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It's fungal intelligence that I will be exploring today with the brilliant Peter McCoy. Peter is self-taught mycologist with 15 years of accumulated study and experience, Peter is an original founder of Radical Mycology, a grassroots organization and movement that teaches the skills needed to work with mushrooms and other fungi for personal, societal, and ecological resilience

Peter is also author of the book Radical Mycology, an in depth and comprehensive look at mycology and mushroom cultivation. This book is a beast, it's nearly 700 pages, and covers a variety of topics related to mycology, some common, so not so common. There's a ton of interest concepts and ideas in that book, a few of which we will be exploring today.

In this episode, we get into a wide variety of subject matter related to mycology from Remediation, importance of mycorrhizal fungi, fungi with annual crops, future of medicinal mushrooms and medicine, marketing versus effectiveness in some mushroom based products, and future of psilocybin mushrooms in medicine.

The reason that we are able to get into all this subjects isn't because of me. It's because of Peter. Peter's brilliant. There's a lot here, enjoy it.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/132

An interview with Peter McCoy of Radical Mycology.

Support Peter's Kickstarter

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.

We all have this great chance to go great places.  Yet we all don't take it.  Today's episode is a look at the opportunity and why some people squander it, and why some people don't.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

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View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

Marianne West is a cancer survivor who in the unique position of both going through traditional chemotherapy and the alternative cancer treatment The Gerson Therapy.

Today Marianne and I discuss what her experience was like going through the Gerson Therapy and what her thoughts on it are. Despite my early introduction into this space via this subject matter I tried to approach this episode as neutral as possible and not going in with any assumptions of what was true or not true. As you listen to it, do the same, form your own opinions.

The views expressed here are Marianne’s based on her actual real life experiences. I hope it helps.

If you enjoy the show, support content I have created.

Support while you shop at Amazon.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

If you enjoy the show, support content I have created.

Support while you shop at Amazon.

Michael Kilpatrick joins me to talk about some of the issues that he sees on farms that struggle with post harvest processing and how most farms can improve that part of the process.  He will also touch on the role that new food safety regulations will play on vegetable farms and how famers can start preparing for that.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

Farmer Jenny Quiner of Dog Patch Urban Gardens in Des Moines, Iowa  talks about farm startup, growth, and unique ways to sell your product.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

If you enjoy the show, support content I have created.

Support while you shop at Amazon.

If you enjoy the show, support content I have created.

Support while you shop at Amazon.

Shawn Kuhn joins me to talk about selling to restaurants, growing a lot of greens, season extension, and trying to be more regenerative.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Learn how to start a microgreens business in Chris Thoreau's Build Your Microgreen Business Workshop.

Keep learning with these two great audiobooks:
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone 

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

In this episode Brian Bates of Bear Creek Organics joins me to talk about greens production, employees, and learning from big farms.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Learn how to start a microgreens business in Chris Thoreau's Build Your Microgreen Business Workshop.

Keep learning with these two great audiobooks:
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone 

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

Utilizing his experience as a chef Evan Chender has set out to produce niche crops for chefs such as edible flowers and more exotic cultivars and types of vegetables. It's this niche approach which has given him an edge in his market place. While a lot of other farmers just grow salad mix, Evan stands out because he produces crops that others don't. 

Today's episode was brought to you by Audible.  Sign up for Audible's 30 Day Trial and get a FREE audiobook download.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Learn how to start a microgreens business in Chris Thoreau's Build Your Microgreen Business Workshop.

Keep learning with these two great audiobooks:
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone 

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

View the show notes for this episode and all past episodes.

If you enjoy the show, support content I have created.

Support while you shop at Amazon.

Today my guest Gloria Flora will helps shed some light on the reality of biochar.  Gloria’s the founder and past director of the US Biochar initiative, so she has an extensive knowledge base when it comes to biochar, but she’s also worked for the US Forest Service and she’s a permaculturalist, so she gets how biochar fits into the larger whole.  

View the show notes for this episode and all past episodes.

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In this episode Ray Tyler of Rose Creek Farms will talk about how his farm has dealt changes on the farm as it evolved.  He’ll also talk about how they tackle farm problems and deal with season extension.  It’s a practical look at what happens behind the scenes - because things always don’t go as planned and that tool that you bought, doesn’t always work as well as expected.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Learn how to start a microgreens business in Chris Thoreau's Build Your Microgreen Business Workshop.

Keep learning with these two great audiobooks:
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone 

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

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.

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...

View the show notes for this episode and all past episodes.

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Farmer and consultant Michael Kilpatrick joins me to talk about improving farm productivity and profitability through better processes.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Learn how to start a microgreens business in Chris Thoreau's Build Your Microgreen Business Workshop.

Keep learning with these two great audiobooks:
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone 

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

Farm and soil specialist Dan Kittredge joins me to talk about building soil and increasing plant nutrition.

Learn more about Dan and see his free courses at bionutrient.org.

View the show notes for this episode and all past episodes.

If you enjoy the show, support content I have created.

Support while you shop at Amazon.

Author and farmer Ben Hartman talks about his farm and his book, The Lean Farm.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Learn how to start a microgreens business in Chris Thoreau's Build Your Microgreen Business Workshop.

Keep learning with these two great audiobooks:
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone 

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

Today we'll talk about the practical realities of homesteading, with homesteaders Chris and Lindsay Hodge.

View the show notes for this episode and all past episodes.

If you enjoy the show, support content I have created.

Support while you shop at Amazon.

The benefits of building a microgreens business, and how to keep improving it.

View the show notes for this episode and all previous Farm Small, Farm Smart episodes.

Learn how to start a microgreens business in Chris Thoreau's Build Your Microgreen Business Workshop.

Keep learning with these two great audiobooks:
The Market Gardener by JM Fortier
The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone 

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter.

Today we'll look at the urban,rural divide from the point of view of the city dweller, focusing on what and how the city dweller views and values the food they consume.

The goal of this conversation is to shed some light on this view, so teh farmer can take that information and run with it helping them to better market their product.

It's marketing 101. Who's your audience and what do they value with Rob Avis and Javan Bernakevitch.

Learn more about the Regenerative Business Mentorship Program

Read the show notes for this and all episodes.

Today we are going to Ojai California to talk to a farmer who's more than just a farmer.

Max Beecher was inspired into farming by Joel Salatin and Joel's entrepreneurial spirit inspired Max to get created when ti came to his farm based businesses.  

Max started out his farm journey in 2013 with wife.  At the time they weren't farmers though, they started out as aggregators...
 
He describes the experience as "one where we sold produce from a few different local farms to a local customer base we were working on building.  This started by selling #2 produce from a local farm I was volunteering at, and the farmer let me split the gross with him, since he would have thrown the product away otherwise.  Our idea was to make money up front by selling other people's produce, and to build a customer base so one day we could sell our own product through it.  We have continued to grow that webstore business, and it remains a core feature of our business, with a list of almost 300 customers, generating over 100 orders per week.  We now source from around 15 local farms, and have a ready market for our own products, including the micro greens.  Because of building this webstore before we started farming, marketing what we grow has never been a problem, and we throw little to no product away due to over production."

That business has continued and evolved today to become a full-fledged online store generate over $100,000 a year in sales at a decent profit.  

It's a thriving business and an integral part of Max's farm, and it's one that started by selling someone else's waste.

Learn more at http://www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

When you set out to start a business is there a road map you can follow or a recipe for success?

A set of steps you can take to go from where you are to where you want to be. Simply do them, and success follows.

It’s a nice though. And that’s about all it, a nice thought. Because when it comes to business there isn’t a roadmap to success, but despite that, we all want the roadmap to success.

Maybe it’s just human nature, the just tell me how to do it approach.
It’s a dangerous approach because no two approaches are the same. There are too many variables at stake to create a recipe. But again, everyone wants the recipe.

As someone once said on a podcast that I did the danger of following a recipe is that you if you buy into the recipe then you become the recipe, a really, really pale copy of what you are trying to emulate.

In life and in business, there are recipes, but recipes rarely lead to success, but also in life there are base principles, universals which recipes are built on.

Today, we aren’t focusing on the recipes, we’re focusing on the base principles when it comes to starting a business. It’s a topic which I will take on with that aforementioned someone, being Javan Bernakevitch, along with our friend Rob Avis.

Javan and Rob have developed a set of 12 base principles of business and join me to talk about the first 6 of those principles.

This episode is Part 4 of a multi-part series with Javan and Rob.

Learn more at http://www.permaculturevoices.com/231

Today's episode is a different type of episode.  It's a consult style episode with new grower Eddy Gilmore and long-time microgreen grower Chris Thoreau.

The first part of this episode will be Eddy and I talking about what's going on with his farm, and then later in the episode Chris will join us to answer some of Eddy's questions about growing his microgreen business.

Eddy's at a point in that business that you may find yourself in.  He's growing his microgreens at home in his house, but he's running out of space and wondering where to from here.

Find out how Chris would handle and approach the business expansion.

For Eddy microgreens weren't the first farm business from day one.  They came about from necessity.  

In Eddy's words...

“We were freaking desperate over here. I have a wife and two kids, and I was all in on Tiny Farm Duluth. Less than two months ago it seemed as if all was lost. The land was being sold where the vast majority of my farm was located. It was owned by an institution, and I had no idea they were thinking of selling until just before it went on the market. Then, after it sold, I learned that the new owners weren't open to a 7,000 square foot market garden on their property. Just two hours after I received this devastating news, our 2008 Toyota Prius blew both the engine AND transmission. Total, absolute chaos. Our lives were completely upended.”

Given that Eddy's life was upended, how did it end up?

Stay tuned to find out.

Learn more at http://www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Chris’s Growing Your Microgreens Workshop:  http://www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens

When you set out to start a business is there a road map you can follow or a recipe for success?

A set of steps you can take to go from where you are to where you want to be.  Simply do them, and success follows.

It’s a nice though.  And that’s about all it, a nice thought.  Because when it comes to business there isn’t a roadmap to success, but despite that, we all want the roadmap to success.

Maybe it’s just human nature, the just tell me how to do it approach.  
It’s a dangerous approach because no two approaches are the same.  There are too many variables at stake to create a recipe.  But again, everyone wants the recipe.  

As someone once said on a podcast that I did the danger of following a recipe is that you if you buy into the recipe then you become the recipe, a really, really pale copy of what you are trying to emulate.

In life and in business, there are recipes, but recipes rarely lead to success, but also in life there are base principles, universals which recipes are built on.

Today, we aren’t focusing on the recipes, we’re focusing on the base principles when it comes to starting a business.  It’s a topic which I will take on with that aforementioned someone, being Javan Bernakevitch, along with our friend Rob Avis.

Javan and Rob have developed a set of 12 base principles of business and join me to talk about the first 6 of those principles.

This episode is Part 3 of a multi-part series with Javan and Rob.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/230

Given summer heat growing certain crops can be really tough, especially greens.  Given the tendency of the normally cool weather lettuces to bolt quickly, turn bitter, and have their foliage burn, many growers simply pass on trying to grow summer greens.  The challenges are too great and the returns are too low.

But not for all growers.  Over the past few weeks I talked to a lot of growers and I tried to track down farmers who were growing greens exceptionally well in some very adverse hot conditions.

For today's show I got a group of those growers together and asked them all how their doing it, growing greens during the summer heat.  And not just growing them, but
growing them very successfully.

In today's episode you will hear how their doing it and what goes into growing the greens from establishment to harvesting to storage.

There are some similarities in their strategies and some differences.  There's a lot in here.

The Farmers:
Elliot Seldner of Fair Share Farm in Winston Salem, NC.
Brandon Gordon of Five Acres Farms in Pleasant Plains, AR
Erich Schultz of Steadfast Farm in Queen Creek, AZ
Ray Tyler of Rose Creek Farms in Selmer, TN

Learn more at http://www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

When you set out to start a business is there a road map you can follow or a recipe for success?

A set of steps you can take to go from where you are to where you want to be.  Simply do them, and success follows.

It’s a nice though.  And that’s about all it, a nice thought.  Because when it comes to business there isn’t a roadmap to success, but despite that, we all want the roadmap to success.

Maybe it’s just human nature, the just tell me how to do it approach.  
It’s a dangerous approach because no two approaches are the same.  There are too many variables at stake to create a recipe.  But again, everyone wants the recipe.  

As someone once said on a podcast that I did the danger of following a recipe is that you if you buy into the recipe then you become the recipe, a really, really pale copy of what you are trying to emulate.

In life and in business, there are recipes, but recipes rarely lead to success, but also in life there are base principles, universals which recipes are built on.

Today, we aren’t focusing on the recipes, we’re focusing on the base principles when it comes to starting a business.  It’s a topic which I will take on with that aforementioned someone, being Javan Bernakevitch, along with our friend Rob Avis.

Javan and Rob have developed a set of 12 base principles of business and join me to talk about the first 6 of those principles.

This episode is Part 2 of a multi-part series with Javan and Rob.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/229

Sam's taken a perspective that he gained on hiking the Appalachian trail and he has used it to help navigate the equally hard journey into being a full time vegetable farmer. Like the trail, Sam's career as a farmer has spanned a lot of land going from 1/8 of an acre in town to two fenced acres a few years later.

Today Sam and I will talk about some of the challenges of growing crops on two acres, how Sam has to design his market streams to his land base, working with limited labor, and the trade- offs between growing niche crops and a wide variety of CSA crops. We'll also touch on some of Sam's big takeaways from his days on the trail and how that's helped him as a farmer.

Learn more at http://www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

When you set out to start a business is there a road map you can follow or a recipe for success?

A set of steps you can take to go from where you are to where you want to be.  Simply do them, and success follows.

It’s a nice though.  And that’s about all it, a nice thought.  Because when it comes to business there isn’t a roadmap to success, but despite that, we all want the roadmap to success.

Maybe it’s just human nature, the just tell me how to do it approach.  
It’s a dangerous approach because no two approaches are the same.  There are too many variables at stake to create a recipe.  But again, everyone wants the recipe.  

As someone once said on a podcast that I did the danger of following a recipe is that you if you buy into the recipe then you become the recipe, a really, really pale copy of what you are trying to emulate.

In life and in business, there are recipes, but recipes rarely lead to success, but also in life there are base principles, universals which recipes are built on.

Today, we aren’t focusing on the recipes, we’re focusing on the base principles when it comes to starting a business.  It’s a topic which I will take on with that aforementioned someone, being Javan Bernakevitch, along with our friend Rob Avis.

Javan and Rob have developed a set of 12 base principles of business and join me to talk about the first 6 of those principles.

This episode is Part 1 of a multi-part series with Javan and Rob.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/228

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

Everyone enters the world of farming for different reasons.

Reasons spanning from environmental concerns to bringing high quality food to their local market to creating a path to a more independent future…

For my guest today, Travis Schulert, farming became a mode of a change, because prior to farming Travis described his situation as…

"I was stuck in a dead end lifestyle, living in a trailer park, no savings, no plans, and between 24 and now (28) I started a CSA on leased land, funded the infrastructure of the farm and gave myself the money to build a tiny home. My wife and I lived in the tiny home and saved what we could, started doing markets and learning to sell and grow. “

Farming has been a means to get Travis and his wife out of that lifestyle which wasn’t working. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Between production issues, CSA issues, and trouble with land tenure, it’s been a bumpy road.

Travis has been able to navigate that road so far and is now in his 4th year of farming, but one which is also a new beginning as he starting his first season on a new plot of land currently dominated by grass.

As you’ll hear in this episode, like all things in farming, Travis is taking it in stride and doing his best with it, and now realizing “farming is only romantic until you start doing the work.”

Today it's all the trials and tribulation of slowly scaling a farm on the side with farmer Travis Schulert.

Learn more at http://www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at http://www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

It seems like a lot of people that get into farming and starting their own business are busy, all the time.

Is that a good thing?

Is busy a sign of success or is busy a sign of planning?

I think it's more the later, than the form.

"To me, 'busy' implies that the person is out of control of their life." - Derek Sivers

Some of you might here that and think, what, that's crazy. I am in control and I am busy.

Are you really?

After all, what is busy in the first place.

Is busy really a think or is busy a state of mind or is as Derek Sivers says the inevitable result of losing control and poor planning?

If you consider yourself someone who's busy a lot think about that.

Are you busy because you actually have a huge list of urgent and important things to do, or are you busy because you are just doing a lot of stuff.

Outside of the Emergency Room most of us are more likely are the latter. Not many of us have a lot of urgent and important things to do each day. We might have a couple things that fall into that category and then we have a lot of other stuff that we do because we need to, because we think we need to, because we've never really thought about it, and because we don't have a plan in place.

Busy might actually be in your control.

As Henry David Thoreau said, it's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

If you find yourself constantly busy. Ask yourself why. And ask yourself what are you busy about?

Remember, it's your life, and being busy all the time might not be optimum. Is that you really signed up for - being busy all the time? If not, then this episode may help you reframe what you are actually being so busy about.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Shannon Jones, a young farmer from River Hebert, Nova Scotia joins me to talk about what it is like to be a young farmer on her farm, Broadfork Farm. She started the farm with her partner Bryan Dyck in 2011.

Both Shannon and Bryan farmed on other farms for many years before they started their own farm. The lived simply and knew what they could get by without. That made the transition to farming a lot easier. Their path of frugality is one path into farming. But like Shannon said, find what works for you and don't just copy what someone else did.

At the end of the day it is very clear that Shannon loves what she does. Living her dream, working her dream job, as part of the next generation of farmers.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/43

Geoff Lawton joins me today to talk about permaculture. Geoff talks about his early days in permaculture, where we are in permaculture today, and where we need to go in the future. He touches on what he has learned along the way and what he finds most valuable.

Geoff then goes on to answer a lot of audience questions about tree systems, water harvesting, his new chicken tractor for composting, and his upcoming online PDC.

Key Takeaways:

Consider starting a community group. They provide a whole lot of support to keep things moving in the right direction.

Realize the ability of pioneer plants and succession to work for you. One of Geoff's early mistakes was not allowing plants to work more for him. Later he embraced and accepted plant rampancy.

Don't just do things in patterns for the sake of patterns. Rationalize and legitimize every placement and connection you make.

So many people are stuck in the matrix. They know things, they just don't do anything.

Permaculture needs to focus on feeding people in urban and peri-urban areas.

Use chickens in your composting system. There is a huge benefit to using chickens at the beginning of a composting cycle.

Consider aquaculture as a use for wetlands in temperate wetlands. Whatever you dig in wetlands you gain in soil, so you intensify the water. You get drier land and wetter water using a temperate climate chinampa.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/31

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

When it comes to this world of farming small, what is this world?

Is it a bunch of small farms each operating independently?

For the most part, I think the answer is yes.

Given that, what's the next step.

Is it more small farms operating independently or is those small farms growing to be larger small farmers.

Now I am not talking 1.5 acre farms scaling to 100 acres, I am talking about 1.5 acre farms scaling to 10 acres.

If small farms do that, what does that look like, both for this world of farming small and for each independently operated farm?

Is that scale manageable on a people powered biointensive level? Or does this style of farming not scale?

It's a question being asked by one of the leader in this movement, JM Fortier.

A few years ago JM Fortier left his 1.5 acre farm behind to start working on an experimental 10 acre farm to test the idea and validity of scaling these types of farming methods.

It's project which has produced some answers, but one which has also produced a lot of questions, some of which are the focus of our show today.

It's all about the future of market gardening in this episode with farmer JM Fortier.

Get JM's audiobook version of The Market Gardener at www.permaculturevoices.com/audiobook

Today's a special episode.

It's an interview that I did, but on the other side of the microphone.

The episode you will hear today is a replay of an interview I did with Oliver Goshey of The Abundant Edge.

The focus of it all centers around the lessons I have learned doing what I do every day.

If you like what you hear in this episode and you want to hear more from Oliver, check out theabudnantedge.com where he has a variety of podcast episodes in the archive spanning topics from permaculture to one of his specialties, natural building.  One of the subjects I don't ever touch because I am not very knowledgeable on the subject, but Oliver is.

But that's not the case in this one, because I touch on a subject I know very well, failing.

I tried to keep it real in this one, I hope you get a lot out of it, enjoy it.

Listen to hundreds of more episodes in the archives at www.permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

What’s the organic inspection process really like? It’s probably a big hassle, right?

Let’s find out straight from the source, in this episode with independent organic inspector Laura Murray

Last episode with Scott Murray covered the topic of why organic and what goes into getting certified. Today’s episode builds on that episode and we go a rung higher on the ladder taking on questions such as:

Once the inspector shows up on your property the first time, how does that process unfold?
What should you have in order when you have the inspector show up?
Explain the annual inspection process?
Would a property ever be inspected more than once a year?

To answer these I am going straight to the source to talk to someone who deals with this every day. I’ll be talking with independent organic inspector Laura Murray. Laura does organic inspections of all over the country for organic certifiers. Her inspections span all types of farms and all types of organic product production facilities. She’s seem a lot over the years, and today she shares what the inspection process is really like both for the initial inspection and annual inspections.

If you were thinking about getting certified by the inspection process made you a little uneasy, maybe that will change after you hear what it’s really like.

This show is brought to you by CoolBot. Get a discount coupon for CoolBot at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Looking for more? There are over 100 episodes in the archive at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Will Harris III from White Oak Pastures joins me to talk about his inspirational journey of converting his one time factory farm to a beyond organic farming operation that celebrates polyculture and closes the loop on wastes.

Will runs the largest USDA organic farm in Georgia farming 1200 owned acres and 2000 leased. He has over 2000 head of cattle and raises 60,000 pastured chickens. He has built two abattoirs on site - one for red meat, one for poultry. He has an organic vegetable CSA and heirloom orchard.

His farm closes the loop on sustainability through rotational grazing, solar power, and the recycling of all of his various "wastes" from his animal operations. All of the wash water, bones, and other animal "wastes" end up back on the land, building the soil over time.

But it wasn't always that way. Prior to 1995 White Oak Pastures raised cattle in an industrial system, a monoculture. Then Will made the decision to change what he was doing. So began the conversion over the beyond organic, mulch-species thriving farming operation that it is today.

Will's story in an inspiration, and another example of what is right in modern day agriculture.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/28

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Organic certification.

We all know what that is, seeing that green stamp on products in the grocery store and on signs at the farmers market.

But, is it worth it?

Is it only for large farms?

I use organic methods, do I need the stamp?

What goes into getting certified?

Should I get certified organic?

These are all common questions that I hear being asked with the small scale farming community. They are also questions that my guest today Scott Murray gets a lot, and helps a lot with.

Scott’s a 40 year organic farming veteran who’s been around the organic farming movement since the beginning, before it was a big thing. Today he will share his knowledge of what he’s learned about the organic movement and how he views organic certification in terms of who it’s right for, when it makes sense to get, and what goes into getting it.

If you were thinking about getting certified, but had some reservations, this episode will address those common reservations and leave you with a clear idea of what’s involved in the process. And it just might not be as expensive or cumbersome as you think it is after all.

This show is brought to you by CoolBot.  Get a discount coupon for CoolBot at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Looking for more?  There are over 100 episodes in the archive at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

When you are only growing a 10 day crop, how much of an affect does light quality and temperature have on the crop?

A lot.

Chris is in Vancouver where he sees day lengths change from 8 hours at the winter solstice to 16 hours at the summer solstice; a large change which affects how much light crops get to grow. Less light in winter means slower or no crop growth. If you are a farmer, you get this. It makes sense, at least for field crops.

But what about microgreens? Crops which spend only half of their life in the light, a life that might only be 5 to 8 days.

Does seasonality really affect those crops over those 5 days?

Yes, and more than you think.

In this episode Chris will talk all about the change of the seasons and how it affects microgreen crop growth - specifically the effects of changing temperatures and light conditions. Two factors which can dramatically affect crop growth, yield and quality.

How to Grow Better Microgreens All Year - Adapting for Changing Seasons, Temperature, and Light Conditions with microgreen grower Chris Thoreau.

DOWNLOAD the show notes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart and CLICK on Episode 101

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

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: www.permaculturevoices.com/b013

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

To celebrate episode 100 I take a look back at the 100 combined episodes of The Urban Farmer and what is now Farm Small, Farm Smart focusing on the highlights, some backstory, and where the show is headed in the future.

See some of the highlights from the first 100 episodes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Thanks for listening!

Richard Perkin's Ridgedale Permaculture site in Sweden, a prime example of what a permaculture farm is and could be.

A site that has undergone remarkable changes in just a few years.  Going from your average rural farm to the penultimate functioning permaculture farm that's right out the pages of a book.  And one that would also become a book.

Unlike many permaculture demonstration sites, Richard's site functions as a farm.  

I think it's a great example because permaculture or not, first and foremost it's a farm.  A profitable stand-alone farm.  

Where the permaculture comes in, is they layer on permaculture over that working small farm model.   They use the design tool where needed and as needed, but all while paying attention to the bottom line knowing that the farm has to pay for itself.    

The amazing thing about what Richard is doing, is he isn't doing it in the tropics or sub-tropics.

He's doing it in Sweden at the 59th parallel with 6 months of winter and 6 months of everything else.

That's the equivalent of the Northern part of the prairie provinces in Canada 700 miles above the US border.

Not the easiest of locations to be doing this in, but one where he's making it work.

And in true permaculture fashion the problem is the solution and the 6 months of winter allow Richard to rigorously plan out everything that he's doing on the farm.  One of the things that have really allowed him to fast track development of his farm.

In this episode we go in depth on how he's done so much so fast, covering a lot of topics from rotational grazing to holistic management to no dig market garden beds.

If you are looking how to blend permaculture, and farming in a way that works, this is it.

Learn More and Download the show notes at www.permaculturevoices.com/225

There's one event that happens in many people's lives which instantly changes their life forever.

Overnight, instantly, everything is different.

Your life, your approach to life, how you view life, and how you go about living life all change.

It's an event that some people aren't ready for and one that others are ready for, but one where no one is ever REALLY ready.

It's the birth of a child.

A beautiful event that instantly makes live more worth living and richer, but one which also makes life harder and more challenging, especially for entrepreneurs.

If you thought running a business or starting a farm was hard without kids, try doing it with kids, because it's exponentially harder.

Curtis is a brand new parent experiencing some of those challenges first hand.

Today, we'll explore what those challenges are like in terms of life and farming, and how Curtis is dealing with them as a brand new inexperienced father, while being a seasoned experienced farmer.

It's never easy, and as you'll hear it's always a balancing act.

But it is one Curtis, me, and most other fathers wouldn't trade for anything else in the world.

Get the audiobook at www.permaculturevoices.com/audiobook

Download the show notes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart and click on Episode 99.

Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd10

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Today’s show centers around Ben Hewitt’s book Home Grown; a great book that has had a profound effect on my life.

It's one of those books that I couldn't put down and at the same point it was hard to read because I got so lost in thought reading it.

It's a rare must read category book for me.

It should appeal to the homesteader, the wannabe homesteader, the parent, the soon to be parent, and the millions of people who are feel like the system did them wrong by sending them off on the wrong path in life destined to a life of track homes and cubicles.

It's a vicarious look into the life that many of wish we could live, but don't...

The subtitle of the book is Adventures in Parenting off the beaten path, unschooling and reconnecting with the natural world.

Ben describes it as his sharing of stories,

"They are not merely stories about all we are learning but also about all we are unlearning and about our imperfect quest to inhabit a balanced place that allows us to remain part of a broader world while also living in a way that is true to our values and vision. In a sense, for us this has been the easy part. I have found that the harder part is determining how to conduct our lives in a manner than honors these values and this vision, even as we are continually confronted with evidence that such a quest is impractical, if not downright naive."

The book is deep, and I hope that it gets you thinking.

This episode and this book is one that is very important to me because Ben's book had such an impact on me and as the title of this episode says, it got me to stop worrying and to start living. I hope that it has an impact on you, if you are in need of one.

Ben Hewitt and I, two father, talking kids and life, here it is.

Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd10

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

While the prospects of starting a small market farm that grosses over $100,000 is lucrative and attractive, it's not for everyone or possible in every location.

And that's the topic of today's episode with Blake Cothron of Peaceful Heritage Farm....

A lot of what you hear about in the small scale farmer movement are the uber-successful small farmers that are grossing 1, 2 or $300k per acre.  They are inspiring stories, but those stories all share one thing in common, their markets.  Typically small farmers grossing big dollars are able to do that by selling their produce into larger, higher end urban market streams - market streams which will pay top dollar for microgreens, salad mix, and baby root veg.

What if you don't live near one of those large urban markets?

What if you don't have high end farmers markets and restaurants to sell product too?  

What do the prospects of your rural farming career hold?

Today, I am talking to a farmer who faced that exact problem, making farming work in very rural Amish Kentucky without high end restaurants and with a sleepy farmer's markets.  
 
In this episode Blake Cothron of Peaceful Heritage Farm located in very rural Crab Orchard Kentucky will share his story.  

It's an inspiring story about a husband and wife making a small farm work, by approaching farming in a very smart way.   A necessity, when your local customer based is used to buying vegetables at prices like 3 for $1 or $1 per dozen sweet corn.

If you're interested in farming, but you are nowhere near a large city, then this episode is for you.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Paul Wheaton joins me to talk about his new Kickstarter and what he's learned over very successful Kickstarter campaigns.  He also discusses what makes a good PC, choosing the right PDC, and how he deals with the constant hate that people throw his way.  We wrap up the conversation talking about doing epic s*** versus living a boring grey life.

Support Paul's Kickstarter at www.permaculturevoices.com/paul

Today I'm talking to a grower who's admittedly "I'm a little bit obsessive about growing high quality produce."

It's an obsession that's fueled his farms growth, and an obsession which is a bit necessary to fuel the farm's growth to bring his fiancé onto the farm full-time.

And while Elliot Seldner of Fair Share Farms' obsession may be on growing high quality produce, it's not only on growing high quality produce, because Elliot realized the importance of work life balance and the need to have a time and place to enjoy the other things created on the farm.

Today Elliot is going to talk specifically how they do that, in part by focusing intentionally on making the farm more efficient through appropriate technology, no till, and optimizing equipment.

Elliot's also going to talk about how he and his fiancé are approaching farm transition. Because she's current employed a schoolteacher, a necessary step in their farms evolution, but one that's only a step, where the long term goal is to get her onto the farm full time.

Looking into the future, it's the farming methods that Emma and Elliot use which will make this all possible, a farm that provides multiple incomes on just over half and acre...

Let's get into it, with one of the masters of farm efficiency, Elliot Seldner.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Whether it’s MMA or becoming a freelancer or business owner, the punches will be thrown, and they will hit you.

But as Mike Tyson said, "Everybody has a plan until they punched in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze."

When life hits you in the face what are you going to do?

Are you going to freeze like a rat, or are you going to come back like Mike Tyson and be that baddest man on the planet?

The hard reality of that question, is that it truly is up to you to decide.

What would you do?

Let’s find out what a former MMA fighter turned farmer did, and find out from out what's it's like to get punched into the face by life, and someone else...

Read more at permaculturevoices.com/yourstory2

Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Music: www.purple-planet.com

If customers keep asking if you have certain crop, and you don't, should you grow it?

It depends.

And that's the focus of today's show: When, How, and Why to Start Producing A New Microgreen Crop

Today microgreen grower Chris Thoreau and I are talking about new crops - specifically how do you start growing them?

On the surface that may seem like a simple and straightforward question, but there's a lot of specifics involved in answering that questions, and the specifics are where profits are made or money is lost.

You have to consider things like can you actually grow the crop - meaning can you get a good yield from in within your system that's already setup to grow other crops; or does the crop's harvest schedule fall in line with your other crops and your current harvest schedule.
 
If you plan on scaling the crop, can you actually buy enough seed?  And can that seed be bought at a price that makes the crop profitable.

All legitimate considerations which need to be considered, anytime you take on the decisions to grow a new corp.

If you are thinking about starting a farm or adding some new crops to the mix, then this episode is for you.

Chris will put the theory to reality and talk about his experiences and failures introducing new crops, like basil.

What his methodically and thought process was and why.

As you'll hear, not everything always works, regardless of how much experience you have, and sometimes some crops are just better off not grown.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today I'm going to be talking to another small scale farmer who's greatly benefited by growing smaller, not larger.

A few years ago farmer Alex Bertsch started farming on half an acre.  Not a ton of land, but enough to make it hard for one person to manage.  Add in the fact that the half an acre was being farmed part-time, and that half an acre seems a little more daunting.  Then place that half an acre 40 minutes from where Alex lived, and you now have a hard farm to manage for anyone.  It was a situation that was further complicated by growing a large variety of crops.  

Despite these first year challenges, Alex persevered and came out the first year ahead.  Then he did something wise, he accessed the situation and he scaled back.

He cut his farm down from half an acre to just 500 square feet and some indoor growing space, and he moved the farm from the remote location to his back yard.  Also, as part of his strategy he dramatically reduced his crops selection down to just salad greens and microgreens.

It was a big change of going smaller and simpler that changed everything for Alex.  It made his life and his farm more manageable, and it's one that he continues to grow today.

Growing Better by Growing Smaller - Going From Half an Acre to 500 Square Feet with Alex Bertsch of Epic by Nature Farm.

Stay tuned every Monday, for a new episode at www.permaculturevoices.com/grassfed

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

This episode is a special episode, it's a replay of another podcast, specifically someone else's podcast.

The episode that you will hear today is an interview that Marianne West did with me on a subject I am very passionate about - being a dad.

Marianne is going to talk to be about being a dad and how that first experience of being a dad dramatically shook up my life, and not just in a good way.

Marianne did a great job with the interview, and it's an episode that I am very proud to have been a part of.

If you like what you hear in this one, and you want to hear more be sure to check out more episodes with Marianne and her co-host Janice at www.sustainablelivingpodcast.com.

With that, let's get into it, with me on the other end of things for a change, it's me on being a dad.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

There's a lot to worry about out there in the world right now - climate change, GMOs, the financial system, debt, terrorism, disease, water insecurity, a fragile food system.

What if you could insure yourself against some of these worries?

And get that insurance through land, land as insurance..

It would be a way to take insurance back into our control and put the fragile dollars into an anti-fragile system - an ecosystem.

Today Rob Avis of Adaptive Habitat and I will be discussing the idea of owning land as insurance against disaster in depth.

We'll get into models that don't exist yet, and ways that anyone can start to create some anti-fragility in their life now, regardless of where you live and whether you have land or not.

I guarantee, this one will get your wheels turning.

The Antifragile Property Series with Rob Avis - Part 1

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today I'm going to be talking to another small scale farming making a go of it as we go to Sebastopol, CA to talk to Caiti Hachmyer of Red H Farm.

Caiti's a farmer who started out her farming career on the advocacy side of things.  She was living the Bay Area advocating for farmers and looking to play her part in changing hte food system.  But after a while she felt something was missing.  And she felt like she needed to get on the ground and see what life was really like for some of the farmers that she was advocating for.  So she picked up her California roots and moved to Minnesota to spend some time working on a production farm.  

It was step that would change her life forever.  Giving her perspective of the on the ground side of things which helped her on the policy side, and one that would give her a nice experience ot have in her back pocket.

One that she would need to draw on when she moved back to California and needed work.  

Caiti's gone on to continue her work on the ground and policy side of things.  

It's the dual nature of her work that we focus on today,

Here it is Farming For A Change with Advocate Farmer Caiti Hachmyer of Red H Farm.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today I'm going up to Vancouver to talk to Microgreen Farmer Chris Thoreau with the goal of focusing in on 10 base principles for growing high quality microgreens.

Think 10 things that are critical to growing a good crop regardless of where you are growing them, when you are growing them or how you are growing them.

These base principles help ensure that you get a successful crop that is free of disease and of high quality.

It’s not enough just to go through a successful process without knowing why you are doing what at different parts of the process.  

Because if you don’t know, and a variable changes, you need to be able to know how to react and adapt.

While everyone’s process is likely different based on the crop that they are trying to grow, today’s show it’s all about what’s the same, the base principles.

Learn more about Chris's course at www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens

Show Notes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Welcome to world of Farming Small and Farming Smart.

Today I'm talking to another small scale farming making a go of it, as we go to Omaha, Nebraska to take a look at how farmer Taylor Rogers started his farm.

It's an interesting story that takes Taylor from working behind the scenes in a restaurant kitchen to starting up a farm with no experience in a 3rd story apartment.  Being on the third floor dealing with all of the steps made for tough go of it initially, but Taylor persisted.

In hindsight he didn't start out farming in the perfect conditions or with the perfect setup, but the key was that he started and he never looked back.  

He back his enterprise in that 3rd story apartment by producing 6 trays of microgreens a week, then leveraging that production and the learnings that came with it to gradually scale up to doing 150 trays of microgreens a week.

He currently grows of 20 different crops, and it's that variety that has been one of the keys to his success.  In this episode he'll also talk about some of the other things that have made him successful such as growing what chefs want, how they want it, and bringing it when you say you’re going to bring it.

All keys to his current success and keys he learned before he even got into farming when he saw these problems first hand working behind the scenes in the kitchen.  Taylor's going to share a lot of information and insight in this one about working with chefs.

Today it's all about growing what chefs want with Taylor Rogers of In Season Omaha.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today is another episode where Curtis and I will be widening the scope, stepping back and zooming out from the tools and techniques and his 1/3 of an acre farm, to take a look at some of the macro issues surrounding agriculture.

The focus today is on employees.

Curtis will take about his thoughts on hiring employees, and what he looks for in employees.

We'll also get into some of the complications that having employees bring to a business owner and what other options other than hiring someone are available.

One of the options that we will look at is having fiefdoms or element partners on your land base.

An idea that sounds great in theory, but one that has some downsides in reality...

Today it's all about getting more done on the farm, by bringing in more people to do the work; it's all about employees...in this episode of The Urban Farmer.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today I am talking with Dr. Ross Mars, author of The Permaculture Transition Manual.

A book that covers a wide variety of practical topics including: permaculture design principles, soil building, nutrient-dense food growing, and greywater systems.

In the book Ross also dispels a number of well accepted permaculture myths, such as comfrey being a dynamic accumulator.  I think we have all hear that one before, plant comfrey because its roots mine and accumulate nutrients deep within the soil.  A great concept, unfortunately one that's just not true.  As Ross found there's no scientific evidence to back that claim up.

It's this scientific approach to permaculture that makes Ross's approach unique. In his book and in this interview he talks about what's worked for him and what's scientifically plausible.

Today Ross and I will use that practical and realistic lens to take a look at home scale rainwater harvesting and waste treatment.  

Ross will use his 20 years of industry experience to talk about the insanity of bathtub reed beds, and the need slow water down as it moves through the system.

It's all about home scale greywater and blackwater with Dr. Ross Mars.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/152

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Farming Against All Odds with Ray Tyler of Rosecreek Farms

From laid off and in debt to grossing $120,000 on one acre.

Today's show goes beyond Curtis and the urban farm, as we take a look at another small scale vegetable producer and their farm.

We all know that running a business is hard.

We all know that running a farm business is hard.

But think everyone knows how hard it actually is.  How much it can push you to the limits and test your to your core?  

It's during those tests, when the world seems darkest, that most entrepreneurs throw in the towel.  The pressure, the stress, the money, it's all too much.

Nonetheless more and more people flock to farming without any experience, not totally knowing what they are getting themselves into..

One of those people was Ray Tyler...

Ray started out like a lot of people who get into farming, he was inspired by to get into farming by Joel Salatin's You Can farm...

He started raising livestock, and then life got real...


Imagine yourself as a new farmer running a full time livestock operation raising 50 pigs and a few thousand chickens a year.  

And then imagine running a two acre market garden on top of that...

And along the way the, your 5 year old daughter gets caner...

It was a moment that put Ray's farm and life on the ropes... it's the story of Ray Tyler or Rosecreek Farms...

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/151

There had always been that group of design-centric permaculturalists focused on the process, not the techniques. The Toby Hemenways and Larry Santoyos of the world, the Darren Dohertys and the Ben Falks, The Richard Perkins, and my guest today, Rob Avis.

They are all just a small sample of a larger subset that's focused on permaculture a design process, and only a design process. To them it's just another tool in the toolbox.

A tool that you have at your disposal that when needed and applied correctly, can make your job easier.

It's through the readings and conversations with these people that I have re-embraced permaculture for what it was a intended to be, and how I initially came about it.

And a big key in that return to permaculture as a tool, were the conversations that I had with Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture.

Like me Rob comes from an engineering background, and he came to permaculture after having been an engineer.

For him, permaculture gave him another tool to use and way to re-purpose his engineering career. Permaculture gave him a way to richen and deepen his design work and engineering versus diluting it.

And it was in one of our conversations where he said something that stopped me in my tracks, and changed my paradigm on the spot.

He said, "Diego, it doesn't matter what anyone is saying or doing with permaculture, no matter how irrelevant it may seem. Permaculture is simply another tool in the toolbox, and if it makes my job easier, then I will use it. Like a hammer, it doesn't matter what people are saying or claiming about a hammer, when you need to drive a nail you use a hammer, and when you, I don't pay attention."

It was that simple idea of permaculture being a tool, regardless of what claims people make, it's still a tool, that really reset my perspective on permaculture.

Suddenly all the bogus claims didn't matter, and I had something in my back pocket that made things easier, it was Permaculture - Another Tool in The Toolbox.

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Valuable and necessary to the success of hte changing landscape of agriculture... or an abused form of cheap labor that helps some farms appear more profitable than they really are...

That's what we are talking about today on The Urban Farmer with Curtis Stone

With the 2017 season underway, we'll be widening the scope.  Not only going beyond Curtis and the urban farmer, but also beyond the urban farm.

This year Curtis and I will take a step back zooming out from the tools and techniques and his one third of an acre farm, to take a look at some of the macro issues surrounding agriculture.

Each of our episodes will look at a difference topic that all are touched by the common thread of how do we scale this movement, and what does that look like in the future.

It's a year of farming small and farming smart, but thinking big.

Today, we are going to start out by taking a look at interns and farms.  What's good, what's bad, and what could be improved upon.

It's an issue that's really relevant and timely, because it's one that Curtis is dealing with right now, doing something that I never, ever, thought he would do, get an intern.

Let's find out why, in this episode of The Urban Farmer...

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today I will be talking with someone who likely inspired many of you to get into farming, to consider farming, or to farm better, not bigger.

I'll be talking to market gardener, Jean-Martin Fortier.  

We'll start out talking about his days before he farmed and how he figured out exactly who Jean-Martin Fortier was and what he was about.  And we'll end up in the fields talking about something that still gets JM excited today, the soil...

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

A compilation of stories from peers, friends, and students paying tribute to Toby Hemenway who passed away on December 20, 2016.

Learn more about Toby at www.permaculturevoices.com/150

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support


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Ben Watson, a senior editor at Chelsea Green, joins me to talk about his work with Toby Hemenway on the first edition of Gaia's Garden back in 2000 and how much of an influence that book had on the permaculture movement and the future of books in this space.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/149

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Liberation Permaculture by Toby Hemenway.

This episode is the rebroadcast of Toby talk from PV2 in March 2015.

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 will tell you how.

Here's a hint on how that's possible. If you can't measure it, you can't tax it.

Enjoy it, I hope it gets you thinking.

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/148

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today, let's take a look at permaculture.  Let's go beyond the land, and beyond food to take a look at a concept that Toby is calling 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."

Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/147

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Ten thousand years of agriculture has devastated every ecosystem it has come in contact with. Horticultural societies point toward a solution, and permaculture can help us design a way to overcome agriculture's deficiencies, preserve many of the best features of our culture, and create a horticultural society that has a good chance of proving sustainable. This lecture shows how we got into this mess, and offers a route out of it.

Presented live at PV1 in March 2014.

Toby Hemenway joins me to talk permaculture - how permaculture has changed and how we can work more permaculture into our lives.

Key Takeaways:

It really benefits anyone in almost any field to be able to think in whole systems. Someone who embraces permaculture can do a lot more than teach and design property. Apply permaculture techniques and principles to what you do.

Find good mentors. Many people want to help others. You just have to ask.

Some standard economic training is good. You can get a great toolkit and then apply it however you want. Standard training is a tool, a means to an end if you goal is ecological design.

Catch kids while thinking in whole systems. Before they are trained out of it into compartmentalized thinking.

Starting with soil fertility and building organic matter is a good idea. It is almost a universal panacea along with being careful with water.

Move to the highest generalization. For example, do you want to open a store, or do you want to make a living providing good products for your community.

Find the things in life that you are really good at and do those things. It gives you good feedback and then you start building confidence and making forward progress.

Want to transition careers? Find ways to make it less scary - lower expenses.

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/144

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