The Tortoise with Brooke McAlary

After 8 years and 400 odd episodes Brooke and Ben discuss closing the door on the Slow Home Podcast and announce an exciting new iteration...The Tortoise Links Subscribe to The Tortoise for weekly slow-living blog posts and newsletters Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brooke and Ben check-in and provide a quick update on the year that was, as well as what Brooke is working on and plans for the podcast in 2023.  Links Subscribe to The Tortoise for weekly slow-living blog posts and newsletters Love Slow? Support the show!  Buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow Brooke on Instagram @brookemcalary Or leave a rating or review in iTunes  Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brooke and Ben are back for this season's hostful where they discuss teens and tech, Brooke's new hobbies and provide an update on her Dad's health and so much more.  Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Subscribe to The Tortoise for weekly slow-living blog posts and newsletters Buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow Brooke on Instagram @brookemcalary Or leave a rating or review in iTunes    Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's guest is the wonderful Mary Beth Larue - a yoga teacher whose soulful, deep-diving brand of slow flow yoga is 100%, completely and utterly Brooke's jam.  Mary Beth shares her yoga origin story and why she now focuses so much of her teaching on slow flow yoga. She and Brooke then dive into a beautiful exploration of how to practice embodiment not only through yoga, but probably more importantly, how to practice in the mundane moments of life. They also discuss: Mary Beth's journey to motherhood through foster-care and adoption how a yoga practise helped her navigate the uncertainty of those years of not-knowing slow flow yoga - what is it and how to practise? how to apply the idea of slow flow off the mat navigating periods of profound uncertainty using our values and an attuned inner-knowing how to ground yourself in the moment when you feel yourself becoming disconnected Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes    Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tricia Walker has inspired a lot of people. From her decade-long work blogging about sustainable living, to her more recent role of nature connection facilitator, she is leading the way in what it looks like to live a truly nature-connected life. Recently returned from what she calls a ‘midlife gap year’, in today's episode, Tricia talks about the potency of stepping back from the status quo of life, and how to do that even when our circumstances won’t allow a full gap year.  Brooke and Tricia then dive into the topic of cyclical living, the power of using moon cycles to structure our lives, and why the gap year (or gap day, or gap moment) can help us to process the stresses of our busy modern lives, and, by extension, help us to avoid the worst emotional symptoms of PMS and even menopause. They also discuss: heading in to the bush with no food or shelter for days a time lessons learnt in solitude how to structure your life around the waxing and waning of the moon why every cycle of nature is an invitation to clear out the crap in our lives the role that busyness plays in PMS and menopause the realities of living in a one-room home with a family Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes  Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve spent any time in the permaculture and climate activism spaces online over the past few years, you’ve no doubt come across the work of illustrator and permaculture educator, Brenna Quinlan. Brenna takes complex, overwhelming topics (think decolonising permaculture, doughnut economics, privilege and regenerative disobedience) and presents them in a simple, accessible and - most importantly - positive way. This conversation lands at such an opportune time, as so many of us are feeling overwhelmed (once again) by the challenges of our ever-changing world. Brenna has a way of reframing things so that we can focus on positive solutions rather than negative doom-scrolling, and if there's something we all need right now, it's positivity.  In this chat, Brenna shares where her interest in permaculture began, and what the three guiding principles of ‘earth care, people care, fair share’ mean to her. Brooke and Brenna talk about the distinction between creativity as work versus creativity as play and why she believes art and education are two of the most powerful forms of activism. They also discuss: The bike trip across the Americas that began Brenna's relationship with permaculture and activism Using art as a way of teaching kids about positive climate solutions What an ‘intentional community’ is and what it’s like to live in one Living in a converted firetruck and building a strawbale house The importance of gentle activism and what to do when it gets too heavy Enjoy! Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s little doubt the world is undergoing significant changes right now. Pandemic, war, the climate crisis - it’s all impacting our visions of “normal” and, for many of us, prompting an uncomfortable amount of reflection. What is important? How can I have a positive impact? Is the way I’ve been living in alignment with those things? If you’re feeling overwhelmed or wondering just how the hell to start making changes when it feels like the system isn’t set up for you to change, then today’s episode lands right when you need it. Brooke talks with the wonderful Dr. Kate Litterer - a productivity coach who specialises in both sustainable and well-being oriented productivity - and while they do talk a lot about productivity (and its relationship to capitalism), they also talk about the obstacles so many people face (classism, ableism and privilege, to name a few) when it comes to making necessary changes to their lives. Kate also talks about her experience with workaholism and its relationship to sobriety, as well as the impact that living with a chronic illness has had on not only her work, but also her choices, priorities and boundaries. In this episode they also discuss: How to apply slow productivity to work when you’re not self-employed, and the limitations on your time are more rigid Creativity and slow living Kate’s work with undergraduate students and why it’s so important to develop sustainable habits early in our careers Detaching our identity and value from our output and efficiency How Kate structures her working week How to maintain a sense of flexibility to our rhythms in order to flow with the inevitable obstacles life serves up Enjoy! Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today’s guest, the effervescent Amanda Ewin, has arrived on the pod at precisely the right time, as so many of us settle in to the year's new normal and (if you're anything like Brooke) the struggles of maintaining those rhythms, goals and rituals.  In this episode Amanda shares her story of overwhelm, loss, grief, reflection and transformation, and through it all weaves the thread of mornings. First as the overwhelmed mother and business owner who found mornings chaotic, through to the woman who now bounces out of bed, nary a snooze button in sight. Amanda and Brooke talk about the process of establishing and revisiting morning rhythms as life changes, as well as the handy notion of “habit stacking” that has allowed Amanda to develop space in her mornings for meditation, movement, breath work and play. Amanda also shares her thoughts on ‘the tyranny of the shoulds’ and why redefining success and doing the work to uncover our personal values lies at the heart of any lasting transformation. They also discuss: why hitting the snooze button is (usually) a terrible idea the Wim Hof breathing method why both Amanda and Brooke have been afraid of goals in the past why it’s important to understand the difference between dreams and goals Enjoy! Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's episode is, at its heart, about change. And if there’s something we’ve all experienced over the past two years, it’s been change. Specifically for our listeners, many of us find ourselves having to reframe our definition of "simple living" as the world has changed and so too our vision of slow or simple.  Clare Reilly knows exactly this tension. After advocating a slower, simpler, more local life for many years, everything was turned on its head when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - a progressive, neurological disease. In this conversation Clare and Brooke talk about the process of reframing their definitions of simple living, and what a simpler life looks like for Clare now. (Spoiler alert: there’s no one right answer to this question!)  As someone who lives with a chronic illness, Clare also discusses how her relationship with rest has changed, and the interlinked roots of productivity and capitalism. The conversation also digs into: values (as always, so much of slow living comes back to the question of ‘what matters to me?’) the benefits slow living brings to someone living with chronic illness the role of food in Clare’s vision of simple living the tension that exists between simplicity and sustainability giving ourselves permission to rest even when (or especially when!) we feel the capitalist pressure to be constantly productive. Enjoy! Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to another year of the Slow Home Podcast!  Never before has slow living felt so relevant to so many people, as we grapple with the question of what we want life to look and feel like as we head in to the third year of the pandemic.  Today's guest is the perfect person to begin this exploration with, as she's spent many years experimenting and, quite literally, practising simplicity.  Jodi Wilson is an author, risk-averse adventurer, mother, photographer, yoga teacher and all-round thoughtful human, and has recently published her beautiful book, 'Practising Simplicity'.  In this conversation Brooke and Jodi talk about: letting go - what it means and how to move through the discomfort that comes with it the idea of risk, and how Jodi decided seemingly on a whim to sell up and move her family of six into a caravan for more than 2 years of cross-country travel living with awe at the centre of our lives the importance of small steps in making big change what constitutes bravery  how we can all live a life (slightly) less distracted without the need to live long-term in a caravan the role of contentment in our lives. Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season9 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, it's that time of the year again. The final pod is here, and as is tradition, Brooke and Ben round out the year with their own Top 10 list.  First though, Ben decides to turn the tables on Brooke and interview her for once. He digs in to some of the recurring themes of Season 8 - sobriety, health and creativity - and it's as human and messy as you might expect.  They then get into their personal Top 10, listing their individual favourite:  TV show small detail movie new destination book discovery album new podcast meal experience In a year like no other, there are some unexpected answers to be found in this episode. Enjoy!  Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season8 for the complete show notes and links to everything mentioned in today's show  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friend of the show, author, cook, founder of the Granny Skills movement and co-founder of native food company Warndu, Rebecca Sullivan, returns to the podcast for a wide-ranging, emotional, messy, human and very honest conversation (in other words - there's a content warning on this one!) Rebecca and Brooke talk birth stories, post-natal health, navigating trauma, alcohol-free holiday drinks and being an imperfect activist, all through the lens of the past two pandemic years and living with mental illness. It sounds like a drag, but it's an incredibly important, heartfelt, hard-won conversation with plenty of laughs (and only some of them inappropriate).  So settle in and be prepared to listen to some real talk about women's bodies, birth, transformation and healing. Enjoy! Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season8 for the complete show notes Check out warndu.com Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes  Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode Brooke chats with Dr Clinton Schultz, a proud Gamilaroi man, psychologist, husband, dad and founder of Sobah - hands down the best non-alcoholic craft beer you will ever taste. (Seriously. It’s delicious.) They chat about the realities of giving up the booze in Australia and how our deeply ingrained drinking culture can make it difficult. They also dig into the thinking behind Sobah's recent (and very successful) round of equity crowd-funding and how it allows Clinton and his partner Lozen to build a business that is values-aligned rather than one that needs to be purely profit-driven.  The conversation ranges over family/work boundaries, the healing power of time on country, why Sobah uses native food ingredients in all their brews and collective vs individual thinking.  Enjoy!  Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season8 for the complete show notes Check out Sobah: sobah.com.au Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friend of the show, book inspiration-giver and all-round fabulous person, Meg Berryman, returns to the pod today, which means you're in for a treat.  Meg and Brooke dig deep into the topic of regenerative living (no, it's not just about agriculture!) and why regeneration of the self is vital if we want to help regenerate our families, communities and the planet we all share. They look at the relationship between micro and macro regeneration, how to find time for the important acts of care and what role, if any, guilt plays in all of this.  It is another uplifting, practical episode, and we hope you enjoy it! Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season8 for the complete show notes Check out Meg's website: megberryman.com Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hannah Diviney is a leading disability rights advocate, writer, student and Young Australian of the Year nominee, who joins Brooke to dig into the question so many of us have faced this year: “How can I care sustainably?” This episode delves into the spaces between Big Care (activism and advocacy) and Small Care (connection, creativity and rest), and the inevitable tension faced when we feel drawn to both kinds of care. Hannah and Brooke chat about burnout, rest and self-care through the lens of disability, the toll that comparison takes, story-telling and why disability representation in pop culture matters so much. They also talk about why Hannah is taking on Disney, in the hopes of one day seeing a Disney princess with disabilities. Enjoy! Links Head to slowyourhome.com/season8 for the complete show notes Check out Hannah's website: hannahdiviney.com Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes, in our efforts to do better by the planet, our communities, our families and ourselves, we can get tangled in knots - especially when it comes to food. Today’s guest, Alexx Stuart, is (thankfully) here to talk us down from this way of thinking. She and Brooke look at food choices through the lens of finding common ground, avoiding absolutes and applying critical thought, and it’s a delightful breath of fresh air. We hope you enjoy it!  Links Head to slowyourhome.com for the complete show notes Check out Alexx's website: Low Tox Life Order your copy of Low Tox Life Food Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes  Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author, Gardening Australia Presenter and Activist Hannah Maloney joins the pogpast this week to talk about her values, privilege, reclaiming activism, health (including lifting weights!) and lessons learnt during the pandemic.  We hope you enjoy it!  Links Check out Hannah's YouTube Channel  Hannah's website  Gardening Australia is now in its 32nd season  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  Sign up for the Slow Post, Brooke's weekly slow-living love letters  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are back at it with another season of the Slow Home Podcast. Kicking-off this season is another frank and fearless conversation between Ben and Brooke. As the dust settles on Ben's 40th birthday celebrations. Brooke and Ben talk about updates in Ben's life since 2018, including career change, identity, and how he aligns these days to his life motto of Health, Happiness, and Heart.  It's a raw, sometimes uncomfortable, always entertaining episode to begin the new season. We hope you enjoy it.  Links Order signed copies of Brooke's books Shred Kelly: Website and Spotify   Check out a new podcast project Ben is working on with Cerebral Palsy Alliance Ben's past episodes Live Immediately with Mike Campbell (and the origin for Health, Happiness, and Heart)  Slow Your Home episode 242 An interview with Ben  Love Slow? Support the show!  Become a patron Or buy us a coffee and share the love Looking for more? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod  @ben_mcalary Sign up for the Slow Post, Brooke's weekly slow-living love letters  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Returning guest Jess Davis from Folk Rebellion talks with Brooke about how New York has changed since the pandemic, what has survived and what has thrived as the City (that now sleeps!) rebuilds from the devastation caused by COVID-19.  Links Head here for all links from today's episode Watch Jess' film "What day is it?"  Connect with Jess on Instagram and Facebook Order Brooke's new book 'Care' Amazon Booktopia Looking for more Slow? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for the Slow Post, Brooke's weekly slow-living love letters  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brooke and Ben drop into your feed with an unscheduled hostful to talk through the happenings over the past month. Links Check out the new website and upcoming events Pre-order Brooke's new book 'Care' Amazon Booktopia Looking for more Slow? Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for the Slow Post, Brooke's weekly slow-living love letters  Or leave a rating or review in iTunes Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.