So the other day (week? Jebus time goes fast) I had the good fortune to sit down with Jonathan Smith, the lovely and talented host of Poolside Podcast York, to talk about the new Dr Sketchy’s branch in York (every 2nd friday of the month at Parliament.)

Which I did for maybe two minutes before doing that diverging tangents thing I tend to do, and we ended up talking about almost everything else under the sun.

Jonathan is a delightful host, the podcast is highly enjoyable, the goal is admirable (to shine a light on creatives and nifty humans doing cool stuff in York that might otherwise go unnoticed) and if you have any interest in the episode I was on, you can check it out here: Episode 33 (love those double numbers!)

We touched on so many subjects briefly  that I felt like I should share some more info and links and maybe some photos.

Valeria Voxx, the brilliant burlesque performer and model extraordinaire who graced our first, awkward but earnest Dr Sketchy’s York branch debut at Parliament, can be seen making things happen at Dr Sketchy’s Baltimore at The Windup Space the first monday of every month. (Really, she’s an amazing performer, stellar model, and fabulous human being.)

Rory the rooster was mentioned in there, so here are a couple of shots of him in all his pre-egg-eating glory:

 

I mentioned the farm a few times, and how beautiful it was, so here is a smattering of photos, none of which capture a quarter of its beauty:

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I mentioned hugelkultur, and here are a few good introductory bits about it:
Hugelkultur benefits article in Permaculture Magazine and a good how-to article in the same source.  Paul Wheaton’s intro to hugelkultur article on RichSoil  (the video in the article is here, in case you didn’t scroll all the way down.) And here’s a quick clip of my little hugelkultur experiment, which was delightful.

I think I mentioned that Permies.com is an excellent resource for all things permaculture, and I highly, highly recommend checking out almost anything Sepp Holzer has done, starting with his book Sepp Holzer Permaculture, or the many videos about the Krameterhof and his other projects on the youtubes. Acres USA is also a good source for permaculture and other sustainable/regenerative farming methods, and their Acres USA Primer oughta be required reading.

(Sepp Holzer and Paul Wheaton should really be household names, and then folks could stop flipping out about this whole “feeding the world” thing.)
I mentioned the Penn Street Art Bridge, and below are a few photos — go check it out, and if you’d like to get involved in any of the projects the York Time Bank is cooking up, just join/sign up (be sure to verify your email address please and thank you!!)

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I mentioned my colorful ancestor Augustine Hermann, and the Susquehannock Indian fort in York that was on the map he made in the 1600s. (I also mentioned an ancestor from Ireland who moved to York, but finding her in my MyHeritage family tree was taking more than a couple of minutes.)

We touched super-briefly on the Susquehanna River being one of the oldest rivers on the planet, which I think is amazing and magical and we should really be working towards being better stewards of the water.

“Geologically, the river is extremely ancient, often regarded as the oldest or second oldest major system in the world. It is far older than the mountain ridges through which it turns, most of which were formed in uplift events of the early Cenozoic era. Like the Hudson, Delaware and Potomac rivers, the basin was well-established in the flat plains that existed during the Mesozoic era.

There is evidence that the flow of the ancient Susquehanna was established early enough that it predated the Appalachian orogeny over 300 million years ago, meaning that the river was in existence well before Pangea broke up and formed the Atlantic Ocean.”
[source]

 

There was talk about how we like to think that we’re logical but we’re really just big balls of feels, and copping to that could ironically help us be more logical.

There was brief discussion of Lillie Bell Allen, and how as a society we would benefit from acknowledging injustices and unhealed wounds.

I mentioned a Community Land Trust, and if the concept is new to you you should totally read up on it.

We said stuff about how there are converging macro trends — mainly associated with AI and 3D manufacturing but also transportation — that are going to obliterate millions of jobs (seriously, like 50% of all jobs, y’all) and that UBI is going to be super important so we should really be experimenting with it. (Elon Musk agrees!)

The phrase “regulatory capture” was used, and if that’s new to you and especially if you’re in America or the UK, you should read up on it because it’s kind of an enormous deal.

A bunch of books were recommended — Happy City, The Geography of Genius, Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture, Mycellium Running, Smart Swarm, Restoration Agriculture, and.. hm, I can’t remember what else. Check out The Great Good Place, Cognitive Surplus, and Bold, too.

We also talked about the York Time Bank, a local alternative currency in which time replaces money, and if you like the idea that our economy could be less toxic and more sustainable you might enjoy Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein. And this TEDx talk from Black Rock City a few years ago about the Woergl Experiment.

I can’t remember if we talked about UpCollective, or Gratitude Gatherings, or a dozen other things going on, but we covered a pretty broad territory. You should check it out. Or any of the other episodes, which are proving to be good listenin’ — here’s to smart, kind and funny folks lifting people up and just generally making York even more sparkly and magnificent. It’s a real treat to have been on Poolside Podcast.

(And I have even more respect and appreciation for the kinds of folks who “link info below” when they do videos or posts and whatnot because omg how do you keep track of it all!)