Regenerative Skills

Laura Lengnick on the principles of building climate resilient farms. Part 1

It’s been a wild couple of weeks for me and as a result I’m struggling a bit to catch up. After the 5 day regenerative Design course at the Green Rebel farm in Miravet, Spain, then the three day Climate Farming conference at Schloss Kirchberg in Germany, and I’m now on a short break visiting the small farm of a good friend of mine in Dessau between events before a week long team retreat with the Climate Farmers team in Brandenburg. When I get back I’ve got tree planting events lined up in the Pyrenees and then I’ll be facilitating a course in Tuscany on restoring hydrological function to the landscape with Zach Weiss and Lorenzo Costa. Maybe by the end of November things will calm down in time for my partner and I to move into our new property which we were finally able to sign the papers on after a year of paper and admin work! Fewf!All of that is to say though I’ve got plenty of great interviews lined up for you, I might be a little irregular in releasing the episodes over the next month.But enough about me.
This week I’m thrilled to present the first in a two part series exploring the topic of building true resilience in agriculture. Resilience is often thought of as the ability to bounce back from a disturbance or a challenge, but in these two episodes we’re going to dig deeper and not only broaden the theory of true resilience, but also to look into case studies of growers and land stewards who are building lasting resilience on their farms. To help me to understand all of this better and to give practical advice that all of us, even those of us that don’t work directly with the land can use in our lives, I had a wonderful conversation with Laura Lengnick.Laura is an award-winning soil scientist with 30 years of experience working as a researcher, policymaker, educator, activist and farmer to put regenerative values into action in U.S. food and farming. Her research in soil health and regenerative farming systems was nationally recognized with a USDA Secretary's Honor Award in 2002 and she was a lead author on the 2013 USDA report, Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation.
Since 2015, Laura has led research and planning projects exploring agricultural climate solutions, developed carbon management plans for organizations, and designed and delivered climate risk management workshops for farmers. Laura is also the author of The 2nd edition of her award-winning book, Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate in which she explores climate change, resilience and the future of food through the adaptation stories of 45 sustainable, organic, climate-smart and regenerative farmers and ranchers across the U.S. In 2021, Laura joined the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming as the Director of Agriculture. You can learn more about Laura and her work at www.cultivatingresilience.com
In the first part of this series, we’ll explore how changes in climatic patterns and rise in temperatures are affecting farmers around the world and how they can understand the risks they’ll likely encounter in the coming decades. We also talk about the unique sensitivities that each landscape and farm has, and how you can use this understanding to build your own resilient capacity.
Thanks to my partnership with New Society Publishers who published Laura's book, as well as many other invaluable volumes centering on topics of regenerative living, listeners of this show who are also signed up on our Discord community, can now win either a physical or digital copy of Resilient Agriculture over the next two weeks. It’s super simple to be eligible to win. All you have to do is sign up for free to the Discord server either on the homepage on our website at regenerativeskills.com or through the link on our bio on instagram. Once you’re in, just send me a direct message letting me know that you’d like to win a copy of the book and I’ll enter you in the drawing which I’ll do a w...

Ask me anything: Students from the regen design course interview ME!

Welcome to a very special episode. For the first time on this show I've given the mic over to the participants on my regenerative design course and told them they can ask me anything. This was completely unplanned and came out of some of the many amazing conversations with the group in the evenings. Many of the people who came out to learn with us here on the Green Rebel farm are long time listeners of the podcast and they were excited to take on a leading role on this episode.
They also saved my from having to stay up late and edit the episode that I'm behind on producing, so a big thanks to them.
I hope you enjoy a window into my own opinions on these topics we explore and if you'd like to hear more about my work and passion projects, just reach out and let me know what you're interested in.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community

Blake Cothron on growing berries and other small fruit for profit. Part 2

Today I’m back with part 2 of my interview with Blake Cothron, the author of the new book “The Berry Grower: small scale organic fruit production in the 21st century.” Just in case you missed the first part of this episode, Blake Cothron is an organic farmer, educator, professional horticulturist and small business owner in Stanford, Kentucky, USA. He has been a grower for over 25 years and has been operating an organic plant nursery business for almost 10 years. His specialties are small fruit production, orchard care, nursery production, and temperate fruit growing. There’s a lot more to his backstory, but he explained everything in part 1 of this interview so be sure to go back and listen to it if you haven’t already. Building on the topics we covered in the beginning, Blake starts by explaining all you need to know about sourcing plants and propagation material and navigating the complicated world of plant nurseries and online plant vendors. It turns out there’s a whole lot more to it than most people are aware of. We also break down the practical assessments for planning a profitable berry business and how to design and plan your cultivated space to ensure you don’t have difficulties and inconveniences that cause you to lose money.
As a bonus to this series on small fruit and berry growing, I’m also giving away two copies of Blake’s new book, thanks to the generous people at New Society Publishers, to members of our Regenerative Skills Discord server. If you’re not already a member you can join for free on the homepage of the website at regenerativeskills.com or through the link in our linktree on the Instagram Bio. Once you’re in, just send me a DM and let me know you’d like to be entered to win a copy of the book. I’ll be announcing the winners one week after the second part of this series comes out
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
The Berry Grower
https://peacefulheritage.com/

Blake Cothron on growing berries and other small fruit for profit

I’m super excited to share with you all what is about to be a deep dive into one of the most promising and often overlooked small farm enterprises, small fruit and berry growing. 
In order to get the scoop on berry growing, I went straight to the source to speak with Blake Cothron, the author of the new book “The Berry Grower: small scale organic fruit production in the 21st century.” Blake Cothron is an organic farmer, educator, professional horticulturist and small business owner in Stanford, Kentucky, USA. He has been a grower for over 25 years and has been operating an organic plant nursery business for almost 10 years. His specialties are small fruit production, orchard care, nursery production, and temperate fruit growing. There’s a lot more to his backstory, but he lays it all out in the first few minutes of the episode so I’ll leave it for him to tell you.
We went really deep into this topic in our interview and covered more than 2 hours of material. For this reason I’ve broken the discussion into two parts to make it more manageable to get through. 
In this two part series, we covered almost the full range of the main topics in his book. In this first session we started by exploring why small fruit and berries are such an attractive enterprise and what sorts of farms they might be best suited for. We also look into the challenges and difficulties of growing bush and vine fruit that many people are yet unaware of. 
From there we dissect some essential learning and evaluation you should do of your land and climate in order to choose the cultivars that are best suited for your site and business as well as how to source your planting material considering all of the pitfalls of ordering seeds and plants from nurseries and online. We even start talking about maintenance considerations of different cultivars and care and fertility methods that Blake has found success with in his ample experience.All of this is going to set you up really well for the second part of the series when we break down the practical assessments for planning a profitable berry business and how to design and plan your cultivated space to ensure you don’t have difficulties and inconveniences that cause you to lose money.
As a bonus to this series on small fruit and berry growing, I’m also giving away two copies of Blake’s new book, thanks to the generous people at New Society Publishers, to members of our Regenerative Skills Discord server. If you’re not already a member you can join for free on the homepage of the website at regenerativeskills.com or through the link in our linktree on the Instagram Bio. Once you’re in, just send me a DM and let me know you’d like to be entered to win a copy of the book. I’ll be announcing the winners one week after the second part of this series comes out
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://newsociety.com/books/b/the-berry-grower
https://peacefulheritage.com/

Regeneration is for everyone! Stories from the Regenerative Skills community

Today I’m excited to share a special episode which comes from a presentation I gave about two weeks ago with Gaia Education, an leading organization in providing education in sustainable development.Through Ecosystem Restoration Camps, the NGO that I used to work with, I have co-facilitated the design portion of their Ecosystem Restoration Design course for the last few years.
Now, for the first time they’ve made the course available for open rolling registration, which means you no longer have to wait for the bi-annual signup times and take the course within a 6 month window. In order to promote this they organized and online summit and I was invited to present on a topic that I’ve been passionate about for years and that is the core motivation behind this podcast, which is to spread the message that Regeneration is for everyone.
So in this talk, which you can also find online in its unedited video form, which you can watch on the show notes for this episode on the website, I introduce some of the key concepts that differentiates the concept of regeneration from other paradigms of thought. To illustrate some of the myriad examples of regeneration in action I highlight 6 stories of amazing individuals that I’ve had the pleasure to interview on this show in the past, and that have inspired me in my work. At the end I wrap it up by outlining some of the design concepts and processes that I teach in the course to guide students through the creation of their own projects through the group activity.
Though there is an important visual component of this presentation I know you’ll get all the essential information from the audio and I also highly encourage you to listen to the interviews from the past with each of the people that I highlight in the talk.
And a quick reminder if you’re inspired by the concepts in this talk and the massive potential of designing through this process, I’ll be teaching a five day intensive in-person course on regenerative design between the 11th and the 16th of October at the beautiful Green Rebel farm in Miravet, Spain. We still have one or two spots available and you can find out all the details on the website or through our bio on instagram.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsSl3cZPyjM
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-from-poverty-to-permaculture-and-beyond-with-luwayo-biswick-director-of-the-permaculture-paradise-institute-071/
https://regenerativeskills.com/dani-baker-on-why-its-never-too-late-to-start-your-home-scale-forest-garden/
https://regenerativeskills.com/invest-curate-mend-a-manifesto-for-our-clothing/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-sean-sherman/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-meredith-leigh/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-fighting-food-apartheid-and-empowering-people-of-color-to-get-back-to-the-land-with-leah-penniman-author-of-farming-while-black-091/
https://www.programmes.gaiaeducation.uk/ecosystems-restoration

Elvira Di’Brigit on why we farm. Stories from growers of the Capay Valley

A lot of my work at the moment is centered around building community and connecting people across Europe who are on a journey into regenerative agriculture. As I learn more and more about the farmers that I’m working with and their challenges and desires for the future I’m struck by the stories that unfold. Stories of legacy, perseverance, experimentation, recovery from adversity, hope, and so much more. As I work to gather and record these stories and to connect these people so we can better collaborate and support one another, I’ve been drawn to reflect on some of the past episodes in this podcast that featured the unique stories of growers and land stewards.One of my favorite episodes that centered around telling the stories of farmers was with Elvira Di'Brigit, the author of the book “Why We Farm” which is an investigation into the whole truth about life as a modern day farmer. Viewed through the lens of the environment within the Capay Valley of northern California, each chapter features a different model of farming. In each profile, farmers share the stories behind their work and their lives on the farm; the business side of production, the personal challenges they face, and words of advice for the would-be-farmer. The book asks hard questions and gives a reverent yet realistic picture of a thriving local food system.In this interview from back in season 1 of this show, Elvira talks about how she first came to the Capay Valley and her motivations behind wanting to live a farming lifestyle. We talk about how the farmers profiled in her book tell a larger story of modern farming in the United States, and even the trends and challenges facing the agricultural industry around the world. Elvira also gives a unique perspective into the growing community outreach that is strengthening the bonds in the valley and fostering a larger network of resilience that should be inspiring for anyone living in a rural community.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
Elvira on facebook
http://whywefarmcapay.com/

Lynn Cassels on their journey to starting a successful farm with no prior experience

It’s no secret that the farmer population in Europe and many other places has been diminishing and growing older for a long time now. There are however still lots of younger folks who are interested in becoming farmers, but are struggling to get their foot in the door. Barriers to entry such as high land prices, high startup and infrastructure costs, lack of loan options, bureaucratic difficulties in inheritance, and a steep learning curve if you don’t already have experience farming are holding a lot of us back. Despite these challenges there are some incredible stories of new farmers who are finding success and fulfillment on the land. They’re often the ones pioneering new business models and best practices in ecological management. 
That’s why I reached out to Lynn Cassells, who along with her partner Sandra Baer own and operate Lynbreck Croft, an award winning farm in northwest Scotland. Lynbreck Croft is a 150 acre mixed land holding of everything from fields and woodlands, to hill ground and bog located in the Cairngorms National Park with the land ranging from 320m to 450m above sea level. 
Like many new farmers, Lynbreck has a unique origin story. Lynn and Sandra first met while working as rangers for the National Trust in the UK and soon realized that they shared a dream of living closer to the land. They bought Lynbreck Croft back in March 2016 – which they describe as 150 acres of pure Scottishness – with no experience in farming but a huge passion for nature and the outdoors. They now raise heritage breeds of cattle and pigs, grow produce and have become a model farm in their region for ecological production practices.
Lynn and Sandra also wrote an inspiring book all about their journey of moving onto the land and how they've developed their idea of the farmers they want to be and their involvement in their new community which you can find through Chelsea Green books. 
In this discussion I speak with Lynn about the initial challenges they faced in finding land and learning to make a living from it. We talk about the steep learning curve and the resources they turned to to make it manageable. Lynn also tells me about the unique challenges they have in the notoriously harsh climate of northwestern Scotland and how they’ve made choices on the farm to mitigate these difficulties. 
This discussion is full of insightful advice and learnings from a unique journey from two farming newcomers who’ve demonstrated that you can build a farm business from scratch in modern times. Be sure to listen to the end when Lynn gives valuable advice for other people who dream of starting their farm without any previous experience. 
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.lynbreckcroft.co.uk/ 
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/our-wild-farming-life/
https://www.instagram.com/lynbreck_croft/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRJrQZN4-Boka2m88TKB-1w
https://www.facebook.com/lynbreckcroft/

Mateusz Ciasnocha on understanding the coming changes to the European common agriculture policy (CAP)

Ever since moving to Europe three years ago, I’ve been working to understand both the differences and similarities between the cultural, societal, and governmental background that I’m more familiar with from the USA and Mesoamerica compared to Spain and the larger European Union. Especially since my work is centered around agriculture and how we can set up the infrastructure to assist growers on this continent who want to shift to regenerative management, I need to first gain an understanding of what has incentivised and built the system we currently have. One of the largest influences that governs and regulates how people all around the different parts of Europe farm and manage land is the Common Agriculture Policy, known as the CAP.
In order to get a better understanding of the complex history and nuanced current reality of the CAP, I reached out to my friend and colleague in Climate Farmers, Mateusz Ciasnocha, our Policy & Industry Advocacy Lead in the company. In this episode, Mateusz explains a bit about the history of the CAP and how it’s been used to accomplish its stated goal of creating food security as well as its effect on the development of the agricultural sector in Europe in the past decades. He also helps me to understand how the different countries within the European Union work within the CAP as well as its differences in implementation in each member country. 
From there we talk about how the CAP will be changing in this next 7 year cycle and how current events are creating controversy and challenges to the new rollout. Be sure to stick around until the end when Mateusz gives his own opinion on how the CAP can be leveraged in the future to facilitate a regenerative transformation of agriculture in this region as well.
As a new resident in this continent, all of this information has been new to me and I’m also realizing the global implications of the European Common Agriculture Policy, so even if you don’t live in Europe, this is a good subject to build an understanding of because it may affect you more directly than you think. Also, please try and forgive my bumbling misunderstandings along the way in this interview. Terminology always trips me up.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.climatefarmers.org/

Learnings and reflections from starting our own regenerative projects with Oliver, Nick, and Jacob

This week I wanted to get back to one of my favorite formats from the early days of this show in which I just take the time to speak with some of my close friends and collaborators about what we’re working on. Today I grabbed my good friends Nick Steiner and Jacob Evans. 
Nick is one of my closest colleagues in my work with Climate Farmers. He leads the Academy at the company and has spearheaded the coach matching service where we put farmers in touch with other farmers and experts who can help them in their transition to regenerative agriculture. He also recently invested in a property in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands and has been renovating an off-grid homestead for the last several months. 
Jacob is another close friend of mine and earlier this year we taught an introductory course on syntropic agroforestry at the Green Rebel farm in Miravet, Spain. Jacob has been teaching syntropic agroforestry for arid climates and managing the farm at Suryalila Yoga retreat center for the last few years. He is also in the early stages of a big transition as he moves his young family back to Argentina where his wife is from, and will be starting a small farm there later this year. He also has a lot of experience setting up and running food production systems in the challenging climate of southern Spain. 
The reason why I called on these guys is because most of the clients that come to me and the students that join in my courses are working towards a big transition onto the land. Some are in the early stages of considering buying land and starting a farm. Others are actively looking for property, and some have already bought a place and are beginning the development process. As a result I get tons of questions about how to choose a property, what important things they should be looking for, what to prepare for and be aware of, how to avoid mistakes, etc. 
I myself am in the process of working to move onto a property in the mountains of central Catalunya in Spain and am drawing from my own learning journey from the past when I began my first homestead with my colleagues in Guatemala almost 5 years ago. I know now that there are so many things I would do differently with more knowledge and hindsight. 
Because of all this shared experience me and the other two guys have in common with making and preparing for this type of lifestyle transition I wanted to have an in depth chat about the most important learnings we gained from these experiences. We also talk a lot about what we’ll be drawing from in our new endeavors and the advice or guidance we would give our former selves based on what we’ve learned from so many mistakes and blunders. 
It’s really interesting to me to understand the patterns and commonalities that come out even from the different circumstances and motivations that we’ve had and that I’ve heard from all my students and clients over the years. 
If you like exploring this topic and want to hear more about it after this episode, I’ve posted the details of the upcoming instagram live session that I’ll be doing with Nick this weekend on Saturday evening. We’ll be answering listener questions about learnings and important considerations when looking for land in the country and the reality of making that kind of a lifestyle transition so be sure to check it out. We’d love to see you there. 
With that out of the way, let’s get started with the first of what I hope will be a lot more regenerative roundtable sessions. 
Join the discord discussion channel to win a copy of Coppice Agroforestry and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/regenerative_skills/
https://www.instagram.com/permanick_permaculture/
https://www.instagram.com/wizard_permaculture/
climatefarmers.org
Jacob's land in Portugal for sale
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IDypfVMrP4s

Patrick Worms on the history and future of agroforestry

I’ve been taking it easy since my sister and her little girls are over visiting from Kuwait for the month and my Granny on the Isle of Man was also able to stop by for a week. So for that reason I’m going to rebroadcast one of my favorite episodes on agroforestry from two seasons ago with Patrick Worms. I hope all of you out there are also finding time to unwind and enjoy this summer despite all the challenges and extremes we’re experiencing. 
With regenerative agriculture and agroforestry increasingly becoming popular topics in environmental and even political circles. I wanted to do a one-on-one session with one of my favorite speakers in this sphere, Patrick Worms. 
Many of you frequent listeners will remember him from the panel discussion on agroforestry two weeks ago that I hosted with Climate Farmers.
I got to know Patrick’s work and perspective more intimately as part of the online course on ecosystem restoration design that we both teach on.
Patrick is the Senior Science Policy Advisor at World Agroforestry, President of the European Agroforestry Federation, and trustee of the International Union of Agroforestry, he’s also a valued member of the advisory council with the Ecosystem Restoration Camps.
In the courses and conversations I’ve seen with him, I’ve always been struck by the stories and compassionate understanding of the people that Patrick has met in his work and travels.
In order to make some of these stories and insights available to you listeners, I let go of the usual focus just on actionable information to let this chat take its own course.
Though we still cover a lot of practical advice in this talk, what I often take away from listening to Patrick is a renewed reverence for the individual people who are working to manage their lands and produce food around the world.
It’s easy to think of agriculture and the food industry as these monoliths without faces, but the lives of the people who make up these systems, from those to tend the land all the way through the logistics, distribution, transportation, all the way to our kitchens are important to remember ad pay attention too as well. 
To get us started off with some background though, Patrick shed some light on the history of agroforestry and it’s deep traditions in Europe specifically.
Join the discord discussion channel to win a copy of Coppice Agroforestry and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.worldagroforestry.org/
https://www.cgiar.org/
https://euraf.isa.utl.pt/welcome
https://www.iufro.org/
https://www.evergreening.org/
https://ejpsoil.eu/