Episode 70 of Doomer Optimism kicks off with Jason Snyder (@cognazor) introducing first-time host Ariel Greenwood (@greenwoodae) before launching into a discussion on ecological restoration with cattle rancher Jonathan Gay of Freestone Ranch.

About Jonathan Gay
Jonathan focuses on ranch infrastructure and restoration projects. He sees the land with its soils, plants, microbes, fungi and animals as a living entity that deserves care and tending. After a career writing software, he appreciates the chance to be working outside and seeing the growing physical results of his efforts.

About Ariel Greenwood
Ariel grew up unschooled in the rural wilds of North Carolina and began farming at 16. In college, she studied agroecology and psychology while working with community gardens and private farms.

She managed livestock in Northern California for 4 1/2 years, primarily at Pepperwood Preserve and Freestone Ranch in the North Bay region, and since 2018 she has been working in the intermountain west with Triangle P Cattle Company and as co-owner of Grass Nomads LLC, a land and livestock management and consulting company. She also serves as founding board member & treasurer for Contra Viento Journal, an art & literature journal about rangelands, and on the board of Holistic Management International.

Her work is seasonal; in the summers she manages yearlings in Montana and the rest of the time she works with cows on rangeland in Northeastern New Mexico.

About Jason Snyder
Metamodern localist | homesteading, permaculture, bioregional regeneration | meditation, self inquiry, embodied cognition | PhD from Michigan State University, faculty Appalachian State University.