When a vegan gets debunked...
Getting debunked by nature is humbling yet freeing, maybe it's time we all experience it...
The political scene has become so tribalistic that just hearing the word liberal or conservative and even vegan can make some folks convulse and seeth. It’s almost as if whatever political party, vegan or carnivore, gay or straight, has become everyone’s identity. If you are outside of another category, you must be the enemy.
Natural order on our homestead is having dominion over the animals while following creation.
The brainwashing of the current American system runs deep, while it’s true some people with radical beliefs like aborting babies at 9 months or believing Trump is a savior, or a recent comment I had, ordained by God! There are extremes on both sides of the aisle.
I beg you to stop being tribalistic about who you vote for, fads, jobs, or your past. Instead, I really wish people would become tribalistic about God’s creation. The natural order of the world, not the man-made one, I found someone who believes similarly, even though we come from opposite ends of the spectrum.
Last year, I shared many different podcasts I had been listening to, one that I found inspiring was Mollie Engleharts’s episode on Culture Apothecary.
Going from a liberal vegan to a semi-conservative centrist cattle farmer was eye-opening. I love folks who can take situations and humbly change their mind for the better.
That can reason and talk, and point blank, say I was wrong. It’s a strong attribute to have in this mind-control world that seeks to enslave mankind.
After listening to Mollie’s episode and setting up my next big project, Revive the Table, I knew she would be a perfect speaker. She aligned with what I was trying to convey, getting back to real food, and how things should be, God’s order.
If I’m being honest, at times I thought she might be a little too liberal for my conservative thoughts, but I was wrong. More than wrong.
She’s a kind human who cares about people, Earth, God, her family, friends, and others. She displays the teachings of Christ, a lost gem among many professing Christians.
I haven’t met her in person just yet, we meet in September on her ranch in Texas, for the Food is Medicine Summit, my first speaking gig.
But we’ve had a few conversations, one recently was a liveover on Instagram. We chatted about farming, politics, the industrial revolution, toxic masculinity, and more.
As we chatted, she said You need to read my book! I think you will like it, turns out, our beliefs aligned more than I imagined. Many things I share on this page, and spots, are echoed in her book, set to release September 2025, Debunked by Nature.
The name is perfect, I too was debunked by nature, but not in a vegan way, like Mollie was.
I was debunked by motherhood after having my baby boy, trusting every ounce of the system, believing that a two-income household, daycare, and all the things were normal, it all came crashing down. Coming from a broken home, poverty, drugs, I truly believed following the system, being a good “citizen” would simply solve most problems…
My paradigm was shattered after my baby boy received his 2-month shots and developed severe, unexplainable colic. Leading me to quit my job, pull my college classes, and become a stay-at-home mom, feeling as if the life I was trying to claw to have was stolen overnight.
As time went on, I would find that my son was vaccine injured, feminism is a lie, women cannot have it all nor can men, the system is poisoning us with medicine, and food, college doesn’t guarantee everything, and I realized that life gets sweeter when you start following God’s ways. It leads us to our little homestead now.
Mollie’s story was much different: a vegan living life in California, believing veganism would save the planet, getting a farm, and realizing it was a sham. Veganism really doesn’t exist in creation, like she hoped.
But the true beauty of her story is her testimony. Her podcast interviews share about her farming, worldview changing, etc, but hearing about abortions, divorce, finding true love, realizing feminism was a scam, and how empowering motherhood is, is where the icing meets the cake.
Even though Mollie and I have very different upbringings, I relate so much.
From rebelling in her young years to searching, to finally finding what was true and good, her story is inspiring.
In each chapter, I was mumbling in my brain, SHE GETS IT! Someone else from a completely different walk of life understands. As I type this article, it has dawned on me that tribalism never works with man-made ideologies, but it sure works when we are tribalistic with God’s true ways.
Even though I have yet to meet Mollie in the flesh, we are aligned. When we as humans begin understanding that the only way to change the system, to give our children a fair future, isn’t in politics, it’s not fighting for veganism, culture wars, or whatever the newest influencers tell you, it’s in aligning with what’s real and true.
Creation. Creation is the only real thing there is. In our modern age, it’s hard to wrap our minds around what this means, it’s hard to detach from the world’s comforts, and it’s all hard by design.
We have been sold for the last 60 or so years to be put on the conveyor belt, to attend public school, eat the microwaved meal, go to college, get debt, go to Walmart, get the pills, rinse and repeat. But it’s obvious the American dream isn’t working.
Humankind was made to be involved with creation not concrete.
The cover of Debunked by Nature, pre-orders start July 25th
A quote from Mollie’s book:
We don’t trust each other, ourselves, God, so the government steps in—telling us how to eat, raise kids, run businesses. Have we let this happen because we’re disconnected from the sacred, from nature?
If we could quiet the noise and hear God’s whispers, maybe we’d finally know what to do.
The noise is even louder with the bombardment of social media, our algorithms are telling us our world views, but maybe it’s time to shut it all off. Maybe that’s extreme, but we have to start being honest with each other, is the way we are living okay?
Is it producing good or bad fruit?
Two things Mollie touched on that made my heart burst: motherhood and being okay with doing hard things.
Mollie believed the idea that women should chase a career and worry about children later, but she learned that was a lie. Motherhood is a sacred calling. One that needs to be upheld.
When I quit my job and pulled the plug on college, I remember thinking my life was over. As a child born in drug abuse, and told that the only way I would make something of myself was to go to college, I thought I had just ruined my future. I failed to realize motherhood was my future, being involved in creation would be what my future would entail.
It doesn’t mean I can never pursue college or other dreams, but I feel pulled to something much greater.
For a while, I felt resentment toward motherhood, but it was because of the lies I believed surrounding it. Motherhood is hard, it takes a lot out of you, I won’t sugarcoat that, but motherhood is the lifeline to civilization, without it, we end.
Men are vital, we need strong men. In Mollie’s book, she touched on “toxic masculinity.” When meeting her husband and going to the farm, she quickly realized that good, strong men are needed. Almost as if feminism has been systematically placed to divide us even further.
I think about what if my own husband didn’t step up to the plate. I know many women close to me who became stay-at-home moms, yet the man didn’t step up, resulting in a separation.
I remember when we went to one income my husband made $15 an hour, when I quit, we decided it was until our son was a little older for daycare, because there is no way we could live on one income, well here we are almost 8 years later, I have made money, but we primarily live on one income, because he stepped up into a provider position.
He is now a lead man, and still works a little too many hours, but without his “toxic masculinity,” I wouldn’t be writing this article while my children sleep, or be preparing for a trip to Texas.
It’s been a hard road. We’ve sacrificed, fought, corralled pigs in the rain, and chased goats down the road in the rain. Why do animals always get out in the worst weather conditions?
But we have fought hard together. While friends and family oftentimes looked at us like we had lost our minds, some are starting to see the fruit, to see the alignment in our lives.
Deciding to do the hard thing when easy is always at our fingertips is hard. I’m sure Mollie could have stayed a vegan liberal, never questioned anything, and might be living a little bit easier life, yet she decided that following the world’s way wasn’t worth it.
Getting debunked is humbling, no matter who you are, but what matters is the path we pave forward. There is no time to be tribalistic to the man-made things, I urge you to be tribalistic to God’s order and creation. Whether you are a Christian, it still applies.
All of humanity needs the same things to survive: water, food, shelter, and community. If we followed the ideal that we set to provide and build these things uncorrupted without poison, greed, and control, imagine the possibilities.
Mollie’s book, Debunked by Nature, releases in September 2025, preorders begin July 25th. I encourage you to read it for inspiration and to understand the desperate need for change in this world.
Everyone who attends the Food is Medicine Summit receives a free copy! I read it in one day. I started early in the morning, but had chores, motherhood duties, so I couldn’t read it all, but at bedtime. I read into the late hours of the night, nodding my head after each chapter.
Talk soon,
Shelby
Want to support my work? Meet me in Texas, use my code SHELBY10
Or if you can’t travel, grab my newest guide Get Your House in Order, I walk you through the 4 cornerstones, water, food, shelter, and community, so you can make a plan for your household to be resilient.
Thank you for this post. I said similar things in a conversation last night.
Two degrees, climbed a corporate ladder and none of it has held up in caring for my family Less job, more life engagement.
I followed all of the culture checkpoints and, reflecting back, it’s pretty hollow.
Jesus, chickens, dogs and kid events. Sourdough is next! 😂
Ps: buying the book.