We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Markael Luterra a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Markael, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
We inhabit a remarkably resilient living planet. Experts say the world is in bad shape and on the brink of collapse but I need only step outside my door to see buds bursting forth, ten different bees pollinating flowers, warblers in the trees and bluebirds on the garden fence.
I had a remarkable modern childhood, free to roam across acres of rock outcrops and forests and ponds in the Minnesota River Valley. I came to feel a strong connection and belonging in nature that I did not feel as much among humans and especially among my childhood peers.
Over time I came to feel strongly that although our industrial systems are immensely destructive, they are also fragile compared to the resilience of the seeds that are sprouting in sidewalk cracks and abandoned buildings, steadily re-claiming and re-wilding any space that escapes our attention for too long. This, along with my personal spirituality, forms the root of my optimism – that the post-fossil-fuel future will be less global, less resource-intensive, more local, and ultimately more meaningful and community focused.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I have three main “tracks” in my life at this point.
Since 2014 I have worked in the world of organic seed growing, where I developed and built a seed-cleaning machine called the Winnow Wizard that is often described as a “game changer” for small-scale seed and grain/bean growing. From 2016-2022 I built 105 of them by hand in my small shop, and they are at work across the US and Canada and as far as Australia, cleaning seeds for farms, seed companies, universities, community seed hubs, and Indigenous seed sovereignty efforts. After building them full-time for several years I decided that I needed more time to explore other passions, so they are now being built and sold by Oppen Works, a small-scale agricultural manufacturer based in Wisconsin. I’m currently working on a guidebook to seed cleaning to accompany the Winnow Wizard, and I also have a prototype design for a small-scale seed threshing machine that I hope to build and test next year.
Since 2019 I have been on the board of Ten Rivers Food Web, a local nonprofit working to build resilient local food systems, and I have organized an annual massive buying club purchase of soil amendments and organic growing supplies that fills and empties a 10,000 square foot building in three days. I’m currently working on setting up a food hub – a warehouse and online marketplace for buying and selling and storing local foods – with the goal of keeping more food local and reducing reliance on national and global distribution.
In 2021, amidst growing divisiveness and political polarization that was absorbing too much of my energy, I launched The Dendroica Project, a Substack site with essays and long-form poems sharing and reinforcing my own deepest truth, my ecological spirituality, my rootedness in Earth and place, and my desire to start building communities based on this way of seeing and being. I had a profound spiritual experience in late 2023 that felt like a re-embodiment or re-birthing, and I intend to focus more on this writing and sharing in the months and years ahead.
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?
I would say that I am flexible, seeking to flow with passion and intuition and discernment in response to changing circumstances and opportunities, as opposed to being someone who sets a firm intention and goal and charts a course to get there. Some might not see this as a positive quality, but it has been essential on my journey. I would caution folks against building an identity around a particular career or intention or life path, such that this builds a rigidity or resistance or stubbornness when it becomes clear that this path is no longer in alignment with their true authentic self.
I am open-minded and curious, seeking to understand others’ perspectives from within their own worldview and beliefs and frameworks of ethics. This has largely enabled me to sidestep political divisions and to work productively with people who others find difficult to deal with. For those who have a tendency to judge others as good or bad or friend or enemy based on political affiliations or stances on hot-button issues, I would encourage questioning that, stepping into their own authenticity, and entering into conversations and relationships without judgments or assumptions.
I am innovative, seldom satisfied with the way things are done and always seeking ways to change or improve. Some bosses and leaders don’t appreciate this, and I would encourage folks to seek out situations and opportunities where innovation is encouraged and rewarded rather than stifled.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Professionally, I am looking to connect with folks who grow seeds or grains or collect native seeds on a small scale who are outside the relatively small bubble of organic seed farmers. Right now I feel like most of the folks I know or meet at my regular conferences have (and love!) a Winnow Wizard if they need one, but it’s a big world out there and it’s time for my invention to break out of that bubble.
Personally and spiritually, I am looking to connect with folks who share an ecological spirituality, an ever-present sense of wonder, a rootedness, an optimism based in grounded embodiment, a desire to build and inhabit resilient local economies as alternatives to the faltering global capitalist juggernaut that has brought the same bland brands and meaningless jobs to every town.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://luterra.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luterra.ent/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markael.luterra/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@luterram
- Other: https://dendroica.substack.com/
Image Credits
Headshot and photo under railroad bridge credit Chris LaFontaine. Blue metal Winnow Wizard (current model) credit Peter Bergquist. All others taken by friends/family, no credit needed.
