you don't feel comfortable, really downsizing to the point of you know, giving all your things only having a small field of clothes, you know, and stuff to go, it might not be for you. So so these are serious considerations and also for extroverts. So if you are an extrovert and you like being around a lot of people and being social, it then life might not be for you. This is seriously like this might be a thing. For me, it's a healing process. Because in my journey, I identify that I had to fall in love with myself first, before I can truly love other people. So a lot of times when you are alone, you know, we are working things out, you kind of are forced to abandon your crutches or really abandoned the easy way and really dig deep and really find happiness in yourself. So I would definitely say those things are hard. As far as some tips, I would say definitely put blackout tents on your band, you know, Blackout, your band for safety wise, there's when I haven't had really any horror stories about safety or feeling unsafe. I have had some people kind of look into van maybe trying to curious about what this is and the blackout since so I can see you but you can't see me. And usually you just kind of shadow or rattle something in the band or turn on the light. It did this thought of them and then that just kind of run off. So those are some of the things when I first moved to Connecticut, I was a little anxious because it was it was new to me. I didn't know I didn't know where was the safe place for me to sleep. I didn't know like any safe places. But I just kind of figured it out and just kind of, you know, I moved on my spirit. So whatever that my spirit feels, or whatever, I feel comfortable or whatever, there's something triggers on my spirit might say, Hey, I don't know, this place feel too sketchy. I rely on that. Honestly, for me, I couldn't go back to renting. I think van life is probably the way I'm gonna go. I'm passionate about awkward living and self sustainability. So to me, without actually having an awkward homestead. This is the closest thing to experiencing that awkward life drama.

Alissa Hessler: 32:53

So even though you're in Van life right now you are growing food right now. And I'd love for you to talk about the garden that you have created. And that's community to like, that's community gardening.

Unknown: 33:05

It's so crazy, especially coming from, you know, my background and being an introvert, what, whatever I reside for at the time, I reached out, you know, social media is amazing. So I reached out to people and connect. And they allow me to, like build gardens to you know, to like build gardens, and we kind of barter like their land for the food that we grow, which is like, just amazing. So when I was in Mexico, we did the same thing I just kind of reached out like anybody wants to, like it's allowed me to build a garden and it was like, Sure, come on. And that like these experiences, like are things that I have stories and then like I can remember it kind of go on and things that I would like, always appreciate, you know, to like get always these experiences and relationships that I've built with people that I can to this day go back and it's like family so I went to Connecticut, I reached out and I said why would anybody want to you know, have a garden and it was like sure, you know, so I came to the property and they had a big backyard that was shaded. And I was like well the best area right now is going to be the front yard and she was like Well sure. You know I don't like cutting the grass anyway. So I was like okay, are you sure because when I feel garden is like it's gonna be like a mini food forest. And she said absolutely so definitely started and just experiencing all over again like you know, seeing the community again, it comes from me back when I was in Georgia when I was like digging you know, all these holes and trenches and cultivating the soil and every I can tell people walking every day just watching like, wow, what is he doing? And to now seeing the abundance of food. It's very fulfilling. I'm grateful for the opportunity for every garden I build. I feel like honestly, it's it's a child. It's like a baby. Every garden is a baby to me. I always want to Come back, always want to check on it. So it's been a very fulfilling experience to be able to grow wherever I'm at. Because to be honestly, to be honest, like I mentioned earlier, if I wouldn't be able to grow, that would for me personally, that would probably be the hardest thing of balance. Yeah.

Alissa Hessler: 35:19

And I think that a lot of people would like, assume that that would be off limits to them, right? If they're traveling around, but doesn't have to be when COVID first hit, you went down to Mexico, and I'd love for you to describe your experience there and why you chose to stay there.

Unknown: 35:35

Yeah. So when COVID hit, I was like, Okay, I didn't want to take the vaccine, and anything. And I said, Well, I'm just gonna go to Mexico, and just kind of try to try things out out there, do some research. And I said, you know, I can probably, you know, the cost of living was reasonable enough for me to kind of get by and stuff. And I went there first, I went to a few touristy places. And it wasn't, it wasn't the experience, or the lifestyle that I kind of wanted, you know, I just wanted a more cultural experience. So I visited Carmen and via I went to Cancun, I want to marry that, which was pretty cool. But then eventually, that's when I just kind of went on social media. And I was like, Look what anybody want me to kind of grow a garden and kind of a specific agriculture place in Mexico. And somebody said, Yeah, sure, come on, over. So I'd said like, maybe a 48 hour bus ride across Mexico, and went over there and went to like, the countryside of Mexico, like, cows, everybody got a ranch, everybody got animals, cows, goats, everything's, I pull up in there. And it has just been love. Like, you know, anytime that I was in Mexico, I didn't feel any negative response to me, you know, towards my skin or anything. And that's something that I identified really looking inside of myself living in the United States and identify as a black man is that it was a lot of guilt of trauma, I didn't even identify that I had in myself, like, you know, when I seen the police, their police, they don't, it's a little different. They don't have like handguns, they have automatic weapons. So when you go there and see this, you know, I would be afraid. And my friend will say, like, we don't have to worry about nothing, they're not gonna mess with me. And that was just a relief. I didn't even realize that, you know, every time I see any kind of law enforcement how my energy feels, how I feel tense, I feel anxious. And identifying going there, a lot of these feelings, it's just slowly started to just dissolve, like, I can just, I could truly be my original and Free Self, like, you know, and that was something that was very common to me. And even to this day, like I missed it, like, I can just be me until it in its entirety. And that was okay. And it was acceptable to be experienced. I'm there I built beautiful relationships, I feel gardens with, with local organic community growers there. I always got a home there in some I want to go back. So the Mexico especially with the family oriented culture was something I fell in love with. It's not capitalistic. It's more revolved around family. And that's something that my spirit was driven to, it didn't matter how much money you had, the whole family works together. And as long as you had family, you were happy. And that's something definitely my spirit read.

Alissa Hessler: 38:30

That's really beautiful. What made you decide to come back then from Mexico and return to Connecticut? What was the poll?

Unknown: 38:37

Well, the pool was I ran out of money. So so so you know, I have to go into that. I've made some bad decisions, some bad investments. I was like, Okay, for the lifestyle that I want to live. I definitely want to buy some land here. And I don't have enough right now. So I'm gonna go back to the states, save some money, and then come back. So that was one of the things I would say, you know, for for any expats or their or potential expats, I would say one of the things that I would recommend is to have some kind of residual income. So if you do plan on being expect, really have some it doesn't have to be a lot, but at least something coming in. So that's something that was one of the lessons I definitely learned next.

Alissa Hessler: 39:19

I feel like you're super creative when it comes to growing gardens and embolden people to start with what they have and look to repurpose materials or places they might not expect to find gardening stuff. What are some of your favorite like frugal gardening tips to get people started? If they don't have like a lot to invest in growing?

Unknown: 39:39

I'll say one of my favorites is you know, most easiest and simplest is five gallon bucket. So I think you know, I know some people starting there, it's easy to access a five gallon bucket, fill it up with some soil, put some drainage holes at the bottom and just you know, water it and put it in a sunny place and you can definitely start there and once you start there Are you start learning and gaining experiences with that, then you would feel more comfortable if you don't ingrown garden. So I would say five gallon buckets. One of my favorite things that maybe out of the box people wouldn't think of is shopping carts. So that's something I definitely grew in. In Georgia, we had like, it's kind of crazy, but maybe like 15 shopping carts. And we just because we didn't have a lot of land and soil, so we would, we would line the shopping carts up, fill it up with soil and grow pretty much anything in it. So that is something you know, Otter box, but as far as the five gallon bucket to a shopping cart, but anything that can hold and drain soil, you can you can possibly grow.

Alissa Hessler: 40:41

No shopping carts is so smart. Like, you could even like kind of half buried in the ground, grow potatoes, and then just like pull the whole thing up.

Unknown: 40:50

We definitely grew potatoes in shopping carts. And the great thing about it, because once you once this, like spins, you just dump the shopping cart off the potatoes is right there. Not only that, it's like a mobile garden. So you can actually move the shopping cart if you need it. And it's really great for elders because it's elevated. So you don't have to abandon stuff right there. So if you know I pick it out of the box with shopping carts is one of my favorite ways of going for those reasons.

Alissa Hessler: 41:15

And you oftentimes see shopping carts like abandoned places, and grocery stores are always like updating their shopping carts. And so that's so smart. I love that I've been to a lot of different gardens built in cities. And there was one that was built in Baltimore outside of an old folks home and they had those raised beds, but shopping carts like the perfect solution for that and you don't have to source lumber. That's genius. What's your favorite thing to grow? What do you love to grow the most?

Unknown: 41:45

So it's two things. One thing identified sunflowers and watermelons are absolutely things to grow just because the energy that they have, especially out of a sunflower, a lot of people on sunflowers and the community. I was born in Georgia, you know, people came to me and say the first time I've seen a real sunflower was in your garden, which really touched me. And it's just the energy that I have sunflower have in a watermelon for some reason, I don't know what it is. But once you grow a watermelon, everybody think you're the best gardener ever. I don't know what it is. Delicious. People are fascinated about watermelon. So if you grow water, it would be like the greatest gardener on your blog. So those are the two things I really enjoyed growing.

Alissa Hessler: 42:27

I tried to grow watermelon here in Maine, it was like this big I need like a greenhouse or something it just doesn't get warm enough. I mean, it was the most delicious thing I've ever tasted because like tomatoes, and like most fruits and vegetables, but especially tomatoes, like a watermelon tastes completely different that you grow yourself compared to something that you get at a grocery store just hates completely different, so much sweeter. I don't know, if it's because they harvest them too quickly. And they transport for a long time or what it is you can taste the love that's put into it, you know, and the time. And sunflowers are just like they're the sun flowers. Like these are always buzzing around them. This is the first year I planted like a whole row of sunflowers in the back of my garden. And some of them I'm six foot two, some of them are like four feet above my head. And they just are so amazing. I just love to look at them. So I completely resonate. Let's move into your art because I know that you have said that poetry has really saved your life. And you are a very talented and passionate Weaver of words. And I'd love for you to kind of share your relationship with poetry and how it's helped you process and emote your feelings.

Unknown: 43:48

You know, growing up, I had a pretty rough childhood. And that's kind of one of the reasons why I'm introvert. I had a very bad stutter growing up, I didn't talk very well I was stutter. Before I talk, I just get picked out a lot. And so I didn't have a lot of friends. I didn't I didn't want to talk to people because every time I talk I skipped hit that so for many years, I would just be silent. You know, I had a small group of friends, I was okay with it. I was okay with being you know, a loner. Okay, being introvert, that was cool. And I remember as I got older, you know, around my early 20s And then I would go to parties and go other places and social events and see everybody talking smile and have a good time. I wanted to experience that, you know, growing up not not basically, you know, not using my voice, I would put my my thoughts and my emotions and whatever I thought into writing. So whatever, that I didn't express verbally, I would I would express it in writing in the forms of poetry and had a lot of portrait books. And I remember you know, in my early 20s I first was introduced to spoken word poetry. And I didn't know it was a thing and I went so the first spoken word and I was just like simply amazed. And one time it's a few months spy gained up the courage to go on stage, you know, with a stuttering problem. And I went on stage and was stuttering, I couldn't get any words, I was super nervous, super anxious. And, you know, just really grateful for the whole set time, you know, he came, he said, Look, you have two options. He said, You can finish this poem, you can take hot, ever long that you need, how much time you need to finish this poem. Or you can walk off the stage. And I said, You know what, I'm going to finish this. So I was on a poem, I started through the poem. And you know, as I got to the form, it got better. And I kept coming back. And every week, every week, I will come back, and every week and every week, my stuttering getting a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit better to the point where, you know, I wasn't stuttering anymore. I explained to a lot of people, you know, now they kind of see me and be like, wow, you know, you talk well, we'd like to portray, like your energy on your videos. But I was like, this is not common for me, like, this is me coming out of the box, I learned how to I always knew how to talk. But I tell people, I didn't learn how to communicate until I was 30 years old, I didn't know how to express my feelings and my emotions into words, until, you know, I was gearing up to be an older man because of just my stuttering. So poetry actually saved my life in a way that I was actually able to live the life that I wanted to live and express myself, you know, in a normal manner. So I am grateful for poetry that is definitely one of my loves. Gardening his portrait gardening is my one of my healing and one of my outs.

Alissa Hessler: 46:40

I just wanted to give an enormous thank you to all of you who have made contributions to offset the production costs of this podcast, it means so much to me that you find enough meaning and value to pledge your support to keep this going. If you haven't had a chance to contribute, we've made it really easy for you. Just click the support button on the top of urban Exodus website, you can also get access to bonus episodes, rapid fire interviews, and our new mini podcast, ditch the city by signing up for our apple podcast premium. Or you can become a member of the urban Exodus online community where you can access hundreds of photos, stories, interviews, tutorials, videos, and more. Find out more by visiting the membership page on urban exodus.com. I think that art has the real capacity to be a mirror and to heal. And I think that, you know, it's not a high priority and artists being cut from a lot of schools. And it's like something that people aren't encouraged maybe necessarily to do. What advice would you give to people who heard your words about how poetry has helped you? I feel like creativity is a muscle just like you having to come every week to practice at it. What advice would you give to them to just get started and experiment.

Unknown: 48:06

Embrace your creativity, embrace it, embrace your individuality, cultivated, your individuality, your creativity, your art, that's your life. That's a part of your gifts. And I know in this you know, in this society, currency like money is is what people kind of see value of, but really, if you take away money, your gifts, your talents, that is your currency, that is how you can give and pour back into people. That's how how you can in my opinion, really impact people in the world the most is to cultivate your gifts, cultivate that art that light inside and share it so I would I would definitely say just embrace who you are embrace all the gifts that you have cultivate that and then sharing

Alissa Hessler: 48:56

I mean, you've kind of talked about it in the last question but you know, how have your ideas of money and success kind of shifted over the past few years making this transition?

Unknown: 49:10

One of the reasons you know that i i really love Mexico is because you know over there, they identify kind of more your your talents and your gifts is currency more than just money like you can, you can have more you can have value with not just having money and that's something that I kind of resonate and relate to, like identify you need money to live and do certain things. But I think you know, out of the biggest scheme of things, you know, the universal law of things, your currency is what is your gifts, that is whatever that you are gifted with whatever your talents are, whatever that is. So I see those right now are, in my opinion, is what I value as you know, a currency is a person's whatever that your gift is like We can barter, you know, you don't have to come up with new money, you can barter, whatever your gifts is. And that's something that I practice and encourage, when I was over farming in Atlanta, it was like, I didn't sell any food. I didn't believe in selling food, I believe in bartering your gifts. So if, if I'm, you know, I'm not really good at writing grants. But if you are a grant writer, then you can write grants, and I will provide you with as much good as you as you as you need. And we can barter like that. So you are using your gifts as currency. And that's what really I recommend leaving.

Alissa Hessler: 50:35

Absolutely. And I think that like weathering the future of this world that we find ourselves in right now like that local resilience, that exchanging of goods, having things where they are, is so important, because we've seen all of the fractures just in recent years of like, the systems of convenience that we've been so reliant on, and that they can be taken away or a premium can be put on them so quickly, so that it's not affordable for people anymore, or it excludes them. And so I really appreciate all of the energy that you're putting into keeping others and getting them excited about taking back the reins of things, because we're only really like a generation or two removed from a time when most people were growing at least some of their own food, you know, and beyond that, like really, that practicality of reusing things and like thinking about what purpose because this thing have that I might just throw away thinking about that for a moment. So yeah, that's someone who projects so much good and energy into the world. I wondered if you had any advice for manifesting positivity and gratefulness into your routine, so that you don't get stuck focusing on the many problems that we have in our current times.

Unknown: 51:58

You know, I can only speak for myself from our practices. And one thing is just like we made gratitude, so just be appreciative for what you have and embrace the present. So I think that's something that, you know, we kind of, especially me in the past kind of having Did you know, I always thought about what I could have done better, you know, what if I would have done this, and just being grateful for my experiences, and embracing the present of what I'm going through right now. Because that is going to help you whatever, that you're going to good or bad, it's going to help you in the future, it's going to help you manifest your future. So embrace that that process, because it's going to, it's going to be you're going to understand it, you're going to need it in the future. So that's one thing that I do is just, you know, try to stay in gratitude, try to just embrace whatever I'm going through in the present, just looking forward to manifesting in the future, staying in positive energy, think positive thoughts, being around positive people with these are these are things that I've learned that are very, very important, you know, just kind of if you're, if you have negative thoughts or being around negative people, then it's going to be in my experience harder to attract what you truly want in your life. So just stay in positivity, embrace the present, and be great break the big break.

Alissa Hessler: 53:21

And what are the somebody that's traveled so much in recent years? What have been the effects of climate shifting and climate changing? Have you noticed because you work with the land, you are paying attention to the seasons? Have you noticed things in the different places that you visited now? Yes. So

Unknown: 53:39

I think that is like one of the most things that I've noticed, actually, you know, stewarding the land, and for so long, and so many places as identifying climate change, like, it's really getting harder, like it's legit, like, process, usually a lot later in the year than it didn't traditionally is, you know, the summers are super hotter than it did it traditionally was. It's been you have to adjust and even living in Georgia, like I've seen where I've had to draw some grown techniques just trying to trying to combat climate change. And you know, I haven't I have talked to other farmers about this and they're just like, yeah, like, we identified what we're going through problems, things that we grew abundantly, you know, 567 years ago, we have to change and do other things, you know, to actually for the same amount of abundance. So definitely identify it's definitely a real thing. And you can identify that when you are stored in the land. But you got to put shade cloths, you know, on your fruits and vegetable if you're in a very hot climate or just like you know, you identified that that frost or the winters are taking a lot longer to come, which can be helpful in a way in some climates but you just identify like, things are changing and we have to adapt them

Alissa Hessler: 55:00

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that they're manifesting in different ways. So it's so hard to kind of stay on top of it, too. And, again, I mean, that is a real reason why kind of everyone who can or has the interest should just start learning how to grow a few things. Because it's just like, you know, the way our agriculture system is set up right now, it's very few people growing for many. And if there are huge blights, then there just won't be as much food for everyone. So yeah, in your wildest dreams, homes, what does the future of humanity look like?

Unknown: 55:40

Everybody working together, self sustainable, one of my all time dreams, and even things I've tried to implement when I was, you know, on I go to boards is just having where, you know, each community growing something, you know, that is something that even, you know, visiting. And traveling to the islands, it's the kind of is, you know, it's like everybody has their own guard, they're always doing something like there's not community gardens is not really a popular thing. And islands and other cultures, because everybody grows. So you would always have an abundance. And if one person there, if you're going tomatoes, and other person's going to cucumbers, you will just barter something. So for me being in a place where everyone is drawing, everyone is sharing, everyone is embracing their, their individuality, their their lights, their creativity, and they're using their gifts, is currency. That to me, the world would love to live

Alissa Hessler: 56:35

out of the world I would love to live in as well. The last few years have been extremely difficult on so many levels. And I wondered what this time has taught you, and how you are carrying that into your work in the future.

Unknown: 56:51

To really, again, embrace the present. So really, embrace the present, be gratitude, be grateful for everything that I'm going through that, you know, working forwards, and just being able to just really, you know, live for the now, I guess, is what I'm learning. I'm a big person in preparation and planning. And that's one of the big reasons why I came back to the state so I can prepare for a long time living. And now I'm kind of even like thinking, Well, what if I just go do it? Now? What if I don't need to have all my ducks in a line in a row? What if I can have half of the ducks alive and just go figure it out while I'm there just like living living in the now. So that's something where you know, I'm learning right now, from just everything that's going on. It's just embracing the present, and starting to live in the math?

Alissa Hessler: 57:41

Are there any exciting things on the horizon for you from either personal or business perspective that you'd like to share? And how can people support the work that you're doing, learn from you follow along on your journey?

Unknown: 57:56

Absolutely. So definitely have some exciting things. I'm working on some online classes, teaching people how to grow, you know, indoor gardening, outdoor gardening, but also what I'm also doing is working on some band build, so I upgraded to a different band, and I will be decking this band out. So we have everything shower, bathroom, you know, bed, everything kitchen, and also just kind of building myself first time teaching myself a lot of YouTube. So I'll be also you know, recording this tracking my, my journey on YouTube and providing courses in the near future. And then basically, once this van is, is done and finished, and I'm thinking that I will be ready to be taken advantage of Mexico, I'm just starting this new chapter in Mexico. So you everybody can find me at the homeless finds freedom on Instagram and almost finds freedom on YouTube.

Alissa Hessler: 58:49

That's awesome. I am so excited for you to like get back to that place. I think that like there's a real, there's a real thing. And I've heard this throughout this project. Now I've interviewed like hundreds of people who've done this, but like when you go to a place and it just feels like home, and like it just feels like you have to be rooted there. And there's such a power and like once you're planted in that place, that's when you know, you really bloom. So I'm really excited for that. It it's been just like an absolute pleasure to speak with you. Thank you for all of the wisdom that you've shared, for sharing your beautiful story. I think that so many people feel scared and have that like embedded scarcity mindset of you know, my dreams will be in the future. And I really appreciate that you have like, had the courage to just be like, I'm going to grab it and I'm going to go for it because we really don't know how much time we have here. So such an absolute pleasure and honor to have you on and I hope that I get I hope I get to like come to Mexico one day and see what you You have created there because I'm sure it's just going to be so beautiful because everywhere, everywhere you land you grow. And that's that's amazing.

Unknown: 1:00:10

Give thanks.

Alissa Hessler: 1:00:14

Thank you again Holmes for joining us on the show some of my key takeaways from this episode. First, growing food benefits not only the cultivators, but also those witnessing the alchemy, and payoffs and beauty of your hard work. It fosters greater community pride, togetherness and collaboration. Even if you don't have a place to grow, State your intention to others, and you will likely be presented a path. Second nature as a teacher, if we choose to tune in and listen. Working with nature requires us to pace ourselves, pay attention, and find appreciation in the little things. We are not meant to live in this frantic pace that many of us are accustomed to. Getting your hands in the soil, or spending time outside the manmade world is incredibly healing and therapeutic. And lastly, we acquire so much stuff in our lives. And that stuff can be a tether preventing you from living the life that you want to live. downsizing your possessions can be a tremendously freeing experience, and it can start you on a journey towards a new and more adventurous way of living. Hi, friends, thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the urban Exodus podcast. This is a listener supported program that is only made possible through your continued support. And if you haven't already, we would really love it if you'd leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify, or whatever service you listen on. And please recommend urban access to your friends. An enormous thank you to my incredible producer Simone Leon, and my amazing editor Johnny Saul, and my music man Benjamin Thoreau, and thanks to all of you for listening. I'm Alissa Hessler and this is the urban Exodus