Podcast – Page 26 – Regenerative Skills

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Building an off-grid intentional community in the Canadian wilderness with Peter Wildemann of the Zenith Project: 110

Continuing with this month’s focus on regenerative community models I had the pleasure of interviewing Peter Wildemann, co-founder of the “Zenith Project” an eco-village/intentional community in the Canadian wilderness. Peter is passionate about supporting people to live their highest purpose in the context of mutually supportive community by creating a new economic paradigm. Peter also aims to focus on connecting people in a small community setting where the most authentic relationships can be developed. In this interview we talk about what makes it a mutually supportive intentional community, how freedom is not the same as ability, what it means to […]

Alternative Communities

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Community building

Creating a regenerative social network with Magenta Ceiba, executive creative officer of Bloom Network: 109

Today we’re going to kick off a month-long exploration of various community models that are focused on regenerating environments, communication, and healthy cultures. In the next three weeks we’ll be looking closely into regenerative social networks, ecovillages and cohousing configurations. As the regenerative movement builds momentum around the world, people are rethinking the communities and societies that either promote or disincentivize healthy development. Though I’ve never found a community structure that is perfect, the interviews this month aim to identify the innovative progress of the communal structures that I mentioned and unpack the successes, challenges, and lessons in the process […]

Regenerative Round Table

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How to

Intensive soil building on small farms with Neal, Jeremy, and Shad: RRT 15

To wrap up this month long focus on building soils for market gardens I spoke with three of my favorite collaborators. Neal Hegarty and Jeremy Fellows from Granja Tz’ikin and Shad Qudsi from Atitlan Organics. Each of them share their experiences, trials, and errors from years of intensive soil building methods on rocky marginal land in rural Guatemala and the systems they currently use to build fertility on their farms. In this episode Shad talks about his integrated poultry operation and how his deep bedding method creates nutrient rich compost for the adjacent salad greens production at Atitlan Organics. Neal […]

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soil building

The definitve guide to worm farming, with Rhonda Sherman, author of “The Worm Farmer’s Handbook:” 107

My guest today, Rhonda Sherman, is the director of the Compost Learning Lab at North Carolina State University and a leading expert on vermicomposting. Rhonda travels extensively to present workshops and to consult with farmers, businesses, and institutions on the development and management of vermicomposting systems. She also organizes the annual North Carolina State Vermiculture Conference, which for nineteen years has drawn participants from across the United States and around the globe. She is a co-editor of Vermiculture Technology and has written extensively about composting and vermicomposting in her role with NC State University. In this episode I talked with Rhonda about […]

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market gardening

The definitive guide to no-till organic farming part 2, with Andrew Mefferd, author of “The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution”: 106

Welcome back to the definitive guide to no-till organic gardening. In this session we’ll pick up where we left off with Andrew Mefferd, editor of “Growing for Market Magazine” and the author of “The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution.” In last week’s episode we talked mostly about Andrew’s journey into farming and research of no-till market production methods after identifying the principle problems of tillage and the damaging effects on soil health that it’s had worldwide. In this session we’ll jump straight into the four methods of no-till mulching that the different farms that are profiled in the book are using […]

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Podcast

The definitive guide to no-till organic farming part 1, with Andrew Mefferd, author of “The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution”: 105

My guest in this session Andrew Mefferd, worked for seven years in the research department of Johnny’s selected seeds and has travelled around the world to connect with farmers and researchers about greenhouse growing and soil conservation. He then started his own farm in Maine to apply all of that knowledge and experience, which he writes about and curates as the editor of “Growing for Market Magazine”. In this episode Andrew and I talk about his new book “The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution,” We begin by identifying the systemic problem that industrial agriculture, specifically with its reliance on soil tillage, […]

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regenerative design

Lessons from more than 30 combined years navigating a foreign culture: RRT 14

The unsung hero of all that we’ve accomplished here in Guatemala are the local communities and people where we live and work. In this Regenerative Round Table I spoke with Charlie and Gabi, two of my closest friends here at the lake about the challenges and learning experiences over a combined 30 years living and working with the local Mayan communities around Lake Atitlan. We speak at length about the intricacies of running organizations and projects in this area and the challenges of respectful navigation and deeper understanding of a culture that is significantly different from the ones we were […]

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Regenerative living

The essentials of rainwater harvesting with co-author Rob Avis from Verge Permaculture: 102

In keeping with the theme of water regeneration this month I spoke to Rob Avis, the co-author along with Michelle Avis of their book in the New Society Essentials series called Rain Water Harvesting. Rob and Michelle founded Verge Permaculture, an award-winning design, consulting and education company in Calgary, Alberta after years of international training in renewable energy and regenerative design. Since its founding, Verge has helped more than 1000 students and clients to design and create integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste, and food, all while supporting their local economy and regenerating the land. Through their design and […]

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watershed regeneration

Why storing water is more important than storing carbon with Zach Weiss from Elemental Ecosystems: 101

In this session I had the pleasure of speaking to the founder of “Elemental Ecosystems” Zach Weiss. Zach earned the distinction of being the first person to earn the Holzer practitioner certification from revolutionary Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer through a rigorous two-year apprenticeship working alongside Sepp in North America and Europe. Zach created Elemental Ecosystems as a for-benefit social enterprise focused on solving societies growing environmental problems by considering the elemental relationship between biology and hydrology. In this interview, Zach and I start by talking about the difference between a healthy water cycle and one that’s been compromised. We unpack […]

Regenerative Round Table

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Regenerative living

Building a regenerative future and heading in different directions: RRT 13

We’ve completed 100 episodes! Thank you to all our listeners and supporters who are part of more than thirty thousand subscribers to this podcast and the growing regenerative community that is taking back our future and helping humanity move into its fullest potential. In this episode Oliver and Neal talk about the new direction that Abundant Edge and Granja Tz’ikin will be taking independently and how the two enterprises will continue to work together and support one another in the years to come. They also talk at length about the main takeaways and learning that has happened over the last […]