Regenerative Skills

Neal Spackman on the planning and considerations behind the regeneration of large landscapes

Welcome back. Today we’re going to continue with this focus on the design process of regenerative projects at various different scales. We’ve already covered small and residential scale projects with Rob Avis, homesteading projects aiming for self sufficiency with Drew Grim, farm scale and production focused projects with Darren Doherty, and today we’re going to cap it all off with an intimate look at the most ambitious large scale projects that aim to transform whole ecosystems while creating a profit for the local community and investors alike. 
Naturally for this scale of work I reached out to Neal Spackman. If you’re not already familiar with Neal from the two previous interviews I did with him on this show, I can tell you that Neal is best known for his work on the Al Baydah project in Saudi Arabia, and as the co-founder of the Regenerative Resources. With the Al Baydah project he’d been working for nearly a decade in one of the most arid regions of the world in a severely desertified region of Saudi Arabia to regenerate the landscape there through permaculture methods focusing on water harvesting techniques. As a former student of Geoff Lawton, Neal began work on the project with no prior experience with either permaculture or dryland restoration, but in a remarkably short time he and his team have completely transformed the way the land both sequesters water and builds topsoil, and has even reached the point where the trees no longer need any water from drip irrigation in a desert that receives only a few centimeters of rainfall a year.
In this episode we’re going to take a look at the new projects that he and the team at Regenerative Resources are launching. Their ambitious goals of using some of the most degraded coastal land on the planet to restore mangrove ecosystems with the aim of establishing agroforestry systems and productive fisheries is now starting to take shape in a big way. 
Neal and I start by talking about all the changes and challenges that he and the company have been going through as they’ve traversed the globe looking for project sites, connecting with communities, and researching the feasibility of their projects. 
From there we talk about the key differences and considerations when designing projects at this massive scale and how they work to calculate the feasibility out into an uncertain future. 
We also get into the inevitable finance aspect of large initiatives and the disconnect between the investors and companies that say they want to fund regenerative projects, and all of the projects that are struggling to find funding. 
This conversation strays a lot more than the others in this series from mere design and ecological considerations, but is essential for anyone who has dreamed of creating a bigger impact with a regenerative land based project but can’t wrap their heads around the daunting task of finding the resources and support needed to get it off the ground. 
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://medium.com/@neal.spackman/the-valley-of-death-bc66c6812bb6
https://regenerativeresources.co/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-desert-regeneration-and-showcasing-examples-of-permaculture-success-with-neal-spackman-of-the-al-baydah-project-and-sustainable-design-masterclass-019/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-neal-spackman-2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P1rPnVUME4

Darren Doherty on the evolution of the Regrarians regenerative farm design framework

Learn more and register for the Profitable Syntropic Agroforestry course today!
Fill out this form to receive free trees and planting support as well as a consultation call with Oliver
As we continue through this series on regenerative design we’ve taken a look at small and residential scale projects with Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture, last week we explored the homestead scale with Drew Grim from The Schoolhouse Life, and this week we’re getting into the larger scale of properties and how regenerative design can be applied to farms. 
For this subject, my go-to source for practical and professional farm design is always Darren Doherty. 
Darren describes himself as a 5th generation Bendigo region land manager, developer, author & trainer who has been involved in the design & development of well over 3000, mostly broadacre projects across 6 continents in more than 50 countries, ranging from 1 million hectare cattle stations in Australia’s Kimberly region to 110,000 acre Estancia’s in Patagonia, EcoVillage developments in Tasmania to public:private R&D agroforestry & education projects in Viet Nam, novel AG Machinery development + family farms across the globe with a range of private, corporate, government & non-profit clients.
Darren is the originator of the Regrarians Platform® process which outlines a strategic & logical process to the development of regenerative agricultural systems and is the program extensively outlined in the Regrarians Handbook which is now being released chapter by chapter as an eBook; along with the Regrarians Workplace which is the online content management and professional liaison platform for all client, associate, training and alumni relations.
Though I’ve interviewed Darren a couple times before on this show, this session in particular was very timely for me as I’m currently working through the Online REX program for the design of my own property while guiding our Climate Farmers Pioneer group through the same process. With a more intimate understanding of Darren’s design system I was looking to gain insight to the lineage of his learning and experience as well as the mind behind the process.Darren has a unique way of teaching in that many of his answers to questions come in the form of stories and explain not only the answer you were looking for but the history and context around it so that you can develop your own answers in the future.This interview takes a much more philosophical bend than I had anticipated going into it, and as a result I learned a lot more than what I had expected since I’m now quite familiar with his teaching material. So get comfortable for this one and just let the stories unfold
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
http://www.regrarians.org/ 
http://www.regrarians.org/webinars-ron/ 
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-darrendoherty/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-darren-doherty-2/

Drew Grim on designing for the homestead scale and managing your time.

Last week I started off this series on the regenerative design process, first focusing on small scale and residential properties, let’s take the next step up and look into homesteads. 
Homesteading is something of a unique concept to colonial American culture and the term was coined during the homesteading acts of the 1860s. That said, there are plenty of similar concepts in other parts of the world. The ones that I’m most familiar with are small-holdings and crofts, from England and Scotland respectively. 
In general though a homestead refers to a home and a plot of land where the residents work to provide a large portion of what they consume and it usually includes some small production or service enterprises such as growing and processing food for market, craft and artisan goods and services like repair and fabrication. 
The distinction that is often made these days is that of whether or not the enterprises in the home and on the land are primarily for sale or for use and consumption by the residents. 
In today’s session, I’ll be speaking with Drew Grim, a long time homesteader and educator, and the cofounder of The Schoolhouse Life with his wife Lacey. He has been formally trained in permaculture design, Regenerative Agriculture, and Holistic Management, and he uses those trainings along with years of experience to coach people in how to live a more connected life as a homesteader or farmer. A life where the everyday decisions look holistically at the land, livestock, and farmer, both physically and spiritually.
In this interview, Drew and I talk about some of the common motivators for people moving to more remote areas and working to become more self-sufficient. Much of this is connected to fears and uncertainty in the wake of the pandemic, but a lot come from environmental, better health, and even personal interest goals as well. 
We talk about the need for realistic expectations and easing into the lifestyle rather than jumping in the deep end without any experience. 
From there Drew tells me about how he has learned to manage his time with all of the unending projects and tasks that their home and land require, and how he has learned to manage it all holistically. 
We also spend a good bit of time talking about the community aspect of homesteading, which often seems antithetical to the idea of moving away from people and becoming self-sufficient, but from my own experience and Drew’s as well, we’ve found that building a strong community is as essential as a good food supply. 
Drew and I have been through many of the same training and design programs and I loved hearing how he’s used permaculture design and holistic management principles among others to create the life that he and his wife have always wanted for their families.
 
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.theschoolhouselife.com/
 
Permaculture Homesteading in Nepal: A Story of Community Connection, with Zac Barton of Almost Heaven Farms
 
https://regenerativeskills.com/essential-things-to-consider-when-making-the-shift-to-a-homesteading-lifestyle-with-natalie-bogwalker-of-wild-abundance/

Get the book "Homesteading for Every Home" for free!Receive the book directly in your inboxPlease enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLastEmail *EmailDownload

Rob Avis on the challenges and opportunities in designing for small spaces

Check out New Society Publisher's sustainability practices for digital reading
Welcome to the very first episode of Season 6 of this show. This podcast has undergone a lot of changes and evolutions since I began as the Abundant Edge podcast back in 2017 in Guatemala. Back then I was working mostly in natural building designing homes and managing construction sites for friends and clients around lake Atitlan, now it’s been two and a half years since I moved to Spain to be with my partner, and after years of searching and planning, we’re now preparing to move to a new property later this year in the Catalan mountains. Yet through all of these changes, my fascination for the knowledge and stories of folks around the world who are working to regenerate this planet and their communities has only grown. 
This year and over the 48 weeks of this podcast season, I want to take you through a learning journey through some of the most important concepts, skills, and experiences that I’ve come to value in my professional work, as well as the path that I’ll be taking to move into our new property and design the place to accomplish the personal, financial, and community goals that my partner and I have set out for ourselves. 
I’ve also been listening keenly to the valuable feedback and ideas that have been coming up from the Discord channel. Many of you there have voiced a clear interest in hearing more in-depth and long form interviews, and so that’s exactly what I’ll be working to provide. 
So to start off this season, I’ll be doing a deep dive into the design process from some of the most renowned permaculture and regenerative project planners that I know. 
Since all of you are coming from different contexts and resource bases, I’m approaching this topic from different angles. 
In this first session I spoke with Rob Avis from Verge Permaculture. For 12 years now he and his wife Michelle along with a growing team of designers have been elevating professional permaculture design in Canada and have written and produced professional resources and educational content in order to make permaculture and environmental design learning accessible to as many people as possible. 
Since launching Verge, he’s helped more than 5,000 students and a growing number of clients design and/or create integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste, and food, all while supporting local economies and regenerating the land. 
In 2019, Rob moved to a 65-hectare [160-acre] wooded property in central Alberta, Canada, and now spends most of his free time building his own permaculture property.
In this session we covered a lot of ground, but focused on the design process specifically for small and residential scale projects. We talk about the differences in the process at small scales and the advantages and disadvantages of the space limitation. 
Rob shares a lot of his personal learning from being a designer and educator for over a decade and the aspects of the learning and observation process that he’s expanded or now breezes past. We also spend some focused time talking about the opportunities outside of just growing food that he sees in making a living and building business through the application of  permaculture training.
Be sure to stick around all the way till the end where Rob gives a sneak peak at the new blockchain project he’s launching this year with the cofounders of the Ethereum cryptocurrency with the goal of regenerating the planet by 2049. 
Rob brilliantly mixes a deep and philosophical understanding of earth care and environmental patterns with a practical and focused approach of a career engineer. You’ll want to take the time to hear this one all the way through. 
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
Vergepermacuture.ca
https://www.youtube.com/c/VergePermaculture
https://www.instagram.

Getting ready for another year of Regeneration: Season 5 finale

If you have a restoration or reforestation project anywhere in Europe, click the link to fill out a short information form and see if you’re eligible to receive free trees and support in planting them. This can be a project of almost any size so don’t hesitate and check today to receive all the support you need to get your planting project off the ground and into the ground!If you're early in the process of starting an ecological restoraton project and you want to learn how to make your own your own ecosystem restoration design, consider the Gia Education online course which includes incredible teachers such as Alan Featherstone Watson, Neal Spackman, Precious Phiri, and a slew of accomplished and knowledgeable restoration professionals including myself to guide you through every step of the process and help ensure the success of your project. From grasslands to oceans, urban landscaped to old growth forests, nonprofits and business plans, this course has what you need regardless of where in the world you are. Click the link to sign up for the next round of classes. 
Climate Farmers is working to build the infrastructure to scale regenerative agriculture in Europe. We offer the highest value carbon credits on the market to help in the financial transition and our developing academy, community of professional regenerative agriculture consultants and support for you in the transition process will help you restore the health and future of your farm landscape. Learn more at ClimateFarmers.org
Learn more about the unique and pioneering work of New Society Publishers and check out their extensive catalog of books to build a better world. From natural building to, gardening, homesteading, and holistic parenting advice, you’ll find the best quality information on what you’re looking for at NewSociety.comLink to Documentary
If you’re inspired to follow me and my partner on our journey to develop our property in the mountains of Catalunya and build a resilient community around us in the process you can follow us on our Youtube channel by searching Regenerative Skills, our Instagram account by the same name which has all the pictures from the descriptions of the new site, and for the more personal parts that I keep off the public forums as well as the opportunity to share your own journey and interact with the whole Regenerative Skills community, you can sign up for free to our Discord channel Want to take the next step in your own learning journey from this podcast? You can gain access to all of the unedited interviews and Skill exchange calls as well as resource packets from the episodes starting at just $5 a month on our Patreon. If direct guidance is what you’re looking for I have a couple spots open for personalized coaching calls in the new year as well, so sign up before they fill up. 
Would you like to join me, Koen from the Investing in Regenerative Agriculture podcast, and Dimitri from The Regenerative Agroforestry Podcast for a community call to start 2022 off as the Year of Regeneration! You can join the three of us on an open Q&A where we’ll be talking about our own projects and what we’re most excited for and inspired by in the year to come. You can register for free here to join us together on January 10th at 7pm CET. sign up before spots fill up! Sign up through this link. Don’t hesitate, places are limited to 100.
And as always, if there’s anything else you want to reach out to me about, you can get in touch directly at info@regenerativeskills.comThat’s it for this fifth season of the podcast. Thanks sincerely to all of you who’ve made it an unforgettable one. Thanks to you and your loyal listenership, this show is now in the top two percent of podcasts worldwide based on weekly downloads, which is just so much more than I ever could’ve hoped for, so thank you dearly for your support and encouragement to get this far. The launch of season 6 will be back like clockwork every Friday starting February four...

Nigel Palmer’s guide to DIY garden amendments

Let's start 2022 off as the YEAR OF REGENERATION! Join the community call with me, Koen from "Investing in Regenerative Agriculture," and Dimitri from "The Regenerative Agroforestry podcast" at 7pm CET on January 10th. Sign up through this link. Don't hesitate, places are limited to 100.
The topic of fertilizers and inputs for farming is a contentious one. Most chemical options either use mined minerals or petroleum products through destructive industrial processes that may improve yields, but commonly pollute waterways, destroy soil life, and are extremely expensive.
But what’s the alternative? If you have degraded or poor soil where little will grow, you have to improve it somehow right? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could make your own fertilizers and soil amendments that didn’t contaminate the ground but rather enhanced biological activity?
Luckily Nigel Palmer, lifelong gardener and the author of The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments has been researching and developing just these types of solutions for decades. Not only has he been able to dramatically improve the health and composition of his soil over time, he’s been able to make his amendments easily and cheaply at home by harnessing the power of weeds and household products to create extracts, ferments, and inoculants.
The result has been delicious and nutrient dense food that you simply can’t buy. 
In this interview from an earlier skill exchange call with the farmers in the Climate Farmer network here in Europe, Nigel and I spoke about some of the most important steps and knowledge in creating your own amendments. Nigel first talks about how to assess the health of your plants to know which amendments to consider.
From there we look at a few different homemade products, how they work, and when to use them. We explore how plants take up nutrients in different forms and how to intervene when they need it the most, as well as a lot of other useful advice and tactics that any gardener can use to care for their plants regardless of the context they’re in or the challenges they face.
If you want to hear the full unedited interview from the skill exchange call with the Q&A session at the end as well as access the resource packet which includes amendment recipes from the book, just check out the subscription options on our Patreon page.
This is really empowering information because the recipes are very approachable and have the power to help break any addiction to chemical fertilizers as you build towards healthy resilient soil. 
Get the resource packet for this episode!
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-regenerative-growers-guide-to-garden-amendments/
https://www.nigel-palmer.com/
Nigel Palmer's YouTube channel

Akiva Silver on propagating plants and starting a nursery business Part 2

Welcome back everyone. This is part two of the conversation started last week with Akiva Silver. Co-owner of Twisted Tree nursery and homestead. If you haven’t yet heard the first part, you can find the link in the show notes for this episode on the website at regenerativeskills.com
You’ll remember from last week that one of the first projects I encourage people to do is to start a plant nursery. Not only will you start the long process of coaxing plants into maturity which is worth beginning as soon as possible, but you’ll also learn valuable plant care and propagation in the process. Planting your own nursery can also save you money when you eventually begin planting out your design, and if you enjoy it enough and can find a market for saplings and seedlings, you can make good money selling nursery stock as well. There are also real advantages to growing your plants in the soil and environment where they’ll live so they get the chance to acclimate rather than suffer a harsh adjustment from the heated greenhouse and chemical fertilisers so common in most plant nurseries. 
In order to get a better understanding of just how easy and enjoyable it can be to start a nursery, I spoke with Akiva Silver who owns and operates Twisted Tree Farm, a homestead, nut orchard, and nursery located in Spencer, New York, where he grows around 20,000 trees per year using practices that go beyond organic. His background is in foraging, wilderness survival, and primitive skills. He has been observing nature intensively for the last 20 years, and cultivating a deep appreciation for life in that time. 
In the first portion of this episode we dove into how Akiva first began to propagate trees and his transition into making a business out of it and supporting his family by growing plants. We also got into all kinds of propagation methods and where and how to find the best materials for growing nursery stock. This week I’ll conclude this interview by exploring how to build a business around growing the plants you love, improving your soil enough that you can eliminate fertilisers and other inputs, the maintenance and care of your nursery through the different seasons, and the sales and marketing side of the business. 
In the lead up to the Holiday season, my good friends at Chelsea Green publishing have offered to give away two copies of Akiva’s book “Trees of Power” to our listeners in Europe. If you live anywhere in the Euro zone or the UK you can win your own copy by joining the Regenerative Skills Discord server and messaging me that you want to win a copy of the book. I’ll be selecting two people by the end of the week when the second half of this episode is released, so you’ve still got plenty of time. This is a great way to shortcut a little portion of your Holiday shopping to sign up and send me a message right away.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
http://www.twisted-tree.net/
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/trees-of-power/

Akiva Silver on propagating plants and starting a nursery business Part 1

After the last few weeks of focus on the intricacies of Holistic management and building community in agriculture, I wanted to go back to some technical information on specific farming enterprises. 
One of the most common questions I get asked from listeners and clients who are starting new projects is about where to begin. Those of you familiar with permaculture will know of the common advice to live and wait a full year on your site before beginning to design and implement your vision. This time of observation and information gathering can be essential to avoiding common mistakes and preparing your place and design adequately to begin, but it can be frustrating for many people who just want to get started. For that reason, one of the first projects I encourage people to do is to start a plant nursery. Not only will you start the long process of coaxing plants into maturity which is worth beginning as soon as possible, but you’ll also learn valuable plant care and propagation in the process. Planting your own nursery can also save you money when you eventually begin planting out your design, and if you enjoy it enough and can find a market for saplings and seedlings, you can make good money selling nursery stock as well. There are also real advantages to growing your plants in the soil and environment where they’ll live so they get the chance to acclimate rather than suffer a harsh adjustment from the heated greenhouse and chemical fertilisers so common in most plant nurseries. 
In order to get a better understanding of just how easy and enjoyable it can be to start a nursery, I spoke with Akiva Silver who owns and operates Twisted Tree Farm, a homestead, nut orchard, and nursery located in Spencer, New York, where he grows around 20,000 trees per year using practices that go beyond organic. His background is in foraging, wilderness survival, and primitive skills. He has been observing nature intensively for the last 20 years, and cultivating a deep appreciation for life in that time. 
This is a longer episode for this show and it’s packed with useful and practical information so I’ve split it into two episodes. This first one dives into how Akiva first began to propagate trees and his transition into making a business out of it and supporting his family by growing plants. We also get into all kinds of propagation methods and where and how to find the best materials for growing nursery stock. Next week I’ll conclude this interview by exploring how to build a business around growing the plants you love, improving your soil enough that you can eliminate fertilisers and other inputs, the maintenance and care of your nursery through the different seasons, and the sales and marketing side of the business. 
In the lead up to the Holiday season, my good friends at Chelsea Green publishing have offered to give away two copies of Akiva’s book “Trees of Power” to our listeners in Europe. If you live anywhere in the Euro zone or the UK you can win your own copy by joining the Regenerative Skills Discord server and messaging me that you want to win a copy of the book. I’ll be selecting two people by the end of the week when the second half of this episode is released, so you’ve still got plenty of time. This is a great way to shortcut a little portion of your Holiday shopping to sign up and send me a message right away. 
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
http://www.twisted-tree.net/
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/trees-of-power/

Building community in agriculture: Expert panel 11

Welcome to the 11th of the monthly expert panel discussions, and our final panel of this year.
Each month I've been hosting discussions and debates between some of the most prominent voices in regenerative agriculture, soil science, restoration land management and more.
In this session I hosted a discussion on building community in agriculture with my friends and colleagues at Climate Farmers, a non-profit organization working to build the infrastructure to scale regenerative agriculture in Europe.
In my work as the Community Coordinator with Climate Farmers I’ve heard from so many of the people in our network that they feel lonely or isolated in their work and in their own communities.
Despite the work of many organisations to bring together growers in various regions, many farmers still don’t know where to turn to for support and connection.
For this panel I was fortunate enough to be joined by three world renowned teachers and farm community builders from Zimbabwe, Spain, and Germany to focus on the nuances and challenges of building agricultural communities from their own unique experiences.
We’ll hear from Allan Savory of the Savory Institute and international Holistic Management network, Ana Digón from the Agricultura Regenerativa network on the Iberian Peninsula, and Rudolf Bühler, leader of the farmers movement BESH and initiator of the UN’s peasant rights in Germany.
We’ll go into some key starting points in bringing farming communities together, and what it takes to sustain them in the long term. We go from the importance of managing communities to alternative structures, important aspects of rural priorities, and a lot more.
Don’t forget that if you want to hear the full, unedited version of this interview with the entire Q&A session at the end, be sure to check out the different subscription options on the Regenerative Skills Patreon page.
Since these discussions are longer than the regular weekly episodes, and I give the more detailed descriptions of the participants in the beginning of the interview, I’ll keep the intro short and jump right into the introductions for our panelists.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
savory.global
What is Holistic Management?
https://www.agriculturaregenerativa.es/
https://www.schloss-kirchberg-jagst.de/
https://besh.de/

Allan Savory on managing complexity holistically: Part 2

Welcome back to the second part of my interview with Allan Savory. If you haven’t yet heard the first part of the session you can find the link in the show notes on the website. Make sure you check that out first if you haven’t already.
Last week we covered some of Allan’s insights into where he’s putting his efforts at his stage of his career and the aspects of Holistic Management that are tough for many to grasp despite the simplicity of the practice. He also made the important distinction that management is something you practice rather than apply, and how this shift in language can precipitate a change in mindset as well.
We left off last week with Allan describing some examples of people who he’s worked with who have made quick and remarkable breakthroughs working with their holistic contexts, and we’ll pick up today with a continuation of that question.
Since I’ve come to understand just how broadly holistic management can be practiced despite its primary association with grazing animals, I’ve been keen to understand some examples of the different contexts in which people have used the framework outside of farming, so let’s jump back in.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
savory.global
What is Holistic Management?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1287318.Holistic_Management
https://www.3lm.network/