Meet Kerry Brown

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kerry Brown. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kerry below.

Hi Kerry , thanks for sitting with us today to chat about topics that are relevant to so many. One of those topics is communication skills, because we live in an age where our ability to communicate effectively can be like a superpower. Can you share how you developed your ability to communicate well?

If I’m in a crowded room (where I most definitely do not want to be to begin with!) I try to position myself for optimum people watching. Watching folks interact is engaging and quite telling. Often people talk to hear themselves, just to fill empty space. In other cases, they’re not talking to communicate or to build reciprocity, but to exercise something egocentric, to whack that dopamine button.

I realized I needed to be aware of this since a sizable part of my work as an educator and consultant is communicating effectively- especially about topics that are somewhat outside of the common dialog. I learned quickly how to tell if someone I was speaking with was starting to lose the thread. I receive a good deal of satisfaction in finding ways of taking fairly complex concepts and distilling them down into a simpler form to convey then begin rebuilding those layers of detail.

The more people I interact with, the more quickly I recognize their communication and learning style, which lets me adjust my approach. Some folks are visual and appreciate more emphasis on the physical aspect, others are more cerebral and respond better to a concept described through metaphor.

In short, recognize how my client processes information and respond appropriately, with a touch of good humor and humility.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Being a steward of the natural landscape, employing the prime directive, ethics and principles of permaculture is my primary focus, not only for my business, Strong Roots Resources, but also for my day-to-day life.

Residing on over 10 acres on land that has been in the family nearly 100 years, it’s my honor and duty to dedicate my life to understanding natural processes, how to work within them, support them and perhaps most importantly, teach these concepts to others who want to follow that path.

That includes restoring native plants, removing invasives and supporting soil restoration through rotational grazing, composting, earthworks and other tactics.

We’re located in West Knox County, TN and hold regular classes on sheep management, wild and medicinal foods foraging, silvopasture/agroforestry implementation, pollinator garden creation, regenerative thinking and understanding, as well as quarterly gatherings for folks interested in those topics.

A full event and class calendar can be found at www.strongrootsresources.com

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My prior career in EMS gave me a solid ability for observation – that’s carried over into regenerative living as all aspects of permaculture begin with (and often require a return to) observation and interaction with the natural landscape.

My natural curiosity has also been a benefit to this way of life – asking the why, the what, the how – and at the same time, setting aside a materialist mindset and adopting a more animist, more ancient way of thinking has kept my interest and engagement with the landscape fresh and rewarding.

Persistence and hanging with complex concepts will have a payoff, as is being willing to accept where we’ve been mistaken and adjust accordingly.

I’d encourage folks to get out of the box – way outside. Explore the fringe, ask the difficult questions, question your assumptions. Be on the receiving end of weird looks from other people. We’re in an era of authenticity now, so I suggest embracing it fully.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I would likely cease or greatly limit the amount of traveling I do to other properties and spend most of my time developing our property as a fully functional, efficient and native – focused and robust food production system, with all of the appropriate infrastructure installed and placed into some type of conservation trust.

I would also have a community hub of some type established – to allow for teaching space, a library / study center and workspace for the activities common to regenerative farming / homesteading.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Krystal Moralee
Erin Alcorn

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