Welcome to the 75th episode of The Positive Fantastic podcast. I’m Mori Natura, and I’m really grateful that you have all been taking this journey with me for the past four years and four seasons of uplifting interviews with farmers, musicians, poets, ecologists, and other creatives. When I set out to make a podcast, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing except that I was clear that there was a big desire in me to be part of a movement for good news. I have really loved being able to bring you stories of folks who are part of the change we want to see in the world.

I definitely feel called to do more interviews so that I can keep telling these fabulous stories of innovation, conservation, and creation in the future… but my life has changed a lot in the past four years. And, at present, I find myself needing more time to write so that I can express my own creativity. I have four books and several short stories in various stages of development, all of them wanting my fullest attention to progress forward.

As a hope punk podcaster, my intention was to bring you good news about good people doing good things as a radical act of rebellion in a time when the news often leaves us uninspired and traumatized. Instead of trying to be objective, I dove solidly into what feels good to me, subjectively, and I have done my best to share some of those gems with all of you. Now, as a hope punk author, I hope to do the same with my books.

I want to thank all of the listeners who took the time to hear what was shared here. Perhaps you’ll pick up a book of mine in the future and see what love mischief we can get up to together in print form. And maybe someday, after my burning desire to write has been satiated a bit, I will revisit this podcast. For now, I am clear that I am taking at least a year's sabbatical to pursue literary tangents exclusively in my free time. Being a single mom working full time with many responsibilities in my community simply does not leave enough time for me to do all the things that I want to do. As it is, I scaled back from releasing episodes on the new and full moon to just the Earth's holy days after a couple of years. And now, a pause for integration suits me very nicely.

Still, the punk thing to do would be to stay open. Maybe an errant podcast episode will come through here and there. I did have a handful of possible interviews that never quite materialized but all seemed very juicy. So, there’s always the chance that something surprising may occur in the next year and years to come. If this is the end though, thank you from the bottom of my heart for tuning in, turning on, and daring to hope.

A special shout out to all the musicians who helped make it possible for each episode to have a theme song, to all the folks who lovingly welcomed me into their homes for in-person interviews, to everyone who has been tuning in, and lastly to me, for daring to do something I didn’t know how to do but wanted to play with anyway.

Laurie Bella is a human being who never ceases to impress me with her readiness to engage beauty in spontaneous ritual, with deep presence, and informed by immense gratitude. She founded Colibri Journeys to help support people in having truly meaningful cultural exchanges. In February 2025, I am going to be joining Laurie Bella's next Colibri Journeys in Peru! She is opening the call to one and all, and because I love to play in community, I am sharing about this epic adventure to summon you all by personal invitation to consider coming along as well! Tune in to hear about her travels, her next trip, and her intentions for leading trips.

There's an amazing program that has been designed to teach you about California's unique ecosystems. Offered statewide, and held regionally, these classes combine the interdisciplinary studies from hydrology, botany, geology, and more to learn about a particular ecosystem. Dive in with Jen Riddell and Hannah Bird as we discuss the California Naturalist Program & why everyone is welcome to become a Naturalist!