Robin Greenfield: Foraging His Own Food for a Year!

0:03Darin Olien:Welcome to Super Life with me, Darin Olien, a podcast where we explore, discover, and share solutions that promote a healthier life and a better world. Together, we'll ignite possibilities, inspire change, and build sovereignty, creating a roadmap towards a super life for you and for all. Get ready to start living your super life.

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2:47Robin Greenfield:It's really nice to be connecting. I was really, really pleased when I received your email a few months ago or the email from your team. And I'm glad we're here finally doing this conversation. And it's actually my first since I have begun my year of foraging all my food. And so I'm so glad that we'll get to dive into that a little bit.

3:10Darin Olien:Right on, man. Well, congrats on that. I'm stoked to have this conversation. For people, you had an awakening over a decade ago to whatever degree people can understand. Like, I think, depending on who you are, but but to whatever degree that the the the systems at play in what our our world is, that we were all kind of born into and continues to kind of cruise at at a lightning speed, almost to to a shocking degree in certain angles and areas that that that seem to be going completely in the opposite direction in terms of any sort of content or quality of life. So, so maybe just start there, dude, that, you know, so people have a context of your motivations as to what that awakening was.

4:23Darin Olien:And then, and then what What are those continued motivations as you then start your year freaking journey of eating nothing but, you know, your foraging foods?

4:35Robin Greenfield:Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, in 2011, I was living a fairly typical U.S. American lifestyle. I was very focused on material possessions and financial wealth. I had a goal of being a millionaire by the time I was 30 and I was 25 at that time. and I was actually on track bringing in the six figures and I was very on track to achieve that goal. Life was good. I was traveling the world. I had really quality friendships. I had romance in my life. I was really living my dream. I was happy. I was healthy. I was actually thriving and then something happened and I realized that I wanted to just totally transform my life and do things very different and what that was is I started to watch some documentaries and I started to read some books and I learned that the way that I was living was causing such destruction to the earth to the fellow people to the plants and animals that we share this home with I just learned that almost everything that I was doing, the food I was eating, the car I was driving, the trash I was making, the stuff I was buying, the money I was spending, was all parts of systems of destruction and exploitation and oppression.

5:58Robin Greenfield:And so basically I learned that I was living a hypocrisy because I didn't believe in destroying the world. It's just what I was sort of more blindly doing. And so I set out to change my life, transform my life one step at a time to try to live in harmony with earth, you know, to simply not destroy the earth through my daily actions, which is so simple, but in our society is quite radical to try to live in harmony with this home. And so from that time, I set out to one change at a time transform my life. I made a list of over a hundred changes I wanted to make and with the goal of doing that in two years, which I did.

6:46Robin Greenfield:So after two years, I was doing at least a hundred things differently. And so from small steps to huge steps, I was transforming my life to, to, you know, the focus is sustainability, but it's also justice and equity. I mean, we're talking about the basics of trying to live in a way where the people who are on the other side of my actions life is not destroyed but is actually enriched and then truth to breaking free from these systems that are just so based on um keeping

7:19Darin Olien:the truth hidden from us yeah i mean and that and that's a lot that's that's a that's a you know as we can coin the term this matrix moment of realizing that there's so many systems at play. And, you know, it's something I contemplate all the time in the sense that, is this the life that I want? Because if we just kind of accept it, like you said, like, okay, here's the goals, you know have make the money do the thing have some relationship you know all that all that stuff that's still a part of life but if we just go along with it the systems itself just kind of take us on this tidal wave uh and it and it takes a bit to to do that so and i also want to shout out the the immense resources that you have on your website is just like wow so so so the cool thing that you've been doing it's not like you're and i think this is important you're not just doing this far out over there because you you could and no one would know anything about it but there is something contributive and uh that you're doing and you're you're recording this you're journaling it you're sharing the story uh and i think that that is and if and you know things are trade-offs like if you need to use your phone to to curate a story so that it can proliferate into other people's homes and lives those are those are good in a sense right and And it's so so as you started.

9:12Darin Olien:So I just want to say people can find that hundred. Yes. Kind of, you know, it's all on the website. And I think that's kind of hard for people when they hear, oh, my God, I do need to change. But then it's an overwhelm. Yeah. Right away. Instead of like, I think you did it a great way in the sense that let's just do one thing at a time.

9:35Robin Greenfield:Yes. So the idea of that is to set small goals with the bigger picture goals in mind as well. And so I made this long list of changes that I wanted to make from simple things like ditching disposable paper towels and using reusable towels to bigger things like, you know, eventually getting rid of my car and being pedal powered instead or divesting completely from any destructive investments or taking my money out of the big banks. Some of the things took me three, four years to get to. Other things I could do joyfully right away. And so basically from the very beginning when I decided that I was going to transform my life, it was because I wanted to live my own life and take responsibility for my own life.

10:24Robin Greenfield:But it was also from a very beginning stage I decided that my life was going to be my message. Mahatma Gandhi is one of my biggest inspirations. And that's one of the things he did. It's his life that's his message. It's his accent. It's his actions. It's his words. It's his being. And so what I decided to do was go on this long journey of reconnecting with earth and invite others on this journey with me. And I do that through speaking, through writing, through videos, through in-person, like getting together with people in real life. And that's my objective is as I radically transform myself, the reality is I am here to radicalize the especially the US American population.

11:13Robin Greenfield:Once we've learned that the American dream is the world's nightmare, I am here to help as many people get out of that nightmare, stop proliferating the nightmare and start shifting towards a way of living in harmony, which again, sounds radical, but it's pretty basic, just like, just not destroying our only home. Right?

11:36Darin Olien:Well, it's basic in a sense that, you know, when we've punted the idea of happiness and contentment off to a dream that was set up for us. And then you can throw a dart at many successful people in their lives, and they've gotten there and they're not fulfilled. So so it's really the curation of that contentment, and that joy and that belonging and that ownership and all of these are very basic things. But there's a, there's a, there's a path that you've chosen to, to take action in that. And, and, you know, just, you know, spouting the idea without taking action is just another influencer that, you know, is, is not, not doing much.

12:30Darin Olien:So, um, one, maybe some of the things that when you first started, what were some of the shocking, maybe the most challenging as you kind of hit your first hundred? What were the, and then maybe upon that as you're kind of hitting certain thresholds, because I would imagine you're hitting these barriers of ego, you're hitting these emotional barriers, you're hitting this pressure of society, you're hitting pressure from other people, and other friends and family. As you started leaning into that and really doing it, what were some of the biggest challenges that you were facing? Yeah, well, you know, I am someone who really likes challenges

13:26Robin Greenfield:and doesn't want a single day of my life to not have challenges, really. um and so of course like you know my first environmental adventure was to bike across the united states on a bamboo bicycle and do it off the grid so to try to cross the country having no negative environmental impact that was hard you know that was very hard and the way that i used to put that was that i literally had to cross three mountain ranges to get across the country And so now for me, what seems like a mountain to others is like just a mere speed bump because I have done I've just challenged myself so consistently with so much of what I'm doing that I'm really well set up for challenge.

14:11Robin Greenfield:So to be honest, you know, at this moment, not a lot comes to mind. But some of the things that I can say that as far as the changes, well, taking my money out of the big banks was challenging for me because I needed all their conveniences and services and then eventually switched over to a local credit union. That was challenging. Getting rid of my cell phone, which I got rid of 10 years ago, was big. that was challenging. Like, can you exist without a cell phone in this society? And I, you know, I got rid of it. And then I was like, oh, look, I still exist. Here I am. So that was very much a challenge.

14:55Robin Greenfield:Shedding societal norms, you know, there's a lot of challenges there. I remember getting rid of my last pair of business clothes. And that was, you know, that was monumental to say like I am me just whatever clothes I have on that's who I am there's not a different me at different locations I'm just one me wherever I am and whoever I'm with and then on the note of clothes just last year I finally got to all my homemade natural fiber and naturally dyed clothes and that was that took me over a decade to finally get to that point and this just a couple days ago I finally made my first green t-shirt and this is made nice that yeah this is made with buckthorn

15:38Darin Olien:berries so I love it that's awesome well I'm currently sitting in a non-dyed undyed cotton t-shirt myself because once you get free of that stuff but congratulations because I have a good friend Jeff Garner who's been in the fashion world actually talking about scaling plant dyed clothing for 20 years and it's a massive polluter that kind of goes under the radar um especially when it's synthetic fiber it's like okay it's basically a plastic bottle that you're that you're having on your body so those things are great and then just you know i know that you talk about upcycling in your website and go i mean i i love going into a thrift store and finding gems you know it's like It's a beautiful thing.

16:30Darin Olien:And I'm curious too because I find this in my life that I've certainly been strange in my own way, not to your extent. But I find that once that – and you kind of alluded to it with the building of resiliency through the challenges. And I find that the more integration, like your first hundred steps and now beyond, that there's a momentum with the alignment of truth of yourself that just grows and grows. talk to me a little bit about that because your conviction is is it starts to kind of go beyond yourself in a certain sense right so yeah talk to him talk to me about that inner

17:25Robin Greenfield:transformation as you've been doing this yeah sure the inner transformation so so for some people they focus on the inner transformation first through say yoga meditation mindfulness um you You know, like Thich Nhat Hanh's form of Buddhism is something that draws me very much because it's that, but it's action based at the same time. And so my inner transformation started through my outer transformation, because if you change everything around you, it's going to change your mind as well. I like to think we are to a large degree our surroundings. now we can ascend that but it's hard to completely ascend our surroundings we need to change our surroundings and so so for me it's been a long journey of of transforming my outer world through having different friends and going different places having different hobbies eating different foods you know shopping at different places substantially transforming my my surroundings and through my actions, through everything that I'm doing.

18:34But at the same time, what I've learned is that if we don't change our minds

18:41Robin Greenfield:and we only change our actions, we'll keep getting what we've always gotten. Because at the core of my belief is that the reason that we are destroying this earth is because we feel that we're separate from it. We believe that we're separate from it. And that's probably our greatest threat is the belief that we are separate and this disconnection. And so the majority of us are so disconnected from the earth that it allows us to blindly destroy it without even really knowing it. And a lot of us know it, but we're so disconnected from it that we're able to do it. So this has been a long journey of disconnection from what no longer serves to reconnect to what deeply serves.

19:27Robin Greenfield:And of course, this is liberation. It's freedom. A huge portion of this is about freeing myself from these systems of destruction and embracing systems of regeneration and healing and nurturing and harmony. and the last thing I'll say on this long monologue here is that you know bringing it back to the challenges I do I do live like okay my life because I built the foundation of of a more simple and sustainable life it feels utterly normal to me to be living exactly the way that I am. But I'm constantly reminded that to most of society, I am a really weird human being. Like I'm a total wild card.

20:18Robin Greenfield:And so the challenge is that interacting with society while I'm living so substantially different in many ways, but remembering how society acts. So as the messenger, I know how to share my message in a way that's going to be received well. That's probably one of my biggest challenges on a daily basis is living it to the deepest level, but also being able to speak to people who haven't even begun and be there with them.

20:46Darin Olien:Yeah, that is a

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22:45Robin Greenfield:to get your 12 % off. And, uh, you know, I think that's, uh, what you said about action.

22:55Darin Olien:And I think it reflects the importance of community, right? So, so your community is also your things. It feeds you or takes from you, your energy. So the more you've changed, you've, you've created your foundation, your terrain, you've changed your terrain. So your terrain is now feeding you differently than it was before. And, and, and, and that also then extends into, to people and to what real community is. And we already know that community is the most important thing that we have. And, and I love that you're also willing to not just stay in your hut in the middle of nowhere, but also, you know, migrate back and forth between this toggle of of communication because it's a challenging situation um and i even now i'm you know i'm surrounded by the woods and i just walk outside and bare feet and and to get into a car and to drive to los angeles is just like i it's it's disorienting all the time um so for you now Now, you're starting this foraging journey.

24:17Darin Olien:And I'm looking at your schedule. And they're like, bro, you have a schedule of talks and showing up in cities. Talk to me like a day in the life. What is that? I'm so curious. What is that like?

24:38Robin Greenfield:Yeah.

24:39Darin Olien:How are you getting your food? And then if you need to travel and you need to meet, go to a place into a city, like, how are you? How are you doing that?

24:49Robin Greenfield:Yeah. So, well, the the year of foraging every bite of my food and medicine just began two days ago. And yeah, two days ago or was it yesterday? The days are so long. I'm packing so much into my days. But so what my kind of day in the life is like is kind of a little bit to be determined. And that's the thing about my life is I'm constantly immersing in these different projects, experiences, campaigns. And so my life varies a lot depending on which, you know, what project I'm doing. But right now I'm on a month long tour. I just left Portland, Maine. I'm in Boston right now and coming up to New York and DC and etc.

25:38Robin Greenfield:And so I'm giving talks or plant walks in each of these cities while also living this that I'm foraging all my food and medicine at the same time. So it's a lot to manage all of it. There's no like quick going to the store and grabbing something easy or like, I just need this superfood right now to get me through. It's like the earth. I've got to lie. I got to lean in on the earth. And so actually the first two days I'm fasting. So I'm up, I'm at like 43 or 44 hours right now. So I'm starting off the year of foraging with a, with a long fast. Well, for me, this is a long fast because a big part of this is about, it's about really taking, it's about really becoming a master of my own mind and a mass.

26:30Robin Greenfield:And a big part of that is what we put into our mouths, the constant stuffing them full of things to overcome our cravings for the reality that we're, you know, lacking inside is why we're usually doing that. But all that to say, my food is wild rice is one of my key staples. I harvested 75 pounds of wild rice. So you imagine that's a lot of days of food that I have. Venison from a deer that was hit by a car, actually. So I have canned venison with me. I have applesauce and pear sauce and plum sauce. I have a lot of herbs. So I have my herbal teas. I have a morning blend and an evening blend. I have my medicinal mushroom blend, which is chaga, reishi, turkey tail, lion's mane, and maitake.

27:21Robin Greenfield:And as I'm saying this, I'm like, oh, my God, I actually foraged all of these things over the last three months. and actually have a pretty complete diet. I still have foraging to do, but as I'm traveling, I'm carrying a lot of this food with me. I just harvested my salt yesterday in Cortland, Maine and seaweed, which was so abundant that it almost felt like cheating to harvest this. But now I have my own seaweed supplement straight from the ocean. So my diet is quite diverse and it will continue to get more diverse as I, you know, I just, last thing I'll say on this, like, I've been working morning till night on a lot of stuff.