Ep 53 Alice Crowe ~ Botanist, meditator + radical life pivot specialist

This week, Catie sits down with Alice Crowe in her plant-filled Melbourne home for a chat over tea and marmalade toast. Alice is a Botanist, kitchen gardener at Heide Museum of Modern Art, founder of The Lush Forest, president of Growing Farmers and former litigation lawyer who underwent a pretty radical life pivot -- ample inspiration for anyone who’s ever wanted to ‘just quit everything’ to see what happens next.We talk: pulling the pin on conventional success, the primal energy of the rainforest, boring habits (that make for a beautiful life), can backyard farming feed the world? and things you can’t go to your grave without knowing.SHOW NOTESThe journey from litigation lawyer to botany nerd.The perils and pure distraction of perpetual busy-ness. When your body says NUP.When external metrics of success don’t align with your internal compass.Quitting a corporate career without a plan. Taking three months off to do who-knows-what.How quickly wellness returns when you Just Stop.How a short horticulture course at Burnley College became a Master of Science (Botany).Idolising people who wear secateurs on their belt.Approaching nurseries as a mature-age assistant with no skills and no experience.The joy of pottering around watering geraniums. Realising that the simple, non-intellectual stuff is where it’s at for happiness.An epiphany thanks to Ficus elastica.How to honour what your heart wants when that’s not necessarily what the world wants.Less noise during the pandemic = more clarity.Boring habits that facilitate contentment, peacefulness.Why being in a tropical rainforest is a primeval, sensory experience.Brain explosion! How did we get these amazing plants and universe?Things you can’t go to your grave not knowing.The delight in the mundane and the magic of dumb questions.Why everyone should look at something through a microscope once daily!Photosynthesis = SORCERY.The story of plant evolution is the story of the earth.Why we need more scientific literacy to fight misinformation that hobbles climate action.The folly of mental striving. We’ve got what we’ve got. The paradox of changemaking: Is it more effective when you’re not out to succeed?Rebecca Solnit.The garden of your mental health.Meditation as foundation.Why true acceptance is truly courageous.The myth of the individual, self-sufficient unit.No individual can fight a system. How to get on the systems waves with others!How Growing Farmers began and how it’s transforming backyards, local food systems, new farmer opportunities and (with any luck) the planet.Building non-transactional community relationships.Will we go down the tech farming or agroecology road?Why all the academic arguments in the world aren’t a substitute for just giving it a go.Why shifting our current paradigm and lifestyle is terrifying!Practising new systems while things are relatively ‘stable’.Talking to kids who are scared about climate change. LINKS YOU'LL LOVEAlice on InstaThe Lush ForestHeide Museum of Modern ArtGrowing FarmersRebecca SolnitJonathan Lear -- Radical HopeSupport the show