Sowing Seeds of Sustainability & Joy: A Kandid Chat on Composting, Sprouting, and Laughter Yoga w/Cathy Nesbitt

Kandidly Kristin: Hey, hey, hey, podcast family. It is your girl, Kandidly Kristin. And this is The Kandid Shop, your number-one destination for kandid conversations. If you're new here, welcome. If you're a returning listener, welcome back. And thanks so much for your support. So today I am having a kandid chat about composting, sprouting, and laughter with health and wellness advocate, founder of Cathy's Crawley's Composters, Cathy's Sprouters, and Cathy's Laughter Club, Ms. Cathy Nesbitt. Help me welcome Cathy to the kandid chat. Welcome, welcome, welcome, Cathy.
Sustainability, the environment, environmental issues are all personally important topics to me and I think should be to, you know, all of us as a whole. So let's just get right into it by asking you to just explain to me and my listeners, because a lot of us probably don't know, what composting and sprouting is.

Cathy Nesbitt: Wonderful. So my working title is Cathy Crawley Laughing Bean Queen. I'm located. It's simple solutions for today's challenges, and it's really a beautiful life. Everything that I offer is how I live my life. So I do have worms in my house to manage my scraps. And I do grow my own sprouts for over 20 years. And now I'm a laughter teacher. So composting, we'll go back to basics. For anyone that's like, I don't know what composting is. Good. So we'll start there. That's what I say to the kids. Does anyone know what composting is? And then some do. And I say, does anyone not? Okay, good. That's where we'll start, right? So everybody's included. So composting is usually done outside. No special equipment is required. Maybe you have a composter or just a pile. You need kind of browns and greens. So the browns are your carbon source. So that's your brown leaves, brown grass, straw, cardboard, shred of paper. Those are your carbon sources. some of them. Nitrogen is your food scraps, so all your banana peels, coffee, tea, pasta, rice, all of your greens, so your green grass clippings, not when they've gone brown or dried out. So a compost pile requires both. You add a little bit of soil for the microorganisms, some water, you turn it after a certain amount of time, it turns into soil or compost that you can put in your garden. It's kind of that simple. It's just a way for, it's nature's way to create, to return the nutrients back into earth. So what I'm proposing here is indoor composting with worms, vermicomposting. And I started my business in 2002 when the landfill for the greater Toronto area closed. And although Canada is a pretty large country, second largest in the world, we couldn't find a new place to site a landfill. So we started to export our garbage to the United States. Yikes. Bad solution. Really? You know, a lot of money, first of all, our tax dollars hard at work, just trucking our garbage around. Ridiculous. Right, right. And, you know, now we're polluting the US.

Kandidly Kristin: Right. So indoor composting, I kind of sort of knew what composting was, although I always just used to think about it like a huge like vermin food source or, you know, insects and just a big pile of garbage like sitting in your yard. That, like, that's where my head goes when I think about composting. So I never considered that you could compost inside because I'm thinking, ew, you want all of that icky stuff garbage in your house? So tell me how that works, like the indoor composting.

Cathy Nesbitt: I love that. Thank you, Kristin, because you're not alone. You're not alone. That's the challenge is we have this image of, you know, a pile like a dump of just stuff rotting. Okay. And yet, like you said, vermin and, you know, rodents and whatnot coming around and it's smelling. Okay. So first of all, it's aerobic process, meaning with oxygen. So it doesn't smell like rotting food. It just smells like it is moist, so maybe like the forest floor. It's kind of a natural smell. And so it's a container. Pardon me. You have a container like a Rubbermaid tote for the do-it-yourselfers. There are systems. You need a carbon-nitrogen mix. So the bedding for the worms is your shredded paper. Could be leaves, straw, cardboard, a little bit of soil, crushed eggshells, water, and that's it. That's your basic bedding. The worms require both the carbon and nitrogen. And it is a special worm that we're looking at. It's not the honkin' nightcrawler that comes out after a rain. These are red wigglers, are the best worm. And there's 800 to 1,000 red wigglers in a pound. So they're pretty small, cute little red worms. If worms could be cute. And we need to change our mind. We kind of look at things and think, oh, no, that's not for me. But we need to, because our climate is changing so quickly due to human, believe it or not, whatever people think, I'm not here to debate science. Science says that we're heating up faster than we did pre-industrial times. and really fast. We're seeing the results now. In 2016, we actually went up one degree. They say we can go up to one and a half degrees. It doesn't sound like a lot. It sounds like such a small amount, but when we think of the whole planet heating up that amount, right? It just changes everything. We're seeing insects on the decline, increased fires and floods, and just everything is more extreme now than it used to be. Right, so I'm not here to… Yeah, go ahead.

Kandidly Kristin: I was thinking when you said we go up one degree and it doesn't seem like a lot. Well, I live in New Jersey, right? And part of the allure of the East Coast are the seasons, like distinct season, winter, spring, summer, fall. Winters, you have snow, spring, some rain, you know, like that. And over the last, I'd say, five years, we haven't had any appreciable Snow and it's really pissing me off. It's way too warm in the fall into what should be winter It's raining way too much. So even though that one degree doesn't seem like a lot I personally feel the impact of it where I live and you know, I don't want to live in a where it's always warm, like California or Florida. I love this part of the country because it has distinct seasons, or it used to. So that was just my insight.

Cathy Nesbitt: That's how I feel. Like this year, we didn't even have to shovel the snow. I mean, we did a couple of times just because we felt like, you know, it's something you do in the winter. Yeah, it's really disturbing. And, you know, people will say, oh, it's so great. It's what a beautiful warm day. It's unseasonable and it's not right. It's not right. But, you know, again, I have a solution, at least for part of it. And what we need to do right now is mitigate climate change, which is change what we're doing so we can slow down that heating up. And trucking around, you know, food waste is one of the big contributors. We waste about 25% of the food that we purchase on an individual basis, like a family basis. And you know, when people throw out numbers, it's like, what does that mean? And I'm one of those people, numbers are really hard for me to imagine. So I like visuals. So I'm gonna give people a demonstration. If you come home from the grocery store with four bags of groceries, imagine 25% would be leaving one bag at the curb. Wow, right? That's how much we waste on average. You know, so we're buying it, we're going to the store, it was manufactured or grown somewhere. You know, so you think about the impact, not just of our wasting that food, it's the whole process. And now it needs to be discarded. So composting is one way. So back to the landfill closing. Six million people live in the greater Toronto area, half live in condos and townhouses without space for outdoor composting. So this is in the house. A way for people, if they're so inclined, to manage some of their scraps. And Kristin, what I learned early on, I started my business as a waste management tool. But what I learned was gardeners wanted the end product. They wanted the black coal that the worms were producing. Their poop. Okay.

Kandidly Kristin: You know what? That's funny. I was going to ask what the end of composting is and then what do you do with it? So perfect. So go on.

Cathy Nesbitt: So I believe the worms are going to play an ever-increasing role in waste management, soil production, and food security. So the soil, so gardeners know the value. If we have good soil, we don't need to add fertilizer, we don't need to add chemicals. Yes. Right? We just, naturally, and it's a building process. You know, with chemicals, you just spray it on and, oh, you step back and, wow, your plant is so big. Yeah, because the chemical engineers are super smart. Nothing against that. They're doing their job and that's fine. That's not going to help us going forward because our earth now, our soil, especially North America, is addicted to chemicals. We do monocropping corn, wheat, and soy acres and acres. So if a bug comes in, it's wiping out the whole crop.

Kandidly Kristin: Yeah.

Cathy Nesbitt: And the bugs are, as we know with our health, the bugs are becoming more resilient. They're adapting to all these chemicals and all these things that we're doing. They're like, oh yeah, like the cockroaches, they're getting stronger. So we need to go back. We need to look at what nature does and emulate nature, which is through composting, worm composting, having bees, the pollinators, slowing the F down.

Kandidly Kristin: Indeed, yes, yes. So where does sprouting come in? And please define what exactly that is, because it sounds kind of like self-explanatory, but I just want to make sure that anybody listening is clear what you're talking about when you say sprouters.

Cathy Nesbitt: Yes. So sprouting is simply the process of taking a seed or bean and putting it in water or putting it in soil. And it comes to life. So as a dry bean or seed, it's dormant, it's sleeping. And then when you put it in water or in soil, then it starts to wake up. It's like the alarm clock, and it starts to germinate. And then the shell will crack open, and the little roots will come out, and then the stem will come out, and you have a little plant. So a sprout is just a little baby plant.

Kandidly Kristin: Okay. And then that plant be planted or?

Cathy Nesbitt: Well, what I'm proposing is eating the sprout. Sprouts are nature's original fast food. If we eat that sprout, everything is there to grow that sprout into a full grown plant. It has all the nutrients. And here are the beautiful things about sprouts. They're hydrating. And I'll break down all these words. I sound so smart because I am. They're hydrating, alkalizing, regenerative, biogenic, and contain up to a hundred times more digestive enzymes than raw vegetables. Wow. So I'll talk about all those. Whoa, super healthy. So hydrating, as soon as we get thirsty, we're already starting to get dehydrated. So these sprouts are juicy. They have a very high water content. Alkalizing. So, in an acidic body, that's where disease can take place. Cancers grow in an acidic body. So, sprouts are alkaline food. They help to balance the pH in our body. Hydrating, alkalizing. Regenerative. So, I'll use Alzheimer's. It's a degenerative disease. We can't grow back our memories, but imagine if we could fortify our brain. Yes. Okay. Regenerative. I love that one. Biogenic. If you saw me in person, you would see or maybe you can hear my voice. I'm high energy. I have a ton of energy. And energy is our life. Energy is what we have. You know, they say when people pass, their light has gone out. That's right. No more energy. When people are low energy, they need to do something to buck up their energy. People often drink coffee or energy drinks. I'm proposing to eat live food. When we eat a live plant like a sprout, it's biogenic, meaning that we're getting the life force from the plant. What? Wow, natural energy. And then my favorite one is the enzymes. Up to 100 times more digestive enzymes in raw sprouts than raw vegetables. And we're born with a certain amount of enzymes. And when we're eating and we're young, oh, I can eat whatever I want and do what I want. And to a certain degree, that's true, because we are more resilient as young people. If we're not eating enzymes, meaning like raw food or sprouts, our body is using our reserves. So as we start to use up our reserves and then we'll get digestive issues and it's getting younger and younger because our food is broken. So then we'll go to the doctor and we'll say, oh, I have all these digestive things, whatever, there's a whole plethora of them. And the doctor might say, oh, you need some enzymes. Here's a prescription for enzyme pills. So I'm suggesting rather than take a pill, and don't doff your meds, everybody. Imagine if you can add a sprout into your daily life and not have to take an enzyme, like you're saving money, you don't have to buy meds. And you're doing this yourself and in seed form, they're so affordable. Everybody can afford to sprout. It's just education. So really, thank you for that. And I've been eating sprouts for 22 years. The sprouter that I'm selling now, I've been using it for 22 years. 2002 was a huge year, and I would love anyone listening to pay attention to the signs in their life. We are divinely guided when we pay attention. So in 2002, at my very first event that I was exhibiting with my worms, it was April, Earth Month, very fitting, it was at a garden show. And this gentleman was there, he was 72, professional ballroom dancer selling the sprout grower. And he was super healthy, he's going to be 95 this year, still lives on his own. Wow. Can you imagine? Sprouts. And I didn't know anything. In 2002, I knew nothing about sprouts or sprouting, why I would eat them, anything. And I said, what is that thing? And why is it flying off the shelf? And by the way, it kind of looks like a little, it looks like a flying saucer. And to explain what it looks like, it's about the size of a dinner plate and has a plastic dome on it. So it's like a little microclimate. It grows in the dark. So, you know, people will say to me, oh, I live in a basement apartment, I don't have any windows. And I say, okay, sorry, you live in a basement apartment with no windows, but you can still grow sprouts because they'll grow in complete darkness.

Kandidly Kristin: Wow.

Cathy Nesbitt: Wow.

Kandidly Kristin: OK, let me ask you this is. Is there a particular sprout like because of what I keep flying around in my head or like the bean sprouts that come in Chinese food at the little bud on them and the green stalk and the bean sprout, like is there a particular sprout that's that's better or are the varieties better if you're attempting to start sprouting?

Cathy Nesbitt: Thank you for mentioning the bean sprout from Chinese food. That's the one. That's the one that is my health plan every day. So they're called mung beans, which, I mean, bean sprout sounds better than mung bean. So you grow them. So these are, you know, I suggest buying organic seeds and beans. It's for your health, right? Why add the extra chemicals in? And the cost for organic or conventional in seed form is very nominal. You know, it's more affordable. What I'm proposing is growing the sprout not like the bean sprout, not long like that, but just so the root is the size of the bean. That's when they're most nutritious. And you just, you can grow them. Yeah, I mean, you can grow sprouts in a jar. There are again, just like worm composting, there's systems. And the one that I have is very simple. It's got like a mesh, a stainless steel mesh and a plastic base and dome. You put in like three tablespoons of seeds, which will yield two cups of food. That's enough for a week if you're eating like, say, two tablespoons every day. That's what I do. I start my day with two tablespoons. They're delicious, first of all. First thing in the morning, I start with them. I consider this my multivitamin. I don't take multivitamins. I grow sprouts. Okay, so remember all the things, right? Hydrating, all of those wonderful things. In addition to that, they have vitamins, protein, minerals, fiber. They really have everything. So I start my day with those, you know, a couple of tablespoons of sprouted mung beans to prepare my body for the rest of the food that will take in. The enzymes, you know, then when we have the enzymes, they're kind of like the building blocks and they help when we eat something else. It's like, oh, this goes over there. It's like a part of the mechanics of how our body works.

Kandidly Kristin: Got it. OK, so you eat the sprouts standalone first thing in the morning or with a little water or just you take the tablespoons and just eat them.

Cathy Nesbitt: I just eat them. That's what I do. And then, you know, for 10 years, this was my private health plan. I start my day, Tony told me, if you're going to do this, start your day with two tablespoons. And because I was like, look at you, you're super healthy, 72 and still working those shows. I don't know if you've ever done anything like a home show or any of those things. Man, they're hard. They can be. You put a lot of effort in and then people are like, oh, can I have a discount? Or they start dissing your product right in front of you. It's like, oh my gosh, move along. Get out of here. This is my life. Get out. So it's hard. So I looked at that man and I have incredible admiration for him. At 72, I mean, he was still working up until he was 85 doing those shows. No kidding. Oh, I lost my way. Anyway, he said, if you're going to do this, start your day. So I did. For 10 years, it was my private health plan. In 2012, I saw him at a show and he said, why don't you sell this sprouter and beans with your worm business? And I was like, oh my gosh. Why don't I? That's a great idea. And that's when I started to sell it. And it's really interesting, Kristin, because people are kind of have blinders. And I mean, we only know what we know. That's the truth. And people would come up and they'd say, well, what else can you sprout? And I didn't know because I only sprouted mung beans and I'm an honest businesswoman. So I couldn't lie. Maybe to my detriment. No, I'm joking. I take that back. Anyway, so they said, well, what if you get sick of mung beans? And I said, this is my health plan. Would you get sick of having tons of energy and feeling great? I don't know. Maybe. People love their story. And then I started to experiment. Then I was like, wait a minute, as a businesswoman, what do I care if they want mung beans or they want something else? So I started to experiment. Oh my gosh, you can sprout chickpeas, lentils, fenugreek, radish, like alfalfa, broccoli, clover. I mean, you can have a whole beautiful, yummy salad just with sprouts. Like you don't have to eat anything else almost.

Kandidly Kristin: Wow. Wow. Can I tell you that that's not, that's not what I thought sprouting was. I literally thought sprouting was the beginning of something else. You know what I mean? Like you grow the sprout and then there's another part, like you plant it and it becomes this amazing, you know, leafy green or whatever. I never thought that the sprout was the thing. Well, I mean, Kristin, it's in the name, but you know.

Cathy Nesbitt: Well, you can grow the sprouts and then grow them into their adult form. Absolutely. But you don't have to. You don't have to. You don't have to wait. We can be instant farmers.

Kandidly Kristin: And I think that that's where we're going as a country. If we don't do something different with the food supplies, you're going to have to eat what you grow. And if it can be just a sprout and you can do it in your kitchen on a little corner on, you know, on your counter, that's amazing.

Cathy Nesbitt: It's amazing. And in schools, you know, part of my goal when I started selling the sprouter was, I was looking at places that need kind of really nutritious food. Schools, I don't know about in the US, but in Canada, we have these kind of breakfast programs. Yeah. And it's fine. I mean, it's a tragedy that we need to have breakfast clubs and lunch programs. It's sad, but we have them. And for the most part, they're sponsored by the large corporations. They'll remain nameless here, but the large cereal corporations and their food is junk. And I get if you don't have food, it's something in your belly. Imagine now that bowl of junk topped with sprouts. Now we're talking, now we got some fiber. I mean, I know there's goodness in some of those cereals. And I'm not dissing it. I mean, I guess good for them for doing it, except they do it for the wrong reason, which is, you know, promotional, right? Because our whole system is broken, and I don't mean to be a cynic, but I think we need some cynicism so we can shake people out of their reverie. I feel like people are floating along even after COVID. Now we've kind of gone back to hustle and bustle. You know, I don't know about where you are, but at the beginning in 2020, it felt like people were kinder at first. They were patient and we were afraid and we were all in it together. And then the longer it went on, we just became more impatient and intolerant. And now we're back in it again. Now we're like, nah, what about me?

Kandidly Kristin: Right. Yep. Yeah, I agree. I agree. 100%.

Cathy Nesbitt: And other places, as you know, food banks, they're growing and the need for food banks is increasing and more and more people, the working poor, they're working their butts off, several jobs, part-time gigs here and there, no benefits, no pension. and they still have to go to the food bank. It takes quite a bit of humble pie to line up at the food bank to feed your family. Imagine, I don't know how to make this happen, but imagine if every family that went to a food bank could receive a sprouter and then every month they get a bag of beans so they could grow food for their family. Like imagine, you know, in addition to, again, the kind of dented cans that people donate when they're cleaning out their cupboards. And I'm sorry, I don't mean to belittle the food bank program, but the governments need to step up. It can't be a not-for-profit charity. This food and water need to be human rights.

Kandidly Kristin: Yeah, I agree. I agree 100% with that statement. Because when I'm not podcasting, I manage a senior building, just an apartment building for low-income seniors. And the food bank comes in once a month, and I look at the stuff and I'm like, Nothing fresh, nothing organic. It's just, to me, junk. And my seniors are like, well, what are we supposed to do with this? And I'm like, I don't know. I'm sorry. My program.

Cathy Nesbitt: Yeah, and they're so limited. I mean, it seems like there's not the political will to really take action. This is really heavy for me. I mean, I'm coming from a place of privilege. Not that I'm super wealthy or anything, but I know in the grand scheme of things, all is well in my world. And I can see, I feel for people, and I see solutions, and I just don't know why we're not taking action. I mean, I kind of do because people that are in those positions often don't have a voice. They don't have a voice that matters to the powers that be.

Kandidly Kristin: Indeed, that's very true. So Cathy, pivoting a little bit, I want to ask you, number one, what a certified laughter yoga teacher is and a laughter ambassador, and tell me how that became part of your life and what you do.

Cathy Nesbitt: I love that we're ending with laughter. Right? Because now the first, well, at least the worms is a little bit heavy and that's my really mission work is helping to correct the soil and reduce the garbage and all of that heavy. And it was really heavy. In 2012, I will talk about what laughter is, but in 2012, again, big years, 2002, I was introduced to Worms and Sprouts. 2012, one more person said, ew, worms in the house. I'd been at it for 10 years. I heard that many, many times. I was like, no, no, it's important, you need this. I wasn't listening to my clients. That's business 101, listen to what they want, and they didn't want what I had. But I knew they needed it, okay. And then I felt it. Oh, I had one of those moments where I questioned everything. What the hell? I don't know how to do this, universe. What do you want from me? You know, why are people still saying, ooh, these worms are so beautiful and we need them. And I get that I'm talking about worms, so anyone listening, they're like, she must be cuckoo. It's just when you understand your purpose, when you get what you're put here for, it's so clear. And I really wish that for everybody to really understand why they came so we can all be part of this grand mosaic and do good work. Okay, so then the very next day after that person saying, one more person saying, ooh worms in the house, I was introduced to laughter yoga. And I don't do regular yoga, it's not doing yoga and laughing, it's laughing as an exercise, laughing for the health of it. Ever heard that laughter is the best medicine? Absolutely. So if laughter is the best medicine, then we just have to take the medicine, we just have to laugh. So beautiful, how wonderful. Laughter started in 1995 by a medical doctor, so thank goodness there's research behind it. And it's laughing as an exercise. It's not jokes or comedy. We're not against jokes, but jokes can be cultural. Like two people going into somewhere, like into a bar, it's going to be not funny for those two. We're usually laughing at somebody if somebody's a joke, right? So not funny for them, not cool. So laughter yoga is laughing as an exercise, like being childlike, just getting into our body. When we're laughing, we're totally present. We're just enjoying the moment. We're connecting with our friends. We're just having a moment of pure bliss where you're not thinking about that thing you said yesterday, that meeting you have coming up, that conversation. Whatever it is that's causing you stress, it's not in you right now. And laughter is the opposite of stress. It's the opposite of stress. I don't know if that's the truth, but that's what I'm saying. You heard it here, folks. Yeah, yeah. You know, because when we're laughing, we're secreting the love drugs, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins versus cortisol and adrenaline. Some people do things to encourage that. Like sometimes we eat something like we eat that ice cream because we want to get that hit. Or, you know, we have sex, we do, you know, there's all different addictions, which often is because we want to get those chemical hits that imagine if we can produce them naturally through laughter, which we can, we do. Laughing on your own is a little bit difficult. Even as a laughter teacher, it can be challenging. So now, there are laughter clubs around the world. Prior to 2020, and I think that Laughter Yoga started in 1995. It's a global movement. There are laughter clubs in over 120 countries. And I believe it started in 1995 so that we would be ready for 2020 when the world shut down. Everybody jumped online. I mean, all industries have jumped online. Before 2020, there was few opportunities to laugh online. And now you can laugh 24-7. And if you're working with seniors, I do work with seniors, special needs, I go into schools, and I have a free laughter club online every Tuesday, 9.30 a.m. Eastern, 30 minutes of super fun self-care. I incorporate tapping, brain gym, Qigong. My goal, it's my gift to the world. Nobody's in a funnel. I don't follow up. I don't chase anyone. It's free. It's my offering to the world because I really want people to care about the planet. But when you're in a mental crisis, that's where you are. You can't help anybody.

Kandidly Kristin: Right, right. Well, E.E. Cummings said, the most wasted of days is the one without laughter. So it's super duper important to just laugh, like not the, you know, when a colleague tells a stupid joke for the hundredth time, yeah, kind of laugh, but a really, your stomach hurts and there's tears rolling down your face, like belly laugh. So I think it's important I try to laugh as much as I can because what's the alternative, crying? That's it.

Cathy Nesbitt: And you know, Kristin, if we live our life with love, everything with love, it makes it better. Like laughter without love can be cruel and mean. It can be cold and hurtful. When we add love with laughter, oh, it's just pure bliss and joy.

Kandidly Kristin: Listen, oh my gosh, I'm having my family over tomorrow for, you know, my grandkids, my children, my grandkids, and for, you know, Easter dinner tomorrow. And I look so forward to just laughing with them, sharing stories, eating, watching the kids, laughing at them. And some of my favorite times are time spent just laughing with the people that I love. So yeah.

Cathy Nesbitt: That's it. Oh, so beautiful. That's it. I love it.

Kandidly Kristin: So, Cathy, what advice, what's your best piece of advice to someone like me? Because I am super interested in improving my health, being a little less dependent on meds, who want to start incorporating some sustainable practices, specifically composting, indoor composting. and sprouting, sprouting especially for me. I'm really super interested in that. So what's your best piece of advice to just your first step?

Cathy Nesbitt: Yeah, take action. I would say if you're in a stressful state, like you're feeling anxious or fearful for the future or whatever, attend a laughter club, like come to my laughter club. That's my first advice because we need to look after ourself. Our society has it backwards. It's coming around now where self-care used to be selfish, like, oh, what do you mean you're taking time for yourself? I mean, not now. It's always been this way. We just didn't know. Especially women, we're always looking after the other before for ourselves. Now, if we put ourselves first, imagine how we can move mountains. Women are already connecting and doing amazing work on our depleted engines. Imagine that we fill ourselves up first and then we go out and we're like, wow, watch out world, we're coming. We got it. Yeah, and then as far as sprouting, yes. The worms might be the last thing on the list, just because that might take a bit for people to go, okay, I'm not ready for worms in the house yet. But once I feel good, right? When we feel good, we do good. So we can get laughing and then we're looking up. Yeah, start sprouting. Just look at their systems. You can look on my website. It's really a simple system. It's foolproof system. But even just a jar, you just need to be mindful if you're sprouting in a jar. YouTube is a wonderful place to learn anything. Yeah. So I would say just do something, don't feel overwhelmed. One step at a time, like how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, right? So we just have to do this one breath at a time, one step at a time. Don't look right to the end, it's too much. If we look at just right in front, what can I do in my neighborhood? What can I do right here, right now?

Kandidly Kristin: Perfect. So let's look to the future for your composting, your sprouting, and your laughter club. How do you, what's your vision for expanding, evolving those ventures to further impact health, wellness, sustainability, environmental health? What does that look like for you?

Cathy Nesbitt: Oh, yeah, it's really the trifecta. You know, before 2020, I thought it was a juggler, like, oh, what do you want? I have it. You want worms? You want sprouts? You got a lot. What do you need? And then 2020 and all that thinking time and I realized all of my offerings are sustainable solutions. So I see them woven as one entity. But the laughter first, I really want people to glom onto this laughter because it's raising the vibration of the planet. When we raise the vibration, we just feel good. And when we feel better, we do better. People hurt people, that's the expression, because you don't know any better. So when you feel good, you can look up and you see hope. And that's what we need is hope during this kind of dark time. I heard the other day that in darkness, things multiply. In the light, they expand. So I love how you said, how do you see it expanding? My very latest initiative, Kristin, is creating a laughter yoga program for young adults with Down syndrome. Oh, that'd be awesome. It will be life-changing, you know. Down syndrome doesn't know socioeconomic status nor borders. And it's a global, not movement, but a global, I don't know, epidemic, I don't know what you call it. It's a global thing. And yeah, and so this is really big. If anyone's listening and they want to, either they have, you know, children that have Down syndrome, they work in the industry, or they're just interested in working on this mission with me, because this is not a solo mission. I know that.

Kandidly Kristin: Right, right. Yep. And you know what else? I think a similar program for kids and young adults on the autism spectrum would be Amazeballs. I think that would impact them in ways that would be unbelievable.

Cathy Nesbitt: Can I tell you a story about laughter with two young men with Asperger's? This was so amazing to me. So I was invited to do laughter yoga. This will be a quick story. I was invited to do laughter yoga at a potluck. So it was a potluck and they'd be meeting, I guess, since COVID. It's been over 70 weeks that they've been meeting every Wednesday night. They have a potluck and then a speaker comes in and I went to do laughter. So there was two young men with Asperger's and Asperger's are all logic, kind of no emotion. They don't understand humor at all. So, that's fine. So, they were sitting across from each other. There was 20 people and this was not people with autism or anything. This was just a group, an eclectic group of folks coming together to have a meal and just have some fun. After the session, the one man with Asperger's came up and he said, that was hard for me. He said, I was really struggling and I was really faking laughing. And he said, when I looked across at Gabriel, I could see he was also fake laughing and he was struggling. I could see he was also struggling. And he said seeing him struggling and thinking of me struggling made me laugh. So he said my fake laughter turned into real laughter when I saw him fake laughing. And I just thought that was so beautiful. What a moment. Yeah. Thank you for saying that, because I'm not sure where to go with autism, because I know that's a huge spectrum. And for some folks with autism, they're already overstimulated, so laughing can be too much.

Kandidly Kristin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. That's very true. But I love, love the idea for Down syndrome. I love the crawly composters. I, I am mind blown by the sprouting thing. And I promise you when next we have a conversation, I will have sprouting system in my kitchen and I will be incorporating them because I love like I only say bean sprouts because it's like the one sprout that I have actual experience with but I love them. I used to get this veggie burger from this guy who cooked them on a hot plate and it looked Like, it wouldn't taste like anything, but he would put a little pile of bean sprouts on the top and some magic sauce, and it was amazing. Like, utterly amazing. The sprouts just did it for me. So that's something that I could absolutely get into. And not for nothing, I have some digestive issues and some digestive enzyme issues. I am super duper kind of chomping at the bit to see how this impacts my health and wellness program. So thank you. Like seriously.

Cathy Nesbitt: And imagine introducing it to your grandchildren.

Kandidly Kristin: Oh my God. Some of whom won't eat anything green if you pay them.

Cathy Nesbitt: I know if we can change our mind though, Kristin, this is cumulative. Whatever we do adds up on top and top and top. So if we can add a few sprouts in, even if we're eating the chips or the french fries or whatever, then we at least get some yummy goodness.

Kandidly Kristin: Yeah, good. Yeah, I love it. Yes, I love it, but I appreciate what you do, number one, and for taking the time to come and kind of make it make sense to people who immediately see composters, anything crawly, and are like, uh, no. So thank you for that. But we are so not done with our conversation because we still have to play my favorite game that wraps up all of my chit chats. And that's 10 KandidQuestions. So 10 kandid questions, just 10 random questions. I kind of find new ones and I incorporate them. And some of them are either or some of them might require a little bit of thought, but they all must be answered candidly. OK, I'm ready. All right. Question number one, sunrises or sunsets.

Cathy Nesbitt: Sunrises. Yeah, the beautiful beginnings.

Kandidly Kristin: Yeah, yeah, same. Question two. If you had a magic wand for one day only, what one problem in the world would you fix?

Cathy Nesbitt: Oh, my gosh, my heart just got heavy. Oh, oh, my gosh, one problem. Oh, my gosh, what problem would I I would I would I would if I could wave a magic wand, I would fix the ocean so they weren't so acidic and the coral reefs weren't dying.

Kandidly Kristin: Cool. That's an interesting answer, Cathy. Question number three, cats or dogs?

Cathy Nesbitt: Cats.

Kandidly Kristin: That wasn't hard. Question number four, what's one thing you believe absolutely everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime?

Cathy Nesbitt: Unconditional love.

Kandidly Kristin: That's my answer too. That has been my answer since I first read that question. I agree. All right. Imagine. Imagine. This would be a different place.

Cathy Nesbitt: It would be a different world. Absolutely. Imagine. Yeah. I love it.

Kandidly Kristin: All right. Question five. Handshakes or hugs?

Cathy Nesbitt: Hugs, absolutely. And long hugs.

Kandidly Kristin: Yeah, yeah. Love hugs with rubs on the back. And some jiggles. Question six. If you could write a message on a billboard that the entire world would see, what would it say? Smile. Love it. Love it. All right. Question seven. Calls or text messages?

Cathy Nesbitt: Calls. I don't have a cell phone. What? I've never texted in my life.

Kandidly Kristin: Oh, my gosh. And I am such a texter. I absolutely hate talking on the phone, which is amazing because I talk all the time for podcasting and stuff. The phone is just. All right. Question eight. What's one question you wished I had asked you during our chat and what would your answer have been?

Cathy Nesbitt: Hmm, perhaps, why are corporations hiring laughter professionals? And my answer would be… Since we were all working from home and now we're coming back, I mean, I know we're back, but coming back into the office and the workplace, people have forgotten how to interact. So having a laughter professional come in and shake up the energy, it's great for team building. It breaks down barriers so the boss is not the boss during a laughter session. And yeah, everyone feels good.

Kandidly Kristin: Oh, good, I'm glad. I'm sorry I didn't ask that, but thank you for that information. I work, I kind of work solo, so I don't have those issues with socializing with coworkers, because it's just me. But I know some companies that could benefit from that. Give them my name. I sure will. Question number nine, extrovert or introvert?

Cathy Nesbitt: You know, I used to think extrovert. I'm an extroverted introvert, I think, because I really, really love presenting. I love being at the head of the class speaking. But when I'm at a party, I just want to meet one person. I want to have that really deep conversation. If I have one really deep conversation, that's a successful evening.

Kandidly Kristin: Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I like that. that a lot. Last question and it's the same for all of my guests. How can my listeners connect with you to get started on their composting and or sprouting journey and to learn more about making laughter part of their wellness routine?

Cathy Nesbitt: I'm going to suggest my laughter page. All of my websites are linked. So it's kathysclub.com. Cathy with a C. Okay.

Kandidly Kristin: And are you on any social media?

Cathy Nesbitt: I'm on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Kandidly Kristin: Gotcha. All right. All right. Well, Cathy, Thank you so very much again for what you do, for your commitment to sustainability and environmental change, and especially for laughter because it's so important. Thank you so much. And thank you for being here on The KandidShot to share all of that with us. Thank you, Kristin. Alright guys, so that unfortunately is the end of another Candid Shop episode, but make sure you check the show notes because Cathy's contact info, her website, her social links will be in the show notes in case you want to get started like me on a sprouting or composting journey. And also, don't forget to visit my website at www.TheCandidShop.com, that's kandid with a K, and listen to an episode or 10. Drop me a review, share the show with your friends, follow me on social. And until we meet again, I want everyone to keep it safe, keep it healthy, and keep it candid.