The Permaculture Podcast

Mushroom Cultivation and Mycoremediation

My guest for this episode is Tradd Cotter, a microbiologist, and mycologist who, along with his wife Olga, owns and operates Mushroom Mountain near Greenville, South Carolina. He is also the author of the book Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation from Chelsea Green Publishing. In this interview, we talk about his book, the science of microbiology and mycology, entrepreneurship, and also touch on the power of mushrooms for remediation.

Eager

My guest for this episode is Ben Goldfarb who joins me to talk about his book, Eager: the surprising, secret life of beavers and why they matter. Drawing from his work and our experiences in resource management, conservation, and environmental education we talk about the role beavers had in creating and shaping the landscape, history, and people of the United States, and the importance of reintroducing and protecting beavers to return the world to the wetter, boggier place it once was. Resources Ben Goldfarb Eager The Methow Beaver Project Thinking Like a Mountain - Aldo Leopold The Beaver Institute Worth a Dam

Wild Fermentation

My guest for this episode is Sandor Katz, author of Wild Fermentation, The Art of Fermentation, and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. If you’ve practiced any kind of fermentation and went looking for a recipe, a reference, or just read about the wee yeasties and bacteria that transform our foods with their microbial magic, then you’ve probably read something by Sandor, and I recommend reading even more.
Resources:Wild Fermentation (Sandor's Website)Wild Fermentation (The Book)The Art of FermentationThe Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved

Surviving the Future

This is the second half of the conversation with Shaun Chamberlin, editor of Lean Logic and Surviving the Future, on the work of David Fleming. This time we focus on Shaun including his background, current activities, and what it means to bear David's Legacy. Along the way, the conversation touches on a variety of subjects related to our work in the modern world, including the role of education, the apolitical need for action in the future, and what we can do to live inexpensively and with directed intent. This is candid, on both of our parts, as we share more of our own private stories as much as the public. Find out more about Shaun and his work at DarkOptimism.org.Resources Lean Logic (Chelsea Green Publishing) Surviving the Future (Chelsea Green Publishing) Dark Optimism (Shaun's Site) Schumacher College The Moneyless Manifesto  - Mark Boyle The Dark Mountain Project The Transition Timeline The Happy Pig (Permaculture Magazine UK) The Power of Time Off  (TED Talk)

Lean Logic - The Life and Work of David Fleming

Shaun Chamberlin, the editor of Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It and Surviving the Future, joins me to discuss the life, work, and importance of the late David Fleming (1940 - 2010). Resources Lean Logic (Chelsea Green) Surviving the Future (Chelsea Green) David Fleming (Wiki) Shaun Chamberlin The Transition Timeline Rob Hopkins and The Transition Town Movement (Interview) Transition Network Transition US Richard Heinberg Michael Meacher (Former UK Environment Minister) Ron Oxburgh LeanLogic.net (First publication of David’s manuscript) The Dark Mountain Project Jonathon Porritt

Climate Change and the Path Ahead

Giulianna Maria Lamanna, of The Fifth World, drops a huge two-part question in this episode:
Are there people in the permaculture community talking about climate change and the impact of global warming on invasive species?
Is it our responsibility as permaculture practitioners to create new ecosystems for the changing climate?
This leads to a conversation where we discuss:
Preserving native ecosystems
The creation of novel ecosystems
The role of exotic species
The influence of human disturbance
The impacts of erosion.
We’re also asked to examine our role in tending the wild, and what responsibility, if any, we have to domesticated species such as chickens. In doing so, can we take back the stewardship of our own habitat?
(A remastered episode. Original Release: 25 May 2017)

The Soil Food Web

Today's guest, in an interview recorded by co-host David Bilbrey, is the microbiologist and soil researcher Dr. Elaine Ingham. In this episode they look at:
The microbiology of soil
The impact of this life on the health of our plants and agricultural system
How we can be citizen scientists
The power of a microscope to bring all these ideas together, right in front of our eyes.
All wrapped in a framework so we can understand the importance of healthy, living soil for human well-being, as individuals, participants in a community, and citizens of the world. Find out more about Dr. Ingham's work on soil microbiology at soilfoodweb.com. Her classes and other work with Environment Celebration Institute at environmentcelebration.com.Related InterviewsDan Kittredge - Nutrient Dense FoodsStephen Harrod Buhner - The Citizen ScientistElizabeth Farnsworth - GoBotany! and Citizen ScienceResourcesDr. Ingham’s CVSoil Food WebEnvironment Celebration InstituteDr. Ingham's Online ClassesEcological Monograph (1985 - PDF)EcoThinkIt

The Power of Fiction to Create Permanent Culture

Over more than a decade, The Permaculture Podcast has explored the landscape-based practices which lead to permanent agriculture, as well as the invisible structures necessary, as individuals and in our community, to create permanent culture.Today’s episode examines our ability to create culture and continues the 12th-anniversary celebration of The Permaculture Podcast, as Alasdair Stuart joins me to share his insights on how media and culture influence the community and countries we live in, and how those stories shape who we are and our experiences. Through those lenses, Alasdair and I look at representation in media, the importance of inclusion and diversity as creators and consumers of fictional works, the importance of cultivating kindness, and changing outlooks on mental health.We also share how we find hope through storytelling, on the page or through the screen, as we face an uncertain future, and invite you to join us on that journey.If you’re not familiar with Alasdair, he is the co-owner of Escape Artists Incorporated, which produces the wonderful short-fiction podcasts Cast of Wonders, EscapePod, PodCastle, and PseudoPod. Alasdair is also the regular host of the horror podcast PseudoPod, where he not only introduces the author, narrator, and fright to follow but also shares his commentary and critique on the story for each episode and how that unique tale fits into our lives and world.As you might imagine when a pair of media-loving folks who grew up immersed in comic books, TV shows, movies, and games of all kinds come together to talk about how those works create our society and a vision for the future, it leads to nearly continuous references to the personal and pop culture that shaped us and that we see as continuing to mold current generations. If you love anything like Dr. Who, video games, Terry Pratchett, Tik Tok, Henry Rollins, Heavy Metal, or George Carlin, there is each of those and so much more somewhere in today’s interview.You can find Alasdair's at alasdairstuart.com. While you are there, be sure to sign up for his newsletter, The Full Lid. He is also on Twitter @alasdairstuartEscape Artists Incorporated and their amazing slate of podcasts are at EscapeArtists.Net.I’d also like to give a big thank you to the artist SerHawke for allowing me to the drawing of Alasdair in a She-Hulk T-shirt as the cover image for this episode. Their commissions are open and you can find them on Twitter @serhawke.I enjoyed this conversation with Alasdair because of how he points to the ways media, in whatever form it might take from TV shows to spoken word albums to podcasts, can have an impact on us as individuals and help us develop or change our worldviews. How media as a shared experience can create a culture or subculture we feel at home in and want to be an active participant in. Media can create a cultural zeitgeist that changes a country or the world.As we permaculture practitioners share our vision of the future through fiction, such as Utopia by Geoff Christou 470 by Linda Woodrow, it shows others what is possible. As we share the stories of our lives and experiences through podcasts or memoirs, we link the past to the present and share them with others. This work, of telling our stories with voice, body, and bones, is vital to what permaculture has to hold now and for future generations.If you have a story inside of you, find a way to tell it. Your voice matters.Before closing this episode, I’d like to give a hearty thanks to Alasdair for joining me, as this conversation was a special one for me, as it’s been a dream of mine to interview Alasdair after hearing his voice—both his literal, spoken voice and voice as an expression for his point of view and talent as a writer—all those years ago when I downloaded my first episode of PseudoPod. It was a pleasure to have this experience and chat like old friends.I continue to tune in to PseudoPod and remain a dedicated listener because I am inspired by Alasdair’s message that we can shine a light into the darkness and find hope, even when we face real monsters in the world. That hope, along with a story well told, reminds me that we are not alone, that there are others like us in the world, and we can stand together with others, whatever comes in the days, years, and decades to come.Until the next time, listen to an episode of PseudoPod while you spend each day discovering the media that inspires you while creating a culture that takes care of Earth, your self, and each other.

Rosemary Morrow’s Journey to Permaculture

For nearly 40 years, Rosemary’s work as a teacher has brought permaculture directly into the lives of her thousands of students. As an author, she has touched innumerably more. As her students became teachers and other teachers used her works in their classrooms, her ideas and methods continue to ripple through the world and reach even more.With this reach, her work touched has touched my own, first as a student, through her book Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture, and later as an instructor, when I used that book as one of the student texts for the course paired with the companion book to that, Earth User’s Guide to Teaching Permaculture.Now, we celebrate Rowe’s newest book, from Melliodora Publishing, Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture, with a series of conversations covering her thoughts on the breadth of permaculture as a practice, interwoven with stories from throughout her journey.To start things off, I knew a lot about Rowe’s writings, but not about her early life, how she came to permaculture or her career as a teacher and author. So, we begin where so many interviews do on The Permaculture Podcast, with a conversation about her biography and background, which includes some insights into the development and growth of permaculture over the years, the kinds of character and teacher Bill Mollison was, and how Rowe reframes permaculture education into a local, lived experience, whether she’s teaching in Australia, Vietnam, or Cambodia.Support the PodcastDonate Online: Via PayPal -or- Venmo @permaculturepodcastYou can find Rosemary's books, including Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture, at the PermaculturePrinciples.com store.As we close this conversation and prepare for the others which will follow, I’d like to re-extend the invitation for you to answer Rowe’s questions: 
What is your country? 
Do you speak a language from there? 
Do you know how the indigenous peoples lived on that land?
Visit Our Series PartnersPermaculture PrinciplesMelliodora PublishingAbundant Earth Foundation

Farmers Markets, Figs, and The Kale Yard

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In this episode, an old friend returns. Together, we relax and celebrate the 12th anniversary of The Permaculture Podcast with Scott Mann.
Erin Harvey, and I met one another and became friends in 2010 when we took our Permaculture Design Course with Ben Weiss and Dillon Naber Cruz in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After graduating, Erin returned to Ohio to begin her own farm, The Kale Yard.Erin was one of the first guest on the show, back in early 2013, when we talked about how she started The Kale Yard. If you haven’t heard that, you’ll find a link to that interview in the show notes.Today, we talk about how life has changed over the last decade, including The Kale Yard transitioning from a Market Garden to a nursery business, and Erin’s current role as a farmers market manager and what that means for both her, the farmers, and the community they serve. We also spend some time on her interest in propagating figs and other plants; the role of a hoop house and greenhouse on her farm; and what Erin sees in her future.Related EpisodeStarting a Small Scale Farm - Erin HarveyResourcesThe Kale YardKeller Market House