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

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.

PV2 Audio: permaculturevoices.com/pv2audio

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

Over the last two episodes [Episode 1, Episode 2] we looked at How Chris started and grew his microgreen business, and we have taken a look at what's possible with that business when it grows.

And if you just stand back and look at the numbers, their jaw dropping.

Let's be honest.

Grossing $200,000 growing 10 day old crops in a shipping container that takes up 320 square is jaw dropping.  It almost seems unbelievable.

But it's real, and that's where Chris is at with his business after 10 years.

Chris has show what's possible. And given that and the relatively low capital investment required to start a microgreens business, it's a business that attracts a lot of people.

People that likely focus on the high dollar value per tray, and people that dream about how much money they can make.

This is where it gets dangerous, because you can't just look at the income side of the business. You have to look at the expenses as well.

When you do that with microgreens that high dollar per tray, isn't as high as it might appear.

There are a number of cost that need to be considered - the soil, the seed, and the big one - the labor.

There's a decent amount of labor that goes into producing each tray of microgreens. Labor that needs to be priced into the product, and labor that might turn some people off from growing microgreens.

When over 60% of your time will be spent harvesting, cleaning, and sanitizing trays, some of the allure of that $50 tray goes away.

Add in the need for rigorous observations and recording keeping, and you will find yourself in a position that Chris describes as part automaton and part scientist.

No for everyone.

Especially when people enter the business looking to make a quick buck.

If you are thinking about starting a microgreens operation, there's a lot to consider, especially the negatives.

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

Ben Falk from Whole Systems Design, LLC joins me talk about permaculture design and what he has learned on his research site over the years.

He talks about how to break into the business as a designHe touches on cold climate infrastructure and heating with wood. And he goes into his thoughts on designing a property and why it's important to understand the land's capability and how you should relate that to your goals.

We also spend some time talking about the mass selection of plant genetics for a site, stressing the importance of over stacking the system in the beginning to see what works and what doesn't.

Key Takeaways:

Get some experience working with the land and systems before you start designing properties as "a designer."

You can reduce your wood usage by 30-40% by drying wood well versus haphazardly drying it.

Cold humid climates have a low tolerance for bad moisture detailing in structures. When designing a home detail carefully to keep the home dry and get water out.

Grow tree multi-purpose tree species for fuel wood. Consider black locusts - fixes nitrogen, fast grower, rot resistant wood, good fuel wood, and makes great saw logs.

Have goals but understand the land's capability so you can adjust those goals as needed. Don't fight against the land's tendencies and capabilities, work with it, not against it.

Most people have more land than they can manage well. Moving down in acreage might be advantageous. It is better to manage 5 acres right than 100 acres wrong.

Most people can have most of their needs met on 5-10 acres. Unless you have a commercial aspect or grazing component.

Have a good access plan for your site. Don't box yourself out. Start and maintain a clear access pattern which is based on the water flow throughout the site.

For site selection general location and access are a quick way to filter down a list of a lot of properties. Then look to the Keyline Scale of Permanance. Consider water security and controlling as much of a watershed as you can.

Focus on manageability with regards to plantings. Plant based on water access with on contour swales.

Not all permaculture techniques will work on all sites. So don't expect that.

Practice the mass selection of genetics. Identify the best genetics from your site by growing trees from seed. Plant as many tress as you can on a site, way closer than you would ever imagine, and cut out the ones that don't do well.

Use the first 3-5 years on a site to learn what does well. Years 5-10 are when you focus on plants and families that really want ot grow on your site - microclimate - aspect - soils. And there is no way to know which ones will work unless you start putting a lot of plants in the ground.

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If you have kids and you are self-employed and you work from home, getting work done in that environment can be a challenge.

Today Rob Avis is going to talk about some of his methodologies for balancing out working at home and what techniques he uses to plan out his week.

Rob is a busy guy co-running two companies (Adaptive Habitat and Verge Permaculture) with his wife Michelle, and he does it from his house, raising two young kids, so he has had a lot of experience getting serious work done in the heat of it.

Rob's also one of the smartest guys that I know. He's an avid reader and he thinks a lot about this type of stuff, so I was really curious how he is approaching raising kids, how he is choosing to school his kids and why. He's one of those guys that I go to when I am questioning a decision that I am making. He usually has a lot of insight into things that make me really think about what I am doing and why. It's something that I think we all need in our life.

Overall this message is part life hacking, part parent hacking, part hard dose of reality.

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

"They weren't just buying the product, they were buying the whole package."

That's how Chris Thoreau was able to go to a farmer's market selling one crop.  Just one.  Sunflower shoots.  He was able to go to market with just one crop because he was selling a product that had a great story.  

It was a product that was produced hyper-locally and one that was delivered to market via pedal power on a bike. 

Since Chris started his microgreen business nearly 10 years ago he has grown the business into one that has multiple employees and one that will do over $200,000 in sales in 2016.

If you want grow microgreens commercially, listen to today's episode.  You'll see how important it is to systemize your production and constantly record and analyze your results.  

It's the constant testing, analyze and adaptation that has made Chris' business hugely successful.  

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

You'll learn how Chris introduced a brand new crop to his market.  How he priced that product.  

And how and why he thinks about new products to sell.

There's a lot of in depth applicable business content in here for the experienced growers.  And for the beginners you will learn what Chris suggests for some good crops to grow 

There's a lot in this one and at it's core this interview focuses heavily on core success principles - relentless testing and experimentation, constant record keeping and analysis, and knowing what to focus on.  

Let's get into it Tips and Tricks for Growing, Harvesting, and Selling Microgreens as a Business with Chris Thoreau...

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

Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - What are you thoughts on combing biochar and fungi?

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

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Today I am talking with Erica Wisner, co-author of The Rocket Mass Heater Builder’s Guide.  

She co-wrote the book with her husband Ernie, and combined they are a wealth of knowledge on RMH.

They build them, they use them, they teach about them, and they innovate new designed.  They live the RMH lifestyle.

On the surface I think RMH are a complex subject, and I really tried to break through that complexity in this one by getting to the core of the what, where why and how.

At the end of this episode I think you will either be excited to learn more or saying, not for me.  Either way, we have done our job.

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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - Any advice for processing one to two birds at a time on a homestead level without having to purchase a bunch of equipment?

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

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

Today we are going to start the series, by going back to the beginning.  This is the story of how urban farmer Chris Thoreau started his microgreens farm almost 10 years ago.

Chris will take on questions such as:

Why microgreens?  Why did he start with microgreen?

Who did he model and how much did he start with?

And how did he handle startup and work life balance.

As you will hear it was tough at times, because Chris started his farm at what on paper looks like an inopportune time.

He started this part time while in school full time and 2.5 months into his first semester his son was born.

Despite life presenting challenges that some people would say aren't worth the risk, Chris made a go of it taking on these early challenges he has managed to grow his operation to  one that will do around $200,000 in sales in 2016.

And all that sales are coming from a farm that's in a shipping container taking up 320 sq. ft.  

That's where Chris is at today, but it didn't happen overnight, let's get into it and find out how it all started.

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

In Woody Agriculture, crops would be planted only once in a lifetime. The use of woody perennials for agricultural staple commodities production would result in little or no use of tillage, as well as the presence of a permanent cover during both the growing and the dormant seasons. Not only would this lead to a vastly lower rate of soil loss and less runoff into water supplies and aquatic environments, but there would be a reduced need for the fossil fuels consumed in plowing and tilling. In addition, use of pesticides needed for the establishment of annual plants could be sharply reduced. A further important benefit would be the reduction of soil compaction, since far fewer trips through the fields with heavy equipment would be required.

Key Takeaways:

Breeding: You cannot work with more than two traits at the same time. The most important trait is to have a population that actually survives.

When you sell products off of your farm (like nuts) you are exporting a lot of minerals. It is important to remineralize your soil. You can use sheep and chickens in hazelnut systems to remineralize and fertilize the soil.

Hickory and Pecan work well with hazelnuts. Chestnuts don't do as well given different soil pH requirements. Find the old timers growing tree species that you want to grow in your area. They may have long tested genetics suited for your area.

Hazels are wind pollinated, so you don't' need immediate close proximity for insect pollination.

Coppicing to the ground every 10 years can help to rejuvenate the plants.

An interview with Phil Rutter of Badgersett Research Corporation.

We talk about why perennial based woody agriculture is important and how chestnuts and hazelnuts fit into that. We also talk a lot about plant breed and using mass selection to find genotypes that have the traits that you are looking for.

This episode is pretty dense and has a ton of information in it for anyone looking to breed plants. Phil is brilliant and I think I learned more about plant breeding my conversations with him than I ever have anywhere else. Given how much information is in this episode and how long this episode is, I have split it into two parts. This is part 2 of 2.

Take it all in, enjoy it, and most importantly do something with this information.

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Curtis is on vacation, so I am joined by bio-intensive farmer Jodi Roebuck.

Jodi's been farming and studying under the originator of the Grow Bio-Intensive form of farming, John Jeavons, for 18 years.

Jodi's well known for using Jeavon's bio-intensive method to build soil. Soil that's deep and loose enough to literally put your arm into up to your elbow.  It's a soil that well known grower JM Fortier has called some of the best soil that he's ever seen.  It's from this rich soil that Jodi farms, growing his own fertility, his own food, saving seeds, and educating the next generation of farmers.

He's traveled the world studying under the masters and visiting a lot farms along the way.  This summer Jodi made a stop in North America where he visited the home farms of both JM Fortier and Curtis.  As a result, he's very familiar with their market gardening style.  The question then becomes how can he apply his knowledge of bio-intensive practices to the context of market farming, and that's where we pick up the conversation today.

Where do the worlds of bio-intensive growing and market gardening collide, and what's possible...

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/jodi

Darren Doherty of Heenan Doherty and Regrarians joins me from Australia to fill in some of the gaps surrounding Keyline design.

While the whole Keyline design system is complex and way beyond the scope of this podcast.This episode should give you a brief introduction into what Keyline is, where it can be used, and what it can accomplish. Like all other design systems Keyline isn't the be all, end all, it is another tool in the tool box help design a regenerative landscape.

For those that want to learn more check out Darren's work, some of it below, and P.A. Yeomans books. Darren recommends The Keyline Plan and The Challenge of Landscape.

Keyline design is a foundation of technique and planning using a scale of permanence. It's focus is on reacting to a climate of an environment, a site, and then using the landscape's shape to maximize the possibility of a sustainable, regenerative environment.

An interview with Phil Rutter of Badgersett Research Corporation.

We talk about why perennial based woody agriculture is important and how chestnuts and hazelnuts fit into that. We also talk a lot about plant breed and using mass selection to find genotypes that have the traits that you are looking for.

This episode is pretty dense and has a ton of information in it for anyone looking to breed plants. Phil is brilliant and I think I learned more about plant breeding my conversations with him than I ever have anywhere else. Given how much information is in this episode and how long this episode is, I have split it into two parts. This is part 1 of 2.With the second part dropping this Friday, July 11 as episode 58.

Take it all in, enjoy it, and most importantly do something with this information.

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.

"You're the average of the five people that you spend the most time with."  Jim Rohn

Hang around with people who support you and push you and you will end up farther ahead than by hanging around with people who hold you back and tear you down.  It sounds obvious.  And I think that most people listening to this would agree.

But it's not always easy to do.   

Either by choice or by life.

Sometimes we just don't put in the effort or want to deal with the pain of getting rid of the negative influences in our lives.  And sometimes we can't easily get rid of the negative influences in our lives.  Sometimes people in our family struggle or run into problems.  Problems which require our support.  So we can't abandon those people.  

Regardless those people will have an effect on our lives.  

And this idea is one of the many that I will be talking about today with Javan Bernakevitch as part of our continued look into the common, but hidden reality of us all.

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It's currently September 15, 2016 and the end of the regular farming season is near. Along with it is Curtis's tenure at the Kelowna Farmers Market.

After 7 seasons at the farmers market, Curtis is moving on. It's part of a larger effort to simplify the farm and match the farm to his lifestyle.

At this point in his career Curtis is trying to simplify his farm. Not grow bigger just to be bigger. Instead choosing to grow better becoming more efficient and effective. That means focusing on the market streams that work, the products that sell, and moving to plots located even closer to his homebase.

Part of those changes involve dropping things like the farmers market which has done since the beginning of his career. But it's a market stream that requires getting up on Saturday for 8 months of the year and it's a market stream that isn't growing anymore.

And It's one of the many changes taking place at Green City Acres, resulting in a farm that will look very different come April 2017.

Today we will take a look at the many changes coming to Green City Acres, along with they why behind those changes.

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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.

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"Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
 
This episode is about those secret sorrows, it's an inside look at the world of depression and suicide.  Depression that affect 20 million Americans a year.  And depression is like a war, you either win or die trying.

Today's episode features some stories of people fighting that war.

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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - You have kids, how do you work from home and get anything done?

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Stefan Sebkowiak of Miracle Farms joins me to talk about the what's lacking in organic systems - biodiversity. And why organic is good, but creating a polyculture is a lot better.

Stefan started out his journey purchasing a conventional non-organic orchard. He worked on converting it over to organic and realized that something wasn't right, something was missing. The system was lacking the biodiversity that you see in nature.

So Stefan converted over his organic orchard into a permaculture, polyculture based system. He removed a lot of apple trees and replaced them with other fruit trees and support species. He added more diversity to the system giving him more products to sell, more wildlife, and ultimate a healthier, more resilient system.

A lot of commercial orchardists say that polyculture won't work. Stefan has show that on a tree by tree basis he is getting as much yield as a conventional orchard.

He is out there trying to prove that you gross $1.00 per square foot in a polyculture system that value adds from multiple yields - poultry, fruit, vegetables, herbs, etc.

"You can read a lot, but you need to go out and test things."

Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - In a perfect world, what would be your ideal recipe for a substrate mixture that is fairly universal in terms of species of mushrooms that would grow on it?

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

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Busy versus effective.

Two different ways of getting stuff done.

Think of busy as the pinball in a pinball machine, a lot of bouncing around randomly, getting some stuff done, but not in the most linear way. Where effective is like the bowling ball headed down the lane, a straight shot targeting a specific pin. Both lead to results, the busy route does a lot more moving per unit of work done.

Usually these two routes are mutually exclusive. Busy people aren't effective, and effective people aren't busy.

The danger in being a busy body, is just that, you are just busy; you are doing a lot of work, maybe the right work, maybe not, maybe in the right order, maybe not, and the cost of being busy is a loss of time.

Whereas the effective person does what they need to do when they need to do it based on the time that they have available and the priority of the task at hand. This saves the effective person time, allowing them to get more done, or just have more free time.

Time can be a major constraint for entrepreneurs. You can’t get more of it, and we all only have 24 hours in a day, so using that time effectively is going to determine what your lifestyle looks like.

Today I am talking to an entrepreneur who has made shifts in their life to make their time less busy, and more effective.

It's Erik Ohslen of Permaculture Artisans.  Erik's been on the show a few times in the past, and if you have heard those shows that you will know that he founded the successful landscape design and build company Permaculture Artisans.

In addition to running that company, Erik also is a part of several other businesses, and he's married, and he has kids.

How does he make it all work?

That's the focus on today's episode.

I am going to dig into Erik's new business venture, ForeSite mapping, and the strategy behind that.

The second half of the episode will get into how to balance family and business?

The key in all of this, is to make effective decisions, so you are less busy with your time.

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Part three of our series on Small Scale Farming on the Cheap - What's the least you could spend to start a farm?

Last week in Episode 23 we started going through the equipment needed, or perceived to be needed, when you start a farm along with the costs and advantages associated with that equipment.

Given that this is Part 3 it probably makes more sense to listen to Part 1 and Part 2 first.

Last week we left of the talk on equipment wrapping up with the tiller.

We'll start today with a little bit of warmup on macro business talking before jumping back into the list discussing hand tools.

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I welcome Frank Golbeck of Golden Coast Mead on the show today.

Frank story is a great example of someone who went after their dreams in a smart and systematic way. He isn’t any different than any of us. He didn’t start with a huge some of money or some other advantage. But the difference between Frank and a lot of people is that took on the scary unknown, the hard part starting.

Fast forward ahead a few years and the dream has become a reality. Things still aren’t easy, but they are very real and Frank is enjoying every moment of it.

No matter where you are at in your life, I think Frank’s story is inspirational and highly copyable. Hopefully something in here will resonate with you and will inspire you to start that thing that you always wanted to do.

Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - If I grow mushrooms on soil contaminated with oil or heavy metals, will the mushroom be safe to eat?  

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

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Imagine it's your first year in college and you get an offer to go be an apprentice on farm.

You've never farmed before. And you've never really thought about farming before.

Taking the offer means that you would need to drop out of college to commit to the apprenticeship.

And so would you future wife, because you're also engaged.

She isn't from a farming family or background either.

So it's you two, in college for something that isn't ag related, dropping out out college to take an apprentice ship on a farm.

What would you do?

Most people would say tell me more.

Well, this is a farm raising chickens on grass. And this farm is located in Swoope, VA and it's run by a farmer named Joel Salatin.

What would you do? Would you and your wife drop out of college to accept the invitation to be apprentices or not?

A lot of people would say yes.

But it's 2016.

What if you got this same offer in 1996 when very few people outside of the area knew who Joel Salatin was, it's 1996 when pastured poultry wasn't a thing, and it's 1996 and you are going to be the second ever apprentice on Joel's farm.

It's not the same slam dunk answer that it might be for many of you as it is today.

That's the exact question that my guest, John McAuley was faced with back in 1996.

To quit school and farm, or not.

Let's find out how that played out.

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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks about creating Permaculture Chickens live on stage at PV3.

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

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Part two of our series on Small Scale Farming on the Cheap - What's the least you could spend to start a farm?.

Last week in episode 22 we covered the base principles costs and equipment associated with farm startup.

We established the point that tools are simply one leg on the stool of success.

The tools should never hold you back. It's never going to be just the tools that make you successful. Yet, good tools can make job easier.

That show focused on the concepts and the ideas behind the why.

Today's show focuses on the what. What do you actually need and how much does it costs.

This episode is the first of a few digging into that question.

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“These side issues, the longer they go on and we don’t face reality, the more people that are going to die, and the more trillions of dollars it is going to cost, so time is not on our side.  We need to act.  Most people want to act.  Institutions are holding us up.  Only ordinary people can lead and act.  And it is time to move.” Allan Savory

This interview was conducted with Allan Savory several years ago at PV1.

For more from Allan listen to Rhodesia to Long Beach. 50 Years of Struggle, Persistence and Success with Allan Savory (PVP055)

Joel Salatin's talk on Stacking Fiefdoms from PV1.

"The whole idea is to create customized fiefdoms so that people are autonomous and have the authority to run their own fiefdom within your own umbrella, and you can't believe how many things you can get done that way."

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Today we will try to break down the holistic context into bites that are more digestible and present it in a way that might be easier for some people to understand.  

This is a tough subject to take on, and I think even Allan Savory would admit that, even stating in his book “the concept of holistic goal develop slowing winding its way through many wrong turns and dark passages.  It would prove to be more difficult to articulate than any other aspect of Holistic Management and it continues to evolve to this day."

Kudos to Allan Savory for coming up with this framework, it’s his shoulders that we are standing on during this episode.

Let’s get into it and try to deconstruct the holistic context, with my co-host Javan Bernakevitch.

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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - If you are processing broilers on a homestead level, what type of equipment do you think you need?

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

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Farming... is it expensive to start, or not?

A lot of people want to get into farming, but they stall out when it comes to the money side of things.

The common cause of that stall out is land. Land is expensive to purchase. So most people immediately dismiss the idea of farming because they can't afford land.

But people like Greg Judy, Joel Salatin, and us on this show, have shown that you don't need to own land to farm.

There's a lot of land available to farm. Land you don't need to own, and land that you can gain access to through options like leasing..

If you can lease land either for free or inexpensively and if you are in a market where you can move product, then the potential upside to small scale farming is pretty attractive given the low start up costs and low infrastructure requirements?

How low?

Very low compared to other businesses.

In his book Curtis gives an initial start-up estimate for a 1/4 acre farm at $7k to $17k.

Curtis started his farm with just $7k.

That's $7k that buys equipment and infrastructure which is portable and resellable.

In good markets, the risk reward of small scale farming is usually favorable because small scale market farming startup costs are very low compared to many business out there.

Yet, despite the minimal start up costs, the costs are still prohibitive, or at least perceived to be prohibitive by some people.

Given that we'll dig into the farm start up numbers and see where costs can be cut and what costs are just unavoidable.

And we'll also bring in some rationale to these numbers discussing why certain items are worth the cost, and why others aren't.

Today we'll begin a multi-part series discussing the minimum that you could spend to start a farm, and we will begin with the base principles, what are the things that you need to think about before you spend any money, that's coming up on Season Two Episode 22 of The Urban Farmer.

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There are some wonderful examples of communities of practice growing around farmer-to-farmer extension of permaculture design principles in poorly served regions. How can the global permaculture community organize around the idea of putting permaculture at the heart of rural development, displacing the business-as-usual development programs that promote unsustainable farming systems, by making better use of resources that already exist – resources like the world-wide network of permaculture training centers, and the ubiquitous cell phone?

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Today's show is about time.

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

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

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

How many people listening to this have unfilled dreams?

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

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

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

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

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

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Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - I'm new to mushroom foraging, what are some of the unwritten rules of the game?

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

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If your listening to this show then you probably have a garden or have had one at one point and time. And for most of you gardeners summer is your primary gardening time. And for most of North America that's a good time to garden because it's relatively easy. Plants like to grow because day lengths are long and temperatures are warm.. at least for most of North America.

But what if you live in a part of North America, that doesn't fall under under the previously mentioned "most" category...

That's where my guest today, Market Gardener Brian Kowalski finds himself living in Newfoundland...

Summer as he describes it is something like this...

"May is still cold here, ground is just unfreezing, June is cool, average temp is around 4-5 Celsius (40F), but usually sunny with warm days (10-14C, 57F) but May and June night time temps are generally below 4C. July or August will be normal summer weather, 20-30 C, 85F with nights 12-15, 57F, but one them is usually pretty crappy grey foggy and damp with temperatures cool to warm. ...Septembers have usually been ok but there's a noticeable slow down of growth of course as the nights cool and the days shorten. So to answer your question, July or August. Lots of cold frames and row cover."

Living in Newfound weather is one challenge for Brian. He describes the climate as like farming in the shoulder season all summer, windy generally with occasional hurricane, cloudy.

Despite the challenges Brian has made a go of it and is a profitable market gardener. What he is doing is working.

Given that, the goal for this to take a look at how Brian is dealing with harsh conditions to help those of you who might not have such harsh conditions. Another use of this information is to take some of the techniques that Brian has to apply in the summer and apply them to the colder parts of your season, be in the spring or fall shoulder seasons, or the winters...

Listen to the ideas and techniques that he is using and think about how you can apply them to your situation even if your season and his don't match up.

And when it's cold and rainy in October, just be thankful that it isn't June, and you aren't trying to garden in the summer in Newfoundland.

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"At too many companies, and in too many hapless careers, the number one imperative is to avoid failure and embarrassment associated therewith at all costs. My take, failure, supported by wildly imaginative hypotheses and incredibly hard work, is something that companies and individuals must embrace. Frankly at all costs. Unless you’re stretching... wildly, you're not going to reach that brass ring called hyper success amidst a brawl with no rules." Tom Peters

The market and nature of small scale farming is too dynamic.

To succeed you have to be dynamic as well.

That will mean trying things that don't work, and trying things not knowing if they will work.

You're going to have to make assumptions and best guesses. You're going to have to adapt.

And that's what today's episode is all about... adapting and switching it up on the fly...

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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

This show is a conversation that I had with Mark Shepard about the process of starting up his farm, New Forest Farm, in Viola, Wisconsin.

How did he start?

What was the process like - both on the land and off?

What were the real life financial struggles and challenges that he went through and faced?

Hint... It wasn't easy.

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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - How much room do chickens actually need to roost?

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

Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question - Why aren't you certified organic?

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

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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

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

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

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

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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.

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

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

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

Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/61

Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - "I'm attempting your technique of decomposing cigarette butts with oysters. I have them growing on coffee grounds and I'm curious about using coffee as the substrate. I know it's probably not the best, but can I move to feeding it cigarette butts or would it be too much? And I'm also curious as to  whether or not there's more research done that suggests that the mycelium can broke down all or some of the toxins from used cigarettes butts."

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

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Today's episode is a replay of the presentation that Peter Allen gave at PV2 in March 2015..

The presentation is titled Grazing the Savanna: Lessons from New Forest and Mastodon Valley Farms.

In this talk Peter will share the lessons he learned establishing and managing multi-species rotational grazing operations in a well-established permaculture setting at Mark Shepard’s New Forest Farm, and now in a newly emerging setting, at Mastodon Valley, where he is planting tree crops, grazing a suite of animals, thinning forest, constructing an off-grid homestead, and building a broad-acre permaculture farm.

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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - I notice you give your chickens fermented or soaked grains each morning.  Can you give us the recipe on what grains you use?  And the process?

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

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