Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/61

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

It is through the Global Village Construction Set that Marcin and OSE have set out to change the way that we build the communities of the future. Marcin has said "I'd like to be able to show that a full modern standard of living can be created from any parcel of land using only the local resources on site in a small fraction of time." A modern standard of living created using tools built locally, within the community. Tools built to last a lifetime, being easily repairable, and ever evolving as open source.

This open source model is a powerful tool to help change the future. I see this as a way where a group of farmers could come together, build a piece of this equipment themselves, be able to repair it themselves, and be able to share it amongst themselves without being dependent upon big companies like John Deere and the debt that goes with them. It is this process that minimizes debts, builds strong communities and builds local resiliency, and that is a political shift. You shift the power from the big corporations to the communities and the individuals by empowering them to take back some control.

Like Marcin said, "I think a lot of people are hungry to be productive and find that productivity within themselves." In a land of retail sales, why not empower people to innovate and produce, not consume, the future that they want in the factories of new, not of old? Why not make that dream of permaculture and polyculture based landscapes and farms more possible by providing blueprints for the equipment that you can build to do the work? Literally. If you want to build it, you can, because we are talking about a future where you hold the blueprints yourself. That is the future that OSE is creating and that is what we are talking about today with Marcin Jakubowski of Open Source Ecology…

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/61

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - I am a homesteader, but I don’t have a blog or VLOG.  Should I, and why?

To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin.

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/66

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

"Instead of trying to support 1000's of people, let's get really good at supporting 150 people and we'll duplicate it."

Once we do that we will have models that we can refer back to. Models that can be used to train people to go start other small impact zones. Then we start getting more and more impact zones, and suddenly the picture looks a lot brighter. But that will take time, and it's early in the journey, but the conditions are ripe for change. We just need to kick start it, by incubating innovation.Creating the conditions for success and sustainability to happen, something that I learned from Larry.

In fact it's one of the many things that I have learned from Larry. Larry has a wealth of knowledge and the experience to back it up. He's a permaculture pioneer having involved with permaculture since the 80s. He has traveled with Bill Mollison. He's worked on countless projects in the country, the city, and other countries. He gets it. And in Southern California when you mention permaculture, there is one name that comes to mind.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/66

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/80

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

An interview with Peter McCoy of Radical Mycology.

Radical Mycology is a movement and social philosophy based on accessibly teaching the importance of mushrooms and other fungi for personal, societal, and ecological health. Radical Mycology differs from classical mycology in that classical mycology generally focuses on taxonomy, identification, mycophagy (eating mushrooms), and the more personal benefits of working with fungi while Radical Mycology is about using fungi for the benefit of larger communities and the world.

As a concept, Radical Mycology is based on the belief that the lifecycles of fungi and their interactions in nature serve as powerful learning tools for how humans can best relate to each other and steward the world they live in.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/80

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Think about an established farmers market with an established customer base.

Everyone shopping at that market has their preferred vendors.  They buy lettuce from this guy and they buy tomatoes from that girl week after week.  They don’t switch it up.

If you then enter that market as a new vendor, how do you knock someone out of the preferred vendor spot in a customer’s mind? How do you get the customer to switch to buying lettuce or tomatoes from you instead of that guy or that girl?  Because that’s really what you need to do.  Either you need to get existing customers to switch or you need to pick up market share from new customers. The bad news is that once a person commits to a particular product or brand in their mind it’s very hard to get them to switch.  

Look no further than you own habits.  How often do you go to different grocery stores or gas stations by your house or how often do you change brands of laundry detergent or ketchup?  Probably not very often.  You made a decision long ago, and as long as things do change, why switch.

Given that, how do you compete in a crowded farmers market?  Why is a farmer’s market customer going to choose your booth versus the booth that they always shop at?

You have to be unique..

Again, look at the landscape of the market, if there are already 5 vegetable vendors at your market more or less growing what you grow, and they are established, then you either have to be unique enough to go in and compete with them hand try to knock one of them out of the top 5 in terms of market share, which is hard, or you have to be unique enough so you don’t actually have to compete against them.  Instead positioning yourself in the customers mind as the preferred choice.

How do you do that, make yourself unique?

One way is to specialize in something.  

Part of that specialization might mean differentiating your product so you position yourself as the category leader; a category that you own; one that you create.

For example, say a lot of vendors are selling loose leaf lettuce.  There’s already an established hierarchy there in terms of market share for the category of loose leaf lettuce.  How do you compete?  

You don’t, avoid competition, and you create your own category. Maybe that category is head lettuce or romaine.  Or maybe it’s organic lettuce.  Or living lettuce with the roots still attached.  You differentiate your product just enough to move it to its own category.  Then you become first to market in that category and have an competitive advantage.  That’s a far cry from going into a competitive market and competing on price.  And when you think about it it wasn’t really that hard.  You didn’t have to create or invent anything new. You just supplied an in demand product to a market that wanted it, but didn’t have anyone to buy it from.

That’s one of the many benefits of specializing in a product.  And it’s that benefit and the many others that we will be talking about today, on The Urban Farmer.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/11

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

What if you could gross $100,000 per acre in a small sustainable agriculture operation? You could make a good living and/or you could afford to pay someone a decent wage. If you can gross roughly $2.50 per square foot, per year, then that translates into a gross revenue of $100,000 per acre, per year. How can permaculture techniques be used to accomplish that goal?

Chris Young of SoCal Shrooms and Closing the Loop joins me to talk about just that. His goal is to show that you can gross that $100k so you can hire one person to work an acre of land and pay them a good wage to work it. He aims to achieve this by reducing input costs and stacking revenue generators, all while improving the quality of the land and producing a high quality product.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

-Oyster mushrooms have a nice advantage of having a quick turn around. They can start creating cash-flow in 4 to 6 weeks. Similar to selling sprouts and micro-greens which have a 2 to 3 week turnaround.

-If possible tap into an existing distribution network. This gets you contacts right out of the gate.

-Get more out of the same amount of land. Property taxes will go up the future, water costs will go up in the future, and more and more land is being developed away from farmland. So try to be more productive on the same amount of land while improving the quality of that land.

-Consider the cost of your own time in the business. And pay yourself.

-You have to do the real numbers for you business.Don't fudge them. The numbers won't lie. If something isn't working, then look at the numbers and see where you can start making changes to make the numbers work. When you have exhausted all possibilities, then it is time to move on.

-Start broad and control your risk at the beginning. Then look at the numbers and refine down overtime to optimize each system or business.

-Celebrate the small victories. There is a lot of drudgery that goes along with business and farming, so enjoy the good times.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/11

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

It's currently April 12, 2016.

We start off today talking about whether you should start farming with a greenhouse or not.

The conversation quickly turns into reasons why people succeed and don't succeed.

Hopefully this episode is a welcome kick in the ass for those who need it.  And motivation to keep kicking ass for everyone else.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com goes over ways to protect your chickens from predators.

To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin.

Learn more in the show notes at permaculturevoices.com/123

Permaculture is very difficult to define for most people.  

How do you define permaculture?  

I go with Larry Santoyo's definition - “Permaculture is: Design protocols for critical thinking, decision making and problem solving – all based on the patterns of nature.”

In today’s show my guest Andrew Millison and I will look at common frustrations with the word "PERMACULTURE".

We’ll answer questions such as:

Does permaculture need a new name, a consistent definition?
Should permaculture reject the mainstream?
Should permaculture go the mainstream?
Should everyone learn permaculture, why or why not?

Support the show at patreon.com/diegofooter

It's currently March 30, 2016.

And over the past few months Curtis has literally been all around the world.

I today's episode we'll look back at some of the places that he visited and what he took away from those visits.

From the high tech innovation being done at Jean-Martin Fortier's Le Ferm de Catra Taaamp in Quebec to the low tech soil building techniques used by Jodi Roebuck to build soil in his bio-ingestive garden in New Zealand.

It's not just all fun and stories, there's a lot of good information in this one such as do these techniques scale, how can you build soil, and how can you combine tarps and soil to really build soil.  

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question, "What breeds of broilers do you raise?"

To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john.

If you like the show, please support the show by making a contribution at permaculturevoices.com/ilikevoices

Farmer John Suscovtich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question, "Are pastured broilers profitable?"

To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john.

In this episode Curtis and I dissect an article that was published on Alternet on January 1, 2016 by farmer Jaclyn Moyer.  

An article titled....

What Nobody Told Me About Small Farming: I Can’t Make a Living - People say we're "rich in other ways," but that doesn't fix the ugly fact that most farms are unsustainable

This one is a good one and we cover a lot of business basics such as...

• Who is your customer? What is their demographic? And what do they want?
• What are you selling?  Is that the right crop?
• What are you focusing your time on?  Is that the right thing?
• And are you the right person to be doing this job.

We will break down the article to hopefully help a lot of you avoid some of the troubles that Jaclyn talked about in the article.   

Read the article at permaculturevoices.com/tuf43.

Neal Spackman is regreening a portion of the desert that gets 3 inches of rain a year on average, but lately they aren’t even meeting the average. Greening the site by using true cost water accounting, meaning that they only use the equivalent of water that falls onto the site to establish the vegetation. With minimal rainfall, no pre-existing plant life and 100 plus degree summer temperatures, it is no easy task. Throw in the economic and social challenges of the village that he is working with and the task becomes even harder. But despite those challenges, progress is being made, and the sounds of crickets are now being heard. Life is coming back.

We heard his story originally in Episode 78, permaculturevoices.com/78, and today we get an update and find out how much life is coming back.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/116

Marty McDonald will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016.
Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3.

The latest trend in marketing is story marking.  Telling your story in a way that unique, honest, and in a way that resonates with your target market.  

But not all stories are created equal.  And not all stories should be told by anyone.  Because a good story told poorly is in affect a bad story.  

So what makes a good story?  

It's a bit like pornography; you know a good story when you hear it.  

But at it's core good stories take us on a journey.  They are easy to follow and resonate with us emotionally.  Good stories are often concise and have a clear theme, which also makes the stories shareable.  Which is something that benefits you as a brand, if your customers can easily retell your story to their friends.

In today's show I am joined by marketer Marty McDonald to talk about story marketing.

Marty is Creative Director and Founder of egg in Seattle, a 12-year-old (and the first) communications firm focusing exclusively on sustainable brands.  He has over 20 years of national ad agency experience, and he knows his stuff.  You'll like this one.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/marty.

Be very cautious about how much you are imposing on the landscape.  That's something that Darren talked about on this podcast before.  Because it's a big problem out there within the permaculture space.  People doing work on the land because they want to do the work, not because the context of the land justifies that work.

It's a mistake that most of us have made.  And it's a mistake that Darren Doherty has made in his career.  

With over 2000 clients and 25 years of professional design experience all around the world, Darren has seen a lot and learned a lot.

In this episode we'll talk about what he has learned over the last 25 years.

Darren shares a lot in this interview and takes on the hard questions like will this method of land design ever catch on?

And what are some of the mistakes that he has made in his career.  

You'll learn a lot about design in this one, including simple ways to be better than the average farm, and the importance of fiscal discipline.

As you go through this episode think about your design work, and how some of the insights that Darren discuses could apply to your world.  

Because at the end of the episode you may realize that a lot of the work that you have done or that you want to do isn't needed, because it's not in context.  And when you think about start thinking about design in the personal, environmental, and financial context, many designs become a lot simpler.

Learn more at permculturevoices.com/115

Learn more about the Engineering Success with Darren Doherty at permaculturevoices.com/darrenpv3

Curtis Stone is the owner of Green City Acres, a multi-locational urban farm based out of Kelowna, BC, Canada.
In 2014 his farm generated $75,000 in gross sales on 1/3 of an acre, spread over 5 small plots of land that consist of front yards and vacant lots.

In this lecture, he will share with you his 10 essentials to profitable urban farming that will help you work less, and make more money at the same time. If you are currently farming, and looking for ways to improve efficiencies on your farm, or just getting started.

This presentation could save you thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time by implementing these steps.

See the slides from this presentation at permaculturevoices.com/114

Learn more from Curtis on the Profitable Urban Farming workshop held in person and online on March 6.  For more information visit permaculturevoices.com/urbanfarmingpv3

"You have to be willing to fail. You have to be OK with failure."

That's what entrepreneur Jack Spirko told me. He's built a variety of businesses in his career. Some of which have been very successful and some of which have failed. One of his successes has been the hugely popular Survival Podcast.

You can learn a lot of Jack. Jack is a permaculturist, small scale farmer, and he knows a lot about running and marketing businesses.

If you want to run a farm based business, listen to today's episode. You'll see how important it is to take risks and put in a lot of hard work knowing that you could fail and it could all be for naught.

A big part of success really is that simple.

Eight years ago Jack started his podcast recording it in his car on his way to work. He didn't have grand plans of it being a business at the beginning. He just needed to figure out how this podcasting thing worked for a client. So he figured he would give it a shot and see what came of it..

He focused on content that he was interested in. Thinking that others likely would be as well, they were. He then focused on building his audience and then building the business around that.  

He started low tech, and low cost using some very cheap equipment, in the beginning putting out content consistently was more important.

And he put together his notes each morning getting up at 330AM before he left for work. He put in the time. Something that’s not always easy to do.

I think that you will really get a lot out of this interview.

You'll learn how to market your products.

How to come up with new products to sell.

And why the customer isn't always right, and why all customers aren't the customer that you want..

There's a lot in this one and at its core this interview gets into what it takes to build, grow and market a business. It might make you want to start a business; it might make not want to start a business. Both valuable conclusions.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/jack

Jack Spirko will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016.
Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3.

Mary Johnson will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016. Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3. What does success mean to you? Hopefully you know, because if you don't you might be chasing the wrong things. Success is different for everyone. For some people it's money and fame and for some people it's freedom of time and freedom of place. How do you define it? Once you define it and get what it means to you, you can then start to create a system to achieve success as quickly and happily as possible. That's what I am talking about today on the show with my guest Mary Johnson. Mary is a consultant and coach who has worked with hundreds of famers and entrepreneurs to try to help them improve their business, and their lifestyle. And one way that she does that is through the use of holistic management goal setting. Basically asking what makes you happy and is your business supporting that? Because for many people it isn't, especially farmers who don't think of it farming as a business and then end up not making any money farming, thereby leaving them unable to maintain the lifestyle that made them happy. It's a common problem, and hopefully this episode will fill in a few gaps with the problem and get you thinking. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/mary

Mary Beth Storjohann will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016. Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3. My guest today, Mary Beth Storjohann, is a certified financial planner and is the Founder of Workable Wealth, specializing in financial planning for Gen Y. She works as a writer, speaker and financial coach with individuals and couples in their 20s and 30s across the country to help them to make smart, educated decisions with their money. I brought her on today to talk about financial planning, when it comes entrepreneurship. Something she knows a lot about as both financial planner, and an entrepreneur herself. Like many of you, she is young, married, and has a daughter, and she start her business on the side. In other words, she gets it. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/marybeth

If you are going to succeed in any business then you need to be able to tell a good story. Your skill, services, and product are only going to get you so far. You need to be able to tell the stories that get people to get behind you and pay for your products and services. If you can't do that, then you won't succeed. This is where marketing comes in. And for right or for wrong, marketing has a sleezy image. Because at the core of everything, marketers are propagandists. They are using information to manipulate you and get you to do something that you may or may not realize that you actually want to do. And as my guest today, Hilary Bromberg, will say, is the propaganda for somethign good or for something less than good. Because even the most noble causes need propadana to get people to pay attention. This episodes is all about marketing and story telling. And it's a beast. There's a ton of great advice in here from Hilary. But the advice and tips are subtle. This isn't go make this type of post on Facebook everyday types of tips. She will be talking about the fundamental principles of what makes people do what they do. Timeless adivce, that doesnt' change, because people don't change. Pay attention, and get ready. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/hilary

In this episode, I want to talk about this idea of growing wings and flying. Not limiting ourselves from becoming who we are and maximizing our true potential. Because we live in a society where everything is comfortable, too comfortable. Where you more or less just plug into the system and get pulled along with it from grade school to college to job to social security... A society where today, if you have a full time job, and you tell someone that you are leaving your job, their likely first reaction is going to be what are you going to do for money. That’s what my parents feared in 1998 when I wanted to transition from a lucrative career with sure employment to a field that was saturated. And that’s the first question they asked when I told them I was likely leaving my job now. It’s part of our culture. The job. And we are all trained to be employees and we are believed to be dependent on that thing... the job. That’s our future and it’s with the company. And that guy, the the guy in the other room. That's where our retirement is sitting. Where our progress and future is in the hands of someone and something else. Not us. And that's great, because it absolves us of responsibility, and puts one layer of insulation between us and the harsh world of surviving on your own. A layer that makes us comfortable, and therefore vulnerable, more on that later. It’s comfortable because honestly it’s pretty damn hard to get fired once you have a job. With paycheck security, I think most people lapse into minimum viable effort, intended or not. I have worked around enough co-works to see that in reality very few people put in 40 hours of productive work a week despite being at 40 for 40 hours a week. It’s show up, do some work, surf the web, chat with co-workers, drink coffee, repeat, eat lunch, do a little work go, home. That is most of corporate America. It’s easy. It’s comfortable. And life is good when you just show up and collect a salary. But there is a cost to living in that bubble. Your price of admission is trading your time and freedom for perceived and temporary stability. Think about that one for a second. What makes that stable hourly or salary based job for the man so nice, meaning show up and get paid, is actually costing you time. Your life’s precious time. And what’s happening in your life during that time that you are missing. What life experiences and memories are you trading those dollars, be it small or large for? Spending 40 plus hours a week at a job week at a job which realistically likely requires less than 40 hours of actual focused and effective work to complete. Read more at permaculturevoices.com/cd8

Christian Shearer will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016. Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3. Hopefully this episode will help shed some light on the long term design process, so you can approach you own long term project with the right mindset, expectations, and goals. Christian as has a lot of experience working on projects that have taken years to complete and evolve. For the past 10 plus years he has been the managing director of the Panya Project in Thailand, and he has taken on numerous long term projects as one of the founding members of Terra Genesis International. Through his work with Terra Genesis Christian has taken the lead on reforestation projects in the Philippines, regenerative farming practices in northeastern Thailand, and the broad regeneration of a sand quarry in Barbados. He's worked aroudn the world on a varitey of project over the past ten years, and he's gathered a lot of wisdom along the way. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/christian

Erin Axelrod will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016. Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3. A lot of people within the permaculture are visionaries. We imagine a better world. One that's more regenerative, versus depletive and consumption oriented. But sometimes it's hard to align those grand visions with how the world operates today, specifically when it comes to business. So how do you match the vision with what it takes to survive today? We’ll find out, in today's conversation with Erin Axelrod. Erin is a partner at LIFT economy, a business consulting and coaching company that provides support, structure and strategy to the next generation of businesses. A generation of business that share the vision of a world where all human needs are met, where people have more time to play and enjoy each day and where life flourishes in the richness of a stable climate and resilient ecosystems. In this episode Erin will be talking about her work at LIFT and what she has learned through her years of experience working with permaculture visionaries and the businesses that they are trying to build and grow to support their vision. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/erin

Zach Weiss will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016. Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3. Zach's going to give you a realistic view of what starting out as a designer is really like. And he is going to answer the big questions of can you actually make a living as a designer and how much opportunity is out there? If you are looking to go into the permaculutre design field, pay attention in this one, because Zach is someone who is carving out their own niche as a designer, and making a living doing it. Zach's a protégé of legendary Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer. He has worked on properties around the world with Sepp and he has worked on his own jobs in multiple countries that range from big to small. He approaches the field with a high level of professionalism and integrity, something that isn't stressed enough in this field. And something that we will touch on in this episode. Learn more about Zach at permaculturevoices.com/zach

If you think about your life, and you never made a dollar doing what you were doing, would you keep doing it - forever?

Regardless of whether you are making money doing what you are doing or not, take a second to think about that.

If you never made a dollar doing what you were doing, would you keep doing it - forever?

Do you like it enough to keep it up?

My goal for this episode is to try to get you to have a realistic view of what it's going to take to get to where you want to go. And it may scare a lot of people away. For today's episode I want to focus on the long road to overnight success. Being resilient enough to keep going when the times get tough, and being personal and emotionally invested enough to keep you going through those tough times.

Show notes at permaculturevoices.com/cd7

Darren Doherty presents the Regrarian Platform.

This is Darren's introductory presentation that he gave at Grant Schultz's Versaland in October 2014.

The presentation lays out the ten key components of the regarian platform - climate, geography, water, access, forestry, buildings, fences, soils, marketing, and energy.

This episode focuses on the introduction, geography, and climate.

This episode is the part of a four part series - episodes b032, 033, 034, 035.

The workshop was open source, so thanks to Darren for allowing me to share this with you all.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/b32

Today's show is another remarkable story of another entrepreneur, a permaculture entrepreneur.

It's the story of someone who went from being an anti-money activist to running a $1M permaculture design and build business. A business that catches millions of gallons of water, builds soil on hundreds of acres, plants hundreds of useful trees every year, restores native habit, redesigns our cites our schools and new developments.

It is a success story that is 10 years in the making. And one was almost derailed a few times along the way.

But just like with Harland Sanders, it was persistence and a strong belief in what he was doing that allowed my guest today, Erik Ohlsen of Permaculture Artisans, to continue his vision and build it into a $1M design business.

If you don't think that permaculture based business can be profitable or be big, here's an example of one to change your mind...

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/cd6

While the presentation will focus on plant propagation for a profit from a small/backyard nursery stand point if you want a successful permaculture business you will want to attend this talk.

Within permaculture perennial plants represent an extreme expense and an incredible opportunity.

In this 60 minute presentation Jack Spirko will bring his 20 years of business management, marketing, technology and sales experience to the plant propagation niche.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015.

To watch this presentation visit permaculturevoices.com/b31.

Today's show is about time.

Specifically how precious our tiem is, and how we ought not to waste it.

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This is one of the most common regrets that people have at the end of their lives. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people don't honor even a half of their dreams and die knowing that it is due to choices they had made, or not made.

How many people listening to this have unfilled dreams?

How many people are really living their lives the way they want?

How many people are listening to this as they drive drive to or from a job that they really don't like and in a perfect world wouldn't be doing?

A type of job that they only go to pay the bills because they have kids, a mortgage, etc, etc..

A lot of people live that life. And that's a life of fear disguised as practicality.

It's a sad way to live, because life is too short.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/cd5.

Learn practical tips to leverage this powerful and often misunderstood marketing tool.

This talk will teach you to focus on generating farm revenue while avoiding the popularity contest trap.

This talk was presented at PV1 in March 2014.

See the slides at permaculturevoices.com/b030.

Today's episode focuses on fear.

Fear is a very powerful motivator for humans. It's part of what keeps us alive. But it's also what holds us back.

It holds us back by taking over our mind. Stalling our actions because we are afraid of imaginary, un-quantifiable, or low odd outcomes.

There's a big difference between being scared in shark infested waters and being scared about the sea level rising and flooding global coast lines.

One could literally lead to death and other might not even happen.

Yet a lot of people are paralyzed by the state of planet.

Paralyzed by events that may or may not play our as predicted in their lifetime. And while these people remain paralyzed by fear over these future events, life goes by. And with it a lot of other things take place which should have a higher level of fear associated with them.

Let's dig into this concept a little bit and see if we try to rationalize all this fear.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Creative Destruction.

For notes related to this episode visit permaculturevoices.com/cd4.

Denis Hayes talks about a lifetime of work in environmentalism - the challenges, successes, the changing environmental problems, and how he has endured numerous political changes in Washington.

Denis was the organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, headed the Solar Energy Research Institute under President Carter, and is now president of the Bullitt Foundation. In 1999 Time Magazine named him Hero of the Planet.

In this episode we go through his early life in a polluted Washington paper milling community to how he became an environmental activist. We also discuss the creation and organization of the first Earth Day in 1970 and how the scope of the environmental problems have changed since then.

Learn more about Denis at permaculturevoices.com/cd3.

Hello Diego,

My name is Russ. I am married, and have two awesome children and I used to be an alcoholic...

This episode is the story of Russ and how permaculture helped him get past alcoholism and change his life.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/111

Part 2 of the series with Marcin Jakubowski of Open Source Ecology.

This episode is the react show to the Marcin interview that I did in Part 1.

This episode is made up of my commentary inspired by the interview with Marcin, and your comments.

I dig deeper into some of the ideas that Marcin brought up such as the 1000 True Fans article by Kevin Kelly, how do you measure success, how do you focus your efforts, celebrating the small, and the advantages of quick iterative learning.

Details, notes, and link mentioned in this episode can be found at permaculturevoices.com/cd2.

Are we moving to an open source world?

Marcin Jakubowski thinks so.

Through his global village construction set Marcin hopes to do what Wikipedia has done for actual physical equipment - open sourcing the tools and machines that are the fundamental components of civilization.

But like the visionaries that created Encarta and Wikipedia, it takes a unique perspective to create a future that doesn't exist yet, and to make that future a reality.

This episode is an exploration into Marcin's longer term view, specifically how does he stay focused and work towards something that is a far off view of the future. How does he deal with the hard times, the struggles, and the haters? How does fund the process and how does he measure progress? These are all challenges that come with having lofty goals and a grand vision, and when you starting point is currently only one one-millionth of the total economy.

As you listen to this episode think about open source and think about where we could be in the evolution of open source. Don't forget the lesson of the encyclopedia - when everything is going great and things are at an all time high - that impossible scenario, the one that could change everything, might not only be possible, it might just be around the corner.

Learn more about Marcin at permaculturevoices.com/cd1

Most of the world’s human population in now urban. Permaculture designer and teacher Larry Santoyo will examine the permaculturist’s role in city planning and it’s direct relevance to wilderness protection, resource management and cultural curation. Larry will lead the discussion and share his lessons learned on projects.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/b24

Mycelium co-founder Matthew Abrams talks about his journey of leaving the status quo to finding meaning in his own life and the starting an alternative education business.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Matthew Abrams. Matthew is co-founder of mycelium.is

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Permaculture designer Neal Spackman talks about leaving his desk job, family, and culture to go to another country and country and to a very dry Saudi Arabia and take on greening land on the Al Baydha Project.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Neal Spackman. Neal blogs at twovisionspermaculture.com

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Permaculture Kitchens I’ve Known is about the application of permaculture design principles and strategies to ecologically minded kitchen design, local seasonal menu planning, nose to tail cookery and butchery, cooking in community and regenerative food shed design.

It is a realization that food is at then nexus of our society and culture. Both agriculture and food preparation come together to create, reshape and define our physical world and thus our reality, it has been this way since the beginning. Thus, the ways we grow, cook and eat food are the vehicle to making better more regenerative systems as we reclaim traditional knowledge and combine that with appropriate technologies to create our own future.

All of the world’s problems can be solved at the dinner table as we reintegrate our kitchens and our gardens.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Seth Peterson.

Chef Seth blogs at https://apermaculturechef.wordpress.com

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

The future of business lies in sustainability. And to be sustainable businesses must be profitable. In this talk Philippe will explore the idea of why branding and marketing are so important for the future of sustainable business.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Philippe Choiniere. Philippe runs Oneka Elements - https://onekaelements.com/en

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Did you ever imagine what it would be like if you’d started your PDC in middle school?

How would you have lived your life differently?

What if everyone had that same experience?

What would the world look like?

That’s exactly the question Matt Powers wants to answer. He is an English and soon-to-be Permaculture teacher at a school with laptops for each student in Central Valley California. He is developing a permaculture curriculum for middle school – high school to connect students to the fledgling collegiate permaculture programs and the online permaculture community.

Matt shares excerpts from his books, experiences in teaching permaculture to children and teens, & insights into the growing permaculture youth movement.

Join Matt for a look at the future of Permaculture in public and home school settings.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Matt Powers of thepermaculturestudent.com

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Today I am talking to Troy Martz of Off Grid Pro about his reality. How he is going from a hobby, something that he loves and is passionate about, and what it's like to transition it into a functioning, profitable business.

In this episode we talk about things like..

How do you deal with starting up a business when funds are tight and you have kids?

How do you split time between your day job that pays the bills and the new business that is time hungry, but currently not paying your bills?

How do you know if the business is making forward progress or if you are just wasting your damn time?

And we start out by talking about Troy's passion - gasification.

A real look, at a real person, trying to do what many of you are trying to do. Taking on the tough but necessary changes that need to be made when it comes to transitioning a passion from hobby to business.

Learn more about this episode at: permaculturevoices.com/110

Greywater is the most plentiful and abundant source of irrigation water we have. For those of us in dry climates, its the most sustainable option- thought often forgotten. Learn how you can install simple and affordable greywater systems that will efficiently irrigate your bountiful, productive, landscape.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Laura Allen of GreyWaterAction.org.

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Scott Gallant, one of the instructors at Rancho Mastatal joins me to talk about what it takes to run a successful and profitable education center.

Talking about topics like volunteer labor and getting what you pay for. We will talk about their apprenticeship program. And how the ranch is really in the hospitality business, not just the education business.

Rancho Mastatal is a business, a for profit business, that needs to be financially successful to be sustainable.

In a world where so many educational businesses are run on non-profit frameworks, here is one that isn't. Let's find out why and get into it with Scott Gallant..

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/108

Thinking about food, ruling with it and destroying it. The next 25-50 “us” years will be critically important to the future of food. You can be on the wave of an amazing era of domestication by turning to the wilds for inspiration. A whirlwind tour of the history of food then, now and “tomorrow”.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Joseph Simcox.

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Do you feel like you are the only one who cares? The only one who sees the important work that needs to be done? If you find yourself venturing into seldom-explored areas of thought and practice, chance are good you can relate.

The truth is, however, that there are others like you, like us, eager to connect with like-minded folks and you may need to be the catalyst to make it happen. There is an art and science to cultivating a community and in this talk John will discuss his favorite strategies for fostering your own constituency.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by John Rife.

More information on John at eastendmkt.com.

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Permaculture is a framework that can be integrated into any interest and passion. It helps us use and value patterns from a sophisticated long-term, systems-thinking approach to solve problems. Through it we can re-invent and re-design what it means to learn, educate, and be educated.

Putting in a swale or planting a tree alone is not going to be a long-term solution to our problems. To have a long-term impact we need a culture that understands, values, and utilizes the ethical design science principles of permaculture.

We must bring permaculture thinking mainstream and make it a thriving movement that shapes this world.

This must occur both locally and globally. To accomplish this we must get our youngest problem solvers, our children, to use the permaculture methodology to start asking and finding answers to problems. This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Jen Mendez of permiekids.com.

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

The United States Greatest Permaculture Challenge?

There are enormous challenges and contrasting opportunities inherent on Indian Reservations today. One one hand you have sovereign nations inside the US which are in a state more depleted than most third world nations but, on the other hand, they have opportunity to lead in a way they never have before.

Permaculture abundance in the setting of a typical reservation can be so dramatic because of the endemic scarcity. In particular, The Navajo Nation could be the most dramatic demonstration in the US of what is possible with Permaculture.. The fact that the Navajo Nation is the largest reservation in the US and also happens to be the largest brown spot on the map of the US should give anyone who really believes in Permaculture an insatiable desire to show its restorative powers.

If Geoff Lawton can turn heads with 10 acres in Jordon what could the attendees of PV2 do with 17 million acres in the middle of our country? Can Permaculture afford not to take a serious look at such projects? Come spend 5 minutes listening to a challenge that may engage you in the most restorative project our nation has ever seen.

For more information on Grant's project visit: https://www.facebook.com/PermacultureProvisionProject

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Grant Curry.

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Nature’s been using biochar to replenish soil carbon for millennia. Taking our cue from her, we’ll unravel what biochar is and how it works to build long-term soil health. We’ll explore techniques of making your own biochar simply and affordably regardless of where you live.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Gloria Flora.

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Community food forests are rapidly emerging as part of a new trend in the local food movement to promote food literacy and build community. This talk will discuss what community food forests are and the motivations that are propelling their establishment in urban areas across the United States. The social dimensions of partnerships and management processes that can help them succeed will be highlighted along with who some of the key players typically are. These projects are an example of how permaculture can be scaled-up to the community level. Come found out about the many reasons they are important.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Catherine Bukowski.

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

We are experiencing the end of an era as a new era in human civilization is beginning. It is a time of great risk but also a time of great potential.

We now know that it is possible to restore large-scale damaged ecosystems. It is possible to sequester carbon and re-regulate the hydrological system. It is possible to restore natural fertility and to remove toxicity from contaminated soils and water.

We are required to do this so that future generations will live in peace and abundance.

For humanity to further evolve it is necessary to transition from a society dedicated to consumption to a society dedicated to ecological function.

Although sometimes obscured by the collapse of the old order this heralds a time of full employment, equality, purpose and fulfillment.

This is THE GREAT WORK OF OUR TIME and we are called to understand and participate in it.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/103

PV2 Audio: permaculturevoices.com/pv2audio

In this episode, the second part of a multi-part series, we at some of the critiques of permaculture. And the focus is on an article written by permie Peter Harper in 2003.

This series takes a critical look at permaculture itself. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

As I sit here today I wonder if the same permaculture that got us here, is the same permaculture that we need to ultimately effect change into the future.

The times are different, the people are different, technology is different. I am not simply saying let's rewrite the designers manual with new updates. I am saying let's take a critical look at what is in the manual and tear it apart. What works and what doesn't, and cut out what doesn't. Because if we think that everything in that manual works, we are telling ourselves a lie.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/102

In this episode, the first part of a multi-part series, we look at what permaculture is. Is it a design science or is it a movement?

This series takes a critical look at permaculture itself. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

As I sit here today I wonder if the same permaculture that got us here, is the same permaculture that we need to ultimately effect change into the future.

The times are different, the people are different, technology is different. I am not simply saying let's rewrite the designers manual with new updates. I am saying let's take a critical look at what is in the manual and tear it apart. What works and what doesn't, and cut out what doesn't. Because if we think that everything in that manual works, we are telling ourselves a lie.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/101

Toby Hemenway joins me to talk about his upcoming talk at PV2 titled Liberation Permaculture.

Permaculture offers more than a path to a sustainable and just food system. It can move entire segments of our society off the radar screens of state oppressors and help return equality, abundance, and justice to people while restoring healthy ecosystems.

This talk, being premiered at Permaculture Voices, will tell you how. If you’ve appreciated Toby’s series on permaculture and civilization, you’ll want to see this significant new chapter.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/100

John talks about the workshop that he will be giving on Sketchup at PV2.

This workshop will give the student a crash course in using Trimble SketchUp, followed by a tutorial on landscape modeling and analysis, earthworks and plantings design using freely available tools and templates.

3D modeling is a powerful tool to aid the Permaculture Designer in analyzing and designing water catchment, zones, sectors, earthworks, and plantings.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2shorts

John's Page: johnackley.com/sketchup

This interview with Michael centers around his upcoming workshop at PV2, There's Not Just Honey In That Hive.

Michael describes the talk as, "I want to tell you my first hand experiences with bees, from the loss of not knowing how to be a good keeper of the bees, to making an inner city home stead centered around the little girls super profitable. How to grow a small hobby Apiary, or back yard hive into a money making company. I want to show you how to take your starting products to the people, and how to develop new ideas in this art of bee keeping. That it is not being the millionaire, but being able to turn your hobbies, no matter what they are, into your job, and your job more into a hobby."

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2shorts

This episode is a short PV2 episode with PV2 speaker and multiple time guest on this show Javan Bernakevitch.

This is an episode about person journeys. How many people, including myself, are in this place, Island A, and we want to go to that place that we dream about Island B.

In this episode we take an in depth look at the journey that many people are on. Like many people out there I am on this journey to change my life in a way that I do work that I am passionate about and that I believe in, call it work that matters. But I know first hand that it is easy to say, but hard to make that a reality. Especially when you need that work to cash flow, think kids, mortgage, living expenses. Living the permaculture dream isn't easy. I get it.

This episode get's pretty real and pretty passionate for me. As a result, this episode has some swearing in it. Not much, but some. So if you can't handle it, don't listen.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b018

Troy Martz of Off Grid Pro talks about what is gasification and what is the difference between wood gasification and charcoal gasification? And he touches on his talk topic at PV2 - choosing the right alternative energy technologies for your climate, biome, and context.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2shorts

Talking to PV2 speaker Luke Callahan of Seedwise.

We touch on the value of learning with others who have more experience than you and creating connections and relationships with high quality people.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2shorts

For more information on PV2 you can visit: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

In this presentation Curtis will walk you through the process in which a 2100 square foot lawn can be converted to a productive mini farm. He’ll discuss the technical process of conversion, and the economics of production. This talk will be useful for anyone who is curious about how much food can be harvested from an average lawn space or anyone who is interested in commercial urban farming. Curtis will demonstrate that your average lawn can be a considerable source of revenue, generating $18,000, or a significant source of food for the community.

The Workshop: permaculturevoices.com/urbanfarming

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b015

Talking to Stefan Sobkowiak of The Permaculture Orchard.  We touch on why he decided to speak at PV2, what he would do differently if he had to start over, and the value of networking and sharing ideas with others.

For more information on PV2 you can visit:

permaculturevoices.com/pv2

Zach Weiss of Holzer AgroEcology discusses his experiences working on projects designed by Sepp Holzer. He also gets into Sepp's ideas and design philosophy.

This is the recording of a presentation that Zach gave at a workshop at VersaLand in October 2014.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b014

Zach Weiss of Holzer AgroEcology discusses his experiences working on projects designed by Sepp Holzer. He also gets into Sepp's ideas and design philosophy.

This is the recording of a presentation that Zach gave at a workshop at VersaLand in October 2014.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b013

Taylor Walker from Green Dreams Florida joins me.

In this episode we talk being a designer, propagating and selling plants, and we get into specific plant species. Some of these are zone specific; some are more universal, like Mulberry. Towards the end of the episode Taylor goes in depth about 5 not so common plant species that make up a nice permaculture plant guild. He’s growing these plants in Zone 9 in Florida, but maybe you can find some microclimates in your own climate zone to take advantage of some of these species.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/99

If you are doing the life that everyone expects of you, what are you doing to explore that. Everyone has the capacity to really make the choice to really live life, to be engaged, and live a life of vitality. It's never too late to start living.

That’s what Matthew Abrams of Mycelium and I are exploring today. Creating the conditions for pull learning, learning about what you are interested in, doing work that you love, finding out about what brings you alive and living your life.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/95

PV2 Info @ permaculturevoices.com/pv2

How can we start to broaden the reach of permaculture and start to involve areas outside of permaculture in the greater movement of permaculture? How can we use the permaculture toolkit to make more effective use of resources in other areas? How can we start to include willing, able, and highly skilled individuals and groups that don’t’ have a land focus and have previously felt excluded from the permaculture conversation in the conversation.

I am joined by Jessica Schilike and Nick Wooten to talk social permaculture. They both have done a lot of work on the social side of things and are actively involved in bringing more groups into the permaculture conversation.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/90

PV2: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

Engineer and permie Rob Avis from Verge Permaculture talks about building and designing passive solar greenhouses.

Key Takeaways:

Orientation. In Northern hemisphere orient it South or within 45 degrees of South.

Higher the glazing transmisivity is, the better it is for the plants.

Don't underestimate the value of good insulation in the walls of the greenhouse. Rob uses R-20 in Calgary. Keep in mind insulation doesn't stop heat loss, it just slows it down.

In lower light conditions look to plants that are adapted to growing in lower light conditions. A hoop house may be a viable alternative in lower light conditions.

It is very important to have thermal mass in the greenhouse. Thermal mass absorbs the surplus heat during the date and radiates it back out at night.

Know what your goals are for the greenhouse. Why are you building it?

You can't over-vent a greenhouse.

Thermal curtains can cut heat loss drastically through the glazing.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/88

Today’s guest is Joe Baird.  Joe and his family are taking on the task of restoring the village of Veglio. It is a place that has family ties and ties to when things were much simpler. The way of life in Veglio, then and now, is a stark contrast to the way of life in Joe’s current home in Orange County California. Despite the contrast to today’s technological world, much of what was done in Veglio for hundreds of years provides incredible lessons for us to thrive for hundreds of years into the future. And it those lessons that we are talking about today. Building the future by uncovering and rediscovering the past, The Veglio Project. with Joe Baird..

Veglio:

Small village in northern Italy near the Switzerland border.

Originally only accessible by foot.

Estimated to be about 1000 years old and at one time it supported 250 people.

Currently restoration efforts are underway to restore many of the original stone buildings.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/84

This is an interview with Neal Spackman. And while you probably haven’t heard of Neal the work that Neal is doing to regreen an area of the Saudi Arabian desert is monumental. The work that he is doing is every bit as great as the work that Geoff Lawton has done. And I mean that. We are talking about regreening a portion of the desert that gets 3 inches of rain a year on average, but lately they aren’t even meeting the average. Greening the site by using true cost water accounting, meaning that they only use the equivalent of water that falls onto the site to establish the vegetation. With minimal rainfall, no pre-existing plant life and 100 plus degree summer temperatures, it is no easy task. Throw in the economic and social challenges of the village that he is working with and the task becomes even harder. But despite those challenges, progress is being made, and the sounds of crickets are now being heard. Life is coming back. The upside potential here is huge. And as Neal says, “"There was some real risk, but in the end I didn't think I was going to end off any worse than I was.... And the potential opportunity was exponentially greater than what I was doing at the time."

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/78

The episode is a compilation of interviews that I recorded during PV1 - March 13-16, 2014.  Each of the interviewees was a speaker at PV1.  The general theme of this episode is how we can use better management practices and plants to improve the land, increase it's resiliency, and reverse desertification.

THE INTERVIEWEE'S FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE:

Allan Savory of the Savory Institute

Willie Smits of Masarang

Phil Rutter of Badgersett Research Corporation

Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Food Web

Joseph Simcox

Miguel Uribe

Peter Hirst of New England Biochar

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/77

This book is about designing sustainable human settlements, an preserving and extending natural systems. It covers aspects of designing and maintaining a cultivated ecology in any climate: the principles of design; design methods; understanding patterns in nature; climatic factor; water; soils; earthworks; techniques and strategies in the difference climatic types; aquaculture; and the social, legal, and economic design of human settlement.

It calls into question not only the current methods of agriculture, but also the very need for a formal food agriculture if wastelands and the excessive lawn culture within towns and cities are devoted to food production and small livestock suited to local needs.

This book is Permaculture, A Designers’ Manual.

And this show is Geoff Lawton covering the whole Permaculture Designers’ Manual in about an hour at PV1 in March 2014.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/75

Given the amount of confusion that I see on a day to day basis, and the fact that there seems to be a lot of unknowns out there about PDCs, I created this episode to try to answer a lot of the questions that I was getting regarding PDCs.

Now, I am not a PDC instructor and I have only taken one PDC, so I turned to eight well respected PDC instructors (names below) to get their thoughts on ‘What’s a PDC?‘

Combined these eight instructors have taught hundreds and hundreds of PDCs over the last 30 years and each brings their own twist to the PDC. I asked them all the same questions and compiled their thoughts into two easily digestible episodes.

At the end of each episode Byron Joel, a PDC instructor himself, joins me and we recap and discuss what we heard, and give our thoughts on PDCs based on our experiences with them.

To keep things interesting the subject matter was broken up into two pieces…

In Part 1, episode 073, we take on the task of answering, What is a PDC? and What isn’t a PDC? In the next episode,

Part 2 we will answer the questions, What is the value of taking a PDC? and How do I choose and evaluate which PDC is right for me?

Hopefully this show will help answer some of the questions that you had about PDCs, and indirectly give you a better idea of what permaculture is all about..

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/74

Given the amount of confusion that I see on a day to day basis, and the fact that there seems to be a lot of unknowns out there about PDCs, I created this episode to try to answer a lot of the questions that I was getting regarding PDCs.

Now, I am not a PDC instructor and I have only taken one PDC, so I turned to eight well respected PDC instructors (and former PDC students themselves) to get their thoughts on 'What's a PDC.'

Combined these eight instructors have taught hundreds and hundreds of PDCs over the last 30 years and each brings their own twist to the PDC. I asked them all the same questions, and compiled their thoughts into two easily digestible episodes.

At the end of each episode Byron Joel, a PDC instructor himself, and I recap and discuss what we heard, and give our thoughts on PDCs based on our experiences.

To keep things interesting the subject matter was broken up into two pieces...

In Part 1, this episode, we take on the task of answering, What is a PDC? and What isn't a PDC?

In the next episode, Part 2 will answer the questions, What is the value of taking a PDC? and How do I choose and evaluate which PDC is right for me?

Hopefully this show will help answer some questions that you had about PDCs, and indirectly give you a better idea of what permaculture is all about..

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/73

As my guest today David Pagan Butler of OrganicPools.co.uk says, "If you want really healthy water, you want it full of life; not devoid of life."

That is what today's show is about. Creating the conditions for life to happen within the water in natural swimming pools. Natural swimming pools unlike their chemical counterparts use no chemicals. The pool water is cleaned biologically by plants and organisms within the water. No smells, no chemicals, no pathogens, biology creating water so clean you can drink it.

David has developed a system of building natural pools that is both cost effective and ecologically enhancing. Natural pools that utilize natural biological processes to keep the water clean. The classic case of nature doing something equal to or better than some chemical made in a factory - clean, pathogen free drinking water, in swimmable form.

Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/71

I want to talk about something which I call the impossible task. It is something that each one of us struggles with. We all have something that that we really want to do yet we don't think it is possible, at least not easily possible, and we don't try it. I am here to tell you today, that it is possible and worth trying for.

I want to start today talking about a woman name Bronnie Ware. You probably haven't heard about her, but she is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. As humans at the end of our lives we have very clear visions as we look back. Everything comes to the surface. Bronnie would ask them "do you have any regrets, would you do anything over?" One of the top five regrets was:

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/70

While many of us will never use permaculture outside of our own backyard or community, there is a whole world out there than can benefit from permaculture design. Places where small incremental changes that can have huge effects. Life is hard in places and Rosemary is someone who has lived her life helping hard places. She has dedicated her life to teaching and helping people. She is a true permaculture pioneer and an inspiration.

People often ask, does permaculture work?

From a western standpoint, the definition of work is usually form of ultimate abundance, some unrealistic expectation of what the land should be producing on a huge scale with little input; in other words, a miracle. When those results don't magically appear, people are disappointed and say, see it doesn't work.

When I asked Rosemary if permaculture worked, she said absolutely, she has seen in. She has spent most of her time in the harshest places on the planet; places where the miracle isn't ultimate abundance. The miracle is merely having more today than you had yesterday and having reasonable assurance that it can continue for the foreseeable future. Places where a little more calories means the difference between starving or not. And in places like that, permaculture does work, it performs miracles.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/68

How can both people in the relationship fit both of their dreams into one life together?

We explore some of these ideas in this episode. We both draw from our own experiences of having relationships while going after our own permaculture dreams. We take a honest look at these issues, it is is very real.

Maybe your relationship is OK. Maybe things are fine. But that's now. The big question is - how fine are things going to be down the line when the pressure is applied? Is your relationship anti-fragile? As my guest for this episode Joey Delia says, "it's not until s*** breaks loose that we start to scramble." But sometimes it is too late.

That is what we are talking about in this episode. Putting the work in ahead of time, and all of the time, to help increase the resiliency and make relationships anti-fragile. We aren't therapists and we aren't suggesting specific techniques or steps, but what we are suggesting is that you should consider doing something. Maintaining clear communication and goals on an ongoing basis. I think everyone out there can say that if they put a little more time consistently into their relationships that they would be better.

Have the hard conversations. Have the uncomfortable conversations. Make yourself vulnerable and make the relationship stronger.

Don't forget or sacrifice the relationship for that thing that may be fleeting. Put the time in and do the work. There are tools our there than can help. Give the relationship the respect it deserves.

I hope this episode gets you thinking and most importantly I hope you do something with this information.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/59

On April 11, 2009 there was the shock heard around the world, when a women from Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland walked on stage to sing.

Just prior to singing she was asked "What's the dream?"

"I'm trying to be a professional singer?" she replied.

"And why hasn't it worked out so far Susan?"

"I've never been given a chance before, but here's hoping that it will change."

With that she went on to sing her version of I Dreamed a Dream and suddenly the world new who Susan Boyle was.

She became an overnight success and YouTube sensation and her debut I Dreamed a Dream album went on to sell over 9 million copies.

A truly remarkable story. And one that could have easily never been told had she not taken those steps to make it happen and have her voice heard.

It all came down to putting it out there and seeing what would happen; in her words "I've never been given a chance before, but here's hoping that it will change."

And that is what today's show is about, getting something out there because you never know who is going to see it.

Today I am talking to Olivier Asselin and Stefan Sobkowiak about their dream and the steps they took to make it a reality. From concept to final product we go through the making of The Permaculture Orchard.

Now you may say, Diego, that's great, but I don't make videos. And I would say, the making of the video is a metaphor for anything that you go out there and do - focusing on quality over quantity and making it happen. Just like permaculture design itself the principles are applicable to a wide range of topics.

But like anything else, it goes beyond the technique to taking the steps to actually make it happen. Ideas are great, but execution is paramount.

As Stefan says, "anytime you have an idea it really comes down to what are you going to do with it. If you just let it sit you won't know if it flies or not."

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/56