beginner

A brief meditation that brings the focus to your breath, your attention to your body, and helps to recenter your mind. Perfect for beginners. 

You don't need to start your meditation journey with full-length practices. Often short meditations can be more approachable for beginners and offer a great entry point. Today's one-minute meditation will help you as an introduction to meditation or a great quick meditation for any time!

Today we explore the idea that we are almost always on our own train of thought. Meditation gives us the option to get off that train, gain some outside perspective, and step away and get an objective view. 

Often we confuse the idea of difficult and stressful. Today we explore the difference, and the importance of adjusting our mindset in situations where we become frustrated. This can apply to meditating for the first time. So we enter this beginner's meditation understanding that we are exploring something new.

In this episode, John Wallace, manager of NCAT's SIFT farm, talks with Robin Kelson of the Good Seed Company in Whitefish, Montana. Robin and John discuss questions that beginning seed savers often have as well as resources that are available for those who want to get into the subject in more depth. The SIFT – or Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training – farm is part of NCAT's ATTRA sustainable agriculture program and is located NCAT's headquarters in Butte, Montana.For more information on this topic, you can contact John Wallace directly at johnw@ncat.org.

Related ATTRA Resources:
Directory of Organic Seed Suppliers
Seed Production and Variety Development for Organic Systems

Other Resources

The Good Seed Company Facebook

The Good Seed Company Website

Free the Seeds workshop videos

Seed Savers Exchange Facebook page

The Seed Garden: The Art & Practice of Seed Saving

Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance Facebook page

Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance Website

Please call ATTRA with any and all of your sustainable agriculture questions at 1-800-346-9140 or e-mail us at askanag@ncat.org. Our two dozen specialists can help you with a vast array of topics, everything from farm planning to pest management, from produce to livestock, and soils to aquaculture.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find our other extensive, and free, sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at NCAT/ATTRA's website.

You also can stay in touch with NCAT at its Facebook page.

Keep up with NCAT/ATTRA's SIFT farm at its website.

Also check out NCAT's Regional Offices' websites and Facebook Pages!

Southwest Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Western Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Rocky Mountain West Regional Office: Facebook

Gulf States Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Southeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

Northeast Regional Office: Website / Facebook

So you're just getting started on your DIY journey and you need some tools?  Where the heck do you start?  On this week's show we discussed the basic tools every DIYer needs to get started. 

Misha finds another immigrant group that's found some sense of belonging in America. Produced by Misha Euceph, with help from Sammy Miller. Our story editor is Lyra Smith. Special thanks to Nate, Emily and Julie Miller; Micah Wexler; and my parents, Sajeela and Euceph.

Misha goes all the way back in time and reads children's books she never read as an immigrant kid, finding a guide for her own quest. Special thanks to Emily Arrow and Yara Nasrallah. Produced by Misha Euceph, with help from Sammy Miller, Max Raskin and Jonah Browmwich. Music by Podington Bear and Emily Arrow.

Misha learns to make a bed the American way and tries craft beer with her dad. Produced by Misha Euceph. Music by Podington Bear and Dee Yan-Key.

Misha confronts her fear of singing by throwing a concert for her family in this bonus episode. Produced by Misha Euceph. Music by Coke Studio, Ali Sethi, Ali Hamza, Waqar Ehsin, and Podington Bear. Special thanks to Euceph Ahmed for musical accompaniment.

Misha gets a lesson with a professional jazz singer and gets over her biggest fear yet. This episode was produced with help from Sammy Miller, Maddy Russell-Shapiro, and Jonah Bromwich. HUGE thanks to Martina DaSilva from the Lady Bugs Band. Music by Podington Bear, Paul Simon, Euceph Ahmed, Disney and Pavarotti.

Misha talks to her sister about what it means to be cool, makes flash cards for NSYNC songs and looks for the root of her insecurities as an immigrant. Produced by Misha Euceph, with help from Robin Miniter and Sammy Miller. Music by Podington Bear, Ali Farka Toure, Sanam Marvi and the Rumi Symphony Project by Hafez Nazeri.

Misha finally gets her butt on a bike. And digs into why she lied all this time about knowing how to ride. Produced by Misha Euceph with help from Robin Miniter and Sammy Miller. Music by Podington Bear and several Pakistani artists: Mai Dhai & Karram Abbas, Meesha Shafi, and Usman Riaz.

Misha decides she's not in Pakistan anymore and she's gotta find a way to belong. Produced by Misha Euceph with help from Laura Sim and Robin Miniter. Special thanks to Devon Taylor, Peter Bresnan and Sammy Miller. Music by Mai Dhai Band and Podington Bear.

This is the trailer for season one of Beginner, a podcast about learning to belong, one skill at a time. It follows Misha, a Pakistani-American immigrant, as she learns the things at 24 that Americans learn as kids. Episode one drops on March 15, 2017. Produced by Misha Euceph and Laura Sim with help from Robin Miniter and Sammy Miller. Edited by Misha Euceph. Narration by Issa Euceph. Music by Podington Bear.