0:00:01.726,0:00:04.671
It's the dream of millions of people.

0:00:04.671,0:00:06.872
Complete self sufficiency.

0:00:06.872,0:00:09.377
To grow all of their own food and never

0:00:09.377,0:00:12.150
have to take a trip to the grocery store.

0:00:12.150,0:00:15.406
But for most people, it's just that, a [br]dream.

0:00:15.406,0:00:18.390
The ease of our current global, industrial

0:00:18.390,0:00:21.642
food system is just that, too easy.

0:00:21.642,0:00:26.046
Too convenient. Too time saving and too [br]alluring.

0:00:26.046,0:00:29.309
I've been exploring food for nearly a [br]decade,

0:00:29.309,0:00:32.893
and since the beginning, I've had the [br]burning question-

0:00:32.893,0:00:36.736
Could I step outside of the Big Ag system?

0:00:36.736,0:00:39.918
Could I go without grocery stores and [br]restaurants?

0:00:39.918,0:00:41.564
Nothing packaged or processed,

0:00:41.564,0:00:43.911
nothing shipped from a far off place.

0:00:43.911,0:00:48.642
Could I grow and forage 100% of my food,

0:00:48.642,0:00:51.490
everything that I ate, for an entire year?

0:00:51.490,0:00:54.437
That's exactly the journey and the quest

0:00:54.437,0:00:56.478
that I decided to set out on

0:00:56.478,0:00:59.556
and now I am here to share the story with [br]you.

0:00:59.556,0:01:02.009
(music)

0:01:02.009,0:01:05.142
(music abruptly stops) But one big thing-

0:01:05.142,0:01:09.207
I had very little experience with growing[br]my own food.

0:01:09.207,0:01:12.006
When I lived in San Diego I did have a

0:01:12.006,0:01:14.695
few raised beds where I grew some greens,

0:01:14.695,0:01:18.524
tomatoes and herbs but as a traveller for

0:01:18.524,0:01:21.164
the last seven or so years, I had never

0:01:21.164,0:01:23.698
really settled in one place long enough to

0:01:23.698,0:01:25.113
grow my own food.

0:01:25.113,0:01:27.541
So, in order to do this I would have to

0:01:27.541,0:01:29.608
settle in one place.

0:01:29.608,0:01:32.750
And that place that I chose is Orlando, [br]Florida,

0:01:32.750,0:01:34.396
where I am sitting right now.

0:01:34.838,0:01:38.118
Besides being really fresh to growing my [br]own food,

0:01:38.118,0:01:42.176
I was also fresh to the scene here in [br]Orlando, in Florida.

0:01:42.176,0:01:44.570
And I was giving myself just two years

0:01:44.570,0:01:46.764
here before hitting the road again.

0:01:46.764,0:01:50.805
So I had to get planting as soon as I[br]landed here.

0:01:50.805,0:01:54.083
But I didn't have a garden, I didn't own

0:01:54.083,0:01:57.473
any land, and I had almost no experience

0:01:57.473,0:02:00.175
with foraging in the state of Florida.

0:02:00.175,0:02:03.664
I chose Florida so that I could grow food[br]year round.

0:02:03.664,0:02:06.063
And I chose Orlando because I had passed

0:02:06.063,0:02:08.402
through here a few times and met a great

0:02:08.402,0:02:12.719
community of permaculturists and people [br]who grow their own food.

0:02:12.719,0:02:17.011
Specifically, I chose the community of [br]Audubon Park

0:02:17.011,0:02:19.138
because that's where Orlando permaculture

0:02:19.138,0:02:21.613
and my friends at Fleet Farming were based

0:02:21.613,0:02:24.247
and there was already a movement here of

0:02:24.247,0:02:26.441
turning front yards into gardens.

0:02:26.441,0:02:30.038
So I would have the support I needed in [br]order to do it here.

0:02:30.038,0:02:32.464
I quickly got to work meeting people in my

0:02:32.464,0:02:34.663
neighborhood and proposing the idea to

0:02:34.663,0:02:37.615
them of turning their front lawns into [br]gardens.

0:02:37.615,0:02:40.372
It really wasn't hard to find takers

0:02:40.372,0:02:42.207
because it was a pretty sweet deal.

0:02:42.207,0:02:44.428
Their boring lawn would be turned into a

0:02:44.428,0:02:46.697
garden, I'd do almost all of the work,

0:02:46.697,0:02:49.680
cover the costs and they could eat all the

0:02:49.680,0:02:52.432
food they liked right from their front [br]yard.

0:02:52.432,0:02:55.337
In fact, I quickly had a list of lawns

0:02:55.337,0:02:58.612
longer than I could handle.

0:02:58.612,0:03:01.245
The transformation was amazingly quick

0:03:01.245,0:03:03.271
and within just a few months, I was

0:03:03.271,0:03:05.576
growing more food than I could eat,[br]myself,

0:03:05.576,0:03:08.177
and sharing it with friends in the[br]neighborhood.

0:03:08.177,0:03:10.409
I ended up creating six small plots

0:03:10.409,0:03:14.446
all within easy cycling distance of each [br]other.

0:03:14.446,0:03:18.463
I was just figuring out what I was doing[br]the whole time.

0:03:18.463,0:03:21.328
I went to local meet ups like Orlando [br]Permaculture,

0:03:21.328,0:03:24.206
volunteered in the garden with Fleet [br]Farming,

0:03:24.206,0:03:26.968
visited farms, and gardens and nurseries,

0:03:26.968,0:03:29.629
took foraging classes with local foragers,

0:03:29.629,0:03:32.081
like Green Deane, read books by local

0:03:32.081,0:03:35.800
growers, and watched videos online, and [br]more.

0:03:35.800,0:03:38.039
For a place to live, I built a simple,

0:03:38.039,0:03:41.178
tiny house homestead in the backyard of a

0:03:41.178,0:03:42.995
community member that I met.

0:03:42.995,0:03:44.967
And in exchange for using their space,

0:03:44.967,0:03:51.295
I turned their monoculture of grass into[br]an at home supermarket.

0:03:51.295,0:03:53.287
Starting from scratch, it took me ten

0:03:53.287,0:03:57.510
months to be comfortable and ready to[br]begin my year.

0:03:57.510,0:04:01.308
November 11th, 2018 would be my first [br]day.

0:04:01.308,0:04:04.668
It was now time to eat 100% from my

0:04:04.668,0:04:07.163
gardens and food that I would forage.

0:04:07.163,0:04:10.930
Now, when I say 100% I truly mean it.

0:04:10.930,0:04:12.917
No grocery stores or restaurants.

0:04:12.917,0:04:14.833
No drinks at a bar.

0:04:14.833,0:04:17.364
Nothing packaged or processed.

0:04:17.364,0:04:19.575
Nothing shipped long distances.

0:04:19.575,0:04:21.301
No farmer's markets.

0:04:21.301,0:04:23.970
Not even going over to my friend's pantry

0:04:23.970,0:04:28.474
or even going to their gardens or their [br]food forests.

0:04:28.474,0:04:31.237
Why not share food from my friends' [br]gardens?

0:04:31.237,0:04:34.778
Because I wanted to truly immerse in my[br]food.

0:04:34.778,0:04:37.478
I wanted to have to have to literally

0:04:37.478,0:04:40.477
figure out how to grow every single food

0:04:40.477,0:04:44.840
or ingredient that I needed or how to [br]source it from nature.

0:04:44.840,0:04:48.083
Many people know me for my dumpster diving

0:04:48.083,0:04:50.159
to raise awareness about food waste.

0:04:50.159,0:04:52.169
And a lot of people who follow me online

0:04:52.169,0:04:55.515
assumed that I would still be eating from [br]dumpsters.

0:04:55.515,0:04:59.974
But, nope! No food from dumpster diving [br]at all!

0:04:59.974,0:05:01.972
I had already proved to myself that

0:05:01.972,0:05:05.866
I could live off of the waste of our [br]globalized food system.

0:05:05.866,0:05:08.577
Now it was time to see if I could step

0:05:08.577,0:05:10.673
away from that completely.

0:05:10.673,0:05:13.815
That included everything that I put in my [br]body.

0:05:13.815,0:05:17.174
Even supplements, vitamins and medicines.

0:05:17.174,0:05:19.678
Now, you'd think on day one, that maybe

0:05:19.678,0:05:24.212
I'd have eaten a lot of 100% homegrown and[br]foraged meals,

0:05:24.212,0:05:28.641
but to be honest, my first meal on day [br]one,

0:05:28.641,0:05:35.238
was my first 100% homegrown and foraged [br]meal of my entire life.

0:05:35.238,0:05:39.028
It was day one and I was in the deep end.

0:05:39.028,0:05:43.338
But I had laid the foundation that I [br]needed.

0:05:43.338,0:05:45.371
My gardens, scattered across the

0:05:45.371,0:05:47.249
neighborhood, were full of food

0:05:47.249,0:05:49.807
and I had scouted out food, both in the

0:05:49.807,0:05:53.237
city and the countryside, to forage.

0:05:53.237,0:05:56.236
My supermarket was on nearly every street

0:05:56.236,0:06:00.484
I could walk down and the shelves were [br]stocked.

0:06:01.684,0:06:05.513
Over the last 365 days I grew and

0:06:05.513,0:06:08.925
harvested over 100 different foods from my[br]gardens

0:06:08.925,0:06:13.564
and foraged over 200 different foods from [br]nature.

0:06:13.564,0:06:16.864
That's a new species for almost every

0:06:16.864,0:06:19.408
single day of the year.

0:06:19.408,0:06:23.178
I grew a dozen different greens packed [br]with nutrients.

0:06:23.178,0:06:24.104
Moringa,

0:06:24.104,0:06:24.876
katuk,

0:06:24.876,0:06:25.973
chaya, purslane,

0:06:25.973,0:06:27.797
collards, kale,

0:06:27.797,0:06:30.709
and perennial spinaches, just to name[br]a few.

0:06:30.709,0:06:33.217
I grew sweet potatoes, cassava and yams

0:06:33.217,0:06:35.438
for my main caloric needs.

0:06:35.438,0:06:37.776
Pigeon peas and southern peas for[br]protein.

0:06:37.776,0:06:40.908
Delicious fruits like papayas and bananas.

0:06:40.908,0:06:43.804
Seminole pumpkins, carrots, eggplants,

0:06:43.804,0:06:45.842
just to name a few vegetables.

0:06:45.842,0:06:49.174
And garlic, onion, peppers and many[br]herbs

0:06:49.174,0:06:53.374
to add flavour and nutrition to all of my [br]meals.

0:06:53.374,0:06:57.113
And I raised bees for honey to satisfy my [br]sweet tooth.

0:06:57.113,0:07:01.564
Which, believe me, I do have quite the [br]sweet tooth.

0:07:01.564,0:07:03.873
All of the bees that I stewarded were

0:07:03.873,0:07:06.397
rescued with my friend, Dennis the bee [br]guy,

0:07:06.397,0:07:09.880
from locations where people didn't want [br]them living

0:07:09.880,0:07:12.439
such as in the side of their homes.

0:07:12.439,0:07:16.841
I harvested giant wild yams from the [br]woods.

0:07:16.841,0:07:18.787
Picked coconuts to make coconut milk,

0:07:18.787,0:07:21.318
butter and coconut curries.

0:07:21.318,0:07:23.508
Foraged from fruit trees in the wild,

0:07:23.508,0:07:26.463
growing in public parks and in the city,

0:07:26.463,0:07:30.341
with the bounty of fruit falling onto the [br]sidewalks.

0:07:30.341,0:07:33.140
And, of course, wild bananas, too.

0:07:33.140,0:07:36.171
I caught fish from the oceans, lakes and [br]rivers.

0:07:36.171,0:07:39.115
And even harvested deer that had been hit

0:07:39.115,0:07:42.705
by cars during my visit to Wisconsin.

0:07:42.705,0:07:46.337
I harvested over 20 species of mushrooms [br]in the woods.

0:07:46.337,0:07:49.975
Picked nutritious plants that people call [br]weeds,

0:07:49.975,0:07:53.141
that they walk by, unknowingly, or even

0:07:53.141,0:07:57.043
constantly battle with in their yards and [br]gardens.

0:07:57.043,0:08:01.107
My caffeine came from the native Yaupon[br]holly tree

0:08:01.107,0:08:02.677
that I made a tea from.

0:08:02.677,0:08:05.565
And I even harvested my own sea salt from

0:08:05.565,0:08:08.217
the ocean by collecting the water, boiling

0:08:08.217,0:08:11.005
it down in a pot, until I was left with

0:08:11.005,0:08:14.003
just the sea salt for my meals.

0:08:14.003,0:08:16.895
I grew and foraged all of my own medicine

0:08:16.895,0:08:18.837
and vitamins, too.

0:08:18.837,0:08:22.076
I grew fresh turmeric and ginger in my [br]gardens.

0:08:22.076,0:08:24.714
Foraged elderberries from the wild.

0:08:24.714,0:08:27.811
I harvested reishi mushrooms and herbal [br]teas.

0:08:27.811,0:08:30.896
And grew moringa, also known as the

0:08:30.896,0:08:33.765
vitamin tree, to make an easy to travel

0:08:33.765,0:08:36.508
with multi vitamin powder.

0:08:36.508,0:08:40.467
But most importantly, my food was my [br]medicine.

0:08:40.467,0:08:42.575
It's a different way of thinking for most

0:08:42.575,0:08:46.265
people, but even the weeds that grow just

0:08:46.265,0:08:48.645
outside of our doorstep, are some of the

0:08:48.645,0:08:53.579
most nutritionally and medicinally dense [br]plants on earth.

0:08:53.579,0:08:55.907
For the last year, nature has been my

0:08:55.907,0:09:00.206
garden, my pantry and my pharmacy.

0:09:00.206,0:09:04.144
With the seasons my foods varied greatly.

0:09:04.144,0:09:07.665
I cooked up dozens of different healthy[br]meals.

0:09:07.665,0:09:11.221
Fermented foods, like sauerkraut, with my

0:09:11.221,0:09:14.306
homegrown cabbage and herbs, and fermented

0:09:14.306,0:09:18.972
delicious beverages like honey wine and [br]ginger beer.

0:09:18.972,0:09:21.054
And whipped up delicious desserts,

0:09:21.054,0:09:24.673
and ate the healthiest food of my entire [br]life.

0:09:24.673,0:09:28.603
This was food that I could feel truly good[br]about eating.

0:09:28.603,0:09:32.978
It was all local, all natural and all [br]organic.

0:09:32.978,0:09:36.072
I made it through the entire year without

0:09:36.072,0:09:38.806
using a single pesticide.

0:09:38.806,0:09:41.766
Now sure, I had my problems with pests,

0:09:41.766,0:09:44.823
like when the cucumber worms decided to

0:09:44.823,0:09:47.664
attack my seminole pumpkins.

0:09:47.664,0:09:49.921
But when I was growing over 100 different

0:09:49.921,0:09:53.689
foods, if the pests were attacking 4 or 5

0:09:53.689,0:09:58.407
of them, I still had 95 other foods that[br]I could eat.

0:09:58.407,0:10:01.006
Just as importantly, though, I chose to

0:10:01.006,0:10:04.471
grow the plants that thrived in this [br]environment.

0:10:04.471,0:10:06.873
When I started, I didn't walk down the

0:10:06.873,0:10:09.967
aisles of the grocery store and ask which

0:10:09.967,0:10:12.070
foods that I liked the most.

0:10:12.070,0:10:15.103
Instead, I talked to local farmers and

0:10:15.103,0:10:17.517
gardeners and my permaculturist friends

0:10:17.517,0:10:19.806
and asked them what foods grow so

0:10:19.806,0:10:23.772
ridiculously well and so ridiculously

0:10:23.772,0:10:27.008
abundantly that I could hardly screw it [br]up.

0:10:27.008,0:10:29.697
And those are the plants that I chose to

0:10:29.697,0:10:32.265
focus on, and that's one of the main

0:10:32.265,0:10:35.156
things that got me through this year.

0:10:36.806,0:10:40.074
This was, without a doubt, one of the most

0:10:40.074,0:10:42.702
challenging things that I've ever done.

0:10:42.702,0:10:49.765
A year is a really long time and I had my

0:10:49.765,0:10:51.440
highs and my lows.

0:10:51.440,0:10:54.678
There were times when I felt my absolute[br]best,

0:10:54.678,0:10:57.178
and there were times when I just didn't

0:10:57.178,0:10:59.377
know if I could go on.

0:10:59.377,0:11:02.810
Generally, I did get enough food.

0:11:02.810,0:11:05.514
My weight stayed the same about the entire

0:11:05.514,0:11:08.163
time, so I did have enough calories.

0:11:08.163,0:11:10.776
But there were times when I felt like

0:11:10.776,0:11:14.852
I was really deficient, mostly in fat and [br]protein.

0:11:14.852,0:11:16.985
Those were the times when I found it

0:11:16.985,0:11:19.837
really hard to want to keep going.

0:11:19.837,0:11:21.872
And there was the social aspect.

0:11:21.872,0:11:24.840
I was on my own a lot of the times, not

0:11:24.840,0:11:27.043
able to join other people for their meals

0:11:27.043,0:11:30.038
and sort of isolated. Not being able to go

0:11:30.038,0:11:32.873
to restaurants or eat with friends and [br]family.

0:11:32.873,0:11:37.020
Overall, with all the ups and downs, the

0:11:37.020,0:11:40.588
year went about as well as I could have [br]possibly hoped.

0:11:40.588,0:11:42.719
I maintained my body weight throughout

0:11:42.719,0:11:46.177
the year and I never got sick once!

0:11:46.177,0:11:48.939
And I really attribute that to my food

0:11:48.939,0:11:52.443
being my medicine. I think that nature is

0:11:52.443,0:11:55.009
able to provide for our basic needs and [br]

0:11:55.009,0:11:58.673
I trusted earth. I trusted nature.

0:11:58.673,0:12:00.883
Now, I want to say, though, that this

0:12:00.883,0:12:04.202
project, it wasn't really about my health.

0:12:04.202,0:12:06.075
It wasn't about a diet.

0:12:06.075,0:12:08.308
And I don't believe that this is the diet

0:12:08.308,0:12:11.110
for 7 billion people, I don't actually

0:12:11.110,0:12:14.707
think there is one diet for the 7 billion[br]people.

0:12:14.707,0:12:17.374
I think we live on a diverse world where

0:12:17.374,0:12:20.407
we have diverse cultures and people need

0:12:20.407,0:12:22.806
to do things in a very different way.

0:12:22.806,0:12:26.373
So I'm not trying to represent a diet for

0:12:26.373,0:12:28.608
everyone or anything like that.

0:12:28.608,0:12:31.337
This was just my own personal quest.

0:12:31.337,0:12:34.683
To see if I could step away from Big Ag.

0:12:34.683,0:12:39.104
Step away from what I see as a broken food[br]system.

0:12:39.104,0:12:43.703
And, instead, grow and forage 100% of my

0:12:43.703,0:12:45.889
own food for an entire year.

0:12:46.679,0:12:49.503
This project wasn't just about growing and

0:12:49.503,0:12:51.775
foraging all of my own food, though.

0:12:51.775,0:12:53.837
It was about empowering others

0:12:53.837,0:12:57.184
to grow their own food, to take back power

0:12:57.184,0:12:59.818
from Big Ag and, ultimately, to take back

0:12:59.818,0:13:02.875
their health and grow their communities.

0:13:02.875,0:13:04.665
So during this time I started a few

0:13:04.665,0:13:06.436
community initiatives.

0:13:06.436,0:13:08.865
We built 15 gardens for the people,

0:13:08.865,0:13:12.273
planted over 200 community fruit trees,

0:13:12.273,0:13:16.173
and sent out over 5,000 free seed packs

0:13:16.173,0:13:20.440
to help others grow their own organic,[br]healthy food.

0:13:20.440,0:13:23.070
And I taught dozens of free gardening

0:13:23.070,0:13:26.474
classes, in my gardens, to the people in [br]my community.

0:13:26.474,0:13:29.205
I'll be honest, though, I do have an [br]agenda.

0:13:29.205,0:13:32.375
I want you to question your food.

0:13:32.375,0:13:34.634
Where did it come from? How [br]was it grown?

0:13:34.642,0:13:36.525
How did it get to you? And what was

0:13:36.525,0:13:38.655
the impact that it had on the earth,

0:13:38.655,0:13:42.239
other species and the humans that [br]grow that food? [br]

0:13:42.239,0:13:45.079
And if you don't like the answers that you[br]find,

0:13:45.079,0:13:47.677
I want to empower you to change them.

0:13:47.677,0:13:49.765
The good news, though, is that you don't

0:13:49.765,0:13:52.245
have to grow and forage all of your food.

0:13:52.245,0:13:55.464
The solutions are there in your[br]community.

0:13:55.464,0:13:57.523
You can grow a little bit of your own [br]food.

0:13:57.523,0:14:00.384
Maybe an herb garden on your window sill.

0:14:00.384,0:14:03.965
Or some pots of tomatoes and basil on your[br]balcony.

0:14:03.965,0:14:06.067
Or a raised bed in your front yard.

0:14:06.067,0:14:08.170
And if you don't have any space, at all,

0:14:08.170,0:14:09.880
you can join a community garden.

0:14:09.880,0:14:11.903
You can source your food locally.

0:14:11.903,0:14:14.245
And purchase from local farmers and[br]gardeners.

0:14:14.245,0:14:17.311
The farmer's market is a great place to [br]start.

0:14:17.311,0:14:19.665
You can buy whole foods and cook more,

0:14:19.665,0:14:22.283
rather than packaged, processed foods that

0:14:22.283,0:14:23.748
leave trash behind.

0:14:23.748,0:14:25.440
And you can work with your [br]community to[br]

0:14:25.440,0:14:27.477
make healthy foods for people in need.

0:14:27.477,0:14:29.964
Grow a garden for your elderly neighbor,

0:14:29.964,0:14:32.609
or start a grass roots organization to

0:14:32.609,0:14:34.640
harvest the fruit trees in your community

0:14:34.640,0:14:36.826
to distribute it to others.

0:14:36.826,0:14:39.908
And this doesn't need to be a lonely [br]journey.

0:14:39.908,0:14:42.973
For most of us, food is at the center of [br]our lives.

0:14:42.973,0:14:45.750
And we can do this, together, in our [br]communities.

0:14:45.750,0:14:49.503
My year is over but my journey of food [br]has just begun.

0:14:49.503,0:14:52.533
A book is in the works and 100% of my

0:14:52.533,0:14:55.576
proceeds will be donated to organizations

0:14:55.576,0:14:57.910
working on the food solutions.

0:14:57.910,0:15:00.078
And I'll be here, online, sharing

0:15:00.078,0:15:03.174
inspiration and education on how you can

0:15:03.174,0:15:06.703
get involved in gaining food freedom.

0:15:06.703,0:15:11.368
(music)

0:15:11.368,0:15:14.292
My mouth is cold now.

0:15:14.292,0:15:19.218
(Muffled)...my own (laughs) medicine [br]and vitamins to...

0:15:19.218,0:15:23.249
(Laughing)

0:15:23.249,0:15:25.687
Alright make note of that (laughing)