Today's guest is Bonnie — hearth-keeper, ritual-holder, and someone who describes her purpose on earth as nourishing home and community through food. We get into cooking as real alchemy — the idea that whatever you bring to food while you're making it doesn't stay separate from what people are actually eating.

From there it opens wide and we cover a lot of ground: a birthday ritual that involved literally being buried, the archetypes of the victim, the villain, and the fool – and how just naming them takes some of their power away – using loud music (yes, even Linkin Park) to physically discharge rage and grief instead of just talking about it, and years spent holding space at both ends of life: teaching small children and sitting with the elderly, the two places she says people are closest to the veil.

We also get into Bonnie's own roots – how she grew up, and what the future looks like from today's current vantage point. Finally, we close things the traditional way: With a message from Little Ball.

Today's guest is Christopher — linguist, community-builder, and the mind behind Eugene's Resonance Building. We open the old-fashioned way, pulling oracle messages from the cosmic egg (a system that predates Little Ball itself — yes, there's an origin story), then get into everything Christopher's been building: escape-room-style language learning exhibits at the University of Oregon, a healing arts house turned gathering space built around the question "what do healing arts need to become in the 21st century," and Symphony for the Senses — art-walk events structured less like a concert and more like Burning Man, where the crowd has to become the band.

We also get into how he got there: theology school in Canada, a great books program in Santa Fe, a divorce that sent him on a year-long trip to try to turn off his English-speaking brain in German and then Spanish, and eventually a linguistics degree back home. Somewhere in the middle we switch from sitting to standing mid-conversation (there's a reason), talk about anxiety as an evolutionary instinct tied to falling out of trees, and an actual bobcat walks through the yard mid-sentence.

It all builds to the big question: where are we headed by 2030? Christopher's answer involves nouns giving way to verbs, extraction giving way to something more "loopy" and ecological, and social platforms finally learning to talk to each other. And as always — Little Ball has a message for you.

This one's a wander through the Tao with Anthony — 20 years into practicing internal martial arts, qigong, and Taoist alchemy.

We start with his new course, Returning to Source — a 13-week sampler platter of what it might've been like to attend an actual Taoist mystery school: yin and yang qigong, naygong (internal alchemy breathwork, basically the Taoist answer to pranayama), philosophy, herbalism, acupressure, the whole gamut. Anthony explains why yin and yang aren't opposites so much as a lens, why his own teacher once told him this practice wouldn't make him a god but might make him more human (which is the whole point of being here), and what it's actually like when deep breathwork takes you to what he calls "the realm of the little people."

From there we get into addiction and attachment, ecstatic dance and contact improv as a kind of nonverbal church, billionaires as Lovecraftian entities who really just need an invite to the waffle party, and what Anthony learned about community, happiness, and the "lying flat" movement while living in China.

And as always, we close it out with a message from Little Ball.

Anthony doesn't have a website (yet), but he's easy enough to find if you're curious — he teaches ongoing Qigong classes Monday through Friday and offers private sessions at community-based prices. You can also find him on local community Signal threads.

In this episode #35 I sit down with dear friend and musician Julian Kenneth for a delightful conversation about music, songwriting, inspirations and what’s exciting in 2026. Includes details about Julian’s upcoming album release, two songs performed live at Ye Ole Magic Cottage and three messages from Little Ball – as well as the controversy surrounding Slightly Bigger Ball.

Find Julian’s new album at juliankenneth.com

Find Little Ball at littleball.bonbonsnook.com

This episode is brought to you in part by Guitars: Where would we be without them?

Ian Love Covington, prolific musician and member of the band Family Mystic visits Bon Bon’s Nook and after some waffles we talk about the power of music, Love's journey with songwriting and being a musician on the road – finding that tricky balance of touring while caring for self and body. Ian is described as “A modern day minstrel on a journey to foster hope & community resilience through music.”

Also touched on:

Growing up around music

The creative process and how songs come through

The future of the local venue

The Beatles & The Grateful Dead

1960’s in the bay area and the Laurence Cole connection

Origin story of Family Mystic

Clowns from the east coast

Where Ian is taking his solo music next

Dreams for 2026

…and of course much more

At the end of the podcast Ian plays a few of his songs live at Bon Bon’s Nook for listeners to enjoy.

Check out Ian’s linktree here:https://linktr.ee/ianloveofearth

Sign up on his Patreon to help support the creation of more music, and get access to his latest songs as they’re being developed: https://www.patreon.com/cw/IanLove

Check out Family Mystic here: https://www.familymystic.com

And now for my own plugs:

Bon Bon's Nook is also a brand of gluten-free tortilla mix called Cassava Tortilla Magic Mix and a Sugar-free Waffle Mix coming soon. Ask for it by name, or dream of it by telepathy. Available at Sundance Natural Foods and through award winning website ⁠bonbonsnook.com⁠ and on that silly Instagram at: instagram.com/bonbons_nook

You can also find my one-on-one web/tech consulting and creativity coaching services at https://www.starchildcreative.com

Thanks for listening to The Bon Bon's Nook Podcast. Tell your friends and gently caress that like button perhaps? Love you!

WARNING: DJ Bellybutton can be a strong flavor and is not suitable for all beings in all dimensions. Prepare for chaotic moments interspersed with philosophy and deep bellybutton wisdom.

If you can handle it, please proceed with listening, and join the Bellybutton Movement while you're at it: djbellybutton.org

In this episode we sit down at the round table (full of gemstones and essential oils) with the incomparable Apple Core and talk about all kinds of sparkly things including:

That the moon is made of cheese, and what kind of cheese exactly?

Ohl’s recent group breathwork facilitation

Apple Core’s current music project - Blossoms

Bellybuttons

Ohl’s ancestry

Geographic origins of instruments

Ken Burns documentaries

Little Ball’s astrology

This episode’s secret phrase

…and as always, much more

Find Apple Core’s music at https://juliankenneth.bandcamp.com/

And now for the plugs you all know and love but we repeat just in case you forgot:

Find out more about Ohl’s breathwork and support offerings at moonmountainhealing.com and via that silly old Instagram at: instagram.com/moonmountainhealingllc

Bon Bon's Nook is also a brand of gluten-free tortilla mix called Cassava Tortilla Magic Mix. Ask for it by name, or dream of it by telepathy. Available at Sundance Natural Foods and through award winning website ⁠bonbonsnook.com⁠ and on that silly Instagram at: instagram.com/bonbons_nook

In this 4-person roundtable podcast at Bon Bon’s Nook, we sit down and talk about Conscious Growth Convergence 2025 that happened on the land at Lost Valley Education Center.

Some of the things we discussed were:

Experiences arriving at CGC

The gathering as a full spectrum experience

Grief ceremony and how that rippled into the village

Being naked and in your power

The many wonderful workshops of the weekend

Magic of the main stage performances (and the secret main stage shower)

Silly/play vs. Ceremony/reverent and finding that balance

The secret word/phrase for double punches at Tortilla Thursday

Find out more about Conscious Growth at: consciousgrowthconvergence.org

See videos from the weekend (coming soon) and from 2024 on the CGC YouTube at youtube.com/@consciousgrowthpdx

And now for the plugs you all know and love but we repeat just in case you forgot:Find out more about Ohl’s breathwork and support offerings at moonmountainhealing.com and via that silly old Instagram at: instagram.com/moonmountainhealingllc

Bon Bon's Nook is also a brand of gluten-free tortilla mix called Cassava Tortilla Magic Mix. Ask for it by name, or dream of it by telepathy. Available at Sundance Natural Foods and through award winning website ⁠bonbonsnook.com⁠