The Permaculture Podcast

A non-technical exploration of questions to consider when you decide you want to start a food forest, based on Owen's question:

"How do you convert a lawn to a food forest?"

Resources:
Philadelphia Orchard Project
Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist by Michael Judd

In this episode, I use the question from Owen:

"Are there kinds of soil additives I should be using or should stay away from? Conventional wisdom is to look for balanced fertilizer, but I don’t know how much conventional wisdom overlaps with permaculture."

to look more broadly at using initial, imported, industrial inputs to create a long-term, sustainable, fertility system around four areas:

1. Collecting Organic Matter
2. Harvesting Household Waste
3. Using Biology
4. Cover Cropping

This is an overview of these ideas. If you'd like me to go deeper on any part of this in an upcoming episode, have thoughts of your own to expand on these ideas, or disagree with me entirely, leave a comment so we can continue the conversation.

This episode comes from Geoff's request to compare Solarpunk and Permaculture.

Suggested reading from this episode:

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin's
Kim Stanley Robinson's Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
The anthology: Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World

This episode started with the question:

How do you approach working with clients and understanding their needs and goals?

Suggested reading from this episode:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

This episode is based on a question I received asking:

What is your design process? (site analysis, implementation, and how you approach a design)

Based on this, I walk through the three phases my design process has evolved through over time:

1. Collecting Everything
2. Refining Focus
3. Educating Clients

In this episode, I talk about something that we don’t address enough: the hard work of Permaculture is boring. It’s not heroic. It doesn’t make for a great YouTube short or video to add to your story. The pictures that come out of it are rarely art, or something you’d want to post to Instagram.

I hope this episode reminds you why we show up day after day, week after week, for the small, routine tasks of permaculture.

If you found this helpful, share it with a friend who might be struggling on their journey right now, so it can be a bit of encouragement to keep going, even when it’s tedious.

Until the next time, spend each day showing up and putting in the work, as you care for Earth, yourself, and each other.

An update with a bit of big news: we found, made a winning offer on a house in Cleveland, Ohio!

When I decided to relaunch the show, I knew it was going to be a rollercoaster-like adventure, with possible delays, ups, downs, and time spent waiting. Thank you for your patience while we move our lives across state lines. Once the dust settles, things are shaping up to bring you new stories, experiments, and voices, from Cleveland, from Ohio, and from around the world.

And if you have ideas for what we should tackle first, I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email: show@thepermaculturepodcast.com or visit http://thepermaculturepodcast.com, click on contact, and send me a message there.

Until the next time, spend each day exploring, enjoying, and building your local community, while taking care of Earth, your self, and each other.

Today, I want to talk about another question from Owen:

"What are some common mistakes beginners make in permaculture design, and how can they be avoided?"

The thoughts shared in this episode are only one perspecitve, my own. I'd love to hear other ideas on the need to slow down when practicing permaculture, so reach out if you'd like to share how you would do things differently.

Text: 717-827-6266
Send me an email: show@thepermaculturepodcast.com
Or stop by http://thepermaculturepodcast.com, click on Contact, and send me a direct message.

My family and I are in the process of finding a house in a new city, which will bring a new future for us and the show. Listen to find out more about where we're going and what this means for The Permaculture Podcast.

Today's question comes from Owen:

What does it look like to put a permaculture garden to bed for the winter? Mulching / tilling / planting cover crops / none of the above / something else?

The question for this episode is from Geoff:

I'd love to hear your thoughts about how homestead sites can create a "whole nutrition" landscape with permaculture.

What I mean, is that a "healthy balanced diet" typically includes sources for necessary nutrients, calories, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates/starches, etc. Growing the leafy greens, berries, fruit, vegetables is all very well and good -- but if we are seeking to create a 'whole nutrition' landscape, we need to re-evaluate how much area in the gardens are devoted to tubers/roots and protein sources like nuts (hazelnuts) or seeds (sunflower, serviceberry seeds) versus the more typical perennial greens. Ie Maybe way larger portions of the landscape should be devoted to tubers and fast-growing nuts/seeds than is typically seen in Permaculture Designs, for instance for PDC courses?!

Recommended reading to accompany this episode:

•

Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon

•

Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé

•

Recipes for a Small Planet by Ellen Buchman Ewald

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Today I’m joined by my friend Joshua Hughes as he shares the continued work of the team he’s a part of to create a jungle to marketplace supply chain with the launch of Rewild Organics.

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Joshua Hughes return to share information about his latest venture Blacksheep Regenerative Resource Management, a invest with social responsibility.

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In this episode are resources you can use to learn more about building shelters, creating cordage, creating your first everyday carry, foraging for food, elevating that food to cuisine, and the basics of first-aid if you're ever on your own or with a small group far away from a clinic or hospital. These skills also form the basis for building, or rebuilding, our communities in times of decline or disaster.

My First Bushcrafting Book, Bushcraft by Richard Graves (Thriftbooks): https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/bushcraft-a-serious-guide-to-survival-and-camping_richard-h-graves/279713/item/1100554/

Stop the Bleed Online Class: https://www.stopthebleed.org/get-trained/online-course/
Where to Buy a C-A-T Tourniquet:
https://www.narescue.com/combat-application-tourniquet-c-a-t.htmlhttps://www.narescue.com/combat-application-tourniquet-c-a-t.htmlInterviews With
Sam Thayer (2013): https://thepermaculturepodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-1345-foraging-with-sam-thayer/https://thepermaculturepodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-1345-foraging-with-sam-thayer/Sara Bir (2018): https://thepermaculturepodcast.podbean.com/e/1822-the-fruit-forager-s-companion/
Dina Falconi: https://thepermaculturepodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-1516-foraging-and-feasting-with-dina-falconi/https://thepermaculturepodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-1516-foraging-and-feasting-with-dina-falconi/Pascal Baudar (2016) - The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: https://thepermaculturepodcast.podbean.com/e/1625-the-new-wildcrafted-cuisine-with-pascal-baudar/
Pascal Baudar (2018) - The Wildcrafting Brewer: https://thepermaculturepodcast.podbean.com/e/1825-the-wildcrafting-brewer-with-pascal-baudar/

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Donate Directly: via PayPal -or- Venmo @permaculturepodcast
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My guest today is Laura Oldanie, a permaculture practitioner and the author behind the website Rich and Resilient Living, which focuses on how we can live a life and make financial decisions that lead to a regenerative future.

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Support the Podcast!

Donate Directly: via PayPal -or- Venmo @permaculturepodcast
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Today's guest, in an interview recorded by co-host David Bilbrey, is the microbiologist and soil researcher Dr. Elaine Ingham.

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Support the Podcast!

Donate Directly: via PayPal -or- Venmo @permaculturepodcast
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My guest for this episode is Joshua Peace Seeker Hughes, an American permaculture practitioner living and farming in Costa Rica. His work there, which forms our discussion today, includes issues of land preservation through bottom-up solutions, regenerative resource-based economies, divestment, changing our lifestyles, the real wealth in of resources versus the illusion of money, and how we are in a period of transformation that requires transitional ethics.

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Thoughts from a conversation with my friend Nathan, on how we can act in a world on fire, when we know we're not able to protest or be in the streets.

Question: What causes and organizations do you support with your time and resources?

Support the Podcast!

Donate Directly: via PayPal -or- Venmo @permaculturepodcast
Join The Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/permaculturepodcast

My guest today is Jeff Speck. Jeff is the author of Walkable City and Walkable City Rules. As an urban planner and city designer he specializes in, and advocates for, human modes of transportation: first and foremost walking, but also biking.

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A response to Geoff's comment about designing out the designer, from my recent episode about my design process.

What I'm Reading: People and Permaculture
What I'm Listening To (Music Video): Psycho Killer by The Talking Heads

Getting to Know One Another:
What song(s) or musical artist(s) defined your life, now or when you were growing up?