If you’ve been following the River Refugium Project, the consulting work growing out of it, or the wide scatter of ideas that land on Blue Ribbon Team, you’ve probably noticed something:
This doesn’t look like a normal company.
That’s intentional.
What I’m building under the Cernunnos Foundation isn’t a brand exercise or a tidy startup. It’s a working system that reflects how I actually think and operate—part engineering bench, part creative studio, part environmental workshop, part cultural commentary engine.
It’s not clean. It’s not linear. And it isn’t supposed to be.
This page is me putting it down plainly: what I’m building, how it fits together, and why it exists now.
The Systems We’ve Been Given Don’t Work
So I’m Designing One That Does
I’ve lived long enough to watch how existing systems treat workers, rivers, communities, and creativity.
They extract.
They discard.
They silo.
They explain failure as inevitability.
I’ve also learned that durable solutions don’t come from a single discipline. Technical fixes fail without cultural understanding. Environmental solutions fail without economic realism. Creative work fails when it’s detached from practical constraints.
Permaculture calls this the edge—the space where systems overlap and life concentrates. That’s where I work best.
So instead of forcing everything into one lane, the Foundation leans into that overlap:
- Environmental systems
- Engineering and applied design
- Policy and systems thinking
- Publishing and media
- Creative work and narrative
- Humor, critique, and cultural pressure
- Practical tools that can actually be used
These aren’t separate “initiatives.”
They’re connected because they have to be.
What I’m building is an integrated organism, not a single-purpose entity.
Why a Corporate Structure?
Because structure matters.
A formal structure gives me the ability to scale ideas, test them in the real world, abandon what doesn’t work, and reinforce what does—without pretending this is a hobby or a side project.
It also matters because this is the first time in my life I’m not dividing my energy between someone else’s mission and my own.
The structure looks strange at first glance:
Cernunnos Foundation (Parent)
The mission, ethics, and long-term spine of the ecosystem.
Bright Meadow Group
The systems analysis and consulting arm—where River Refugium, regenerative design, and applied engineering live.
Blue Ribbon Team
The public interface.
This is where ideas are tested in the open—through writing, observation, commentary, explanation, and sometimes humor. It’s where the work becomes legible.
Fortean Giftorium & StepBastard
Creative engines—art, myth, identity, and material culture. These aren’t “merch arms.” They’re narrative glue.
Relevant Irreverence Productions
The production layer—where ideas become formats: visual pieces, structured essays, repeatable media, and experimental storytelling that doesn’t fit neatly anywhere else.
If you squint, it looks like a media company stapled to an engineering firm, wrapped around a consulting practice, run by someone unwilling to specialize.
If you zoom out, it looks like a complete system.
The Culture I’m Building This On
This only works if the internal culture is clear and non-negotiable:
- Think in systems
No problem exists in isolation. - Regenerate, don’t extract
If it damages the world, the community, the worker, or the future, it’s a non-starter. - Creativity is operational, not decorative
Imagination is a tool. - Transparency beats polish
Explain the thinking. Share the process. Own the misses. - Credit matters
We build on others. We acknowledge that openly. - The mission outlasts the founder
This isn’t a personality cult. I’m laying stones, not carving monuments. - Reduce gatekeeping
Tools and ideas should lift people, not fence them out. - Stay at the edges
That’s where the useful friction lives.
No slogans. No sanctimony. Just constraints that keep the system honest.
Why Now
For the first time, I have the space to do this properly.
Not because of destiny or ego—but because the distractions are gone. The obligations are cleaner. The signal is clearer.
What I feel isn’t grandiosity.
It’s relief.
Now I can build this the right way.
So I am.
Where This Is Going
This ecosystem is:
- Small
- Early
- Imperfect
- Actively evolving
But it’s real.
The pattern underneath it is real.
What I’m trying to build is simple to describe, even if it’s complex to execute:
A place where curiosity leads to solutions.
A place where systems are designed instead of endured.
A place where ideas don’t have to fit neat boxes to be useful.
A place that can keep functioning long after I’m gone.
If something durable comes out of this—something that helps, teaches, or simply makes the world slightly less stupid—then it’s done its job.
And if you’re reading this, you’re already somewhere inside the system.
Welcome.
