Permaculture Realized Podcast

Todays guest is Lina Bird who is very active in the Washington DC branch of the Citizens Climate Lobby. The Citizens Climate Lobby is a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization with chapters all over the country, with the aim of lobbying for national policies to address climate change. One of their primary policies is a Carbon Tax and Dividend.

This past winter I had the pleasure of visiting my friends Randy and Libby Buchler and their family at their farm, Shady Grove Farm in Michigans Upper Peninsula. In 2009, they recieved a notice for alleged zoning violations regarding their agricultural activity. Through a ton of research and collaborations, they were finally able to win back their Right to Farm in a 2012 court case. Today Randy Buchler joins us to share their story of how they achieved success.

Today we’re talking to Nathan Ayers who teaches Permaculture to students of all ages in Michigan. This is Nathans second time on the show, and it’s always a great time having him. If you like this one, be sure to check out Episode 18 as well where we discussed water solutions to the Flint, MI Water Crisis. Today we talk about Nathan and his brother Nick’s exciting new project; We Are the Forest. In addition to their work in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, they are also involved on Beaver Island.

This weeks episode is about how to start your own edible permaculture plant nursery with special guest, Sean Dembrosky of Edible Acres. Edible Acres is a small homestead and plant nursery that Sean runs in the Finger Lakes area of New York State. Today, he shares with us some great tips to getting started or improving our own plant nurseries.

Today we're talking to Peter Allen who runs Mastodon Valley Farm in Wisconsin. Before getting in to regenerative farming, Peter was a student of ecology and complex systems theory, so he brings a unique an informed perspective to the use of animal agriculture as a method of managing landscape for ecological health.

Today’s guest is a good friend of mine who started up a bicycle powered community compost pickup business here in Northern Michigan. We discuss his experience with starting up the project, why this model has a ton of oppotunity for others to step up and replicate it, and tips on how you can start your own!

Today's guest Bryce Ruddock, is an author, educator and avid forest gardener from Wisconsin. Today Bryce shares his favorite plants to grow from among the hundreds of species that he's experimented with at his home. I definitely recommend getting your notebooks out for this episode because Bryce shares so many great species and resources that deserve a closer look by anyone interested in gardening like an ecosystem.

This episode is a follow up on episode 27. If you missed it I highly recommend you check it out. In that episode we did an analysis of what humans need to flourish. So now, using what we learned from the past episode, this week we’re going to go into kind of the goal setting part of the design process if you want to look at it that way, but basically just looking at how we can respond to the situation that we’re in. How we can adapt.

Today’s guest is Peter Bane who is the president of the Permaculture Insitute of North America, he wrote the Permaculture Handbook, literally, he has built and lived in eco-villages and self-sufficient homesteads for decades. and has taught dozens and dozens of courses and workshops all over the world. He’s the real deal, as you’ll soon learn.

Todays guest is Albert Bates who we spoke to last year because he attended the COP21 Paris Climate Conference so he gave us the inside story on that in Episode 16. Albert also went to the latest Climate Conference, COP22 in Marakech and so he'll be sharing with us what the so-called world leaders are doing about Climate Change and many other environmental issues.

There’ll be few main parts to this episode. I’m going to start out by doing a survey of kind of our basic biological human needs. So you know food, energy, shelter, connection, love that type of thing. (our global life support systems) And look at those within the context of how we go about meeting those needs and how that has changed over time especially from pre-agriculture revolution and then after the agriculture revolution and now into modern technological age.

Episode 26, Choosing the Best Homestead Property with Ben Falk        TOPICS: * Setting Goals * Analyzing the clients needs, strengths, resources etc * Determining geographic region * Access? Water? Slope? Soil? Existing wildlife/forest? Existing infrastructure (house, barn utilities)? * Better to have infrastructure/improvements already done on site, or blank slate? * Scale of Permanence * Choosing a house and house location * Type 1 errors to avoid * What types of watershed features to look for on a site * Looking and surrounding properties and people * Meet the neighbors before buying property! * Drink the water on site! * Look at at least 10 sites Today’s guest is Ben Falk who created and runs Whole Systems Design out of Vermont, and is also the author of the book The Resilient Farm and Homestead. Today we discuss how to go about finding the right homestead property for natural living and some of key decisions like siting your house. Thanks for listening to today’s episode. If you got something valuable from it, then please consider leaving us a rating and review on ITunes. You can find us under The Permaculture Realized Podcast.

Episode 25, Permaculture Homesteading with Justin Rhodes          Topics Covered: * How they got started with farming and chickens * Protecting chickens from predators (in the winter) * Keep chickens warm using the sun * Lazy (but productive!) Gardening with Chickens * What is Permaculture (and isn’t) * How they used permaculture to make their farm more effortless and cost-effective. * How they got started with cattle * Profitable grass-fed beef system * Their unique house-barn hybrid design Resources: * Book: Pastured Poulry Profits – Joel Salatin * Book: Small Scale Poultry Flock – Harvey Ussery * Justin’s Blog: AbundantPermaculture.com * Justin Rhodes on Youtube   Today’s guest is film producer, author and teacher Justin Rhodes who has been running his 75 acre permaculture farm near Asheville, NC for many years. He’s here to share with us some of the many lessons he’s learned along the way, and give some pointers to those getting started. I can really relate to Justin’s approach. Basically don’t worry too much about making mistakes. Learn the basics, then just try it out. Learn by doing. And play with it and experiment with it along the way, have fun! Because it’s not about the destination; having this super self-sufficient homestead where you efficiently produce all your own needs. It’s also about the process of learning and transformation you go through to get there! Don’t forget to check out Justins blog AbundantPermaculture.com and their daily homestead videos on youtube under Justin Rhodes. If you’re thinking about getting started with chickens, I highly recommend checking out Justins free videos and his Permaculture Chickens DVD which you can find on his blog. *Editors note: Steven Hawking was not involved in this episode in any way.  Click Here to go back to the Permaculture Realized Podcast Episode Listing  

Today's guest, Dan Kittrege has been an organic farmer since childhood, and has been developing a deep understanding of how a nutrient rich soil leads to healthier plants and healthier foods and ultimately healthier people and planet. He created the Bionutrient Food Association to promote this understanding of growing nutrient dense food. He also runs Kittredge farm in Brookfield, MA where he does his research and practices the science.

Today's guests Alec Gioseffi and Lauren Nagy run the CSA Farm Cooperative 518 in Princeton, New Jersey. They provide nourishing food to the local community using permaculture farming practices. The farm is home to chickens, cats, sheep, pigs, nine humans, veggies, herbs, flowers, a small upcycled greenhouse, a large seasonal hoop house, and two tiny homes.