The RegenNarration

Welcome to a preview of another very special series of episodes to end 2025. This time, from my return to an old haunt back at the turn of the century, in beautiful current day Guatemala, Central America. Deep in the heart of Mayan Country and culture. Among my blessings back then were cherished friendships with some dear people descendent of those ancient roots. And in the months we were back there earlier this year and late last, I had the chance to record four episodes.To have the opportunity to share these with you here, is beyond what I ever imagined possible. All translated by my dear friend in Baltimore who was with me in the latter part of my time in Guate, who you might remember from the recent episodes from Chaco Canyon in New Mexico (eps 264 and 5). With great thanks to Dana, a version of all four episodes will go out in both Spanish and English. It all starts tomorrow. I hope you’ll join us!Title slide: from the tour at IMAP (pic: Olivia Cheng).Music: Salta Montes, by Migra (sourced from Artlist).Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

One of the most rewarding parts of doing this podcast is hearing from listeners – from you. On this occasion, I heard from a listener who has also been a generous subscriber for a couple of years now. Vicky Winton is a credentialed archaeologist, with her own riveting story to tell. She graciously shared some of that story with me. I relay some of it here, though I’ll leave most of that telling to her some time. Here’s what I’d like to share from our correspondence, before I patch in what Vicki courageously sent me to share with you too.Vicky wrote: ‘Grounded left me feeling sad in ways I can’t put my finger on. Not sure what to make of such a response. Hopefully some kind of galvanising. Seems taboo to mention sadness, like it’s disloyal to the cause of sorting things out for the better. Defeatist.’This started our exchange, which summed to this - Vicky humbly, reluctantly, generously agreeing to record her reading of a Sonnet she had composed in the wake of the festival. And a bit more besides.Title image: AJ, Heidi Mippy, Di & Ian Haggerty in the session at Grounded that became episode 281 (pic: Alan Benson).Music:Music by Jeremiah Johnson.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

My host platform's automatic AI title suggestions for this episode were:The Riotous WrapTurning a Closing Panel into a Playful ShowdownWhen a Nutrient Density Guy Meets A Festival Founder and a Referee (guess that's me!), Chaos EnsuesTaste as TruthIf A Carrot Had Wi-Fi, It Would Ghost Your MicrowaveGives you an idea. Today we conclude our series from the Grounded Festival here in Australia, with a grand finale of a different flavour. Festival founder, curator, farmer, writer, broadcaster, Matthew Evans, had offered the slot to Dan Kittredge, also a farmer, and globally renowned advocate for nutrient density (you may have heard him on the podcast for episode 250 while we were still in his native US). Dan subsequently suggested to Matthew they do something different – that Matthew join Dan on stage, to challenge him a little. Matthew then turned to me to see if I’d round out the unholy trinity, in case Dan got out of hand (not really … well, maybe). Anyway, what everyone who was there that day all agreed on, was that this turned out to be a riot – a grounded, cosmic, hysterical end to a wonderful festival. And no one was spared.Let’s head back to Galloway Springs Farm near Bridgetown WA, one more time.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 20 September 2025.Title image: AJ, Matthew & Dan on stage (pic: Alan Benson).See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Early bird tix for Grounded 2026 are out now, with a 10% discount for podcast subscribers, with thanks again to the festival team (I’ve sent the code to you on Patreon and Substack).Music:Rowdy, by The Lonely Ramblers (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Continuing our series today from Grounded Festival here in Australia, a conversation with West Australians of the Year, pioneers of Natural Intelligence Farming, and so much more beyond the farm, Dianne and Ian Haggerty. We talk about what it’s been like being West Aussies of the Year, and farmers. And go from there, once again, into some emotional and hilarious exchanges, on what’s emerging from the year, how different things feel now, and the call to all parties to rally now towards some bigger visions. Weaved into all that, we also further explore the incredible week that was here in WA, including their three big events: from the launch of a new Alliance at Government House, to a tour on-farm ahead of the Regenerating Food Systems conference (featured on the podcast in recent weeks), through to their first enormous community showcase event. As it happens, the new Alliance you’ll hear about has its first development workshop today – so more on that soon. There was so much to talk about. Let’s head back to the sun-drenched green of Galloway Springs farm.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 20 September 2025.Title image: AJ, Di and Ian on stage (pic: Alan Benson).See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Music:Rowdy, by The Lonely Ramblers (sourced from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Straight after the Regenerating Food Systems conference you’ve been hearing from in recent weeks, we headed south for the Grounded Festival. It was my privilege to host proceedings there on the last day, in one of the two marquees by the lake, on the wonderful Galloway Springs Farm near Bridgetown. There were three panel conversations there that the team at Grounded has generously allowed me to share here. Those panels happened to be such emotional, substantial and funny pinnacles of what had been an extraordinary week as a whole here in WA – from Government House, through the conference at the city Stadium, to this festival in the field. These panel conversations offer something of a debrief on the week, some significant early outcomes and resolutions, and the spirit that had summed along the way. First up, then, the morning panel, still reverberating for many, featuring three people who had been at the three major events – and some others - through the week: West Australians of the Year, farmers and previous podcast guests, Di and Ian Haggerty; andNoongar and Thin-ma Warriyanka woman and also a previous podcast guest, Heidi Mippy. On the topic of First Nations Integration into the Food System. And how this yarn builds. Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 20 September 2025.Title image: AJ, Heidi, Di and Ian on stage (pic: Alan Benson).See more photos on the episode web page, including the illustration by Brenna Quinlan, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.If you’d like to see that image of the Wagyl on Heidi’s first visit to the Haggerty farm, head to episode 143.Music:Barefoot, by Mark Grundhoefer (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Last week’s episode and bonus extra featured the first panel conversation and my MC's introduction, respectively, to the Regenerative Food Systems conference hosted by RegenWA last month at Perth Stadium. Today, a final brief instalment from that event – a summary of all that happened during day one. With a little experiment. I was relieved and grateful when a bunch of people came up to me afterwards to say how much they appreciated that experiment. One person I respect even asked if they could access a recording of it. Well, there was a recording, and you’re listening to a podcaster after all, so maybe it could be podcast fodder. Could be a good way to share a taste of what went down with you. It sure was an outstanding day. So I gave it a listen back (thanks to RegenWA), and on balance, it got the green light. As always, you’ll let me know if it shouldn’t have. But here it is. My ten-minute close to day one of the Regenerative Food Systems Conference.Here’s the conference program if you feel like tracing who I’m referencing throughout.For more from both days, you can read RegenWA’s written debrief, standby for their release of other recordings, and of course listen to last week’s episodes.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 17 September 2025.Title image by Alex Hawkins from Simple Ben Stories. For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Music:Beat Blitz by Sunny Fruit (sourced from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Welcome to this brief bonus extra to episode 279, which featured a very special panel conversation from the recent Regenerating Food Systems conference. Now you might ask, why would anyone who wasn’t at the conference want to hear my MC’s introduction to it? Well, if you’re interested in some of the story of the conference, the movement in Western Australia generally, RegenWA in particular, including its moving roots, some of the rest of what became an incredible week of events in WA, from Government House, through the conference, to Grounded Festival and more - and maybe even some of the story of how I came to be connected to all this at about the same time RegenWA started – then here’s the short version for you. All of six or seven  minutes. With the Governor of WA and his wife, former Ministers, current MPs, and 300 others filling the room at Perth Stadium last month.Recorded 17 September 2025.Title slide: Introducing the conference, with the Governor of WA in the front row (from the film by Alex Hawkins of Simple Ben Stories).See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Music:Music by Jeremiah Johnson.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Ever since the extraordinary week of events here in Western Australia last month, from a reception at Government House for former podcast guests and current West Australians of the Year, Di and Ian Haggerty, through to the 2-day Regenerating Food Systems conference at Perth Stadium, and on to the 2-day Grounded Festival down south near Bridgetown, and plenty more besides, I’ve been wondering what might hold up to share with you here on the podcast. In short, I’ve got a few things you might enjoy hearing. Starting today, with the very first panel of the Regenerating Food Systems conference (with thanks to the team at RegenWA).It features five special guests: prominent writer, broadcaster, chef turned farmer, and founder of Grounded Festival Matthew Evans, globally renowned plant and soil health educator and consultant Joel Williams, nationally recognised Indigenous leader and regenerative land manager Oral McGuire, award-winning farmer and RegenWA Chair Stuart McAlpine, and soil and gut microbiome researcher Dr Craig Liddicoat (yes, mighty men's business - mighty women's business closed the day).I start by asking each of our guests for fire starters, and it takes off from there.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 17 September 2025.Title image: AJ, Matthew, Joel, Oral, Stuart and Craig (pic: Paolo Sulit).See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Find more:RegenWA’s written debrief on the conference.The WA Governor's introduction of the conference. Oral McGuire's appearance on SBS News.Music:Citadel by Ardie Son (sourced from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Welcome to one final special offering for you to round out the series recorded at Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet Nation, in current day northern Montana. When the documentary film that culminated at Chief Mountain, Bring Them Home, was screened at the Regenerate Conference in Denver last year, while on its award-winning international film festival circuit, co-director Daniel Glick and producer Melissa Grumhaus from Thunderheart Films were there.The film charts the decades-long story leading to the return of buffalo to the wild for the first time in over a century. And it’s narrated by Oscar-nominated Blackfeet woman, Lily Gladstone. So in the emotion of the moment, I recorded the 25 minute Q&A with Daniel and Melissa on my phone, just for myself, and asked them afterwards if they’d be up for doing a podcast on this. Thankfully they were. But when I listened back to the Q&A, it was all there. Succinct, in the moment, and profound – talking about the film’s story, and their own. I was able to ask a couple of the questions too, that more or less bookend it. So I checked with Melissa if she’d be happy if we just ran this, and thankfully she was.Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 6 November 2024.See photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.Find more:Film trailer, screenings & streaming.The 18-minute short film directed by Daniel in 2016 that led to the feature film (which was also co-directed by Blackfeet filmmakers Ivan & Ivy MacDonald).For more of the story, head to the 2-part podcast series produced on Blackfeet Country, episodes 276, Culture as Medicine, and 277, Chief Mountain.Music:Bring Them Home, by Foreshadow feat. Ksk'staak'iinna (Official Music Video).Home Journey, by Semo, Ian Post (sourced on Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Last week featured a very special on-location episode with Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet elder, and founder of the Piikani Lodge Health Institute, Long Time Charging Woman Kim Paul. That was our first day together, visiting some of the places Kim holds most dear on spectacular Blackfeet Country in current day northern Montana, all while sharing some breathtaking stories about her life and work.We left off that episode hearing the story of how Piikani Lodge came to be, and the support that started to serendipitously kick in. Back at the house that night, Andrew Berger turned up. He’s the Director of Agriculture and Climate Adaptation Programs at Piikani Lodge. Based in Baltimore, he’s a landscape architect who cut his teeth in New Mexico on water rights and planning, which fortuidously led him to Piikani Lodge in its relatively early days. And he’s found himself pivotal to the big vision Kim talked about last time, on their latest reacquired land, while he also works with that increasing number (almost half of them so far) of the landholders and farmers improving their land management and production.So the next day, Kim and Andrew kindly offered to take us out to the sacred sentinel that is Chief Mountain. Which was also where the closing scenes to the new award-winning documentary I talked about last week, Bring Them Home, were filmed, as buffalo were returned to the wild for the first time in over a century.So join me as I climb in with Andrew to hear how he’s seeing this country, the work of Piikani Lodge, and his role in it all. We’re to meet up with Kim at Chief Mountain. And the day goes on to culminate with an unforgettable wild encounter, while it starts with an heroic story, and more breaking news, straight out of the gate. Chapter markers & transcript.Recorded 11 July 2025.Title image: Andrew, Kim & AJ by the Medicine Wheel (pic: Olivia Cheng).See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes become a supporting listener below.Btw, at the last location in this ep, it was Pearl Jam’s bassist.Music:Flight of the Inner Bird, by Yehezkel Raz feat. Sivan Talmor (from Artlist).Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!