Harnessing The Power Of Nature With Jared Pickard Of Be Here Farm + Nature

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

I wake up to what I call my gratitude rampage, as taught to me by my first meditation teacher Bernice Tordres.  Essentially, I wake to the following sentence playing in my mind:  “Thank you Great Spirit, for this new day, this opportunity, to live my life and serve the highest good of all.  Thank you for my wife, my daughter, my home……” and then I list off as long of a list as I can before I feel complete or before the day gets its hooks in me (my daughter asks for something for example).  I generally succeed at having this be my first thought of the day, and I find this helps me set my mindset and worldview to a vibration that best allows me to meet the day.

What are you having for breakfast?

Today?  Three pasture-raised eggs cooked in ghee my wife made (that tastes somehow like candy), cassava flour tortilla, and some spicy greens with olive oil from the farm.  Smashed avocado with olive oil and “everything but the bagel” seasoning.

What’s your daily beauty routine?

I’ll answer truthfully and then I will answer what I think you were probably meaning to ask me.

For my “beauty routine” I focus on what one of my teacher’s Paul Chek dubbed as “The Four Doctor” model, or, “The last four doctors you’ll ever need”.  The Four Doctors are: Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, Dr. Movement and Dr. Happy.

Through this process I have identified my core values around each category and try to live my life moment to moment according to these values.

Some examples from each Doctor (in my case) would be:

Dr. Diet – I eat foods grown in the most regenerative manner I can access and afford, I drink high quality filtered, mineralized, structured water, I avoid all refined sugars, lab derived ingredients, artificial colors and preservatives, gluten and most grains. If I cannot eat foods that meet these standards I would prefer to fast until my next opportunity.  I go out of my way to identify sourcing for such things before leaving the house (or just bring supplies with me).  If this sounds extreme, I should add that I get immense joy in doing the above.  Connecting to my food source and being mindful of its impact on my external and internal environments is one of my deepest passions.

Dr. Quiet – I try to go to bed by 11pm in a pitch black cool room absent of all electronics and lights ( covering small lights with black electrical tape).  I enjoy meditating (through intentional sitting practice, through mindful movement practices, through Nature connection, and through massage and other forms of personal care).  Primarily I try to keep Dr. Quiet with me as a thread of mindfulness that runs throughout my day.

Dr. Movement – I engage in all sorts of movement practices across a spectrum of intensity.  If I do not have enough energy to work out (defined as activities that expend more energy than they generate, such as heavy lifting, sprints, “Americanized” yoga practices, HIIT workouts, etc) than I would choose to work in (activities that generate more energy than they expend, such as Qi Gong, yin yoga, Tai Chi, slow walks in Nature, intuitive movements on the bare Earth, etc).  If I was on a desert island and could only bring one with me (work out or work in) it would be work in, hands down.

Dr. Happy – personal time to engage in activities that are purely for joy, such as painting, comedy shows, daughter time, Nature time, Date night.  The cost to do such things is usually as little as prioritizing my time and the return on investment replenishes my entire energetic bank account in ways nothing else can.

All that being said, I think you were probably asking me “what sort of skincare products do I put on”….or something more along those lines.  Here are my basics:

I DON’T

• put synthetic chemicals in or on my body (including things generally considered benign that you will find in clean beauty and processed “health foods” such as xanthan gum or “natural” colors, fragrances, and flavors).

• use sunscreen (maybe 1-2 days per year under extreme conditions).  I try to get as much (80%+ of my body) into direct sunlight as often as possible until my skin turns pink and then I enjoy the shade or more clothing and a hat).

• I never wash my face with soap or face cleansers and have not done so since around 2015.

• I never “strip” or do anything harsh to my face

I DO

• Use the Summer Solstice Serum as an oil cleanse (self massage with Serum for 5+ minutes and then wipe with a warm damp towel).

• Make homemade masks (which will soon launch as two new signature products known as Dry Mask and Wet Mask) to nourish and support my skin.

• Keep my face, beard, and hair well oiled, generally applying Serum once a day (not as often to my hair).

• Precede the Serum with any one of our Hydrating Essences, all of which provide hydration (which is then sealed in by the Serum).  Each Essence has its own aroma therapeutic benefits, so I like to rotate and enjoy them as the moment calls for it.

• Sauna usually once per day.  The deep sweat keeps my skin in top condition.  If I miss the sauna for a few weeks I will definitely notice a dryness and a bit of a struggle in my skin.  It is likely more complicated than “sweat is good for skin” as the sauna aids in a myriad of detoxification processes.  I just know it works for me.

How would you describe your day to day style?

I would describe it as “head to toe Jay Kos”.  His work is instantly identifiable as wearble art.  As a family friend I have been blessed with years of gifted clothing from Jay’s otherwise very difficult to afford collection.  If you have ever seen me in person and I wasn’t wearing a v-neck shirt with jeans then I was wearing something Jay made.

How do you inform yourself throughout the day? What are you listening to, watching, reading?

Reading:

The Bhagavad Gita comes alive (translation by Jeffrey Armstrong)

Watching:

Winning Time (HBO show about LA Lakers with Quincy Isaiah and John C. Reilly)

Listening:

Recently Rodriguez, Cold Fact, has been on loop.

Regarding how I inform myself, I try to focus on the above mentioned meditation practices so that I can be centered and clear headed (allowing for critical thinking) while trying to make any sense of the onslaught of information that is force fed into our bodies and minds throughout any given day.  In essence, I try to avoid the 24 hour news cycle knowing that issues of importance are going to rise up and be presented to me from about 30 different directions simply by owning a phone, dropping my daughter at school, and grabbing a cup of tea.  When such issues arise I try to speak with people in my network that have some sort of information edge on that topic and rely on their insight. I try to stay aware that experts exist on at least two sides of any topic. I hope to be able to discern what feels true to my innermost self, and I rely on that feeling to inform my behavior.

Do you have any personal life hacks for getting through the day in the most sustainable way possible?

Join a CSA (community supported agriculture).  They’re everywhere now and easy to find.  This creates a tremendous positive feedback loop between your family, the Earth, a farmer, their family, their farm and staff,  and your community at large.

Can you tell us the story behind Be Here Farm + Nature? 

Be Here is the end of a 10+ year journey of us trying to create the World we wanted to raise our now 7 year old daughter in.  When I say “us” I mean myself and my wife Velisa, who is my partner and muse.  As much as I am the front person of our relationship in the public light, she is the front person in terms of what inspires our brand internally as well as what inspires me personally to do anything on any given day.

As a family we wanted to live in connection with Mother Nature and to offer a way for people to re-connect themselves with Nature as well.  For us, re-connection was transformative and turned out to be a slippery slope which led to our lives changing many times over.  Our hope is that this will be the same for others in all the best ways.

Along the way we developed a very unique biodynamic farm and 300 acre property in California which acts as the source for all of our offerings.  The full story of this property and the devastating wildfires we incurred in 2020 has been told at length on a handful of podcasts we love, including Living 4D with Paul Chek, The Gabby Reece Show, and The Eben Flow with Eben Britton if you would like to hear the long form version.

Why is soil health so important?

Soil is the seat of all life.  There is a thin ribbon of topsoil that exists in SOME places on this rock of ours, and in that thin ribbon we can grow all of the plants and animals (and humans) on Earth.  A future where we grow all of our food in factories, hydroponically, under artificial lights will be a future with very sick people reliant on just as many if not more synthetic chemicals and medications as the foods they were raised on.  Artificial soil yields artificial health.  Ill soil yields ill health.  You are what you eat, and what we eat is what it eats…eventually you get to the soil.  We are the soil.  So your question, as I read it, is: “why is health important”, at which point the answer becomes self evident.

How do you wind down at the end of the day?

I usually enjoy a sauna and cold shower after watching something funny with my wife Velisa.  I also have a deep love affair with my “volcano” which allows me to inhale water vapor extracted from a wide range of medicinal and edible herbs and flowers.  This is likely my main practice.

Words from Jared Pickard @beherefarm