Greetings!

This is a photo from one of the many events, fairs, festivals etc that we do outreach and fundraising at.

Its nice to see VoyageDallas Magazine taking an interest in a local sustainable operation. I hope this interview will bring more attention to our cause and help fuel the improved world we are building!

If you would like to read the article on their website you can read it here. 

Since this is Steemit, my highest priority for online content, I will also re create the interview/article in this post for you all and the long life of the blockchain! 

Today we’d like to introduce you to Quinn Eaker.

Quinn, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

When I was a teenager, I was very depressed and angry with the way society treated each other and the earth. So much fighting, greed and consumption. I felt hopeless to do anything about it and despondent at the idea of going to more school, to get a drudgeries job and pay bills while getting older. I dreamed of fame and fortune thinking that may solve my misery.

 I lived in Hollywood as a model but even that was not fulfilling. I thought about committing suicide on many occasions, as the escape from my misery seemed the closest to happiness I could come up with. Being hopeless, is a horrible life, one of which many have experienced. 

After years of this I finally came to the conclusion that I had to do something about it. I felt clear on two basic choices. It was either to commit suicide and be done with it or create something I had never seen before. As I pondered how to do something I had never heard of or seen before, I realized I had to find the answers to life’s’ biggest questions. “What is the meaning of life?” “What is my purpose?” “What is happiness and how do I achieve it?” Etc. etc. 

I chose to devote my life to spirituality as I knew I must go beyond what I saw on TV/movies and newspapers, I must go beyond the examples set by movie/sport stars, politicians, priests, neighbors and family. I dropped out of high school my senior year and devoted most of my day to reading, writing and meditating. 

After about one year of almost complete devotion to this practice I had my spiritual awakening where in literally a moment I experienced the everything and nothing of life itself. To even attempt to describe the all-encompassing nature of the universe would require many books but in relevant summery here, I realized my potential and what was important in life. I also realized how dysfunctional I was and that only I could do something about that. 

For the first time in remembrance, I was truly inspired and motivated to LIVE! 

So I decided to go on a pilgrimage of sorts to re-create myself anew, from my new found unlimited potential. For 4 years I had almost no possessions, no “worky work job” spent no money and totally focused on reprogramming my relationship with myself and the world. Essentially consciously creating a self and life I wanted to live from an empowered perspective. 

I lived out in the woods with nothing but a knife and the clothes I wore in for months on end, (I wish I had photos of this but didn't have anything but a knife....) I hitchhiked across the country visiting every single state in the country including Alaska and Hawaii. Living homeless on the streets, eating out of dumpsters or staying in places provided to me out of the generosity of people’s hearts.

After this time, I felt “mastered” free of attachment, expectation and the dangers of fear. I was truly at peace without any addictions or need for anything besides air, water and very minimal basic food. I felt capable of doing anything I wanted to do and living any life I wanted to live….I felt very fulfilled, almost to complete even. I didn’t feel the need to really do anything…What became apparently clear to me as I pondered “what to do with my life” is keep living honorably and sustainably while creating a place where others could find them selfs, their purpose and a connection with life/nature. To provide a place for people to learn, be exposed to alternative ways of living and to simply live a happy, healthy and honorable life. 

It was clear there was very little opportunity or even awareness of this for most people and without exposure, the likely hood of people experiencing this, would be minuscule.

So I began building what is now known as “The Garden of Eden” on a 4-acre piece of land with Shellie Smith, who has been the most trustworthy and supportive person in my whole life. Together we invested thousands of hours turning barren land into what is now the most lush and fertile piece of land in DFW. Hundreds of people have lived here for some length of time, from all over the world. Hundreds of thousands of FREE meals have been served and hundreds of workshops and educational outreach projects have been completed. 

The Garden of Eden (www.intothegardenofeden.com) is now the most sustainable operation in Texas, saving over 350,000 lbs. of trash from the landfill every year and feeding a peak of 40,000 free meals in just one year during 2015. 

Every task at The GOE is undertaken with sustainability and the greater good as the foundation. Everyone living or visiting is not only supporting but participating in a healthier, more abundant and happy world for all. I have started a sustainable clothing and jewelry line as well as many food projects including catering, cafe, preserved food goods, teas and more. All of these operations as well as everything from me and the GOE is operated in unprecedented sustainable fashion. 

It is possible to live a happy, healthy and abundant life while also supporting the good of humanity and the life of earth itself. It needs not be one or the other. We spend every day with the people we love most, no alarm clocks or commutes, no dress code or having to pretend. We have thanksgiving worthy feasts multiple times a week, we get to be outdoors every day and also have comfortable housing for when we want to be inside. We are not even shut off from the world, we are right in the middle of one of the biggest metroplexes in the world and we are a part of festivals, fairs, conferences and events around the world. This is all possible because I questioned everything and dedicated myself to living the dream rather than conforming to compromise. 

There is still so much I do not know, so much I have not done and while I know I can’t do everything, I CAN DO ANYTHING. So for me life is not about doing what someone else or society says, it’s not about living a life of half to’s supposed to’s or should’s. Life is about really finding one’s self and believing in one’s potential to live the dream. I have proven this and shared it with thousands. Life just keeps getting better and better.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?

It has NOT been a smooth road even though my general quality of life as a whole has been easy, healthy enjoyable and abundant. 

While building and operating The GOE, I have had parts of society judge or even attack me in attempts to get me to conform. Despite feeding hundreds of thousands of free meals, saving millions of lbs of trash from the landfill and housing and educating thousands I have still had individuals and media outlets call me a cult leader, city trying to force us to live like all the other suburban households, cps tries and take my children and even a full-fledged multi hundreds of thousands of dollars BLACK OPS SWAT RAID made famous in 2013. 

Yet all of these attacks have failed, the truth has prevailed. It is scary what people will do when they don’t understand something or are scared, or unhappy. The bogus RAID for example had not a single fact in the affidavit for the warrant, not a single thing confiscated in the warrant, nor a single charge from anything for the warrant. Yet they still held woman and children in handcuffs at loaded machine gun point. They still cut down crops, stole sustainable materials and gave us citations of thousands of dollars for things such as “improperly stacked wood” “grass being longer than 12inches” “improper use of an extension cord” “indoor furniture, being outdoors” “vehicles parked on non-paved driveways” etc. etc. etc.

Yet I never gave into the fear, intimidation or even attempted force at gun point. I have already been miserable and depressed. What saved me is the embodiment of the greatest values of my dream. I would rather lose this body than to comply with the dark side. The truth can be hidden but not destroyed. The Garden of Eden still serves tens of thousands of free meals a year, saves hundreds of thousands of lbs. of trash from the landfill and supports many individuals, all of whom are living the best life they have ever had. The GOE is more successful now than ever!

We’d love to hear more about your business.

The Garden of Eden is a sustainable community of which operates a cafe, catering and preserved food line, clothing/jewelry fashion line, handmade knives and consulting/education for natural and sustainable living skills. We are known for our almost unprecedented negative zero carbon footprint operation and the hundreds of thousands of free meals we have fed over the years. 

We specialize in healthy, happy and sustainable living. We represent this in many ways including super delicious food, beautiful fashion, workshops, consulting and epic parties. All done at an extraordinary level of sustainable standards and we are constantly improving and adding new aspects to our operation every year. 

What sets us apart from other operations is that we are truly committed to doing everything sustainably and don’t compromise that to try and make more money. We also instead of spending our money use our profits to invest in educating, feeding and housing more people for free. For every $3 of profit we feed another free meal. So buy donating to or acquiring a sustainable item or investing in a service of The GOE you are literally building a more sustainable future and feeding/educating/housing people in need. 

I am most proud of being able to provide a healthy, happy and abundant life for my family, while living true to my values of which is sustainably and helping as many people as I can while doing it.I am fulfilled not just in my body and mind but my soul.

What were you like growing up?

As a child I was almost DEATHLY shy. I only ever failed ONE class in school and that was speech class, because I literally passed out in fear. While my childhood was not nearly as bad as what many suffer, I spent a great deal of it scared, depressed and even miserable. I never had many friends because it was painful to be around more than one person at a time if anyone at all. I talked very little and didn’t even like birthdays because attention would be on me. 

I only had one girl friend for a few weeks all the way until my early twenties as I was so uncomfortable. I had a somewhat normal interest as a child such as sports, action figures, video games, and books. I always felt I was relatively intelligent and capable. I started my own business at 12 and have almost never in in 34 years had a “regular job” but was really just stuck in a negative mindset of which kept me from being truly happy and successful. It wasn’t until I was so unhappy that I no longer wanted to live that paradoxically I was committed enough to break through my fear and conditioning to really live the dream.  

Thats the end of the interview! Hope you got something out of it and hope you check out The Garden of Eden!

SteemON!