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What can a nomadic culture teach us about soil, livestock, food, community, and living within nature's limits?

In this special episode of Six Inches of Soil, host Richard Tufton travels to Mongolia to meet Amraa and Oggy—two people with deep connections to the country's nomadic traditions. Mongolian nomadic life is built around movement, observation, and adaptation, with families moving according to the seasonal availability of grass and water. Together with superstar producer Claire Mackenzie, they explore how nomadic practices offer a fresh perspective on land stewardship, food systems, and community resilience.

In This Episode


Key Takeaways


  1. Move when the land tells you to: Nomadic families follow grass and water rather than forcing the landscape into a fixed production model.
  2. Diversity matters: Different animals interact with pasture differently, maintaining ecological balance across grazing lands.
  3. Nothing goes to waste: Meat, milk, hides, and offal are all utilized—as Oggy notes, the only thing wasted from an animal is its breath.
  4. Care for land you don't own: Traditional culture places immense value on protecting shared water sources and territory.
  5. Feed communities first: Shifting focus from abstract global market production to local community nourishment builds true sustainability.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction: A different episode of Six Inches of Soil

00:34 – Amraa’s childhood and nomadic traditions

02:50 – The ger: Building a portable home in 30 minutes

05:40 – Livestock diversity: Horses, cows, camels, sheep, goats, and yaks

14:04 – Meet Oggy: Growing up as a Mongolian herder

16:04 – Moving with seasons: Gobi vs. Northern migration

19:03 – How livestock, soil, and grasslands interact

20:58 – Seasonal food systems, fermentation, and zero-waste meat/milk preservation

26:45 – Climate change, desertification, and the Billion Tree Project

32:18 – Caring for land and water without individual ownership

42:09 – Reframing production: \"How do we feed our community?\"

43:01 – Richard and Claire reflect on waste, consumption, and growth

51:43 – Finding balance: Ulaanbaatar vs. rural Mongolia

54:34 – How nomadic philosophy changes our perception of life

Hosts & Production


Learn More About Six Inches of Soil



","author_name":"Richard Tufton"}