The Urban Exodus Podcast Urban Exodus

This episode is brought to you by Spoondrift Studio. Let website designer and brand specialist Nora Gray at Spoondrift Studio take the burden of all things design and website off of your plate so that you can focus on what you do best! Nora excels at listening to her clients immediate and long term needs - crafting engaging websites that bring your vision to life and set you up for success. It’s Spoondrift Studios mission to make your business shine and stand out from the crowd.  Put your best foot forward and visit www.spoondrift.studio today for a free consultation!

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Joshua Kwaku Asiedu. ​​Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Joshua didn’t feel like he could thrive within the modern, Western culture he found himself in. At 20, he decided to leave home in order to explore the world and see what it would teach him. With 50 euros in his pocket and a one-way ticket, he left without knowing where this new chapter would lead.

Joshua worked a myriad of jobs - an electrician, mason, model, retailer, waiter, chef, farmer, etc. He lived for periods in cities all over the globe London, Sydney, Auckland, Cape Town, Los Angeles and more. Then he ventured to rural awe-inspiring landscapes. Midway through his travels Joshua started to leave behind hostels, guests houses and rental rooms, in order to find rest in tents, caves, beaches, temples, and forests.

After seven years of life altering experiences exploring remote regions of the world and learning from the places and people he encountered, Joshua came to the conclusion that our modern Western world, is rooted in materialism, consumerism and superficialities. This is leading us away from Mother Nature - the source of independence, freedom and inner expansion.

Willing to leave those said societal structures once and for all, he started to look for a native piece of land where to move. After a demanding and dedicated search, he discovered that his father’s ancestors left plots of lands in heritage - in Ghana. This brought him back to his Motherland to track down and reclaim this inherited land.

Joshua moved into the bush with only a mosquito net and a beach bed. His home that he has lived in for the past 3 years, he built himself out of cow dung, mud, clay, and bamboo. After digging a well, planting fruit trees, Joshua has been working on expanding his eco-village by building more dwellings on the land.

In 2019, Joshua began  sharing his journey on social media and started Asaase - Live to Learn. Learn to Live - a series of online and in person courses centered around relearning Indigenous practices, organic farming, decolonization and natural building methods. Joshua has amassed a large online following who are inspired by his journey and want to learn from him.

In our conversation we speak about Joshua’s paradigm shift, the challenges he has faced while building his new community, how to find and follow your purpose, working through fear-based narratives, and rediscovering ancestral knowledge.

This is a story about the transformative power of travel, choosing earth centric living, and the value of persevering through fears and obstacles in order
Support the show
Sign up for Apple Podcasts premium or our Patreon Membership for ad-free listening, rapid-fire guest interviews & our new mini-pod Ditch the City.

urbanexodus.com | @theurbanexodus | buy the book

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Joshua Kwaku Asiedu. ​​Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Joshua didn’t feel like he could thrive within the modern, Western culture he found himself in. At 20, he decided to leave home in order to explore the world and see what it would teach him. With 50 euros in his pocket and a one-way ticket, he left without knowing where this new chapter would lead.

Joshua worked a myriad of jobs - an electrician, mason, model, retailer, waiter, chef, farmer, etc. He lived for periods in cities all over the globe London, Sydney, Auckland, Cape Town, Los Angeles and more. Then he ventured to rural awe-inspiring landscapes. Midway through his travels Joshua started to leave behind hostels, guests houses and rental rooms, in order to find rest in tents, caves, beaches, temples, and forests.

After seven years of life altering experiences exploring remote regions of the world and learning from the places and people he encountered, Joshua came to the conclusion that our modern Western world, is rooted in materialism, consumerism and superficialities. This is leading us away from Mother Nature - the source of independence, freedom and inner expansion.

Willing to leave those said societal structures once and for all, he started to look for a native piece of land where to move. After a demanding and dedicated search, he discovered that his father’s ancestors left plots of lands in heritage - in Ghana. This brought him back to his Motherland to track down and reclaim this inherited land.

Joshua moved into the bush with only a mosquito net and a beach bed. His home that he has lived in for the past 3 years, he built himself out of cow dung, mud, clay, and bamboo. After digging a well, planting fruit trees, Joshua has been working on expanding his eco-village by building more dwellings on the land.

In 2019, Joshua began sharing his journey on social media and started Asaase - Live to Learn. Learn to Live - a series of online and in person courses centered around relearning Indigenous practices, organic farming, decolonization and natural building methods. Joshua has amassed a large online following who are inspired by his journey and want to learn from him.

In our conversation we speak about Joshua’s paradigm shift, the challenges he has faced while building his new community, how to find and follow your purpose, working through fear-based narratives, and rediscovering ancestral knowledge.

This is a story about the transformative power of travel, choosing earth centric living, and the value of persevering through fears and obstacles in order to live

This episode is brought to you by Spoondrift Studio. Let website designer and brand specialist Nora Gray at Spoondrift Studio take the burden of all things design and website off of your plate so that you can focus on what you do best! Nora excels at listening to her clients immediate and long term needs - crafting engaging websites that bring your vision to life and set you up for success. It’s Spoondrift Studios mission to make your business shine and stand out from the crowd.  Put your best foot forward and visit www.spoondrift.studio today for a free consultation!

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Australian farmer and conservationist Louise Glut. She and her husband David run HighField Farm and Woodland: A working farm, conservation site, and eco-stay.
In their prior lives, work took them to cities all over the world. They’ve lived in Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne, and Shanghai. Now their home is 27 km from the nearest town, a very small one. 
While living in Sydney, David and Louise both worked at the University of Sydney. Although they liked their jobs, they lefty the city nearly every weekend to bushwalk in the High Plains of the Kosciuszko National Park. They both felt like they were born into the wrong place – country people living city lives.
One day, the push they needed arrived. A newspaper ad for  a voluntary residency in the country opened up, allowing them a structured opportunity to leave their city lives behind. Eventually that led them to plant permanent roots near Kosciusko.
Louise and David had no farming background, but had a drive that led them to want to learn as much as they could. They now find tremendous joy and fulfillment feeding their community. Nothing can compare to the quiet, the merits of working for themselves, and living in alignment with their values.
In our conversation we speak about the reality of climate change as a farmer, indigenous land management, the impact of tourism on the land, eschewing black and white thinking when it comes to change, and the importance of living your values.
This is a story about finding your “why,” supporting your community through tough times, and protecting our wild spaces.


Support the show
Sign up for Apple Podcasts premium or our Patreon Membership for ad-free listening, rapid-fire guest interviews & our new mini-pod Ditch the City.

urbanexodus.com | @theurbanexodus | buy the book

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with Asli Mohamed. Asli is difficult to describe because she does so many things, and has lived in so many different places. She is a mother, a world traveler, a doula, a farmer, and an entrepreneur among many other things. While Asli grew up in London, she was born in Somalia, and has spent the last few years living abroad back in Somalia, then Kenya, and now Belize.

While in London, Asli and her husband both had very busy lives, working constantly, and unable to spend much time with their young son. They were earning a good living, but felt unfulfilled. Every break they got, they spent traveling. They were itching to see the world and experience new ways of life. A few years ago, Asli had a realization that she wanted to live what she calls a “decentralized life.” Meaning she has no place she calls her one home. Instead, she plans to move every few years to a new country, experiencing different cultures, careers, and communities.

Asli has made bold steps, moving countries twice while pregnant, building a homestead over the past few months in Belize, and is growing her skincare brand while also homeschooling her children. She has embraced the unconventional nature of her life, preferring to live a life full of cultural and natural richness, and passing along that joy and curiosity to her young children.

In our conversation we speak about myths around childbirth, global citizenship, indigenous vs. western ways of living, the joys of travel, and nomadic sustainability.

This is a story about trusting yourself, stepping outside the bounds of convention, the oneness of humanity, and the magic of motherhood. 


Support the show
Sign up for Apple Podcasts premium or our Patreon Membership for ad-free listening, rapid-fire guest interviews & our new mini-pod Ditch the City.

urbanexodus.com | @theurbanexodus | buy the book

This episode is brought to you by Spoondrift Studio. Let website designer and brand specialist Nora Gray at Spoondrift Studio take the burden of all things design and website off of your plate so that you can focus on what you do best! Nora excels at listening to her clients immediate and long term needs - crafting engaging websites that bring your vision to life and set you up for success. It’s Spoondrift Studios mission to make your business shine and stand out from the crowd.  Put your best foot forward and visit www.spoondrift.studio today for a free consultation!

I’m excited to invite you to my conversation with mushroom farmers John Deloge and Lizzie Devane of Slipstream Farm in Newfane, Vermont. At Slipstream they grow gourmet mushrooms and make medicinal tinctures.

When Lizzie’s job became remote in the early days of the pandemic, Lizzie and John took it as the push to pursue their dream of becoming full time farmers. They packed up their lives in Boston and found their way to Vermont. 

Lizzie and John met in Boston at an NA meeting, and have found time on the farm and in nature has helped them tremendously in their recovery. Growing mushrooms has put them in touch with the magic of the mycelial process, which is integral in both human and ecosystem health. 

I’m grateful to Jon and Lizzie for sharing their story with depth and candor. We speak about the reality of running a business, making money without feeling like money owns you, marketing yourself as a small business, addiction recovery, and the truth behind the saying that “wherever you go, there you are.”

This is a story about recovery, putting yourself out there, the healing powers of mushrooms, and personal reinvention. 


Support the show
Sign up for Apple Podcasts premium or our Patreon Membership for ad-free listening, rapid-fire guest interviews & our new mini-pod Ditch the City.

urbanexodus.com | @theurbanexodus | buy the book