Seven Years of Mountain & Prairie

Exactly seven years ago TODAY, I hit publish on the first episode of Mountain & Prairie.

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When I started the podcast, I had no expectation that anyone would listen.

It was just a selfish side project that allowed me to have substantive, focused conversations with people I admired and ask them deeper questions about their motivations, influences, and work– questions that would’ve been off-the-charts weird in a normal social situation.

So I went to Best Buy, bought the cheapest mic they had, plugged it into my laptop, and sat down with my friend and mentor Erik Glenn of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, who already knew I was a weirdo and patiently answered my questions.

That was Episode 1.

Then I did it again and again and again, every other week, for many years.

For a long time, very few people (other than my mom and dad) listened. But again, it was a selfish project that was improving my life, so I didn’t care.

But at some point, I realized that a lot more people were listening, and that they too were gleaning value from the conversations with all the amazing guests. 🤯🤯🤯

And now here we are—I’m still having oddly intense conversations with friends and colleagues, and, amazingly, I now get to sit down and talk with some of my heroes who I’ve admired from afar for decades. And I’m still learning from each conversation, as are many of you.

The whole thing is just crazy, in the best possible way. (Remember, if things had gone according to plan, I’d be a stockbroker.)

A sincere THANK YOU to all of the guests who have taken the time to talk with me and share their wisdom. Whether they know it or not, many, many people have gleaned great value from their stories.

Another sincere THANK YOU to everyone who listens. I am a complete maniac when it comes to protecting my time/attention and I assume y’all are too, so it’s a great honor that you devote hours of your time to M&P.

And a HUGE thank you to all of the various financial supporters– Patreon and individual supporters, episode partners, trip & retreat participants, show attendees, organizations that have hired me to speak/host, etc. I would’ve never expected this thing to be my job, but it is, and your support is invaluable.

Here are a few photos from a summer morning in Crested Butte– the morning I snapped the pic that ended up being the podcast’s thumbnail image.