Regenerative Skills

The history and future of agroforestry

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.
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.worldagroforestry.org/
https://www.cgiar.org/
https://euraf.isa.utl.pt/welcome
https://www.iufro.org/
https://www.evergreening.org/
https://ejpsoil.eu/
https://www.renature.co/
Check out these other episodes on agroforestry!
https://regenerativeskills.com/the-potential-of-agroforestry-expert-panel-2/
https://regenerativeskills.com/alfonzo-chico-de-guzman/
https://regenerativeskills.com/how-to-start-a-profitable-elderberry-farm/
Don't forget to check out

How to plan and succeed with your own reforestation project

Since last week’s episode was an expert panel discussion on agroforestry, I wanted to expand on that theme and help to bring some practical and actionable information on how to plan your own reforestation project. I reached out to Michael Pilarski first since I’m helping to organize and launch the knowledge exchange platform for Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and as an advisory council member, Michael has a ton of experience and knowledge on this subject. In today’s episode we’ll cover the most important steps in designing and implementing a reforestation project, whether it’s for a conservation project, or a profitable agroforestry enterprise. 
So let’s dive right in with Michael’s calculations on the feasibility of doubling the world’s forest cover within our lifetimes.
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://friendsofthetrees.net/
https://globalearthrepairfoundation.org/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNPSTkjWIrl7FD31xbJ5STg
https://www.ecosia.org/
https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/news/cocoon-tree-growing-counters-desertification-mediterranean
Check out these other episodes on reforestation!
https://regenerativeskills.com/alfonzo-chico-de-guzman/
https://regenerativeskills.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-state-of-the-worlds-forests/
https://regenerativeskills.com/11-inspiring-examples-to-give-you-hope-that-the-worlds-forests-can-be-regenerated/
https://regenerativeskills.com/how-to-grow-a-healthy-native-forest-in-record-time-with-afforestt-founder-shubhendu-sharma-146/

The potential of agroforestry: Expert panel 2

Welcome to the second of the monthly expert panel discussions. As I mentioned last time, each month I’ll be hosting discussions and debates between some of the most prominent voices in regenerative agriculture, soil science, restoration land management and more. If you’re a subscribing patreon member, you’ll also be invited to the live events and the open Q&A for listeners after the panel. 
In this session, I hosted a discussion on agroforestry from three distinct perspectives with my friends and colleagues at Climate Farmers, a non-profit organization working to advance regenerative agriculture in Europe. Since these discussions are longer than the regular weekly episodes, I’ll keep the introduction short and jump right into the introductions for our three panelists
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.ecosia-regenerative-agriculture.com/
https://new.worldagroforestry.org/
https://einhorn.my/einhorn-condoms/

How to Make biochar enriched compost for epic veggies

It's time we take a look at How To Make Biochar Enriched Compost For Epic Veggies.
A lot of what I spend my time on these days, between working with Ecosystem Restoration Camps, Climate Farmers, and running this show, is researching techniques and solutions for people who are working to regenerate damaged landscapes, either for generally healthier environments or for rich and abundant farmland.
Since a lot of both of these goals revolve around the health of the soil as a foundation for mycorrhizal and plant life, I continually come back to the power and potential of pyrolyzed carbon, more commonly known as biochar.
There are tons of examples of people making this remarkably simple product all around the world and using it to restore health to poor and degraded soils, but since I’ve been here in northeastern Spain for a while now, I wanted to hear from someone nearby whose worked biochar into a profitable and ecological business.
Meet Christer Söderberg, the gentleman behind Circle Carbon Labs on the island of Mallorca.
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://circlecarbon.com/
https://www.permachar.net/kon-tiki-biochar-kiln/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9k0_sX1xU

How to start a profitable Elderberry farm

How To Start A Profitable Elderberry Farm. Since I first arrived in the northeast of Spain a year and a half ago, I’ve been obsessed with getting to know the native plants in my area. I’ve been blown away by just how many edible and medicinal plants are all around me and growing in the most unlikely places, from cracks in the concrete and the edges of parking lots to erosion gullies and whole forests of rosemary and thyme. I’m sure anyone who has studied plant medicines knows that some of the most resilient and persistent pioneer plants that conventional gardeners are always at war with also happen to be some of the most potent medicines and nutritious foods. 
One in particular that I found growing in some really harsh conditions was elderberry. When I first arrived in August a lot of the bushes were transitioning from flower to fruit and I took the opportunity to harvest some, not really knowing how I was going to process it. 
Luckily I found some help from books and friends in my network who had more experience and ended up making enough elderberry syrup to last me until know and all of the pandemic paranoia self medicating at the first sign of a stuffy nose that came in between. 
For that reason I was thrilled to see an old buddy of mine from Minnesota, Pete Widin, start putting out content about elderberry as a profitable business venture. 
Many of you might remember Pete from previous season of the Abundant Edge podcast where he came on to talk about attracting clients to your permaculture business and unlocking your potential in regenerative business, and while he still works a lot in permaculture landscape design and business consultation, I invited him back this time to share his knowledge about Elderberry as a profitable and resilient agroforestry business with some really incredible potential. 
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.instagram.com/petewidin/
https://www.artisanenvironments.com/
Hear more from Pete Widin:
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-pete-widin/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-the-key-to-client-attraction-for-your-permaculture-design-business-with-pete-widin-of-artisan-environments-llc/

How to build a One Rock Dam to regenerate an erosion area

In today’s episode I spoke with Van Clothier about an innovative and subtle water erosion mitigation technique, and how to build a one rock dam.
I know this might seem oddly specific, but after an interview with Brad Lancaster last season, he talked about how he’s been learning from people like Van and his mentor Bill Zeedyk about smaller, less intrusive interventions that can have profound effects on the health of a watershed.
The truth is that there are so few watersheds and water bodies left around the world that aren’t highly degraded and in need of restoration.
Many of the communities most affected by this damage don’t have the resources to hire engineers and professionals to do survey and undertake large expensive restoration projects.
A lot of what Van promotes flies in the face of these large professional technical projects and teaches people how to understand their watersheds and identify the small and gradual work that can be done to improve their health.
The one rock dam is a great example of this and so today we’ll be exploring what it is, how it can be installed, and most importantly, how to educate yourself on how to interact and intervene in a damaged waterway in an effective way that doesn’t cause further damage in the long run, like many of these big professional projects do. 
So a little background information. 
Van Clothier’s firm, Stream Dynamics, Inc., specializes in turning runoff and erosion problems into water harvesting opportunities with water harvesting earthworks, urban stormwater retrofits, and riparian and wetland restoration in both urban and wildland settings.
Van has worked extensively in New Mexico and Arizona on a variety of restoration projects with regional drylands stream restoration and water harvesting experts including Bill Zeedyk, and Brad Lancaster. He is the co-author with Bill Zeedyk of the book Let the Water Do the Work: Induced Meandering, an Evolving Method for Restoring Incised Channels, 
Recent projects include designing water harvesting stormwater retrofits for the City of Santa Fe, and restoring a very large ciénega (desert marsh) in the bootheel of New Mexico.
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://streamdynamics.us/ https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/let-the-water-do-the-work/ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX8rPv-YKIc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_9PXRcduGo
For more episodes about watershed regeneration, check these out
https://regenerativeskills.com/galen-fulford/
https://regenerativeskills.com/brad-lancaster/
https://regenerativeskills.com/mark-shepard/
https://regenerativeskills.com/zach-weiss/

The Future of Regenerative Agriculture, expert panel 1

Welcome to the first edition of our monthly expert panels. This first edition starts off strong by addressing one of the most talked about issues of our time; understanding the future of regenerative agriculture.
For this panel I teamed up with my friends and collaborators at Climate Farmers. Together we're working to advance regenerative agriculture in Europe. For this panel we assembled and all-star list of some of the most prominent voices in the movement today.
Benedikt Bösel joining us from Germany, is the managing director of Gut&Bösel, board member of Soil Alliance, Chairman of the AgTech platform Bundesverband Deutsche Startups e.V.Richard Perkins, joining us from Sweden, is the co-owner and director of Ridgedale Permaculture and leading expert and educator on small scale regenerative agriculturePatrick Worms, joining us from Belgium, is the Senior Science Policy Advisor at World Agroforestry, President of the European Agroforestry Federation, and trustee of the International Union of Agroforestry
Today we’ll be exploring the potential of regenerative agriculture. Not only to address and reverse many of the environmental problems we face around the world, but also revive local economies, improve our health, and reconnect us to the ecologies that we depend on as our natural roles as stewards of the land.
We’ll also look into some of the important actions we must take to shift the farming industry as well as identify hurdles that must be overcome. Lastly we'll dive into how all of us listening can take part in this transition to a regenerative farming future.
Don't forget that these podcasts are just the beginning. The discussion continues on our dedicated Discord server.
Join the discord discussion channel to answer the weekly questions and learn new skills with the whole community
Links:
https://www.ridgedalepermaculture.com/#
https://www.gutundboesel.org/
https://worldagroforestry.org/
If you enjoyed this — or any! — episode of the Regenerative Skills podcast, please leave a review of the show! Reviews help boost the show in rankings, which makes it more visible… and that means more listeners! It’s a great way to spread the word about Regenerative Skills!

How to Create a School Garden program

How to start a school garden program
For this week’s episode I reached out to Kaci Rae Chirstopher, the author of the new book The School Garden Curriculum, about how to create a school garden program
Kaci is the volunteer Farm and Garden Educator for Oregon's Redband Ranch. She was also previously the School Garden Coordinator for the Springwater Environmental Sciences School and the Outdoor Educator for ERA.
Her passion is fostering a healthy land ethic, personal empowerment, and environmental literacy in children of all ages through outdoor immersion and skill building. 
As a bonus to today’s episode I’m going to be giving away a free copy of the book The School Garden Curriculum to a lucky member on our discord channel.
All you need to do to be eligible to win is to send me a message via Discord and if you win I’ll either send you out a hard copy of the book if you live in the US or Canada, or a digital copy to your inbox if you live anywhere else in the world. 
Today we’re going to break down what it takes to get a school garden program started, how to overcome some of the common hurdles and pushback to keeping it running, explore some simple lesson plans to get you started and challenge you to push the boundaries of what a school garden program can be and subjects you can explore with a garden classroom. 
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://newsociety.com/books/s/the-school-garden-curriculum
https://www.theschoolgardencurriculum.com/
For more episodes about gardening, check these out
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-lee-reich/
https://regenerativeskills.com/steps-to-food-security-saving-seeds-with-james-ulager-author-of-beginning-seed-saving-for-the-home-gardener/
https://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-zach-loeks/
Check out the full archives of the podcast here
https://regenerativeskills.com/podcast-2/

How to create an edible ecosystem

Zach Loeks, author of the edible ecosystem solution
have you ever wondered what the difference between a garden and an edible ecosystem is? Do you want to know how you can create one in you own yard? In this episode with author Zach Loeks from the Ecosystem Solutions Institute, you learn all that and more.
We'll walk you through how to choose your site, even if all you have is a 5ft by 5ft patch of earth. From there we'll look into orienting the garden spot, improving the soil, and choosing your plants for form, function, and potential.
The coolest part is that this system is modular and you can expand it from a tiny spot in an urban yard to a whole farm with the permabed system.
Don't forget to check out the Discord channel to see how others are creating their own edible ecosystems, and get the resource packet on our PATREON to bring the step by step guide with you anywhere.
While there are tons and tons of tips and information in Zachs book on edible ecosystems, the smallest and most basic form revolves around the modular permabed system that he pioneered in his first book.
Starting with a 5”x5” patch of earth, you mound compost or topsoil like you might in a garden bed, with the low sides being on the south and north ideally to create tiny microclimates that favor different types of plants. in the center row at the height of the mound you can plant your key plant, which will usually be a fruit tree or berry bushes.
This creates a center point with full access to sunlight and space around to plant your support species. I’ll use the example of a pear tree guild from the book. in the center is the pear tree, ideally a bare root sapling which will cost less than a potted on and is less likely to be root bound. Along with the tree on the top of the mound you could plant grape vines on either side which will use the tree as a trellis as they grow taller.
strawberries are a great perennial ground cover which will help to shade out weeds and bear delicious fruit on the south side where it gets full sun. on the shadier south side of the mound you could grow a few asparagus shoots. they’re a highly nutritious perennial vegetable that will keep coming back year after year.
Some echinacea planted around the top by the pear and grapes will offer some visual beauty from the flowers, attract pollinators, and is a powerful medicine too. 
This is just one example of a micro edible ecosystem. If you have more space you can group multiple 5x5 squares into a row, or add multiple rows in what Zach calls a triad. play with different combinations of plants that can support one another and explore the full diversity of what grows in your climate. The options are almost limitless.
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://newsociety.com/books/e/the-edible-ecosystem-solution
https://www.ecosystemsolutioninstitute.com/
https://www.zachloeks.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt-lEXobdDZgOzJqeHKynhA
https://www.instagram.com/zachloeks/

How to Ask Better Questions for a regenerative future

To kick of the new season of the Regenerative Skills podcast I wanted to set the tone by highlighting the invisible secret to all the successful design decisions I've ever made. Learning how to ask better questions has so much power to reshape the way we see the world and how we audit our own processes and choices.
In this first episode I speak with two women who've been inspirations to me as a designer. Jill Cloutier of Sustainable World Radio and Carol Sanford, the author of "The Regenerative life" shed wisdom from years mastering the art of crafting good questions and share tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your own enquiries.
Each episode in this season will be accompanied by resource packets to take your learning to the next level.
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://sustainableworldradio.com/
https://carolsanford.com/