Sustainable World Radio- Ecology and Permaculture Podcast

In this stimulating conversation with Regenerative Land Designer and Educator Javan Bernakevitch, we discuss life design and why it's important. According to Javan, if we don?t design our lives, someone else will.

What are the signs of an undesigned life? Some of them include: not knowing what you?re good at, a lack of direction, being directed by past events, problems saying no, and having a hard time making decisions.

In this interview, we talk about practicing values-based decision making and the impact that can have on taking charge of our time and prioritizing what?s most important to us. Don?t worry, if you?re unclear about your values, Javan gives tips on how to discover them!

Since 2013, Javan has worked with individuals providing assistance on life design and how to design your life to work with, not against, your nature.

Javan Bernakevitch is the founder and operator of Permaculture BC, an education and community hub in British Columbia, Canada. The principle consultant at All Points Land Design, Javan works on small to large scale landscapes.

For information on Javan and his work visit: All Points Design.ca and PermacultureBC.com.

I interviewed Javan about Spilanthes for my Plant Report podcast a few years ago. You can listen here.

Join us on a journey to India to explore the inspiring Beejvan project, a remarkable two acre demonstration farm and community-based initiative in Karjat, Maharashtra, India.

In this interview with co-founder Sanjana Krishnan, discover how Beejvan is revitalizing the land, promoting biodiversity, and empowering the local community.

Sanjana was inspired to start Beejvan when she returned to Karjat a, a place she had loved as a child, to find that the rivers had dried up, soils were depleted, the forest was mostly gone, and that local farmers were suffering.

Sanjana then made it her mission to repair what has been broken through Beejvan, a farmer-led project dedicated to seed saving, land regeneration, ethnobotany, reforestation, and holistic agriculture practices. An integral part of Beejvan is working closely with the local inhabitants of Karjat, the Thakars who are traditional herbalists, healers, and keepers of sacred groves.

Get ready to be inspired by this incredible story of hope and renewal and find out how you can help grow this beautiful project.

To read more about Beejvan, visit them at: https://springprize.org/shortlisted/beejvan/

You can also follow them on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/beejvan/

More on Sanjana: Sanjana Krishnan is a Political Sociologist with a passion for regeneration. Her work focuses on the potential and impact of local initiatives in dealing with socio-environmental concerns for India. She is the cofounder of the Beejvan Biodiversity and Collaborative Research Foundation. Sanjana has worked/volunteered with a range of conservation/permaculture projects across India and Germany. A winner of the Erasmus scholarship, UGC Ph.D. Fellowship, and the German Chancellors' Fellowship, Sanjana has a Master's in Rural Development and a Ph.D. in Political Science.

Beejvan recently won a Lush Spring Prize for Intentional Projects. The Lush Spring Prize honors those who repair the earth?s damaged systems and leave the world lusher than they found it. For more information and to see if your project is eligible for a prize, visit: SpringPrize.org.

Episode 169: Is Permaculture the best option that we have to meet the demands of an unpredictable future? In this lively conversation with Rosemary Morrow, Margie Bushman, and Wes Roe, we discuss the potential Permaculture holds in restoring degraded ecosystems around the globe. 

Rosemary Morrow is a Permaculture designer, teacher, and earth restorer. She is the author of numerous publications including Permaculture Teaching Matters and The Earth Restorer?s Guide to Permaculture. Rosemary is the co-founder of the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute and Permaculture for Refugees.

We hear about Rosemary?s work in places she calls crowded margins- including refugee camps and areas greatly impacted by climate change. We learn why Rosemary still believes that Permaculture is the most valuable tool we have to in Earth restoration.

We chat about the importance of the Permaculture ethics (Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share), some of the challenges of Permaculture, and the biggest misconceptions people have about Permaculture design.

Margie Bushman and Wes Roe are the co-founders of the educational nonprofit the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network and founding Board Members of the Friends of the International Permaculture Convergences (FIPC).

Enter Our Giveaway from June 2nd to June 9th, 2023!

Visit: https://melliodora.com/melliodora-giveaways/earth-restorers-guide-to-permaculture-giveaway-swr/

I?ve partnered with Melliodora Publishing to give away a copy of Rosemary Morrow?s incredible new Earth Restorer?s Guide to Permaculture PLUS a collection of other titles from the ethical publishing house:h

Earth Restorer?s Guide to Permaculture by Rosemary Morrow 470 a novel by Linda Woodrow Permaculture Pioneers: stories from a new frontier edited by Kerry Dawborn and Caroline Smith Our Street (Retrosuburbia for Kids) by Beck Lowe and David Holmgren 2023 Permaculture Calendar, curated by Permaculture Principles

Open to listeners in Australia and the U.S. only due to shipping purposes. There will one winner (of the entire book pack) who will be chosen at random and notified by email. Good luck!

Links: 

Permaculture for Refugees

Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute

Melliodora Publishing

SB Permaculture Network

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does water want? What happens when we allow water to be water? Author Erica Gies explores the concept of Slow Water in her new book Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge. 

Slow Water approaches are unique to each place and work with natural systems. Slow Water is key to greater resiliency and offers multiple benefits including reducing floods, droughts, and wildfires. The Slow Water movement asks where our water comes from and examines the impact that our water treatment methods have on the environment, other people, and animals. 

In this episode, Erica talks about Slow Water projects around the world and what happens when water is allowed to slowly flow, meander, and linger on the landscape. 

We discuss the indigenous view of water as a ?who,? a relative, and a being worthy of respect and compare it with the industrial idea of water as a commodity or a threat. We discuss how this skewed modern world view affects our relations with water, influences how we build our infrastructure, and imperils life on the planet. 

Water has critical relationships with creatures, insects, plants, microbes, rocks, and soil. Many animals including water voles, prairie dogs, and the rock star of the water world, beavers can be our allies in the Slow Water movement. 

Wetlands, bogs, and marshes are also allies when it comes to slowing water and sinking excess atmospheric carbon. Peat is the super sinker of CO2- covering only 3% of the earth and holding 30% of the soil carbon. Wetlands restoration is a powerful climate change mitigation tool and asset to the Slow Water movement. 

Have you heard of the Hyporheic Zone, also called the ?Liver of the River?? This ecotone found in rivers and streams is a hidden universe rich in biodiversity, fertility, and action. Erica shares a story about a Hyporheic Zone restoration project in Seattle that is having profound impacts on water quality and stream health. 

It is becoming increasingly obvious that our attempts to control water are failing. Our cities and concrete infrastructure speed water away as quickly as possible, yet water seems to be reclaiming its territory more frequently. By participating in the Slow Water movement, we can cooperate with nature and water to create a more abundant world for all. 

Erica Gies is the author of the new book Water Always Wins- Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge. Erica is a National Geographic Explorer and an award-winning independent journalist who writes about water, climate change, plants, and critters for The New York Times, Nature, The Atlantic, and many other publications. Erica cofounded two environmental news startups, Climate Confidential and This Week in Earth. You can find Erica online at: EricaGies.com and SlowWater.world/

Learn how to garden like nature from writer, horticultural consultant, and educator Dr. Lee Reich.

We start with an audio tour of Lee?s award winning ?farmden," which is more than a garden and less than a farm. Packed with plants, including Paw Paws, Hardy Kiwi, Gooseberries, Figs, and Filberts, Lee uses his land as a test site for showcasing his gardening techniques. After 40 years of tending the land, Lee not only grows healthy fruits and vegetables, but also lots of fertile soil and compost. 

Lee and I discuss the art and science of building soil from the ground up following his easy low impact approach. Lee explains why he believes it?s important to pay attention to the top few inches of soil and let nature take care of the rest. Lee advocates gardening like nature by using a system that's good for plants and people and that emulates natural conditions. 

We chat about mulch, the importance of compost, and why Lee loves to repurpose what others might call waste in his quest to improve soil fertility and grow vibrant and resilient plants.

Dr. Lee Reich is a writer, horticultural consultant and educator with graduate degrees in soil science and horticulture. Lee?s farmden has won awards from National Gardening and Organic Gardening magazines and has been featured in many publications like the New York Times and Martha Stewart Living. HIs books include Weedless Gardening, Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden, and Growing Figs in Cold Climates. Lee was a former plant and soil researcher for the US Department of Agriculture and Cornell University and wrote a syndicated gardening column for the Associated Press for nearly 30 years.

Learn more about Lee and his work at leereich.com

Episode 166: Did you know that oceans make life possible on our planet? Even if we live far from the coast, our lives are influenced by the ocean. Oceans generate oxygen, capture carbon, shape weather, and provide habitat for countless creatures. 

To learn more about these vast, yet fragile bodies of water that make our planet unique, beautiful, and able to support life, I speak with world renowned ocean scientist and explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle.

In this inspirational interview, Sylvia shares her thoughts about what we can do to help our oceans and why urgent action is needed now. We discuss some of the threats that oceans face including acidification due to climate change, industrial fishing, and pollutants. 

Sylvia reflects on a lifetime of learning and exploration and shares why she is so positive about the future. She tells us what it?s like to live underwater for weeks at a time, how fish have different personalities, and why Menhaden matter. Sylvia calls upon each of us to be part of the solution and stresses that what we do has an impact. Sylvia believes that we have the power, knowledge, and technology necessary to save our oceans and to honor the living world that makes our existence possible.

This is an all hands on deck moment. We live on a miracle, a blue planet that functions in our favor and provides us with water and air. Each of us has a part to play in preserving, restoring, and celebrating our oceans, and in doing so, saving ourselves and the environment.

Dr. Sylvia Earle is called "Her Deepness" by The New Yorker and the New York Times, a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, and the "First Hero for the Planet" by Time magazine. Sylvia is the author of more than 200 publications, including the new book National Geographic Ocean: A Global Odyssey which was written as a love letter to a gravely imperiled friend and a call to action to humans everywhere.

Sylvia is the Founder of Mission Blue, a nonprofit that inspires action to explore and protect the ocean. She is also a National Geographic Explorer at Large and former Chief Scientist of NOAA.

Links:

Mission-Blue.org

Hope Spots

Episode 165: This special episode introduces the Regenerative Media Alliance, a project I have been working on for quite some time with fellow podcast producers Oliver Goshey and Scott Mann. The Regenerative Media Alliance or RMA is a cooperative group for podcasters and media creators working in the Permaculture, sustainability, and regenerative fields.

Podcasting can be a bit lonely. If you're like me and you produce your podcast in your "Shoedio" (also known as a bedroom closet),  you know how isolating it can be talking into a microphone and not knowing if there's anyone out there who is listening. When Oliver first approached Scott and I about his idea for the RMA, I thought of how valuable a group like this could be. And I was right! It has been refreshing and fun to share notes and experiences with Scott and Oliver about interviewing, equipment, editing programs, and many other aspects of podcasting.

We envision the RMA as a place for podcasters and other content creators to share their knowledge and to learn from one another.  We will be offering quarterly calls, online summits, and more! To sign up for our email list and for more information about the RMA, visit our website at: RegenerativeMediaAlliance.com.

Now a bit about my colleagues:

Oliver Goshey is a designer, educator, and consultant for regenerative social and land based projects. Regenerative Skills is Oliver?s effort to create a larger and more engaged community around regenerative living by making the most cutting edge knowledge and techniques accessible to everyone.

Scott Mann: With a background in radio, broadcasting, and technology, Scott started his podcast- The Permaculture Podcast-  the same week he graduated from his permaculture design course back in 2010.

Thanks so much for listening as always! I hope you like this conversation between Scott, Oliver, and I about the RMA, how we first got started in Permaculture and podcasting, and what keeps us creating. 

Episode 164: Are you a fan of Raptors or birds of prey? Members of this large group of magnificent birds include hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls. For many of us, seeing raptors in cities and in the wilderness is awe-inspiring. 

To learn more about these amazing birds, I am joined by Lisa Owens Viani and Allen Fish, co-founders of the nonprofit Raptors Are the Solution (RATS). 

We begin by chatting about the wonders of raptors and why Lisa and Allen have devoted so much of their lives to helping these birds. We then discuss the impact that anticoagulant rodenticides is having on raptors and wildlife.

Used worldwide, rodenticides (or rat poisons) affect not only rats, but also large numbers of non-target animals including raptors, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, bears, and fish. Rodenticides enter the food chain when animals eat poisoned rodents and receive secondary exposure.

Anticoagulant rodenticide ingestion can lead to immune suppression, rodenticide-induced mange, internal hemorrhaging, and death.

The overgrowth of rats is caused partly by a lack of predators. We talk about how the poisons we use to control rats end up harming or killing the very predators that are efficient at keeping rodent populations in check. 

This interview contains vital information about how we can be better caretakers of our shared environment. All of us can take action to protect raptors and wildlife from anticoagulant rodenticides.

What can we do? Start with avoiding the use of toxic rat poisons. Don?t make your yard a rat haven. Exclusion, sanitation, and trapping are effective nontoxic methods of rodent control.

Visit the Raptors are the Solution website for tips on how to make your yard less attractive to rats, educational resources, an activist toolkit, and more at raptorsarethesolution.org 

Guests: Lisa Owens Viani is a long time environmental writer and wildlife advocate. Lisa co-founded and directs Raptors Are The Solution- or RATS, a project of Earth Island Institute. 

RATS educates about the ecological role of raptors and the enormous danger that they and all wildlife, as well as pets and children, face from the wide use and availability of anticoagulant rat poisons. RATS partners with other agencies, scientists, municipalities, and NGO?s to work toward eliminating toxic rodenticides from the food web. RATS? multi-pronged approach includes public education as well as legislative and legal work to achieve better regulation of these products. 

Lisa was honored as the Fund for Wild Nature's Grassroots Activist of 2021 and received a Special Achievement Award on behalf of raptors from the International Owl Center in 2018.

Allen Fish is the Associate Director for Conservation and Community Science at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. 

Allen is also the director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory since its founding in the mid 1980s. The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory is a four-decades-old community-science program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in cooperation with the National Park Service. It?s set up to monitor the largest migration site for birds of prey in the Pacific Flyway.  

Allen was a Lecturer at UC Davis from 2003 to 2011 where he taught Raptor Biology. Allen has a long history of writing and public speaking on raptor biology and conservation, urban wildlife ecology, climate change impacts, and the power of community science. Allen was awarded Bay Nature?s Environmental Educator of the Year Award in 2016 and Golden Gate Audubon honored Allen with the Elsie Roemer Award for Conservation in 2020.  

In 2011, Allen assisted Lisa in founding Raptors are the Solution. Allen lives with his family in Berkeley, and has recently become obsessed by the lives and ecology of dragonflies.

Note: I was inspired to pursue this topic when I noticed that I wasn?t hearing as many owls at night in my neighborhood. When disoriented rats began stumbling around our yard during the day and several were found dead in our yard, I did some research and discovered that rat poisons or anticoagulant rodenticides were the likely culprit-not only responsible for the dying and dead rats, but also for the decreased owl numbers.

I decided to write an article Silent Night- The Unintended  Consequences of Rodenticides and in doing my research, I discovered Raptors Are the Solution (RATS).

Links:

Raptors Are the Solution or RATS

Link to RATS Pilot Project in Seattle

Article: Silent Night- The Unintended Consequences of Rodenticides

Episode 163: What if you could replace your monocrop grass lawn with a ?solar powered regenerative system that stores carbon while creating habitats?? You can! Learn how in this informative episode with Owen Wormser.

Did you know that the average lawn is a a biological desert that needs vast amounts of resources to stay alive? By replacing your lawn with a meadow, you can sink carbon, retain water, provide habitat, attract pollinators, create beauty, and save money. 

Owen fills us in on how to transition your lawn to a biodiverse meadow and what a meadow needs to thrive. He shares some of his favorite meadow plants, like Needle Grass, Echinacea, and Black Eyed Susan. These plants tend to be resilient and don?t need rich soil to grow well, so you don?t have to use a lot of amendments, a stark contrast to the average lawn. Another benefit of meadows is that you only need to mow them once a year- that alone may be enough to make many of us make the switch!

Owen also talks about a few of the challenges of meadow-making, including the time it can take to fully establish a meadow, which can be up to two to three years. 

Hearing Owen Wormser talk about meadows, you can?t help but want to create one! Owen is a landscape designer with a focus on sustainability and low-maintenance design. He is the author of the book Lawns into Meadows. Owen?s work is rooted in perspective and expertise drawn from landscape architecture, horticulture, permaculture, organic agriculture, and ecology. 

Owen is the owner and founder of Abound Design and the co-founder of Local Harmony, a nonprofit focused on encouraging and creating community driven regeneration. 

Thanks to Owen for teaching us about meadows, nature, and the abundance of the natural world! 

Other links and mentions:

Lawns into Meadows.

 Prairie Moon Nursery

Episode 162: Is the future nuts? According to our guest Michael Judd, it definitely is, but in a good way! In this fun and informative interview, Michael shares his vision of a bountiful and food secure future where nut tree orchards and farms abound. 

Resilient perennial crops with a multitude of ecosystem services, nut trees improve soil health and stability, provide habitat for animals, increase diversity, and offer nutrient rich food. Michael is an advocate for the Chestnut and we talk in detail about the promise that this tree holds for our nutty future.

We chat about ?Bread? nut trees and ?Butter? nut trees, nut tree guilds, and the ecological and economic potential of nut trees. If you are looking for a crop to grow or want to diversify what you already produce, nut trees may be a good bet.

Michael Judd is a Permaculture and Ecological Designer and the co-founder of Silvoculture, a nonprofit focused on perennial food security. Michael has worked with agro-ecological and whole systems design throughout the Americas for nearly two decades, Author of the books Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist and For the Love of Paw Paws, Michael is also the founder of two other nonprofits Ecologia Edible and Ecological Landscape Design and Project Bona Vide. Michael puts his teachings into action on his own property Judd?s Long Creek Homestead located in the Appalachian foothills of Frederick, MD where Michael and his family steward 25 acres of mixed woodland, food forests, and a nursery all designed to promote sustainable agriculture. 

Michael mentions the following links in this episode:

Future Scenarios by David Holmgren

Greg Miller Route 9 Cooperative

University of Missouri, Chinese Chestnuts

Red Fern Farm

Savannah Institute

Plantra Tree Tubes

Episode on Goumi: Goumi, A Beautiful Bush With Benefits.

Growing an herbal apothecary garden at home is fun and easy. Learn how to start your own in this informative interview with longtime organic farmer Alena Steen.

We begin the episode by talking about the benefits of growing medicinal herbs and then move into the nitty gritty of soil preparation, watering, and harvesting. Alena explains the concept of "benevolent neglect" and talks about how this type of growing can actually increase the medicinal qualities of herbs. 

Alena shares some of her favorite plants with us including Tulsi, Calendula, Ashwagandha, Lemon Balm, Yarrow, and Rosemary. We chat about how to make herbal medicines like oxymels, tinctures, salves, and herbal honeys. 

Whether you have a large piece of land, a garden, or a small pot on a patio- we hope this episode inspires you to grow your own herbal apothecary! 

Alena Steen has been farming and gardening organically for over ten years. She and her partner Danny are the owners of the herbal medicine company Night Heron Farm. Night Heron Farm offers an herbal and flower CSA with plants and products from their farms in Carpinteria, CA. Learn more at NightHeronFarm.org. 

Episode 160: Lonny Grafman has worked with hundreds of communities around the globe assisting them with projects across a broad spectrum of sustainability. In this inspiring episode Lonny reflects on his decades of work and shares his knowledge and experience about how to build more resilient communities. 

Lonny talks about his early beginnings as an activist, how he became a ?practivist,? and why he believes that empowering community resilience is the most vital component in creating and implementing lasting and successful design solutions. We chat about the value of Point Positive Design, the importance of listening and observation, and how we can all participate in the great and necessary work of increasing the health and resiliency of ourselves, our communities, and the ecosystems that we depend on. 

Lonny is the founder of the Appropedia website and author of the books To Catch the Rain and the forthcoming To Catch the Sun. 

Lonny Grafman is an Instructor of Environmental Resources Engineering and Appropriate Technology at Humboldt State University; the founder of the Practivistas full immersion, abroad, resilient community technology program; the Advisor and Project Manager (and at times fundraiser) for the epi-apocalyptic city art projects Waterpod, Flock House, WetLand, and Swale; the managing director of the north coast hub of BlueTechValley, supporting energy saving entrepreneurs; the director of the AWEsome Business Competition for groups working on Agriculture, Water and Energy in Northern California; and the Founder and President of the Appropedia Foundation, sharing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives.

Lonny has taught university courses in six countries and presented in dozens more. He has worked and led teams on hundreds of domestic and international projects-from solar power to improved cookstoves, from micro-hydro power to rainwater catchment, from earthen construction to plastic bottle schoolrooms. 

Learn more about Lonny here: appropedia.org/User:Lonny

Other Links: 

Paul Polak website

Out of Poverty book by Paul Polak

Appropedia.org

To Catch the Rain

To Catch the Sun

Step into the vibrant and beautiful world of living color with natural dyer, designer, and artist Sasha Duerr.

Sasha takes us on a journey from Soil to Studio. We learn how creating and working with dyes made from plants, seaweed, and other natural materials can increase our ecological and botanical knowledge, foster collaboration, and have a beneficial impact on ecosystems. 

Natural dyeing offers us multiple opportunities to participate in solutions. Food scraps and green waste can transform old clothes into ?new?. Instead of being buried at landfills and emitting VOC?s, organic materials like onion skins, pomegranate rinds, and citrus peels can be re-purposed into natural dyes that revitalize our wardrobes and lessen our carbon footprint. Some dyes can even be poured into the garden when finished and used as a fertilizer.

Unwanted weeds in your yard or invasive plants in your neighborhood can also be turned into color. One of my favorite dyes is Sour Grass. I look forward to seeing this ubiquitous plant every winter. I collect loads of it and dye old clothes a neon yellow that really glows. (Note: Be sure to identify plants before using them as dyes- just in case they are toxic.)

Sasha talks about a few of her favorite dyes including Loquat, Eucalyptus leaves, and Redwood Cones, all very appropriate plants for beginning dyers. We also learn about some of the palettes from her new book Natural Color. I especially loved the Pollinator and Perfume Palettes. They will make you swoon!

What color story would you like your clothes to tell? 

Sasha Duerr is an artist and designer who works with plant-based palettes, natural dyes, and place-based recipes. She is an Adjunct Professor at the California College of the Arts with a joint appointment in textiles and fine arts where she designs curriculum and teaches courses in the intersection of natural color, slow food, slow fashion, and social practice.

Her work has been shown in galleries and museums across the United States and abroad. In 2007, Sasha founded the Permacouture Institute to encourage the exploration of regenerative design practices for fashion and textiles. Her extensive work with plant-based palettes and ecological principles through local land-based sources and community has been featured in many publications She is the author of The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes, Natural Color, and Natural Palettes.Discover more about Sasha and her work at SashaDuerr.com.

Sasha mentions the following references in this episode:

Books by Kate Fletcher

Fibershed

Greenpeace 

Botanical Colors

Episode 158: Longtime organic farmer Mark Sturges believes that when we create a better habitat for beneficial insects, we create a better habitat for ourselves. Mark is a master compost maker whose compost is filled with life. When Mark creates compost, he encourages the "whole neighborhood" to move in. The cast of characters in Mark's neighborhood are vast and include beetles, rotifers, fungi, nematodes, springtails, enchytraeids, and Beauveria bassiana- an insect "eating" fungi.

Mark and I chat about compost tea and how its application can re-invigorate plants, soil, and large areas of land. You'll hear about Mark's successful use of compost tea in a vineyard suffering from a Phylloxera infestation. Mark's tea was sprayed on a Pinot block and the grapes were saved!

Mark is a so-called entrepreneurial "Entra-Manure" who fills us on the importance of manure in the compost loop. He tells us why we shouldn't use chemical de-wormers on our animals and what effect these products have on beneficial insects, especially beetles. In turn, a lack of beneficials can lead to devastating impacts on pasture land, soil, animals, and climate.

After hearing Mark talk about beetles, maybe you'll obtain Beetle Enlightenment like I did! I now have a deep appreciation for these unsung heroes of decomposition who also have an important role to play in mitigating climate change.

Mark Sturges makes and ships organic compost and compost creatures nationwide from his Chili Nervanos farm in Bandon, Oregon.

Mark is a writer whose work has appeared in Acres USA. His book of poetry The Return of the Fertilizer King and Other Tales is available online. Mark doesn't have a website. His work is all word of mouth. You can reach Mark at: ChiliNervanos382 (at) gmail.com.

Episode 157: Do you want to grow healthy food? Are you excited to start a garden, but don't have a yard? In this fun and informative interview with plant lover and regenerative farmer Acadia Tucker, we learn how to start a verdant and productive container garden at home. Acadia tells us why she feels it's important to grow at least some of our own food and how this simple act can positively impact the world.  

Acadia believes that gardening is a civic duty and isn't just for people who have yards. She shares her knowledge and tips on how to start a successful container garden. We talk about pots, compost, mulch, and what plants thrive in pots. We also chat about watering and some of the other challenges of container gardens. 

Our interview includes a lot about gardening in general, so there's something to learn for those of you who already have a garden.

We end with a discussion on climate change and how gardening can be a climate change solution. Plants we grow and  tend can suck excess atmospheric carbon back into the soil and put it to good use. 

Acadia Tucker is a regenerative farmer and climate activist. Acadia founded a four-season organic market garden in Washington State where she grew 200 different crops. When she isn't raising perennials in her own backyard, Acadia lives in New Hampshire with her farm dog Nimbus and grows hops to support locally sourced craft beer in New England. Acadia serves as a Rodale Institute Ambassador on regenerative agriculture and is the author of Growing Perennial Foods: A field guide to raising resilient herbs, fruits, & vegetables, and Growing Good Food: A citizen?s guide to climate victory gardening, Her upcoming book, Tiny Victory Gardens: Growing good food without a yard, is scheduled for release in December 2020. 

Find out more about Acadia Tucker at her website: AcadiaTucker.com

Learn how your clothing choices can change the world in this episode with writer Elizabeth Segran.

Elizabeth tells us the grim news first. Did you know that the fashion industry is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gases? That?s more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. About 100 billion articles of clothing are manufactured yearly. Clothes that don't sell are often thrown in a landfill or burned at the end of a season. This massive overproduction has a detrimental effect on land, waterways, and workers.

With styles changing rapidly, the fashion industry must persuade fashion-conscious consumers to purchase the latest trends. Elizabeth shares some of her favorite ways to resist this push including maintaining a lean closet, thrift store shopping, renting clothes, and supporting companies that manufacture clothes responsibly.

We also talk about why Elizabeth believes that the fashion industry should be regulated and how countries should follow the example of France and have a "Minister of Fashion"!

Whether you?re a fashion follower or a thrift store shopper, you?ll learn a lot about the fashion industry?s impact on the environment and how we can change our shopping habits.

Elizabeth Segran, PHD., is a senior staff writer at Fast Company. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her work has been published in The Atlantic, The New Republic, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and The Nation. You can learn more about Elizabeth at her website: ElizabethSegran.com

Episode 154: When medicinal at risk plants need help, United Plant Savers (UPS) comes to the rescue! Known as the "consciousness of the herbal products industry" because of their work with at risk medicinals, UPS staff and members have their feet on the ground and their hands in the soil protecting and growing these healing plants. 

The former site of a contour mine, the 379 acre UPS Botanical Sanctuary in South Eastern Ohio is now home to nearly 400 plant species. In this interview with John Stock, Outreach Coordinator and Sanctuary Manager for United Plant Savers, we learn why we should be concerned about where our herbal medicine comes from, how medicinal plants are being affected by the $8 billion a year herbal products industry, and how we can get involved with UPS by becoming a member or a grower in their Botanical Sanctuary or Sacred Seeds Networks. There are over 140 botanical sanctuaries across the US and Canada and there's still room for more! 

John and I discuss why medicinal plants need our attention and conservation efforts right now, some of the twenty plants that UPS has earmarked as being at risk, and what the biggest impacts on these plants are- think habitat loss, growing demand, over-harvesting, and little accountability in the herbal products supply chain. We learn what we can do to support the continued health and abundance of medicinal plants and how preserving them has the added benefit of increasing biodiversity and sustaining healthy forests. 

You can learn more about UPS here: United Plant Savers.org.

Take a look at their Species At Risk and To Watch List here. 

Become a member by clicking here: I Want to be a Member!

Thanks for listening! 

Episode 153: Put down that shovel and start a no-till perennial garden! In this fun and informative interview, Permaculture Designer and Teacher Morag Gamble shares her tips about how to create an abundant and thriving organic oasis.

Morag's garden in Queensland, Australia has more than 200 plants. In this episode she shares some of her favorites with us including Sweet Potato and Pumpkin. Did you know that you can eat the leaves of both?

We focus on soil health and how to build fertility through feeding the soil, why multifunctional perennial plants are a good choice for any garden, how to grow living mulches, and why it's important to eat root to shoot.

We delve into Morag's in situ composting methods that enliven the soil onsite and learn how to brew Comfrey Tea that is beneficial for plants and a potent soil activator. We also talk about what makes plants "Permaculture plants" and why they  are good bets for your new or existing garden.

Working with the principles found in nature, you can start and maintain a beautiful and healthy organic garden that benefits not only you and your family, but also the wildlife in your yard.

More about Morag: Morag Gamble is the founding director of the Permaculture Education Institute. You can watch her videos online at her YouTube Channel and read her articles at Our Permaculture Life.

Morag offers many courses, including a Permaculture Gardening Course called The Incredible Edible Garden.

Morag lives at Crystal Waters. You can learn more about this award-winning eco village here.

Note: Our interview was recorded before the devastating fires in Australia. I spoke with Morag recently about the fires and will be posting that conversation as an episode soon. Until then, here's a link to the Ethos Foundation that will support communities in need, by offering free permaculture education once the fires settle. Through the program, participants will work on connecting with their community, creating collective projects like community gardens and focus on regenerating and rebuilding ? creating resilient food gardens and wildlife gardens, creating bushfire-safe landscapes and homes with a permaculture design approach. They will also activate teams to help build gardens where needed ? permablitz in bushfire communities.

Episode 152:  Famed cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg talks about his new film Fantastic Fungi that highlights the fascinating and often hidden world of the fungi beneath our feet. 

Renowned for his time lapse work with flowers, Louie has now turned his lens toward the fungal kingdom with astonishing and beautiful results. In this episode, we do a deep dive into Fungi and the many solutions that they offer us at this critical time, including: 

Carbon sequestration: Fungi are a climate change solution. Mycoremediation: Fungi are the grand decomposers of nature and can be used to clean up environmental toxins, including oil spills. Health: Medicinal mushrooms support our health and boost our immunity.  Water filtration: Fungi can clean contaminated water. Therapy: Psilocybin mushrooms are being used therapeutically and mindfully to for consciousness raising. Example of Sharing Economy: Fungi are a model and metaphor of a successful sharing economy, based on cooperation, that allows ecosystems to flourish.

Louie also talks about what he's learned from his forty years of filming flowers, how pollination is the love story that feeds the earth, and why it's time to change our narrative about nature-  from survival and competition to partnership, cooperation, and interconnectedness.

Louie Schwartzberg is a voice for nature, plants, animals, and now fungi. An award winning cinematographer, director, and producer, Louie is the only filmmaker to be inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A visual artist who tells stories that celebrate life and reveal the mysteries and wisdom of nature, Louie Schwartzberg is a true environmental advocate.

Learn about Louie's new film Fantastic Fungi at FantasticFungi.com and look for a showing near you here. 

Visit Louie's website at MovingArt.com.

Episode 151: What if we could heal broken ecosystems, toxic landscapes, and poisoned water? 

My guest today is Dr. John Todd, ecological designer and author of the new book, Healing Earth- An Ecologist's Journey of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship. 

John Todd boldly travels to places that others try to avoid: toxic waste sites, oil spills, leaking landfills, and damaged waterways. Using the tools of nature to remediate these areas, John and his colleagues do good things in bad places.

An expert in the design and construction of wastewater treatment systems, Eco-Machines, and living technologies, John's projects pair ecological knowledge with biological allies, like bacteria, fungi, and plants. 

An internationally renowned inventor and visionary, John's new book offers us a map of how to heal the Earth's damaged places, and in so doing, find the great work of our time.

Learn more from John at ToddEcological.com and OceanArksInt.org. 

Episode 150: Join us for a mind and heart expanding conversation with Dr. Monica Gagliano about her research in plant cognition and her direct experiences with the botanical world. A pioneer in the field of Plant BioAcoustics, Monica's peer-reviewed work has furthered the concept of plant sentience. Monica's experiences with plants have altered her life, her research, and are the subject of her new book, Thus Spoke the Plant.

In this interview, Monica talks about her experiments with plants- including her groundbreaking studies with Peas, which provided evidence that plants, at least Peas, are capable of associative learning. Monica tells us about the invitation that she received from the Vegetal World to delve more deeply into direct contact with plants and how her decision to say yes to that invitation changed her life. Monica also explains how listening is a key to establishing a relationship with plants and what listeners can do to connect with the plants in their lives.

To hear more about Monica's earlier scientific research, listen to our first podcast together: Learning, Memory, and Decision Making in Plants.

To get her new book, Thus Spoke the Plant,visit: NorthAtlanticBooks.com/shop/thus-spoke-the-plant/

Dr. Monica Gagliano's research aims at expanding our perception of animals, plants, and Nature. She is a Research Associate Professor in Evolutionary Ecology and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, Research Affiliate at the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney and a Senior Research Fellow at the Biological Intelligence (BI) Lab, University of Sydney. 

Monica's website is: MonicaGagliano.com

Episode 149: Incredible Edible is an urban gardening project in Todmorden, England. Started in 2008, as a conversation between friends and envisioned as a revolution of kindness, Incredible Edible has transformed the market town of Todmorden into an edible oasis.

In this interview, Incredible Edible's co-founder Mary Clear tells the story of how she and her friends turned their worry and fear into action by planting food in public places; potatoes and kale at the Railway Station, runner beans in front of the Health Centre, and corn outside the police department.

Mary tells us about the project's economic impact, vegetable tourism, and the power that comes when you have no money, no paid staff, no buildings, and no public funding. With a motto of, "If you eat, you?re in," Incredible Edible turns neglected, unloved places into beautiful food-giving gardens, complete with signs that say  "Help Yourself!"

Over 1,000 Incredible Edible projects have blossomed around the world. Learn how you can start your own Incredible Edibleproject in this inspiring and uplifting interview with Mary Clear.

Learn more at their website: Incredible-Edible-Todmorden.co.uk/Home.

 

Episode 148: Sanandi Farm is a 33 hectare organic, biodynamic, Permaculture farm located near Valle de Bravo, Mexico. In 1998, two brothers, Dieter and Andreas le Noir, purchased the land and then began the work of regenerating and restoring the health of the soil. Using Permaculture principles and Biodynamic Farming techniques, Sanandi is now a beautiful, verdant oasis that is Demeter certified with a thriving medicinal herb pharmacy and line of herbal remedies. 

In this interview, Sanandi's Communications Director Yolanda Suarez del Real shares with us the story of Sanandi and some of the ways that the team there has revitalized the land. Yolanda talks about their Wormery, Sanandi's rescue efforts for endangered bees, the importance of biodiversity, and why she believes that agriculture holds a key to human health. Yolanda tells us about some of the plants that are grown on Sanandi, including Mexican Giant Hyssop (Agastache mexicana), Lemon Verbena (Aloysia triphylla), and Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). 

Yolanda also talks about the Valle La Paz Foundation, Sanandi's non-profit organization. The Foundation works with local children, providing free healthy breakfasts and sponsoring a choir, operates a rural health clinic, and promotes biodynamic organic agriculture with local farmers. To see a beautiful video of the local children in the choir sponsored by the Foundation, click here. 

Show Notes: Yolanda mentions the Economy for the Common Good. 

For information on upcoming Sanandi Webinars, click here. 

Episode 147: How can we mend our broken relationship with the Earth and create a world where people and land are good medicine for each other?

In this interview, plant ecologist, author, and professor Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about what she has learned from plants, plant intelligence, and how the simple and profound act of paying attention to the living world can change our lives.

Robin speaks about how human exceptionalism finds its place in language, the grammar of animacy, and the importance of recognizing the personhood of all beings.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is the founding Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment and the author of the books Gathering Moss and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. 

Episode 146: Learn about the field of arboreal archaeology and why historic fruit trees are important in this interview with John Valenzuela. John is a Permaculture Teacher, Designer, and Horticulturist who specializes in tropical permaculture, rare fruit, and ethnobotany. 

In this episode, John talks about the benefits and resilience of trees, fruit history, what to look for in choosing fruit trees for your climate, and what plants he would take to a deserted island. The plants that we discuss include: Carob, Zizyphus, Opuntia, Mesquite, Mahonia, Yacon, many varieties of Apples, Mulberries, Paw Paws, Indian Peaches, Raisin tree, Coconut, Papaya, Banana, Mango, and Cashew. 

John lives and grows in Marin County California, where he is diversifying a food forest garden with over 150 varieties of fruit on multi-grafted trees. You can learn more and reach him at his website.

Episode 145: Have you heard about Paw Paws, North America's largest indigenous edible fruit? Native to 26 states in the US, Paw Paws are immortalized in songs, poems, and place names throughout the country. Paw Paw fruit can weigh up to two pounds each and have a delicious and unusual tropical flavor, reminiscent of a mango, banana, pineapple, and cherimoya blend.

In this fun and informative interview with Edible Landscape and Permaculture Designer Michael Judd, we learn how to propagate, grow, harvest, and prepare Paw Paws, from seed to table.

Found in the woods as an understory plant, Paw Paw trees also thrive in sunny locations and can be integrated into food forest systems and backyard gardens.

Once you try one, you may be hooked! Paw Paws fans and followers quickly become fanatics. A tree elder with a long history, Paw Paws hold a "deep woodland magic" and are ready and waiting to take their place, as an "edible landscaping all-star."

To learn more about Michael Judd and his work, visit his website EcologiaDesign.com. Michael is writing a new book about Paw Paws called For the Love Of Paw Paws. To become a supporter, visit his Kickstarter campaign.

Click here to listen to Michael on other episodes of Sustainable World Radio and The Plant Report.

Episode 144: Do you live in a city and want to grow your own herbal medicine? In this episode, urban farmer and community herbalist Bonnie Rose Weaver shares the joys of growing medicinal plants in an urban environment.

In 2014, Bonnie launched the seed to bottle apothecary 1849 Medicine Garden, a project that taught urbanites about the benefits of locally grown plant medicine. 1849 included an herbal CSA- or community supported agriculture program where members receive herbal tinctures created from herbs grown in their area. Bonnie grew her herbs on a 1/16 of an acre in San Francisco, CA.

Bonnie believes that medicine is all around us, even in the heart of the city and that taking herbs grown locally can be potent medicine. In this interview she talks about how she propagates herbs (sowing seeds in flats - not cells), why it's important to reproduce a wild quality in your plants, and how plants grown in your neighborhood or bioregion face many of the same stressors that you do, making them effective medicine. Bonnie also talks in detail about some of her favorite herbs including Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), Grindelia (Grindelia robusta), Milky Oats (Avena sativa), and Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris).

Bonnie is the author of the book, Deeply Rooted: Medicinal Plant Cultivation in Techtropolis. Find her online at: 1849MedicineGarden.com.

Episode 143: How would Nature farm? Can degraded, infertile land be regenerated? Can agriculture become a healing beneficial system that mitigates climate change?

To answer these questions, I speak with farmer Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farm located in Swoope, Virginia. When the Salatins moved to the farm in 1961, there wasn't enough soil on the land to hold up a fence post. Over fifty years later, Polyface is an oasis of organic matter and one of the most fertile farms in the US.

How did Joel and his family achieve this remarkable transformation? It began when Joel's father William, who out of necessity and with very little money, bucked conventional practices and began to observe how Nature farms. Implementing what they saw in natural systems, the Salatin family began their great task of restoring life and fertility to the land.

In this inspiring and uplifting interview, Joel shares the joy of being a visceral participant in healing land, why he believes that good farming should increase the commons, and how we can become beneficial participants in legacy ecology. 

Joel talks about the importance of including animals in agriculture, his "Moving, Mobbing, and Mowing Ministry," how to use herbivores as pruners, and what we can do now to heal the earth. 

To learn more about Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm, visit their website at PolyfaceFarms.com.

Episode 142: Have you ever thought of going to the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC)? Held every two years, switching between continents at different locations, the IPC is a gathering of Permaculture designers, teachers, and enthusiasts. This year, the IPC is held in India, which is celebrating 30 years of permaculture!

To learn more I spoke with Margie Bushman & Wes Roe of the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network. In this interview, Margie and Wes discuss Permaculture, their involvement with the IPC, and the next one taking place in Hyderabad India, in November and December of 2017. Hosted by Aranya Agricultural Alternatives NGO, the IPC 2017 will be a unique and possibly transforming experience. The whole Aranya organization, including community members, farmers from nearby villages, a dynamic group of international volunteers, and especially the community's women and children are all joyfully preparing to welcome the world to the IPC conference & convergence.

Margie & Wes are founding members of the Friends of the International Permaculture Convergences (FIPC) that works to insure there is a diversity of participants at each IPC by providing scholarships for delegates from around the world. Diversity is key here. Delegates come from a wide variety of regions and contribute toward a diversity of ideas and solutions arrived at each IPC. IPC's reach into every corner of the world, local to global, to bring forth and share these ideas. Past host sites have been in Australia, USA, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Nepal, Croatia, Brazil, Malawi, Jordan, Cuba, United Kingdom, and India in 2017, followed by Argentina in 2020. This year for the first time FIPC launched an ambitious worldwide crowdfund, so all in the global Permaculture community could easily contribute using the powerful energy of money to help shape a better world.

We are a global society, and more than any other time in history, in order to be resilient, we need a diversity of ideas from all regions and cultures to survive. For more than forty years Permaculture has been leading the way with innovative, planet and climate friendly design strategies, that are just now being fully recognized by the rest of the world as the answer to some of our most pressing challenges. 

Margie Bushman and Wes Roe are the co-founders of the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, an educational non-profit founded in 2000 that has sponsored hundreds of workshops and events about Permaculture and sustainability. Margie was the Program Coordinator for the Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) Center for Sustainability from 2009-2013, where she developed a Cities as the Solution series and an Eco-Entrepreneurship pilot program. Together Margie and Wes teach the Invisible Structures component of the Permaculture Design Course, a credited class, that they are proud to have helped initiate at SBCC. Wes served as a board member of the Permaculture Credit Union for nine years, later as Board President. Margie and Wes have been volunteer coordinators for the IPC Support Group since its inception in 2005.

For more information on IPC2017, visit the IPC India website at : http://ipcindia2017.org/

Visit the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network/IPC page for the FIPC and crowdfund information: http://www.sbpermaculture.org/ipc.html

 

Episode 141: Larry Kandarian is an organic farmer and ancient grain advocate. In this episode, Larry takes us on a whirlwind tour of Kandarian Organic Farms where he grows over 200 varieties of plants. As you'll hear in the interview, Larry is a man with a mission- growing the most ancient and nutrient-dense grains he can find and providing the world with alternatives to modern wheat.

I first became aware of Larry and his work when I saw an ad for a talk he was giving at our local seed swap entitled, "Ancient Guy Talks About Old Grains." When I read that, I knew I wanted to interview him!

Larry Kandarian has been farming for over 25 years. A former mechanical engineer, who worked on the Space Shuttle, Larry is now committed to growing ancient grains in the most ecological way possible.

Margie Bushman of the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network and I spent a few hours with Larry last Fall. We talked with him about many plants including: Ethiopian Blue Tinge Farro, Terrestrial Rice, Einkorn, Fonio (also known as Grain of the Universe), Khorasan, Nude Oats, Quinoa, Sonoran Wheat, Tibetan Black Barley, Purple Corn, Kaniwa, Sorghum... the list goes on. Walking around Kandarian Farms is like being at Costco on a Saturday afternoon, there are lots of samples. It was a fun, delicious, and inspiring tour.

We also talked with Larry about gluten and why he believes that some of his crops may provide a delicious and nutritious alternative to modern wheat for those with gluten-sensitivity.

Note: Since this was recorded outside, you may hear wind and farm machinery during parts of this interview.

Learn more about Larry Kandarian and his amazing grains at KandarianOrganicFarms.com.    

Episode 140: Before 2006, Andrew McMillion wasn?t thinking too much about plants, soil health, or ecology. He was living the American Dream, spending a lot of money, and commuting to work at his job for a large corporation. The only catch? He felt miserable. After taking a test to see how high his carbon footprint was, Andrew committed to make a change. Now residing in Ornes, Norway, Andrew lives on a small ecological farm where he focuses on earth care, people care, and increasing and protecting plant biodiversity. 

In this thoughtful and inspiring interview, Andrew shares his journey from knowing nothing about plants (in 2013) to growing over 200 varieties of vegetables, trees, and herbs. We talk about some of his favorite plants including Tree Collards, Shetland Kale, Habblizia or Caucasus Spinach, Syrian Homs Squash, Lambsquarters, Ashitaba, Udo, and Achocha (Bolivian Cucumber).  Andrew shares his experience of the positive effect of building relationships to individual plants and the many cycles of life in which we are embedded and how changing his focus from matter and production to connections and life quality has been pivotal for the thriving of the web of life on his farm.

Andrew also shares his experiences from the Norwegian Seed Savers, the Green Party and the Refugee Greenspace Initiative, the new nonprofit Andrew co-founded, which sets up kitchen gardens at refugee centers. For more information and to contact Andrew, visit: RefugeeGreenSpace.org

Episode 139: Dr. Vandana Shiva, author, activist, and scholar, talks about the forgotten richness of pulses and how growing these plants can help us practice a more biodiverse and permanent agriculture. 

In this short interview, we talk about Pulses, the edible seeds of plants in the legume family. Common pulses include chickpeas, lentils, beans, and dry peas. Vandana says that growing pulses is an excellent way to begin farming nonviolently. Pulses fix Nitrogen, increase soil fertility, are drought tolerant, and are an excellent source of protein. 

Vandana talks about the "violence" of fossil fuel-based agriculture, the Green Revolution in India, Bt Cotton, and how she became an activist.  

Vandana believes that our role is to protect natural systems and to be co-creators with the earth. In one of my favorite quotes from the interview, Vandana says that, "Making peace with the earth means recognizing our creative abilities and not being proud of our destructive capacity."

To learn more about Vandana Shiva, visit her website: VandanaShiva.com and Navdanya.org.  To read Vandana Shiva's book  Pulse of Life: The Rich Biodiversity of Edible Legumes, click here. 

Special thanks to Camilla Becket of Becket Films for setting up this interview. To see a preview of their new film about Vandana Shiva, The Seeds of Vandana Shiva, click here. 

Episode 138: Natural building is good for both people and planet. In this episode we hear from natural builders who are committed to their craft and who create beautiful structures using natural locally-sourced materials.

Recorded at the Natural Building Colloquium at Quail Springs Permaculture Center in New Cuyama, CA, I speak with many natural builders including Sasha Rabin, Linda Smiley, Patrick Hennebery, Liz Johndrow, and Bob Theis. 

I visit projects at the Colloquium including a feral straw bale office- created to be an affordable replacement for a trailer,  a cob bench and Rumford fireplace- part of an outdoor gathering space, and a plaster wall- a gorgeous butterfly with layers of color derived from natural pigments.

Episode 137: Take a ride around the world with aromatic explorer John Steele. In this interview John talks about the sacred use of fragrance in ancient Egypt and Amazonian shamanism. John draws upon his decades of experience as an archaeologist and aromatherapist to delve deeply into the shamanic use of fragrance. John talks about smell as "direct intuition", how certain plant fragrances can be used to restore flow when stuck in negative thought patterns, and how fragrance can be used as an aromatic tool for conscious transformation. 

John Steele urges us to think "outside the perfume bottle" and open up to the "floral highway of awareness."

John is the owner of Lifetree Aromatix and teaches workshops about the aromatic domain around the globe. To contact John you can email him at info (at) lifetreearomatix.com.

Episode 136: Beth and Shawn Dougherty have been farming together for over thirty years and practice grass-based homesteading in Eastern Ohio. In this interview, Shawn and Beth explain how they use intensive pasture management on a small scale to increase soil fertility, regenerate land, and grow delicious, nutrient-dense food.

When the Dougherty's first spotted the place that was to become their home, they weren't impressed. It  was "in worse than bad shape" and had been deemed not suitable for agriculture by the state of Ohio. Using grass-based farming, they regenerated this neglected piece of land into a thriving independent homestead where they now grow 90% of their food.

In this interview, the Dougherty's explain how to harness the power of the sun into grazing ruminants, how to choose the right animal for your property, (hint, let the land tell you), and the joys and challenges of homesteading with animals. They also talk the detrimental effects that "animal-free" agriculture has had on the world.

Shawn and Beth wanted to farm like their great grandparents did and often asked themselves, "How can this be more beautiful and appropriate?" By working with Nature and in partnership with farm animals, they discovered that contrary to modern agriculture (which depletes soil fertility), land farmed properly becomes more capable of supporting the life on it and grows in fertility, biodiversity, and health.

You can find the Dougherty's new book,  The Independent Farmstead- Growing Soil, Biodiversity, and Nutrient Dense Food with Grassfed Animals and Intensive Pasture Management, online at Chelsea Green Publishing and at local bookstores.

Episode 135: Starhawk is an internally renowned activist, feminist, writer, and Permaculture Designer and Teacher. Founder of the Earth Activist Training, Starhawk travels the globe teaching about Permaculture Design, Social Permaculture, and Earth-based spirituality.

In this interview, Starhawk talks about how Permaculture changed her life, how to design beneficial relationships, and why she feels that there is no more vital work we can do than to heal our damaged earth.

We learn about the regenerative land management practices that she is doing on her land in Sonoma, CA and why she feels that "trees and veggies are the easy part of Permaculture." We talk about Social Permaculture and the many challenges of working in groups, cultural diversity and sensitivity, group cooperation examples in Nature, and how Permaculture ethics and principles can help us navigate the murky waters of working with others.

Starhawk also talks about her latest book, City of Refuge, a sequel to her perennially popular best seller, The Fifth Sacred Thing. 

To hear the interview I did with Starhawk in 2010, click here.

Episode 134: Have you ever wanted to grow a cornucopia of organic fruit at home? In this episode, Permaculture and Ecological Designer Michael Judd teaches us how to plant a food forest in easy to follow steps. Michael recommends a "patch method" for starting your food forest, shares his recipes for sheet mulching, and talks about how to incorporate existing trees into your new food forest. Michael covers guilds (a selected group of plants that form a small ecosystem to support trees) and talks about the plants he loves to incorporate into food forests including: Comfrey, Strawberry, Lead Plant, Yarrow, Wild Blue Indigo, and many others. Michael shares his favorite Uncommon Fruits and "Edible Landscaping All Stars" which include: Hardy Kiwi, Gooseberry, Juneberry, Goumi, Autumn Olive, Paw Paw, Che Fruit, Elderberry, and Currants. 

You can read more about Michael and his amazing work at EcologiaDesign.com.  Michael is the author of Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist. 

You can taste some of Michael's uncommon fruit at his 1st Annual Paw Paw Festival on September 17th, 2016 at Long Creek Homestead. The Fest is a celebration of North America's largest (and many say most delicious) fruit. 

To hear more from Michael on my podcasts, click here: Have Your Yard and Eat It, Too!, Outdoor Mushroom Cultivation, and Goumi, A Beautiful Bush With Benefits.

If you have the Sustainable World Radio App for Mac or Android, included in this interview is a short segment with Michael's recommendations for nurseries that sell uncommon fruit. 

Episode 133:  Is it time to turn your lawn into a biodiverse meadow? In this interview with John Greenlee, we learn about the many benefits of meadow gardens. An expert in grass ecology and sustainable design, John is the author of the books The American Meadow Garden and The Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses.

John Greenlee says meadows are the "places you want to be, sunny, soft, and human-friendly" and are an excellent replacement for the typical turf lawn.

In this interview, John asks a fundamental question, "Are we just decorating the planet or are we creating habitat?" He outlines how he readies land for planting a meadow, inorganic and organic methods of soil preparation, what grasses work where, plant driven design, and why meadow lawns are a boon to the ecosystem. 

John also talks about different types of meadows and how to add an edible component to meadows including Heirloom Grains, Berries, and Root Herbs like Salsify. 

To learn more, visit John's website Greenlee and Associates. com

 

Episode 132: Can planting lentils be a radical act? Yes, if you live in a small conservative farming town in Montana, circa 1976. That was the year David Oien moved back to his family?s farm and planted a crop of lentils. This marked the beginning of the Lentil Underground, a group of farmers who created a new way of doing business both on the farm and in their community.

It wasn?t always easy. Planting lentils in a county known for wheat created waves and they weren?t amber waves of grain. But, what disapproving, wheat-loving onlookers didn?t know, was that the short, squat lentil plant is the ?Robin Hood? of the plant world. A Nitrogen fixer, it creates fertilizer and increases soil health by sequestering Nitrogen out of the atmosphere and putting it in the soil in a plant available form. This fixing of Nitrogen is a valuable service to farmers and to plant and soil life. 

In this interview with author, teacher, and lecturer Dr. Liz Carlisle, we learn what happened when a group of farmers shifted from industrial agriculture to a more ecological farming method. This transition from a ?farming up? to a ?farming down? model, with a goal of regenerating soil health, is the story of the Lentil Underground.  It's also a story about community, agricultural policies, and our food system.

Dr. Liz Carlisle is the author of the book Lentil Underground. Liz is a Lecturer in Food Systems at the University of California, Berkeley and in the Thinking Matters program at Stanford University. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography, from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. from Harvard University. 

You can buy lentils and other products from the farmers mentioned in this interview by visiting their company Timeless Food. 

 

 

Episode 131: Dr. John Todd is a pioneer in the field of ecological design. The inventor of the Eco-Machine, John Todd works with nature to heal degraded waste sites often thought irreconcilably damaged. John Todd and his associates have worked on projects on five continents dealing with waterborne waste streams of both domestic sewage and industrial waste. 

John believes that there are ways to heal our damaged earth and designs machines that work with nature to reduce the amount of nutrients and pollutants in water and manage and transform them into beneficial forms.

In this episode, John Todd tells us why he travels to the places most people don't like to go- polluted landfills, contaminated oil fields, and sewage plants. John talks about the first Eco-Machine he designed to mimic the genius of nature and how armed with a bucket and turkey baster, he filled it with life from over a dozen wild environments. When polluted water was poured into the machine, it moved through different tanks on a 10 day journey. The end result? Clean water. 

John talks about his project at the Omega Institute where he designed an Eco-Machine that treats up to 52,000 gallons a day of wastewater. The Eco-Machine is located in a beautiful greenhouse that doubles as a classroom, event space, and yoga center!

John also talks about his latest project, designing and building a fleet of Ocean Arks. As the Arks travel through the sea or lake, they clean the water, while onboard, students learn about the ocean.

 

Episode 130: Permaculture teacher, poet, and author Patrick Jones talks about his family's epic journey, how they took Permaculture on the road, and some of Australia's indigenous plants.

In 2013, Meg Ulman and Patrick Jones embarked on a 14 month, 6,000 km journey by bike, cycling along Australia's East Coast from Daylesford to Cape York. Their travel companions were their sons, Woody and Zephyr, and their Jack Russell Terrier, Zero. Patrick and Meg wrote a book about their journey called The Art of Free Travel: A Frugal Family Adventure. 

One of the goals of their four hundred day journey was to document some of the edible wild plants of Australia and to eat and enjoy free and foraged food along the way. 

Patrick also talks about pre-1788 indigenous Aboriginal land tending and shares some of the history and science that demonstrates reciprocal agrarianism across Australia pre-contact.

Learn more about Patrick Jones and Meg Ulman by clicking here.

If you'd like a list of the Latin names of the many plants, insects, and mushrooms that Patrick talks about in this interview, visit the Sustainable World Radio blog by clicking here. 

Episode 129: Fungi are absent from our awareness, but are everywhere around us. In this interview with Peter McCoy, author of the book, Radical Mycology, we learn about fungi and its influence and effect on all life. 

Did you know that fungi are the "grand chemists of nature"? That fungi are more closely related to the animal kingdom than the plant kingdom? Or that fungi is a high protein functional food that boosts your immune system? 

Peter McCoy shares with us some of his knowledge gleaned from years of working with fungi. We talk about how many plants need fungi to grow and thrive (including orchids), how to grow mushrooms at home, and "Survival of the Most Symbiotic."

Peter McCoy is the co-founder of Radical Mycology, a grassroots organization that educates about the importance of mushroom cultivation and mycoremediation. Peter is a writer, artist, mushroom cultivator, and educator. 

 

Episode 128: Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Foodweb Inc. guides us on this podcast journey into the world of soil. The meeting place of atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, soil contains vast numbers of species.  Like most places where ?edges? of different worlds meet, the soil is a dynamic interface. Fertile soil is alive with the biodiversity of a thriving forest; complex ecosystems connecting, growing, living, co-existing, and dying. In this episode we learn about the cast of creatures that comprise the Soil Food Web, including Bacteria, Fungi, Nematodes, Protozoa, and Arthropods and the many ecosystem services that they provide. 

Elaine talks about how to take dirt- soil that has no life- and transform it into soil. She details techniques that you can do at home and on the farm to increase soil life, resulting in healthier plants, people, and planet. Are you trying to grow broccoli in a fungal- dominated soil? Why does your yard only grow weeds? What is living in your soil? Why is rototilling a bad idea if you are trying to increase soil health? What is the connection between healthy soil and climate change? Tune in to learn the answers to these questions and more from Soil Food Web expert Dr. Elaine Ingham. 

For more information about Elaine visit her website. 

Episode 127: How can we apply Permaculture ethics and principles to our lives and relationships? In this episode Delia Carroll and Rachel Kaplan, co-founders of 13 Moon CoLab, talk about Social Permaculture, designing your life for resiliency, and how tending to your inner landscape can lead to cultural repair. 

The 13 Moon CoLab's Permaculture From the Inside Out Design Course is intended to grow Permaculture people and places. The 100+ hour course includes the traditional 72 Hour Permaculture curriculum, as well as somatics, place-making, community art, and ceremony. The 13 Moon CoLab teaches permaculture and somatics in the same course because they see both as practices of repair, with somatics tending to the inner landscape and permaculture tending to the outer. 

Rachel and Delia are Permaculture teachers and designers. Rachel is the co-author of the book Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living. Delia is a past producer of the West Coast Women?s Permaculture Gatherings and the Northern California Permaculture Convergences. 

Episode 126: Joseph Simcox is a botanical explorer, ethnobotanist, international lecturer, and expert in food plants from around the world. In this free-ranging conversation, Joseph talks about the potential that we have to transform the planet in positive ways, how we can become "Giant Enrichers", acting like the "new earthworms of the planet."

Joseph shares his knowledge about resilient plants and climate change, the agriculture industrial complex, and how we can re-integrate foodways from the past into our modern food system. 

Of course, Joseph also talks about plants, including three that he is really excited about: Manroot, (Ipomoea leptophylla), Prairie Turnips (Pediomelum esculentum), and the Queen of the Night Cactus (Peniocereus greggii).

For more information about Joseph Simcox, click here.

Episode 125: In this interview with Irina Stoenescu we talk about the re-discovery of food traditions, how regional foods are going global, and how Millennials and their interest in food with a story is shaping our food system.

After the taste standardization of the fast food era, we are in the middle of a food revolution. We are living in a time where the story of food and its ingredients (the community growing or raising it, its nutritional benefits, and traditions), are as important as the food itself.

The revitalization of food traditions fuels culinary innovation and creativity. Chefs searching for ?forgotten? ingredients and ?ethnic? foods are merging tradition and innovation and sharing their discoveries with the world. 

In this interview, Irina also talks in-depth about several Eurasian foods that she is excited about, including Arugula, Sea Buckthorn, and Cornelian Cherry. 

Irina Stoenescu is a Food Researcher and Consultant whose work focuses on healthy food, trade and nutrition issues. Irina is dedicated to educational programs, focusing on  the revival of food traditions, balanced nutrition, and sustainable food systems. Currently, Irina is working on a project to introduce Euarasian specialty foods to a larger audience.

Episode 124: In this episode we dive into the world of Natural Process Farming with Bob Cannard. Bob grows highly diversified food crops by working with nature and natural systems. In Natural Process farming, crops are grown 50% for people and 50% for Nature. In this interview, Bob talks about the value of "nature support plants," why weeds need to be managed, not eradicated, the digestive systems of and in the soil, how to feed the soil, and why we should strive to give plants a "life of choice."  Bob also tells us how home gardeners can begin practicing Natural Process Farming on a small scale. 

Bob has been farming for thirty years in Northern California and is the co-founder and operator of Green String Farm and the Green String Institute which offers internships in farming the Green String or Natural Process way.

Episode 123: In this episode I speak with Mary Alford of Rabble Housers. Mary Alford is a professional engineer and expert in energy optimization and sustainable building practices. 

The Rabble House is a 600 square foot home designed to be built by individuals, groups, and/or volunteers. Modeled after the Craftsman Home Kit that was available from Sears in the early 1900s through 1940, the Rabble House is a home designed for efficiency, comfort, and affordability.

The Rabble House can be built in 20 weekends with two people working fifteen hours each. To see the plans of the house, click here. 

This version of the Rabble House is designed for the hot and humid climate of the southeast, but Mary promises more Rabble Houses in the future! 

 

Episode 122: In this episode we dive into the world of Vetiver. With powerful roots that grow 12-15 feet deep, Vetiver is a valuable plant that acts as a living infrastructure. Vetiver is planted around the world to remediate polluted soil and water. 

To learn about this multi-faceted plant, I spoke with Vetiver expert Jason Fox of Vetiver Farms Hawaii. Jason fills us in on vetiver's many uses including slope and erosion control, wastewater treatment, toxin absorption, water diversion, and flood prevention.

Vetiver is the plant that keeps on giving. It's roots yield an aromatic and medicinal essential oil, it sequesters excess atmospheric carbon, and Vetiver mulch is mycorrhizal-rich. 

 

Episode 121: Learn how to grow your own organic veggies and fish in an Aquaponics system. In this episode, I talk with Sylvia Bernstein, the President of the Aquaponic Source and author of the book Aquaponic Gardening: A Step By Step Guide to Growing Fish and Vegetables Together.

Aquaponics is a closed recirculating system. Using only 10% of the water of conventional agriculture, Aquaponics can be done almost anywhere, even in times of drought. Aquaponics uses the waste byproduct of fish as a beneficial organic input to grow plants.

Sylvia tells us what fish and plants thrive in an Aquaponics system. Vegetarians can grow "ornamental" fish like koi and fish eaters can grow tilapia, catfish, or trout to harvest. 

According to Sylvia, some of the other benefits of Aquaponics include a lack of weeds, waist-high beds for gardening ease, and no costly inputs like fertilizer and herbicides.