2016 has been an interesting year for me.  

It's been one of transition and growth and change.

It's been a year that's ended a long career in one world and kick started a new career going out on my own.

It's been a year of loss losing pioneers like Toby Hemenway, Gene Logsdon, and Bill Mollison;  and it's been a year of addition as a beautiful daughter entered my life.

I have a grown a lot and changed a lot as a person.  And honestly I feel like I am more me than I have ever been.

It's a me that's been found through a lot of self-reflection, writing, literally hundreds of podcasts, and conversations with people like Javan.

Along the way I have learned a lot.

Today I will be sharing some of what I learned as Javan and I go through our top 5 lessons from 2016.

In total 10 simple ways of looking at life, approaching life, and thinking about life that can change your life tomorrow.

I look at a lot of these lessons as base principles in an approach to life that very much contradicts the status quo.  

None of these lessons require any money or technology to implement. There are no tools or techniques here.

It's simply changing your approach.  

As 2016 comes to an end, take what you can from this episode, to align what you do in life more with who you are.

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In terms of journeys, today I am going to highlight an epic one.  

It's the story of Justin Rhodes.

Justin who has gone from someone one government assistance and in debt to someone who is self-made, out of debt, and now making a living through his various online businesses.  

A remarkable feet in an of itself.  And even more remarkable given how quickly it has played out.

It's a truly inspirational story that started from this show.

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Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - I have an abundance of woodchips.  Any thoughts on inoculating the pile to "rapidly" break down the pile of chips into compost, or is it not worth the effort and just let nature do the work?

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

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When you think about what your selling, don't forget that what you are selling isn't just what's in the cooler behind your booth.

You're selling yourself, your story, and the role that you play in a bigger movement; all intangible assets that can allow you to succeed without having a diversity of products.

But if you want to grow, and you don’t have more products to sell to customers, then you need to find more customers, and that likely means diversifying beyond the farmers market.

That’s the subject of today's show where farmers market is one of the market streams that we dig into as Chris talks about his experiences selling to a diversity of market streams without a diversity of crops.

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

Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - Is it possible to have a raised "bed" of hardwood chips with multiple strains happily cohabiting and fruiting in different seasons?

To learn more about Peter and see all of the ASK Peter episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/peter.
 
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Stefan Sobkowiak of The Miracle Farm is encouraging more vegetable farmer to consider planting some fruit trees. And to start planting some trees now, so they are established and producing when you or the vegetable farming gets old.

Now you may be saying, "I barely have enough time to do the work that I am doing now."

Establishing this orchard might not take as much time as you think. And the slow growth of trees might be on your side.

As Stefan will talk about in this episode he manages his whole operation on just 50 hours per year.

That includes all pruning, training, irrigation, spraying, clean-up, the whole lot.

And he thinks that one person could maintain 4 to 6 acres.

Overall making it a doable takes that makes your farming enterprise less fragile, while adding some diversity to your famers market booth or CSA box.

If that sounds intriguing stay tuned.

Overall Stefan brings it in this one.

    He walks through what a typical season is like.
    Talks about why you want to be a price maker not a price taker.
    Talks about the pros and cons of a u-pick model.

There's a lot in this one, and I am willing to bet that it will have you looking at small scale o

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Anytime that you do something for a long time, over and over again, how do you keep it fresh.

Let's be honest, any time that you do something for weeks and years, eventually that honeymoon phase wears off.

As should be expecting, things changes, life changes, and you change.

If that think that's getting old is you farm, and your livelihood is dependent upon it. How do you battle this evolution of getting stale?

One way is to branch out and do other things.

Maybe that's research and development, maybe that's teaching, maybe that's furthering a cause and maybe crowd sourcing inspiration globally as you try to get more people interested in farming.

That's where Curtis finds himself now. After seven seasons of full time farming his farm has changed dramatically since day 1, and even going back to the beginning of 2016 things have changed quite a bit.

It's those changes and the desire to grow and innovate that's helped Curtis stay motivated and keeps things fresh, when it could just as easily get old...

That's the topic of today's show on The Urban Farm

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What if you live in a suburban or urban area on a small lot?

A lot of those the chickens living in those areas live in degenerative systems, spending their days on mud runs and dirt patches that are more of a net negative than a net positive.

What can be done to avoid this issue?

This is where we turn to the techniques that are used on broadacre properties and look to scale it down, rotating birds over a portion of an acre versus multiple acres.

It's an idea and concept that I have been playing around with my 3/4 acre property here in San Diego and it's one that I think holds a lot of promise, and it's the subject of today's show.

Earlier this year I was contact by a Canadian name Shaw McCarty.

Shawn raises his 16 layer chicks on his property which is just under an acre.  He rotates the birds through several small paddocks on that small suburban lot.

His overall goal is to advance the system while giving the chickens access to as much fresh forage as possible.

And so far it's worked.

As Shawn stated..

"I thought the chickens would help me by ‘mowing’ the pasture but their actions have caused it to grow faster, and thicker than it has in the past.  With 16 chickens I still need to cut the grass in each paddock a couple times a year to keep it fresh and palatable, once it gets too long the chickens will choose other forage."

Shawn's system is one that could be implemented on most small plots, it shows you what's possible.

The goal here is to get you thinking.

Too many chickens in small urban lots live out their lives on dirt patches.

Here's a system that might inspire you to change that.

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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.

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