Regenerative Skills

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.
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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/

Paul Nicholson opens the fascinating world of plants, botany, and horticulture

Though we’re quite a few episodes into this series on tree planting and agroforestry already, I had a unique opportunity to go back to the roots and explore some of the fundamentals of the plant kingdom and how we can actively work to preserve the wonder and diversity of vegetative life. 
The truth is that the challenges of climate change and ecosystem mismanagement aren’t only having an effect on humans and animals. Despite the fact that plants make up the vast majority of living biomass on earth, they’re just as vulnerable in their own unique ways to warming climates, missing elements in their food webs, natural disasters and other challenges. 
In order to get a better understanding of both the beauty of life in the plant kingdom and the difficulties of caring for such broad and diverse lifeforms, I spoke with Paul Nicholson, horticulturalist with the Royal Botanical Gardens of Sydney Australia. 
Paul has nearly 30 years working as a horticulturist curating diverse collections such as: palms, camellias, begonias, succulents and Australian rainforest plants. He also instigated and helped develop the Cadi Jam Ora – First Encounters garden and Spring Walk and Palm Grove restoration programs. Paul is especially motivated to help people understand that plants are central to their lives, that plants are interesting, exciting, engaging and the more time you spend with plants the happier you are likely to be. His role as a tour guide and volunteer program manager has also given him an incredible ability to communicate his passion for his work and the collections at the gardens.
Since we’re already so far into this series exploring trees and various configurations of reforestation, this episode is a good chance to reconnect with the full range of the wild and wonderful world of plants, botany and horticulture in order to see it as a more complete picture.
Join the discord discussion channel to win a copy of Coppice Agroforestry and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/
https://www.instagram.com/rbgsydney/ 
https://www.facebook.com/RBGSydney/

Mark Krawczyk on coppice agroforestry and woodland management: Part 2

Welcome back to another episode in this ongoing series on tree planting and agroforestry. Today we’re going to pick up where we left off last week in our conversation with Mark Krawczyk about the practice of coppicing woody perennial plants and woodland management as a whole. 
For a quick recap, Mark Krawczyk is the author of the new book Coppice Agroforestry: Tending trees for product, profit, & woodland ecology. Mark is an applied ecologist, educator, and grower incorporating the practices of permaculture design, agroforestry, natural building, traditional woodworking, and small-scale forestry. He owns and operates Keyline Vermont LLC, providing farmers, homeowners, and homesteaders with education, design, and consulting services. He and his wife also manage Valley Clayplain Forest Farm, 52 acres of field and forest in New Haven, Vermont.
Despite the focus on coppice agroforestry systems that this conversation continues to revolve around, Mark and I also go into a wide array of other topics including the long history of forestry management in indigenous cultures around the world, understanding invasive species, woodland products and small craft economies, fire mitigation strategies, and a whole lot more. 
This is the second of the two part episode, and if you missed the fist portion, I highly recommend you go back and have a listen because it’s really worthwhile and it’ll help put more of what we’re talking about today into context. Another bonus that comes along with this episode is that thanks to New Society, the publishers of this book, I’ll be offering a free volume of Coppice Agroforestry to listeners of this show. And yes, even though I first announced this last week, there’s still a chance to win. Be sure to stay tuned until the end of the episode where I’ll let you know how you can win your own copy. 
Join the discord discussion channel to win a copy of Coppice Agroforestry and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.keylinevermont.com/
http://www.coppiceagroforestry.com/ 
https://www.valleyclayplain.com/
Book recommendations
Sproutlands
Tending the wild

Mark Krawczyk on coppice agroforestry and woodland management: Part 1

Welcome back to another episode in this ongoing series on tree planting and agroforestry. So far we’ve taken a broad look at many types of reforestation and how to integrate trees and woody species into farming systems, but there’s another side of the coin in this conversation. Today we’re going to start another two part session focusing on the management of woody perennials, specifically the practice of coppicing. 
In order to get a better understanding of this ancient woodland management system I reached out to Mark Krawczyk, the author of the new book Coppice Agroforestry: Tending trees for product, profit, & woodland ecology. Mark is an applied ecologist, educator, and grower incorporating the practices of permaculture design, agroforestry, natural building, traditional woodworking, and small-scale forestry. He owns and operates Keyline Vermont LLC, providing farmers, homeowners, and homesteaders with education, design, and consulting services. He and his wife also manage Valley Clayplain Forest Farm, 52 acres of field and forest in New Haven, Vermont.
Despite the focus on coppice agroforestry systems that this conversation will revolve around, Mark and I also go into a wide array of other topics including the long history of forestry management in indigenous cultures around the world, understanding invasive species, woodland products and small craft economies, fire mitigation strategies, and a whole lot more. 
Since the conversation spanned an hour and a half, I split it into two parts so it’s not too much of a marathon to get through in one go. 
Join the discord discussion channel to win a copy of Coppice Agroforestry and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.keylinevermont.com/
http://www.coppiceagroforestry.com/ 
https://www.valleyclayplain.com/
Book recommendations
Sproutlands
Tending the wild

Philipp Gerhardt on the climate and culture transforming potential of agroforestry (Part 2)

Welcome back to this ongoing series on tree planting and agroforestry. This week we’ll wrap up the two part interview I did with Philipp Gerhardt, the founder of the website baumfeldwirtschaft.de (which translates basically to tree farming) and managing director of Deutsche Agroforst GmbH. He is considered a leading expert for keyline design in Central Europe and is active in research projects and as a lecturer in seminars. As a pioneer in agroforestry, he has developed new approaches with his team to implement modern agroforestry and water management systems. Together they develop holistic concepts for protection against drought and floods for companies or municipalities with elements from Keyline Design and regenerative agriculture, and climate-friendly forest conversion. He has advised numerous companies that are changing the landscape in the long term and are building new climate-friendly ways of doing business. 
As a quick recap of what we discussed in the first part of this interview, we covered some of the history and early innovators of the formal science of forestry. Philipp described his personal journey into the study of forest management and also permaculture and ecological restoration through keyline design as well as how all of these design concepts fit together. We also explored the potential for low density agroforestry planting over a large enough area to have a massive effect on the way we experience climate change on the ground. If you haven’t yet listened to the first half, I highly recommend that you check it out.
In this conclusion to our conversation, Philipp and I explore some of the unique roadblocks to implementing the scale of agroforestry needed to feel the difference in cooling and increased humidity. Philipp also breaks down some of the opportunities for funding at a national level in Germany and some ways he’s found to navigate the subsidy and regulation system there. That leads into an exploration of the career and business potential in forestry management and agroforestry as well as advice for people getting started in these fields or aspiring to work in ecological regeneration. 
This is a great portion of the conversation for those of you who are looking into getting into these lines of work even if your funding and regulatory structures are different from those in Germany. 
Swale / keyline design from Germany in the 1960s
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
http://baumfeldwirtschaft.de
https://www.youtube.com/c/Baumfeldwirtschaft
https://www.instagram.com/baumfeldwirtschaft/

Philipp Gerhardt on the climate and culture transforming potential of agroforestry

Welcome back to this ongoing series on tree planting and agroforestry. This week will be the first of a two part interview I did with Philipp Gerhardt, the founder of the website baumfeldwirtschaft.de (which translates basically to tree farming) and managing director of Deutsche Agroforst GmbH. He is considered a leading expert for keyline design in Central Europe and is active in research projects and as a lecturer in seminars. As a pioneer in agroforestry, he has developed new approaches with his team to implement modern agroforestry and water management systems. Together they develop holistic concepts for protection against drought and floods for companies or municipalities with elements from Keyline Design and regenerative agriculture, and climate-friendly forest conversion. He has advised numerous companies that are changing the landscape in the long term and are building new climate-friendly ways of doing business. 
I first got to know Philipp in person while I was working with our team at Climate Farmers to organize our conference last year. I was thrilled to find him in our group of agroforestry nerds and learned so much from him in just a few days. One of my highlights from the event was getting to listen in on the conversations Philipp and Mark Shepard had about the history and evolution of forestry science, and I knew that I had to get Philipp on an episode one day. 
Well it finally happened and the result was an hour and a half conversation that I’ve split into two parts in which Philipp and I explore both high level concepts of integrating trees into agricultural landscapes and the role they play in restoring the healthy function of the hydrological cycle to the land, all the way to detailed stories of case studies and projects that Philipp and I are working on. 
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
http://baumfeldwirtschaft.de
https://www.youtube.com/c/Baumfeldwirtschaft
https://www.instagram.com/baumfeldwirtschaft/