Patreon Podcast

From October 2018 till summer 2020 I maintained an active Patreon community that enabled readers to support the continued creation of thoughtful content, conversations, and community, both here on my blog and in the Patreon platform.

As a benefit to Patrons, and to explore the podcasting platform, I produced a monthly podcast on Patreon, interviewing extraordinary ordinary people about the big ideas in their lives.

My podcast guests were "normal" people like you. They are not well-known authors or speakers but their life lessons, the stories of personal growth and transformation at the edge of their own experiences, speak to the universal truths of being human.

The Big & Beautiful Ideas are rooted in the everyday-ness of our living. We access the transcendent and meaningful through communication and the sharing of our lives in relationship.

That's what my Patreon podcast was all about it. (And now that I see it written down, it's actually what my life is about.)

Patreon is also where I delivered the course Freedom Education and the conversation series Second Bloom: Transitions to New Midlife Vocations from Mothering and Homeschooling.

As of 2023, I am moving over all the recorded interviews from behind the paywall at Patreon to the public platform of my blog.

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• *Finding home as a third culture kid - Growing up and finding home in three languages & cultures.
• *Finding home in heritage, apartment living, and public spaces - An interview about finding home in our ancestral lands and heritage, apartment and small-space living hacks for families, and the value of publicly-owned property in extending our personal space and opportunities.
• *Urban, multi-generational, and multi-national experiences of home - Home is rooted in family and national identity, it's the community we build and where we live, and it's where we feel at home in our bodies.
• *Building Sanctuary throughout a lifetime - Derryl's story of home as a Sanctuary and refuge and finding his way back, in mid-life, to his true vocational love of building with his hands.
• A place for creativity, community and connection - A story about the imprinting effects of our earliest memories and childhood experiences on our ideas of home, and creating a family culture of freedom, creativity, travel and life-enriching hospitality.
• A milk crate, a homestead, and musical theater - Teri's story of building homesteads in Oregon, Missouri and now Vermont; and the tension between rootedness and the call of adventure.
• A cash-built, off-grid home in rural Maine - To achieve their housing goal Naomi and her family (husband and 4 kids) lived in a camping trailer for 6 years dreaming, scheming and saving for something permanent and secure.
• A vocation of Christian & creative ministry - A vocation in inclusive Christian ministry, being turned upside down by love, and bringing more kindness and joy into the world.
• Losing faith to find Love - A story of courage and hope, of finding faith by losing faith, and learning how to really love people (including ourselves) for who they are and not, what they believe.
• The hidden work of nurturer, caregiver, mother, healer, and homemaker - A talk with Emily Crofts about her hallowed (and largely hidden) work as mother, nurturer, healer, artist, and homemaker; and the isolation, uncertainty, and loneliness she sometimes experiences in doing that work.
• Learning all the time, mid-life transitions, and outdoor-living in Vermont - A conversation with Amanda Tate about stepping into new opportunities and adventures, by necessity, and trusting in our ability to learn what we need to know, when we need to know it.
• Spiritual journeys and surviving crisis with compassion and community - An interview with Erin Goodman about her work as an interfaith minister and peer recovery specialist; and finding stability, security, and connection in our lives after profound loss and crisis.
• Warrior Parents & Parenting with the Enneagram - Livingston Lacroix shares her extraordinary story of raising a special needs child, and talks about the gift of the Enneagram in her life and relationships.
• Worldschooling (and family travel), developing a growth mindset, and discovering your inner artist - An interview with Severine Stegner exploring the edges of what is possible in our lives with intention and open-mindedness, cultivating gratitude and creativity, re-framing failures and setbacks, building a family culture and living a legacy.
• A vocation in language and law, motherhood, and lifelong learning (an interview with Francie Gow) - Vocation and attachment parenting, finding the best educational path for our children and learning how to prioritize our own health and wellbeing are some of the themes we talk about in this interview.
• Lighting Design, Homeschooling Freedom, and Project-Based Learning (an interview with the Warfels) - Patreon interview where we explore the potential of homeschooling not just on our kids' education but our own career paths and family culture. And see how it all comes together in one family's experience with project-based learning and living.
• Migration, Cultural Displacement, and Growing through Loss (an interview with Heidi Chupp) - Navigating change, feeling culturally out-of-sync, evolving through loss, Heidi and I talk about tough topics in this interview with hope, gentleness, and laughter. It was such a privilege to connect and find a kindred spirit.
• Enthusiastic living, free learning, and self-knowledge - What makes you feel alive? Catherine Forest lives her life as a response to this question. And in doing so she challenges others, simply through her example, to reflect on their own decisions.
• Immigration, cross-border love stories, and communal living - Kendra Perez and I cover a lot of territory in this interview. And like lots of good stories we begin by exploring one of the formative experiences of her childhood, specifically her family's immigration to the United States from Canada.
• Spiritual Direction, Art as Spiritual Practice & Female Friendship - An interview with Christine Hiester where we explore the pain of spiritual and personal crisis, and consider paths of healing in art and creativity, spiritual companionship, friendship, and new and expansive understandings of God.
• Moving, Mid-life and the Motherland: an interview with my mom - We are who we are because of where we come from, and who we come from, and of course all the experiences that, not only change us, but actually create us, along the way. An interview with my mom, Karen Toews.