Darren Doherty of Heenan Doherty and Regrarians joins me from Australia to talk about the regrarian philosophy that he has put together and how it can be used to regenerate landscapes and farming enterprises.

This is a system that borrows and includes tools from multiple disciplines like permaculture, keyline design, the transition movement, carbon farming, and the work of of people like Joel Salatin, Paul Stamets, and Dr. Elaine Ingham. These tools give you the ability to design a system that ultimately regenerates land while producing numerous agricultural products. The system deals with everything from the work done on the land to how you can synergistically stack multiple enterprises in the same system, and ultimately how to market and distribute those products to the people that actually want them. The system emphasizes participating in all 4 legs of the farm income stool - production, processing, marketing, and distribution. This allows you to be a market price setter, not a price receiver.

If you are involved in an agricultural enterprise, or if you want to be involved in an agricultural enterprise, then you need to pay attention to the regrarian system and learn this information. The current status quo of agriculture isn't working; it isn't sustainable, it's degenerative. The regarian system IS regenerative. And it gives you the tools to produce the products that the consumers ultimately want, all while living the farming lifestyle that you want to live. It won't be easy, and it will be hard work, but hey that's farming. And I think farmers that farm in systems like this have fun and enjoy their life because they can make good living while restoring the land.

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Don't like where you are at?

Today we take a look at analyzing your level of dissatisfaction.

Looking at what is the current level is dissatisfaction?  Is it to the point where you just need to get out?  Or what does it take to bring your situation up to get it closer to a 10?  Can you change the frame - how you are view it, or the situation?   What can you do where you are at?

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Whenever you do something why are you doing it?

Are you doing it because that something is pulling you towards it, is it the opposite, are you forcing yourself to do something and pushing yourself towards it.

There's a big difference there.  And depending on the answer to that question, it mean the difference between doing big things and setting out to do big things, but never really getting anywhere.

To further explain this concept I turn to the brilliant personal development specialist Anthony Robbins...

“I think you have to have something larger than yourself that you are after because [otherwise] you will let your fear dominate you. But if you have something—your children, your mom, your dad, a friend, a mission—something you want to do that really pulls you [the fear disappears]. Because push never lasts. ‘Push’ motivation is I’m going to make myself do that. You can do that for a while, but you are eventually going to [regress]. When you are pulled toward something larger than yourself, you’ll make the sacrifices; you’ll do what’s necessary because it’s not just about you. I really believe life supports what supports more of life.”

This is what we are focusing on today.  It's a loose conversation based around this idea of push and pull.  And finding something that meakes it easy to choose to be great. Something that you feel compelled to do, and you feel off when you aren't doing it.

When you hear about someone like Curtis putting in a ton of hours working in the farm, and you think, why does he work so much, you are missing the point, because maybe that thing that you think is work isn't work after all...

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Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm joins me to talk about his new book Fields of Farmers which focuses on the next generation of farmers.How young people can work with existing farmers to transition into farming. He talks about young people can do today to take advantage of the huge opportunity that is out there. Topics range from leasing land to forming synergistic, non-competitive enterprises on existing farms. The whole key is that you have to start. Movement creates movement.

Joel touches on the cultural stereotype against farming. So many people get "forced" into a job that they hate to satisfy their parents only to do that career for a few years and realize that they hate it.All along that person only wanted to do something with their hands. So why not encourage the youth to follow those passions and pursue them with all of their skills and talents.

This episode also has a very heavy entrepreneurial component. Hopefully it will motivate some people to get out there, stop thinking about farming, and actually start farming.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

Invest in hydration. Get water into the landscape.

You don't have to own land to farm. Look for land to lease. Look to add another enterprise onto an existing farm. Focus on mobile infrastructure.

Insource carbon instead of outsource carbon. So many farmers start out bringing in fertilizer at the beginning.Start building up your soils at the beginning to lower your long term input costs.

Grow what you like to eat. You may have to eat through your inventory.

Be willing to do whatever it takes to make it work. That might mean putting in a lot of hours, making a lot of sacrifices, cutting expenses, and taking some odds jobs.

Make use of what you have first. Don't buy anything. So many people want to run out and buy things when they first start out. Access what you have, use that, and only buy what you absolutely need.

Better to become 80% self reliant that get analysis paralysis and not doing anything while trying to become 100% self reliant.

Doing something is better than doing nothing.

Stack multiple enterprises on a single land base whenever possible.

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Let's say that you own 1000 acres and you want to farm.

What do you do with that land?

One of the first decisions that many of you would come to is the decision of do I get livestock or go with annual crops.

Both common.  Both viable choices for farming big land.

One system is based in perennials and grazing animal’s and the other is based on annuals and mechanical tillage.  

For many people these two systems would be seen as mutually exclusive.  

Annuals and perennials don't really mix, at least on first thought they don't.  But what if you could do it?

How do you plant annuals into a perennial grass system and how do you graze animals through an annual system?

It all comes down to timing.  

If you seed annuals into dormant perennial grassland you take advantage of a niche in time where both species can co-exist.  Then you later harvest the annual crop and grass the animals through the now non-dormant perennials.

The system provides the benefit of zero tillage, rotational grazing, a constant plant cover on the soil and root mass under the soil, and minimal inputs costs.

The system is called Pasture Cropping and it was developed by Colin Seis.

Today's show is a presentation that Colin gave at PV2 in March 2015.  It was an honor to have him present at the conference, this guy is a true pioneer and innovator, and his work needs to be heard.

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Today is part three in our series focusing on more money, less land, where we are brainstorming ideas to make more money off of your farm without, without adding more land.

Over the last few weeks we have focused on a variety of ways to sell more product and produce more product without adding more land.

Today we will get into the last primary concept...

Raising Prices

Specifically how can you do that?

What are the different ways that you can change what you are selling to justify a higher price?

There's a lot of ideas in here. Some easier to implement than others.

Each with has their own costs and benefits.

As with the previous episodes, there's a lot in this one.

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Michael Pollan joins me to talk about GMOs, organic food, the industrial agriculture, and his new book Cooked.

Points we hit on:

What will it take to ultimately get GMOs labelled in the US? And what affect will that labeling have.

Rewarding farmers for embracing sustainable practices.

Getting changes in agriculture from the grassroots, corporate and government level.

Getting representation for eaters on the government agriculture committees which are currently dominated by lightly populated corn belt states.

The importance of being able to demonstrate scientifically that we can do what we say we can do - relating to permaculture, sustainable agriculture.

The importance of cooking your own food and the trickle down effects. If you are cooking your own food then you have the ability to shop from local farmers, farmers markets, and CSAs. Fast food supports industrial agriculture.

10% of the food dollar goes to the farmer. The longer the food chain the less the farmer gets. Even the packaging manufacturers make more than the farmers.

By diversifying as a farmer and having more than a single crop you are able to being more of a price maker than a price taker in the commodity system.

Paul’s central premise is that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushroom forming fungi are the foundation of the foodwebs of land based organisms.

Our close evolutionary relationship to fungi can be the basis for novel pairings that lead to greater sustainability and immune enhancement. As w​ e are now fully engaged in the 6th Major Extinction (“6 X”) on planet Earth, our biospheres are quickly changing, eroding the life support systems that have allowed humans to ascend. Unless we put into action policies and technologies that can cause a course correction in the very near future, species diversity will continue to plummet, with humans not only being the primary cause, but one of the victims.

What can we do?

Fungi, particularly mushrooms, offer some powerful, practical solutions, which can be put into practice now. Paul will discuss his groundbreaking research utilizing their cellular networks to create molecular bridges governing the evolution of sustainable habitats. The implications of his research are far-reaching and could spark a paradigm shift to a better future.

This presentation was recorded live at PV2 in March 2015.

For all of the audio presentations from PV2 visit: permaculturevoices.com/audio/

An archived interview that was conducted at PV1 in March 2014.

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Today is two in our series focusing on more money, less land, where we are brainstorming ideas to make more money off of your farm without, without adding more land.

Last week we focused on two of the primary concepts that had a lot of ideas under them:

If you aren't moving all of your current product, sell it all.
Selling all of your current product, but you know there is more demand...

Today we will focus on a third primary concept:

Change Your Product Profile and Crops

It's all about making more just by changing what you grow and when you grow it.

There's a lot in here, enjoy it...

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Doniga Markegard of Markegard Family Grass-Fed comes on the show to talk about ranching, permaculture, and the regenerative power of rotational livestock grazing.She is a real life rancher, who is out there successfully doing things the right way. On her ranch she is using cattle, sheep, and pigs to build the soil and supply the San Fransisco Bay area with high quality food.Doniga discusses why traditional ranching methods often fail and lead to degenerative cycles with the soil; and how a more holistic, permaculture approach can actually repair landscapes. She talks about how they use permaculture on their ranch to increase species diversity and to increase the water holding capacity of the soil. She touches on how to get into ranching, the advantages of small herd dairy, and the importance of leasing land.

Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - If I add mycorrhizal spores to my soil how do I know that the fungus is actually growing?

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

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The 8 Forms of Capital is a dynamic and living framework to guide holistic and regenerative enterprise development by mapping the complex flows and pools of all eight forms of capital, not merely the financial capital.

At first glance many people assume that the 8 forms of capital is simply a way to account for or measure in a similar way to the triple bottom line.

This is a common way to think about business design.

However, the most powerful use of the 8 capital model is to help uncover the essence and potential of each form of capital beyond the current reductionist perspective.

For instance, instead of thinking about “valuation of ecosystem services” when we ask about Living Capital, we might instead start an active enquiry into the story of a bioregion, plant, or watershed that leads us to uncover the mythological unlimited yields that Mollison reminds us exist when we use the organ of our imagination to explore the potential of an ecosystem.

The framework was initially developed by Gregory Landaua and Ethan Roland and the information was coalesced in their book Regeneraitve Enterrpse.

Today's show is a presentation that Gregory gave at PV3 on the 8 forms of capital, where he presented it through the lens of regenerative cacao; an industry that he has worked closely with over this years.  The presentation blends the theory with the real world application.

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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - What advice would you have for someone who wanted to start vlogging?

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

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Say you're a vegetable farmer and you want to make more money.

How do you do that?

How would you do that?

If this was an episode of Family Feud one of the top answers on the board would likely be ‘grow more products’.

And if we took this line of question on iteration further the asking how do you grow more crops? One of the top answers would be ‘get more land’.

More land means more vegetables can fit in that space. A more vegetables means more to sell. Simple enough right.

What if you couldn't get more land?

Because it wasn't available or it was too expensive or it would change the dynamic of your farm... what would you do then?

You want to make more money... but you can't add land. What are your options... you could raise prices or lower input costs, those would work, but there are a lot of other options available.

That’s the topic that we are taking on in this multipart series – more money with less land.

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In this episode of the Permaculture Voices Podcast I have my friend Ben Kotnik of Suburban Food Farm on the show to talk about the recent presentation that he gave to a local permaculture group, 12 Months of Fresh Fruit. The first part of the presentation highlights some of the varieties that can be grown in Southern California to achieve the goal of a year round fruit harvest. While the varieties that we talk about are specific to SoCal, the theory behind how why the varieties were selected can be applied to any location. The second half of the presentation focuses on different techniques that can be used to grow more varieties of fruit in a given space. And these techniques can be applied anywhere in the world.

In this episode you will learn about:

• A variety of 13 fruits that could be grown in Southern California giving you 12 months of free fruit. The trees are specific to SoCal, but the theory is applicable anywhere.
• Ben’s favorite sweet citrus varieties.
• The beauty of the forgotten fruit, the white sapote. And why everyone should be growing it in SoCal.
• Why you should remove some of the fruit from a tree in the early years.
• Techniques for growing more fruit in a space.
• How to use dwarfing rootstocks to your advantage. -Why to prune and train your trees.
• Grafting several varieties onto one tree, multi-graft trees.
• Working with neighbors to grow more trees.