A Regenerative Future with Matt Powers

Think Gardening is Too Expensive? Seed Save, Swap, & Forage - You can take 1 packet and turn it into a gallon of seeds in only a few seasons. Use Free Resources - Craigslist, FreeCycle, NextDoor, etc. Pallets, Fencing, Firewood, Manure, Old/Wet Straw, Plants Use Natural Farming Techniques - Hand tools, Throw Sow, Self Seeders, Simple, Easy, Cheap, & Rhobust Get Connected to your Local Community - Locals help, teach, & share If you think Gardening is expensive, you should see what cancer’s costs are. Our health has no price. Growing a vibrant and diverse garden and food forest are the best defense against sickness, aging, disease, cancer, inflammation, and deficiency that we have. Grow a garden for your Future Care and the care of the earth and all those who rely upon it. Grow Abundantly, Learn Daily, & Live Regeneratively, Matt Powers

10 Keys To A Regenerative 2018 Pt 1 by Matt Powers

10 Keys To A Regenerative 2018 Pt 2 by Matt Powers

The 6 Keys to Winter Gardening Are you intimidated by Winter Gardening? I was, and it held my gardening in the spring and summer back for years. I let the weeds take over every winter thinking I couldn’t garden despite their abundance and growth, and I rationalized that I was letting the land “rest” which is an old paradigm that doesn’t work as it used to because the world has changed. The fallow periods in European fields of the middle ages allowed wild elements from bordering forest and wild pastures to reinoculate their fields and reset them. With our wild systems in stress, distant from most human populations, and in severe decline, we cannot hope for the rest periods to be ones of large regeneration in our fields and gardens. Instead we need to intentionally ramp up the regeneration by wisely choosing to take correct steps to align our systems to nature’s patterns and cycles using permaculture. Once I started using these keys, winter gardening became possible and in many ways EASIER than spring and summer gardening because: - things moved slower it was easier to adapt and respond - there are limited options so decisions are easier - there’s nothing else growing on in winter it’s easy to be excited about your garden success! The 6 Keys to Winter Gardening Start Earlier than you think Choose Plants Wisely: Brassicas & Legumes mostly: Siberian, winter, hiver, shortest, fall, hunger gap Orientation & Placement Mulch Blankets Water when it’s Warm & Water minimally Cloche/Hoop House/Greenhouse/Old Windows (Maybe) Even if it’s too late to start early for you this year, consider an early spring garden to prep your soil and grow in that pesky hunger gap. You can garden in many places year round but it takes some planning and strategy! Good Luck & Keep Growing! Grow Abundantly, Learn Daily, & Live Regeneratively, Matt Powers

The 6 Keys to Time-Wise Gardening Don’t have time to garden? 9-5 Job + Family + Staying Fit? Can’t be Consistent: Things always come up? Don’t want to spend all that time only to see it all go to waste? My Story: 2 acres mostly managed with a knife My wife, my job, homeschooling, & the kitchen The 6 Keys to Time-Wise Gardening Weed with a Knife or Scythe Throw Sow Planting between Perennials Automate Watering Zonal Planting Soil Prep: Winter cover crop & Compost: A Stitch in Time Saves 9 Calendar Approximate Harvest Times Don’t have time? Get Organized & Make Time this Year! Grow an AMAZING Garden without Wasting Time!

Too Many Weeds? Do weeds crowd out your food before you know it? My Story - Weeds took over my garden!!! Test your Soils pH in Multiple Areas Alkaline Soils = Nitrates = Weeds & Annuals = Vegetative Growth Acidic Soils = Ammonium = Perennials = Reproductive Growth (Fruit) Obviously super acidic or alkaline soils exist and are neither suitable for most garden vegetables. You can change their constitution as long as what made them acidic or alkaline is not a constant presence or constantly accumulating. Compost which is soil life & organic matter acts as a universal pH buffer. What To Do Compost Compost Teas & Extracts Cover Crops & other Nutrient Accumulators Legumes & other Nitrogen Fixers Ripping/Broadforking Chop & Drop Sometimes Earthworks Sometimes Biochar SO Don’t Pull Your Weeds: Chop & Drop them! WHY? They Accumulate the Nutrients Lacking in that Soil They Generate Organic Matter You can Chop BEFORE they Form Seed! It Leans into the Succession Use Compost & Grow Better! Grow Abundantly, Learn Daily, & Live Regeneratively, Matt Powers

Are Poor Soils Holding You BACK? My Story - DCG to Rich Soil in Months Clay = High in Minerals, Excellent at Bonding, Retains Water Sandy = Well Draining, Easy to Inoculate, Accepts Water Readily Silty = Easy to Work, Makes Rich & Fertile Soils BUT… Clay - Can Repel Water, Can Resist Aeration & Movement Sand - Can be Devoid of Organic Matter & Life beyond Pioneer Species, Can be Highly Alkaline, Can Move On its Own Silt - Can Wash or Blow Away, Easy to Erode, & Easy to Use Up the Nutrient Bank The Missing Ingredients in all of this are Organic Matter & Soil Life You can make good soil out of pure sand, silt, or even clay, you just need enough organic matter and the correct biology present. Dr. Elaine Ingham has proven this as have others. How is it Possible? What can I do? Grow & Chop & Drop the plants that accumulate the nutrients and biomass that your soil and needs to accomplish the goals you have for that site. What to Grow? C4 Grasses for C&OM - Explosive? Carbon Sequestration Kings, Carbon = Organic Matter Legumes & all Nitrogen Fixers for Nitrogen (& Biomass - cowpeas = high C&N) Mustard for Phosphorous & Potassium (pioneers = brassicas partner with actinobacteria which acts a lot like fungi) Daikon Radishes - Aeration, N Scavenge & Release, & Phosphorous Peas & Fava Beans - Winter cover & N&C Comfrey - OM - Minerals? More like Protein, Fiber & Mucopolysaccarides which would call in large numbers of soil life in to break down. Duke’s Phytochemical database doesn’t show them as Dynamic as other plants. Every plants accumulates a spectrum of nutrients that fluctuates with its environment and genetic parentage. Comfrey isn’t “bad” but it isn’t what many have made it out to be: it doesn’t have those hyper deep roots and there aren’t more nutrients deeper - most nutrients are found in the top 6-8” of soil. If you have what looks like good soil color and some organic matter but are lacking minerals like in Missouri, you may find you still are having issues. You may need to bring in a few things. For one, fungi and bacteria in the soil trap and hold minerals and keep them cycling, so make sure your soils have a thriving soil foodweb economy. Minerals (Kelp, Seaweed, Fish Emulsion - avoid mining minerals) Machines (Farm-scale Chop & Drop, Planting, & Harvesting, or you may need to rip/keyline the site before you can really affect great change to the soil - you may need swales) Animals - Animal pressure can dramatically change a site in ways not possible through work with a machine or even by hand. Holistically managed grazing can transform many sites that do not respond well to human interaction. You could DIY everything with a shovel, seeds, and time. That’s what I did in Central Valley California with 140F soils, DCG granite that was bullet proof, & constant animal pressure. It’s possible. How Fast? Depends on your diligence. In areas I compost tea’d, swaled, and mulched heavily, it was months, but in other areas further away from my zone 1 it took a couple years to reach the same level of change. Start Today: get the right seeds & prep the soil the right way this year! Grow Abundantly, Learn Daily, & Live Regeneratively, Matt Powers

Top 5 Reasons to Grow Perennials, not Annuals 1. Soil Building = Carbon Sequestration 2. Longterm & Stable 3. Low Maintenance yet High Yields 4. Supports Biodiversity 5. Easy to Start The only reason annuals are more prevalent in our diet and gardens in practice is due to their quick return (within that season or year) and scaling up ability of seed & yield, but it feeds into a cycle that outstrips the land, soil, and even our health. The age of valuing short term gain over future systemic stability is ending rapidly. Even the World Bank has decided to divest completely from oil and gas extraction. - Plant a Tree, 20 Trees, or better yet a diverse Food Forest - Eat a Perennial-based Diet - Local & Native - Live & Eat Seasonally

Are you an experienced gardener but still looking for a way to grow the way Nature does? Without constant costly inputs? How to Grow with Nature - a cyclical pattern 1. Observe & Study (experience + book knowledge) 2. Alignment (Climate, Site Energies: Solar Path, Water & Wind Pressures, Slope, Aspect) 3. “Accept Feedback”: Continue to Observe & Study through Reflection & Discussion in order to adapt to improve alignment or realign to new insights or phenomenon. Methods of Alignment - “STUN: Strategic Total Utter Neglect” Mark Shepherd - Throw Sow (broadcasting) - Dry Farming - The Best Seeds/Plants from the Worst Areas - Broadforking/Keyline Ripping, not Tilling - Compost & Natural Inputs like Legumes/CoverCrops/MulchCrops - Companion Planting/Polycultures/Plant Guilds Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQuL9neCoO0 Check out Permaculture Gardening 2018: http://www.thepermaculturestudent.com/course-signup/permaculture-gardening-with-matt-powers

Learn how to take more control of your inner zone and thus more control over your entire life, relationships, and business. Dive deep with Kai & Matt in this deep People Care episode! Learn more about Kai Sawyer's work at Tokyo Urban Permaculture: https://www.tokyourbanpermaculture.com/english