Sense-Making in a Changing World

In this episode of Sense Making in a Changing World, I speak with regenerative farmer and Bionutrient Food Association founder Dan Kittredge from the United States.Together we explore what it really means to grow nutrient dense food and nourish the microbiome, in the soil and in our own bodies. Dan shares decades of experience and research that reveal just how wide the gap is between food that truly nourishes and food that simply fills us up. We talk about the huge variation in nutrient levels between different samples of the same crop, why this happens and what it means for human health and climate.We touch on:How two carrots from different farms can have four to ten times difference in key nutrientsWhy labels like organic or local only tell part of the story of food qualityWhat happens when we take soil out of the equation and grow food in hydroponic systemsWhy Dan says we should be growing for the microbiome in the soil and in our own bodiesPractical ways gardeners and farmers can start shifting their practice toward truly nutrient dense foodMy hope is that this conversation helps you look at the food on your plate and the soil under your feet in a new way, and encourages you to keep experimenting in your own gardens, farms, kitchens and communities.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the show_____________________________ Subscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Talk with Morag here about this program. Find more of Morag's conversations on the Our Permaculture Life YouTube and the Festival of Wild Ideas.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

In this episode of Sense-Making in a Changing World, I sit down with Abel Pearson – permaculture educator, community food grower and co founder of Glasbren, an award winning community-supported agriculture project in rural Wales.Glasbren began as a three acre permaculture designed market garden and has now moved to Lord’s Park Farm, a 134 acre National Trust property on the cliffs where the Taf and Tywi rivers meet the sea in Carmarthenshire.Abel and his family are the first permaculture based tenants on a National Trust farm, creating a flagship project for nature friendly, community facing farming.In our conversation we explore:Abel’s journey from woofing and natural building to discovering permaculture as “the origin” of everything he now doesHow Glasbren grew from a three acre CSA into a whole farm vision at Lord’s ParkDesigning a landscape and an organisation with permaculture ethics: earth care, people care, fair shareIndigenous and historic food systems as deeply “permacultural” ways of living in reciprocity with landBeingof a place when you may not be from there – and how growing food together becomes daily practice in belongingWelsh language, culture and land Community supported agriculture, food security and the fragility of our current food systemWales’ shift toward agroecology, social value payments for farms, and support for small scale growersThe practicalities of funding and holding a diversified social enterprise farmVolunteering at Glasbren as a pathway into community, wellbeing and climate actionFamily life in the middle of a farm that is also a community hubAbel’s reflections weave beautifully with the core of permaculture education – that we are learning a way of seeing and relating, not just a collection of techniques. This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen to place, and see farms and gardens as sites of cultural and ecological repair.Glasbren website: https://www.glasbren.org.uk______________________________I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the show_____________________________ Subscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Talk with Morag here about this program. Find more of Morag's conversations on the Our Permaculture Life YouTube and the Festival of Wild Ideas.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

What if the forest you walk through is already a food garden, and the real work is remembering how to see it that way?In this episode of Sense Making in a Changing World I am in conversation with writer and public radio host Elspeth Hay about her beautiful new book Feed Us with Trees: Nuts and the Future of Food. Elspeth calls in from her home on Cape Cod and shares how one simple realisation changed everything for her: acorns ARE food.From that moment she began following nut trees back through time and across continents, uncovering oak, chestnut and hazel commons, stories of enclosure and colonisation, and the quiet resilience of people who never stopped tending tree foods. Together we explore how this different way of seeing opens a path toward food systems that feed people and whole ecosystems at the same time.We talk about: How nut trees like oak, chestnut and hazel can sit at the centre of generous food systems Why perennial tree based polycultures can out produce industrial monocultures once we count the full costs Humans as potential keystone species rather than ecological mistakes Cultural burning, oak woodlands and remembering that our presence can be beneficial Commons, local economies and finding belonging by staying rooted in a placeElspeth invites us to see ourselves as “radical regenerators” who are not just analysing the old story of agriculture, but actively weaving new ones in our own communities.ABOUT ELSPETH HAY Elspeth Hay is a writer and public radio host based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She created The Local Food Report, a weekly program on CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station, and her work on food and ecology has appeared in places such as the Boston Globe, NPR and Heated with Mark Bittman. Her book Feed Us with Trees: Nuts and the Future of Food explores how nut trees and tree centred cultures can help us reimagine food, history and our ecological role as humans. You can learn more about Elspeth and her work at: elspethhay.comI hope this episode encourages yoI'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the show_____________________________ Subscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Talk with Morag here about this program. Find more of Morag's conversations on the Our Permaculture Life YouTube and the Festival of Wild Ideas.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Learning to Lead Like Life ItselfHow do we lead in a way that feels alive, kind, and connected to the living world?In this episode of Sense-Making in a Changing World, Morag is joined by Kelly Wendorf, author of Flying Lead Change and founder of EQUUS, whose work brings together horses, neuroscience, and ancient wisdom to reimagine what leadership can be.Kelly shares about leadership as a natural, relational process. Not command and control, but care and connection - moving from hierarchy to harmony.Her principles of leadership — Safety, Connection, Peace, Freedom, and Joy — mirror what we see in every thriving ecosystem. The same qualities that sustain a healthy forest or a permaculture garden can also sustain our families, workplaces, and communities.Morag and Kelly talk about what it means to lead from presence, to cultivate trust rather than fear, and to listen so deeply that the next right action becomes obvious.“The lead horse doesn’t run at the front. She leads from behind, creating safety so others can step into confidence.”Rewilding leadership is about remembering that life already knows how to lead. Our task is to learn again how to be in conversation with it - to listen to the more-than-human world, and to design our cultures, systems, and movements in ways that honour the web of life we’re part of.This is a conversation for anyone sensing that leadership is less about power and more about participation - an invitation to step back into the flow of life and let nature show the way.🌿 In this episode we explore:What rewilded leadership looks and feels likeHow the wisdom of the herd translates into human relationshipsThe connection between permaculture and leadershipLeading from behind: creating confidence, not controlPresence as a regenerative force in times of changeKelly Wendorf is a leadership coach, educator, and founding partner of EQUUS, an innovative organiI'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the show_____________________________ Subscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Talk with Morag here about this program. Find more of Morag's conversations on the Our Permaculture Life YouTube and the Festival of Wild Ideas.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Bryony Kimmings, an award-winning theatre-maker known for her raw autobiographical work, and Will Duke, a projection designer and permaculture student, discuss their powerful new solo show, Bogwitch. They explore how storytelling can act as a form of climate action, using humor and vulnerability to re-engage audiences with nature. The conversation delves into personal narratives, the significance of grief in relation to environmental loss, and practical approaches to making permaculture accessible and relatable for all.

Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Towns movement and author of How to Fall in Love with the Future, shares his insights on imagination activism. He discusses how imagination fuels permaculture and community resilience, emphasizing the power of cultivating longing over fear. Rob's Field Recordings from the Future project highlights sensory futuring as a tool for envisioning a vibrant future. He also dives into the importance of playfulness in activism and shares lessons learned from grassroots movements that can inspire transformative change.

Join Leah Rampy, a writer and co-founder of Church of the Wild Two Rivers, and Beth Norcross, a spiritual guide and founder of the Center for Spirituality in Nature, as they explore the spiritual wisdom of trees. They discuss how trees serve as patient teachers and the loneliness they experience, highlighting their interconnectedness through mycelial networks. Practical exercises encourage deeper connections with nature, while the guests advocate for a shift from 'saving' to truly listening to the natural world around us.

This episode, Rebecca Tickell - an award-winning documentary filmmaker, passionate storyteller and environmental activist - joins to explore the art of regeneration.Rebecca creates films, like 'Common Ground' and 'Kiss the Ground', that combine powerful cinematography with a hopeful movement for soil regeneration and health. In a world where extractive systems of agriculture and development have destroyed two thirds of the world’s topsoil and exacerbated climate change to dangerous levels, we have two decades to restore what has been lost. Amongst the crisis, Rebecca shows us how to reground and regenerate - wherever you are with, whatever you have.Tune in to get inspired and you can find more of Rebecca’s work at her website.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the show_____________________________ Subscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Talk with Morag here about this program. Find more of Morag's conversations on the Our Permaculture Life YouTube and the Festival of Wild Ideas.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

Tune into this episode with Poppy Okotcha, ecological home grower and community gardener, to hear about how we can rewild our relationship to the land around us - in our backyards and beyond!Poppy has just released a book, ‘A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow Us’, a beautiful memoir on her connection to her garden and how settling down her roots in tending a patch of land has helped her grow as an individual and explore how we can all grow a better world. Flipping the narrative from humans being in control of gardens to being part of the garden itself is such an important shift!From the process of writing her book to the holistic process of rewilding ourselves, this conversation with Poppy really uplifted me - I hope you enjoy it too!To find Poppy’s work and her book, visit her website.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the show_____________________________ Subscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Talk with Morag here about this program. Find more of Morag's conversations on the Our Permaculture Life YouTube and the Festival of Wild Ideas.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.

This episode, join me to explore mindfulness with the inspiring Fleur Chambers - multi-award-winning meditation teacher, best-selling author, philanthropist and creator of The Happy Habit app.In this conversation we explore the question many of us have - how do we learn to be in service with our work? And how can we be present in this journey? As both Fleur and I run a business, we share our experiences in how we have found our confidence in finding a flow in our work.We also touch on how meditation can be a rebellious act - a small way of becoming more audacious in our everyday life, while grounding ourselves to meaningful action. What we need more than ever is to connect with our inner permaculture and find confidence in our purpose.To find out more about Fleur's work and publications, visit www.thehappyhabit.com.au.I'd love to hear from you. Text me here.Support the show_____________________________ Subscribe to this podcast, share widely, leave a comment and a 5 star review to help these stories myceliate far. Check out the Sense-Making in a Changing World podcast website & Youtube channel This podcast is hosted by Morag Gamble, founder of the Permaculture Education Institute - the leading-edge international online school for integrated permaculture design, education, leadership and [pr]activism.⁠ Explore Morag Gamble's Permaculture Educators Program Talk with Morag here about this program. Find more of Morag's conversations on the Our Permaculture Life YouTube and the Festival of Wild Ideas.This podcast is broadcast from a solar powered studio in the midst of a permaculture ecovillage on Jinibara & Gubbi Gubbi country.