Regenerative Skills

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/

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/

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 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/

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/

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/

After last week’s session with Matt Powers, I want to add a second perspective on soil and the new science behind how we can restore it to health in our own gardens. For that perspective I got back in touch with Robert Pavlis who was first on this show a few seasons ago to talk about building natural ponds. Robert has been an avid gardener for over four decades. He is the owner and developer of Aspen Grove Gardens, a 6-acre botanical garden that features over 3,000 varieties of plants. As a specialist in soil science, he has been an instructor for Landscape Ontario and is a garden blogger, writer, and chemist. He teaches gardening fundamentals at the University of Guelph and garden design for the City of Guelph, Ontario, where he lives. One of the things I most appreciate about Robert’s work is that he’s not afraid to challenge any entrenched gardening belief or myth. He is always looking to get to the bottom of what helps plants to grow and what’s just marketing scams.  In this episode we really dive in deep on the fundamentals of soil composition and understanding the nutrients that plants need to thrive. We talk about looking at soil as an ecosystem unto itself rather than a living material, and why striving for ideal soil is not as important as making sure that you have the components necessary for the life inside it.  Robert also helps me to understand what happens in the ground after tillage, mulching, and other amendments. We go over simple tests you can do to diagnose your soil without special equipment or needing to pay for laboratory testing, and by the end, how to use the results of those tests to develop your own personalized soil plan.  This episode alone is like a short but thorough course on soil health, so you might want to keep a notebook handy.  For those of you who want to really expand your knowledge on soil science, I’ve teamed up with New Society Publishers to give away a free copy of this book. If you want to win a copy of Soil Science for Gardeners, just message me through our dedicated facebook group called Abundant Edge weekly regenerative skills and write a post about why you want to amend the soil on your site. I’ll select a winner one week after this episode comes out and send a hard copy of the book to you if you live in the US or Canada or a digital copy if you live anywhere else in the world. It’s that simple, plus you’ll be joining an incredible group of listeners like you who are sharing their regenerative living journey and learning experiences with the community.  Resources: http://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-robert-pavlis/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfYCNSWCIuOB2sltDh5ZjQ https://www.robertpavlis.com/books/ https://www.gardenmyths.com/ https://www.gardenmyths.com/garden-myths-book-1/ https://newsociety.com/books/s/soil-science-for-gardeners https://www.atitlanorganics.com/online-permaculture-design-certification Join the Climate Farmer's launch party and panel discussion!

Now that I've wrapped up the series on waterway regeneration, I wanted to transition into a two episode deep dive into an essential component of water cycle health and how it affects the land by analysing the most elemental component of a healthy ecology, and that of course is soil. There’ve been a ton of new developments and research in this field in a very short time as scientists and agronomists alike are uncovering new insights into mineral cycles, the soil food web, plant and mycological relationships, and so much more.  Now you could sort through a small library of work to get a complete picture of all of these new developments, or you could save time and find them all in one brilliant new book called Regenerative Soil by my good friend Matt Powers, the author of many well known volumes including the Permaculture Student volumes one and two, Unstoppable Enthusiasm, and now even volumes for children including the newest, The Forgotten Food Forest which can all be found on his website along with many online courses at thepermaculturestudent.com But of course today, we’ll be focusing on the cutting edge of soil science and how these new discoveries can help you in a very practical way to improve the health of the soil on your land and grow the highest quality food anywhere.  In this session Matt unpacks and simplifies concepts like Eh and redox scales, Exclusion zone water, and soil amendments for any kind of deficiency. We also talk about how this new information has changed the way he manages his own garden and his advice for some of the best practices for large scale soil improvement. Resources: https://www.thepermaculturestudent.com/ https://abundantearthfoundation.org/

We’ve covered a ton of angles to this topic already, from fixing broken water cycles on the land with keyline planning and earthworks, to marine ecosystem restoration through conservation and even farming. In today’s episode I got to speak with Bruce Kania of Floating Island International which developed their patented Biohaven floating island technology as a solution to algae-ridden and nutrient impared waterways since 2005. Since then they´ve launched over 9,000 island systems worldwide as solutions to a variety of problems facing contaminated water.  In this interview Bruce breaks down the chemical and biological processes that happen in the water when there’s a heavy nutrient load and how it affects the balance of oxygen and the lifeforms that depend on it. He tells me how the floating islands that he’s helped to develop work to cycle the nutrients of polluted waterways back into the food web that then fosters the beneficial life forms that are emergent elements of healthy water ecosystems and that mature to help the whole system and surrounding ecology to thrive.  We also take a look at the case study of Fish Fry Lake in Montana and how it’s gone from a polluted lake with regular algae blooms to become the most productive wild fishery in Montana where people can even swim and snorkel! Be sure to stick around till the end of the interview as Bruce explains just how big the potential of these floating wetland systems is as he’s looking to develop inhabited floating islands that help to filter and clean the great plastic garbage patches in the Pacific ocean and the possibility of creating floating solar farms that function as new real estate as well.  Resources: Main Website https://www.floatingislandinternational.com/solutions/ Dos and don’t of waterway stewardship https://www.floatingislandinternational.com/the-dos-and-donts-of-waterway-stewardship/ Ted talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPIUUnoRPcY&feature=emb_logoInternship link  https://www.floatingislandinternational.com/internships-available/

Welcome back friends and family to this ongoing series on waterway regeneration. In the past three episodes I focused on marine regeneration through conservation as well as farming. Today we're going to take a look at fresh water systems and specifically, how to decontaminate them through biological methods. I'll be sure to put a link to that interview in the show note on the website in case you missed it.  Some of you may remember an interview I did with Tom Duncan about his floating wetlands and how they can be used to clean up excessive nutrients and pollutants back in season 1. Today I'll be expanding on that technique since it´s gained a lot of traction and floating islands are popping up all over the world to help deal with contaminated rivers, lakes, and ponds. I'll be sure to put a link to that interview in the show note on the website in case you missed it.  For this episode I reached out to Galen Fulford, the managing director at Biomatrix Water, a biological technology company working on solutions for waterway and wastewater treatment based in Moray, Scotland.  In this interview, Galen explains the science behind waterway contamination evaluation and the calculations they do to determine the restoration approach and techniques that are appropriate for each site. He also breaks down how their floating wetland systems work and how they compare and differ from traditional wetlands in the way they decontaminate water and provide habitat and sanctuaries for wildlife. We also explore the challenges that installing floating wetlands in urban environments can entail as well as some of the novel solutions in engineering that Biomatrix Water have developed to help their installations withstand events like floods and heavy contamination loads.  This is a great episode for people who really want to understand the biology and engineering behind some of the most promising natural waterway remediation techniques being pioneered today. Make sure you listen all the way till the end too when Galen explains how these floating wetland systems are being applied to ecological sewage treatment and municipal water purification. Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg3Ml1HOwno https://www.biomatrixwater.com/natural-wastewater-treatment/ https://www.biomatrixwater.com/living-water-cities/ https://www.biomatrixwater.com/water-restoration/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bEhm_Zs3bk http://regenerativeskills.com/abundantedge-tom-duncan/