Mark Shepard and Kevin Muno come on to talk about an upcoming Restoration Agriculture workshop in San Diego. In this episode they touch on how Mark uses keyline design, how most properties could benefit from keyline practices, designing for high value niche crops, and designing for Mediterranean tree crop systems. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2mark

What do you do if you have a passion and there is no one out there offering you a job to fulfill that passion? One option is to just work any job, foregtting what you are actually passionate about.  And that is what many people do, and I think that those people can attest to the fact that that option sucks. Another option is to find the intersection between your passions and your strengths and problems that need solving and solve those problems by starting a business. This podcast is about that.   this is the audio from Rob Avis's presentation from PV1. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b016

Troy Martz of Off Grid Pro talks about what is gasification and what is the difference between wood gasification and charcoal gasification? And he touches on his talk topic at PV2 - choosing the right alternative energy technologies for your climate, biome, and context. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2shorts

On this show Adam and I talk about an early trip that he made to the Acres USA Conference and how he benefitted from that experience, stating "I was just at a point where I realized that for me to make the next step forward with the farm, I had to make a big step." We also touch on one of his worst experiences on the farm and how he recovered and moved past it. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2shorts

Talking to PV2 speaker Luke Callahan of Seedwise. We touch on the value of learning with others who have more experience than you and creating connections and relationships with high quality people. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/pv2shorts For more information on PV2 you can visit: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

In this presentation Curtis will walk you through the process in which a 2100 square foot lawn can be converted to a productive mini farm. He’ll discuss the technical process of conversion, and the economics of production. This talk will be useful for anyone who is curious about how much food can be harvested from an average lawn space or anyone who is interested in commercial urban farming. Curtis will demonstrate that your average lawn can be a considerable source of revenue, generating $18,000, or a significant source of food for the community. The Workshop: permaculturevoices.com/urbanfarming Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b015

Talking to Stefan Sobkowiak of The Permaculture Orchard.  We touch on why he decided to speak at PV2, what he would do differently if he had to start over, and the value of networking and sharing ideas with others. For more information on PV2 you can visit: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

Zach Weiss of Holzer AgroEcology discusses his experiences working on projects designed by Sepp Holzer. He also gets into Sepp's ideas and design philosophy. This is the recording of a presentation that Zach gave at a workshop at VersaLand in October 2014. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b014

Zach Weiss of Holzer AgroEcology discusses his experiences working on projects designed by Sepp Holzer. He also gets into Sepp's ideas and design philosophy. This is the recording of a presentation that Zach gave at a workshop at VersaLand in October 2014. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/b013

Taylor Walker from Green Dreams Florida joins me. In this episode we talk being a designer, propagating and selling plants, and we get into specific plant species. Some of these are zone specific; some are more universal, like Mulberry. Towards the end of the episode Taylor goes in depth about 5 not so common plant species that make up a nice permaculture plant guild. He’s growing these plants in Zone 9 in Florida, but maybe you can find some microclimates in your own climate zone to take advantage of some of these species. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/99

Neil Bertrando joins me to talk about the broadacre and farmscale permaculture design workshop we both attended at Grant Schultz's Versaland, Darren Doherty of Regrarians, our thoughts on both of those guys and broadacre design, and Neil's design experiences in the high desert of Nevada.   Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/98

Kevin Hauser of Kuffel Creek Nursery in Riverside, CA joins me to talk about growing apples in warm, dry climates. Despite popular myths many varieties actually do really well and thrive in these types of climates. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/97

This episode is a replay of Dr. Elaine Ingham’s keynote talk, Building Soil Health, from PV1. To introduce the talk, Dr. Elaine Ingham says… A revolution in our understanding of soil has been taking place. “Conventional” agriculture requires ever-increasing inputs and energy into the system to maintain production, while natural systems reduce the disturbances in the system, while increasing production. Historically, soil science ignored or dismissed soil life as important, in large part because the methods used to study organisms in soil were mis-leading, inaccurate and missed about 99% or more of the species present in soil. With the advent of microscope methods and genetic assessment of soil life, we are beginning to unravel the mysteries of the soil. Understanding soil life is critical if we want to be sustainable; we need to work with nature, instead of waging war on natural laws as we do in our agricultural systems, to the detriment of people and the planet. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/96

If you are doing the life that everyone expects of you, what are you doing to explore that. Everyone has the capacity to really make the choice to really live life, to be engaged, and live a life of vitality. It's never too late to start living. That’s what Matthew Abrams of Mycelium and I are exploring today. Creating the conditions for pull learning, learning about what you are interested in, doing work that you love, finding out about what brings you alive and living your life. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/95 PV2 Info @ permaculturevoices.com/pv2

Steve Gabriel author of Farming the Woods joins me to talk about forest farming. Growing agriculture crops within the forest, beneath the already existing tree canopy. We could grow things like mushrooms, ginseng, medicinal herbs, berries, all while harvesting nuts and tree saps. Economic yields coming out an already established perennial system, no plowing required. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/94 PV2 Info: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

This episode with John Pugliano is meant to get you to start thinking in a different way and to plant some seeds in your head. I think that everyone can benefit by starting thinking more like an entrepreneur. We will touch on business idea generation and John will cover some value add type businesses that anyone can start with low capital. They aren’t directly permaculture, but they are related. The theme being like start where you are, take a step in that direction. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/93 PV2 Info: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

Maddy and her partner Tim started the magazine back in 1992 out of their home office. At that time the readership was tiny. But they had a vision for something bigger. A vision of world where permaculture could provide solutions to some of the problems that the world was facing. But in order to make that vision a reality, they had to help get the word out there. Literally. And going from the home office with a readership in the hundreds to the hundred thousands took some work. As Maddy says, "I'm not going to pretend it was easy. It was really, really tough." But she put the work in with her team and today they are a working model of a 22 year old permaculture business, one that looks at the business through a whole systems lens, minding the triple bottom line, not just the single bottom line. Let’s get into it and see what’s possible when you mix business with permaculture.. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/92 PV2 Info: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

This show is a conversation that I had with Mark Shepard about the process of starting up his farm, New Forest Farm, in Viola, Wisconsin.  How did he start? What was the process like - both on the land and off? What were the real life financial struggles and challenges that he went through and faced? Hint... It wasn't easy. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/91 PV2: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

How can we start to broaden the reach of permaculture and start to involve areas outside of permaculture in the greater movement of permaculture? How can we use the permaculture toolkit to make more effective use of resources in other areas? How can we start to include willing, able, and highly skilled individuals and groups that don’t’ have a land focus and have previously felt excluded from the permaculture conversation in the conversation. I am joined by Jessica Schilike and Nick Wooten to talk social permaculture. They both have done a lot of work on the social side of things and are actively involved in bringing more groups into the permaculture conversation. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/90 PV2: permaculturevoices.com/pv2

Joel Salatin's talk on Stacking Fiefdoms from PV1. "The whole idea is to create customized fiefdoms so that people are autonomous and have the authority to run their own fiefdom within your own umbrella, and you can't believe how many things you can get done that way." Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/89

Engineer and permie Rob Avis from Verge Permaculture talks about building and designing passive solar greenhouses. Key Takeaways: Orientation. In Northern hemisphere orient it South or within 45 degrees of South. Higher the glazing transmisivity is, the better it is for the plants. Don't underestimate the value of good insulation in the walls of the greenhouse. Rob uses R-20 in Calgary. Keep in mind insulation doesn't stop heat loss, it just slows it down. In lower light conditions look to plants that are adapted to growing in lower light conditions. A hoop house may be a viable alternative in lower light conditions. It is very important to have thermal mass in the greenhouse. Thermal mass absorbs the surplus heat during the date and radiates it back out at night. Know what your goals are for the greenhouse. Why are you building it? You can't over-vent a greenhouse. Thermal curtains can cut heat loss drastically through the glazing. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/88

Luke Callahan author of The Complete Guide to Growing and Selling Microgreens and the co-founder of Seedwise joins me to talk about starting and running a microgreens business. It’s a business that can make some serious money when you are selling the product of that business for $50 to $150 per pound. With those prices, and selling at scale we are talking about the very realistic possibility to generate $1000 to $2000 a week in sales. This isn’t conjecture, these are real numbers. The real sales numbers that my guest today, Luke Callahan was taking in running his microgreens business. It was a very successful business that generated some good revenue. The prices that he was getting per pound for his product, $50 to $150, and the $1000 to $2000 are a week are attainable. It isn’t some get rich quick scheme. You are going to have to go out there put in the time and grind, it does take hard work. It does take a lot of relationship building and pounding the pavement. But it’s doable. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/87

While American Guinea Hogs are suited to a wide variety of environments and will do better than most breeds on low grade forage, they prefer lush pastures with clover along with access to minerals, kitchen scraps, quality hay in winter, clean water to drink, access to a muddy wallow, minimal shelter from precipitation and wind, dry bedding, and perhaps a small amount of grain. They thrive where ranging and grazing is a constant activity giving them plenty of exercise. They are minimal rooters when good grazing and adequate feed is available. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/86

This is the very real story of Chad Stamps and his unromantic journey into farming. It's the reality of life that makes this story unromantic, versus the common romantic notions that you hear when someone speaks about going into farming. Long hours, driving, and hard work are par for the course. Entry into farming is often a grind. But it is that grind that has become some people's destiny. People like Chad. Chad has gone from no farming experience to now full time farmer. He looked for land for 6 years and started with just 4 feeder pigs and the rest is history. As Chad says in this episode, "The perfect time will never come. Start before you are ready. If you wait, you'll never get there." And, oh yeah... This episode was recorded 4 days after Chad quit his job to farm full time. This is as real as it gets. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/85

Today’s guest is Joe Baird.  Joe and his family are taking on the task of restoring the village of Veglio. It is a place that has family ties and ties to when things were much simpler. The way of life in Veglio, then and now, is a stark contrast to the way of life in Joe’s current home in Orange County California. Despite the contrast to today’s technological world, much of what was done in Veglio for hundreds of years provides incredible lessons for us to thrive for hundreds of years into the future. And it those lessons that we are talking about today. Building the future by uncovering and rediscovering the past, The Veglio Project. with Joe Baird.. Veglio: Small village in northern Italy near the Switzerland border. Originally only accessible by foot. Estimated to be about 1000 years old and at one time it supported 250 people. Currently restoration efforts are underway to restore many of the original stone buildings. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/84

Key Takeaways: -Even if the worst happened and the business failed. How bad would it actually be? -Learn stuff as you need to. You don't have to learn everything up front. Doing is more important that constantly trying to learn more and know it all. -Often times a hard commitment or commitment to deliver is what can really make you go out and take something on and work it out and make it happen. -If it has been done before, then it can be done. -Realize the power of saying no. You can't do it all. -Don't over complicate the model. Get it up and working and stable, then innovate, tweak and push the limits. -Consider the value of your time. Are you spending your time doing high dollar activities? -80% of your profits come from 20% of your crops. What crops are you focusing on? -80% of land is dedicated to high and medium value crops. -You don't have to quit your job to do this. Start on the side. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/83

-Key Takeaways: Hugelkultur mounds are usually positioned perpendicular to the wind. Sometimes used as a staging process to dispose of wood and build soil which can then be spread onto crop land. Think of a hugelkultur as a produce aisle raised bed. Make sure the design fits into how you live your life and how you want to live your life. -Hugelkultur Benefits: Soil building structure. Semi-permanent planting bed. It creates microclimates. Lifting the soil surface towards the sun and that adds degree days. with Javan Bernakevitch of Permaculture BC. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/82

This episode is a compilation of interviews that I recorded during PV1 - March 13-16, 2014. The general theme of this episode is how business can benefit from permaculture. How we as the permaculture community can positively impact the future of business. THE INTERVIEWEE'S FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE: Bill Bean of the Green Planning and Coaching Ryan Harb of RyanHarb.org Curtis Stone of Green City Acres Dave Boehnlein of Terra Phoenix Design Paul Greive of Primal Pastures Xavier Hawk of Permacredits and Colony Earth Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/81

This show is an interview with Peter McCoy of Radical Mycology. Radical Mycology is a movement and social philosophy based on accessibly teaching the importance of mushrooms and other fungi for personal, societal, and ecological health. Radical Mycology differs from classical mycology in that classical mycology generally focuses on taxonomy, identification, mycophagy (eating mushrooms), and the more personal benefits of working with fungi while Radical Mycology is about using fungi for the benefit of larger communities and the world. As a concept, Radical Mycology is based on the belief that the lifecycles of fungi and their interactions in nature serve as powerful learning tools for how humans can best relate to each other and steward the world they live in. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/80

In Woody Agriculture, crops would be planted only once in a lifetime. The use of woody perennials for agricultural staple commodities production would result in little or no use of tillage, as well as the presence of a permanent cover during both the growing and the dormant seasons. Not only would this lead to a vastly lower rate of soil loss and less runoff into water supplies and aquatic environments, but there would be a reduced need for the fossil fuels consumed in plowing and tilling. In addition, use of pesticides needed for the establishment of annual plants could be sharply reduced. A further important benefit would be the reduction of soil compaction, since far fewer trips through the fields with heavy equipment would be required. Key Takeaways: Breeding: You cannot work with more than two traits at the same time. The most important trait is to have a population that actually survives. When you sell products off of your farm (like nuts) you are exporting a lot of minerals. It is important to remineralize your soil. You can use sheep and chickens in hazelnut systems to remineralize and fertilize the soil. Hickory and Pecan work well with hazelnuts. Chestnuts don't do as well given different soil pH requirements. Find the old timers growing tree species that you want to grow in your area. They may have long tested genetics suited for your area. Hazels are wind pollinated, so you don't' need immediate close proximity for insect pollination. Coppicing to the ground every 10 years can help to rejuvenate the plants. permaculturevoices.com/79

This is an interview with Neal Spackman. And while you probably haven’t heard of Neal the work that Neal is doing to regreen an area of the Saudi Arabian desert is monumental. The work that he is doing is every bit as great as the work that Geoff Lawton has done. And I mean that. We are talking about regreening a portion of the desert that gets 3 inches of rain a year on average, but lately they aren’t even meeting the average. Greening the site by using true cost water accounting, meaning that they only use the equivalent of water that falls onto the site to establish the vegetation. With minimal rainfall, no pre-existing plant life and 100 plus degree summer temperatures, it is no easy task. Throw in the economic and social challenges of the village that he is working with and the task becomes even harder. But despite those challenges, progress is being made, and the sounds of crickets are now being heard. Life is coming back. The upside potential here is huge. And as Neal says, “"There was some real risk, but in the end I didn't think I was going to end off any worse than I was.... And the potential opportunity was exponentially greater than what I was doing at the time." Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/78

The episode is a compilation of interviews that I recorded during PV1 - March 13-16, 2014.  Each of the interviewees was a speaker at PV1.  The general theme of this episode is how we can use better management practices and plants to improve the land, increase it's resiliency, and reverse desertification. THE INTERVIEWEE'S FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE: Allan Savory of the Savory Institute Willie Smits of Masarang Phil Rutter of Badgersett Research Corporation Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Food Web Joseph Simcox Miguel Uribe Peter Hirst of New England Biochar Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/77

Today’s show is a pretty inspirational one. What would you do if you only had a year left to live? And if you aren’t doing that now, why not? Keep that phrase in your head during this episode with Fraser Bliss of Farmwell.com. Show Notes: permacultureVOICES.com/76

This book is about designing sustainable human settlements, an preserving and extending natural systems. It covers aspects of designing and maintaining a cultivated ecology in any climate: the principles of design; design methods; understanding patterns in nature; climatic factor; water; soils; earthworks; techniques and strategies in the difference climatic types; aquaculture; and the social, legal, and economic design of human settlement. It calls into question not only the current methods of agriculture, but also the very need for a formal food agriculture if wastelands and the excessive lawn culture within towns and cities are devoted to food production and small livestock suited to local needs. This book is Permaculture, A Designers’ Manual. And this show is Geoff Lawton covering the whole Permaculture Designers’ Manual in about an hour at PV1 in March 2014. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/75

Given the amount of confusion that I see on a day to day basis, and the fact that there seems to be a lot of unknowns out there about PDCs, I created this episode to try to answer a lot of the questions that I was getting regarding PDCs. Now, I am not a PDC instructor and I have only taken one PDC, so I turned to eight well respected PDC instructors (names below) to get their thoughts on ‘What’s a PDC?‘ Combined these eight instructors have taught hundreds and hundreds of PDCs over the last 30 years and each brings their own twist to the PDC. I asked them all the same questions and compiled their thoughts into two easily digestible episodes. At the end of each episode Byron Joel, a PDC instructor himself, joins me and we recap and discuss what we heard, and give our thoughts on PDCs based on our experiences with them. To keep things interesting the subject matter was broken up into two pieces… In Part 1, episode 073, we take on the task of answering, What is a PDC? and What isn’t a PDC? In the next episode, Part 2 we will answer the questions, What is the value of taking a PDC? and How do I choose and evaluate which PDC is right for me? Hopefully this show will help answer some of the questions that you had about PDCs, and indirectly give you a better idea of what permaculture is all about.. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/74

Given the amount of confusion that I see on a day to day basis, and the fact that there seems to be a lot of unknowns out there about PDCs, I created this episode to try to answer a lot of the questions that I was getting regarding PDCs. Now, I am not a PDC instructor and I have only taken one PDC, so I turned to eight well respected PDC instructors (and former PDC students themselves) to get their thoughts on 'What's a PDC.' Combined these eight instructors have taught hundreds and hundreds of PDCs over the last 30 years and each brings their own twist to the PDC. I asked them all the same questions, and compiled their thoughts into two easily digestible episodes. At the end of each episode Byron Joel, a PDC instructor himself, and I recap and discuss what we heard, and give our thoughts on PDCs based on our experiences. To keep things interesting the subject matter was broken up into two pieces... In Part 1, this episode, we take on the task of answering, What is a PDC? and What isn't a PDC? In the next episode, Part 2 will answer the questions, What is the value of taking a PDC? and How do I choose and evaluate which PDC is right for me? Hopefully this show will help answer some questions that you had about PDCs, and indirectly give you a better idea of what permaculture is all about.. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/73

This is the real world view of an organic farmer who is serving a community by producing food on scale, farming organic or better, for over 30 years. It hasn’t always been easy, and every day isn’t a tea party, but it has been enjoyable and resulted in a lot of great friendships and memories. This is the story of Nigel Walker and Eatwell Farm. "Communication is the key, and it is the number one priority for the whole farm for me every week." "Make your best educated guess, then see what happens and have a contingency." Key Points brought up by Nigel: Money is the energy to do things. Realize the importance of understanding money. Run the numbers and use the numbers to help think of things on the farm and make priorities. When buying land think of the water situation. Is there a stable water source? Keep all of the water on the farm. Harvest every drop that falls from the sky. Always be looking for new business opportunities and value adds. There are big benefits to shelf stable products. You can sell those products over time. Listen to what customers are asking for and them make that. Easier to make more for existing customers than acquiring new customers. Talk to customers and find out what they want. Consider all of the businesses based on the land-base even if some are small, they all add to the farm income. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/72

As my guest today David Pagan Butler of OrganicPools.co.uk says, "If you want really healthy water, you want it full of life; not devoid of life." That is what today's show is about. Creating the conditions for life to happen within the water in natural swimming pools. Natural swimming pools unlike their chemical counterparts use no chemicals. The pool water is cleaned biologically by plants and organisms within the water. No smells, no chemicals, no pathogens, biology creating water so clean you can drink it. David has developed a system of building natural pools that is both cost effective and ecologically enhancing. Natural pools that utilize natural biological processes to keep the water clean. The classic case of nature doing something equal to or better than some chemical made in a factory - clean, pathogen free drinking water, in swimmable form. Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/71

I want to talk about something which I call the impossible task. It is something that each one of us struggles with. We all have something that that we really want to do yet we don't think it is possible, at least not easily possible, and we don't try it. I am here to tell you today, that it is possible and worth trying for.I want to start today talking about a woman name Bronnie Ware. You probably haven't heard about her, but she is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. As humans at the end of our lives we have very clear visions as we look back. Everything comes to the surface. Bronnie would ask them "do you have any regrets, would you do anything over?" One of the top five regrets was:I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/70

I think we are in the perfect storm right now for regenerative agriculture and permaculture. The economy isn't great. We have a huge number of people dissatisfied with their jobs who are looking for a fulfilling and creative outlet. People that want to work and make a difference. The environmental side of things is a mess. So much so that we have big scientific meetings in Beijing talking about it. We have a food and water crisis brewing that is legitimately viewed as a looming global problem. But all of these crisis's have created an opportunity. An opportunity for permaculture to step to the plate be the solution. The tools are there. And this is the hard part of the game now because it is early in the game, but it isn't as hard as it was 20 years ago or 10 years ago. Forward progress will be made, but I think it is going to take some balls and strategic planning. We need to realize that we are pioneers forging a new path and and we don't have a ton of models to refer to and to fall back on. But there are some - Mark Shepard, Darren Doherty's work, Peter Allen, Kevin Woltz at the University of Illinois, and of course Grant. It won't be easy, but the path is there. It is just a bit of a bumpy, winding dirt path right now, not a smooth asphalt road straight into the future that most of use are used to. For some of us it is time to adult unschool and put the boots on the dirt and hit the path. And it is on that path where we live between easy and dangerous where really feel alive and are at our best. So if you want to go for it, there is no better time. The perfect storm is here and like Grant says, "You do have to jump on it; you have to go now because tomorrow might be too late." Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/69

While many of us will never use permaculture outside of our own backyard or community, there is a whole world out there than can benefit from permaculture design. Places where small incremental changes that can have huge effects. Life is hard in places and Rosemary is someone who has lived her life helping hard places. She has dedicated her life to teaching and helping people. She is a true permaculture pioneer and an inspiration.People often ask, does permaculture work?From a western standpoint, the definition of work is usually form of ultimate abundance, some unrealistic expectation of what the land should be producing on a huge scale with little input; in other words, a miracle. When those results don't magically appear, people are disappointed and say, see it doesn't work.When I asked Rosemary if permaculture worked, she said absolutely, she has seen in. She has spent most of her time in the harshest places on the planet; places where the miracle isn't ultimate abundance. The miracle is merely having more today than you had yesterday and having reasonable assurance that it can continue for the foreseeable future. Places where a little more calories means the difference between starving or not. And in places like that, permaculture does work, it performs miracles.   Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/68

My guest Pete Kanaris is a serial entrepreneur. He has started a whole bunch of businesses, some have worked, some haven't. Despite the failures, he has always found a way to push on and try new things to ultimately get to where he wants to be. That also references another unique point in Pete's story. One of Pete’s most successful businesses was a lawncare business. It was a business that Pete ran for over 10 years and it was really successful. But it wasn't something that Pete liked doing anymore. Along the way he became exposed to permaculture and it became clear that the pathway into the future didn't involve cutting grass, it involved permaculture. So he put it all on the line and started a permaculture design company, Green Dreams. It wasn't about the money; he wanted to do something that he loved doing and something that he believed in. Given the risk and uncertainty involved in starting any new business it would have been easy to take the safe route and stick with what he had, a thriving lawncare business. But he didn't take the easy route, and he put in the hard work to make Green Dreams a reality. Pete's continued push to innovate and try new things has already paid off and Green Dreams is growing. His story is inspirational for anyone out there looking to take that hard first step. As he says, “start small and when the door opens, go big and never look back.” Show Notes: permaculturevoices.com/67

"Instead of trying to support 1000's of people, let's get really good at supporting 150 people and we'll duplicate it." Once we do that we will have models that we can refer back to. Models that can be used to train people to go start other small impact zones. Then we start getting more and more impact zones, and suddenly the picture looks a lot brighter. But that will take time, and it's early in the journey, but the conditions are ripe for change. We just need to kick start it, by incubating innovation.Creating the conditions for success and sustainability to happen, something that I learned from Larry. In fact it's one of the many things that I have learned from Larry. Larry has a wealth of knowledge and the experience to back it up. He's a permaculture pioneer having involved with permaculture since the 80s. He has travelled with Bill Mollison. He's worked on countless projects in the country, the city, and other countries. He gets it. And in Southern California when you mention permaculture, there is one name that comes to mind. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/66

This is a real story, about a real farm based business, that is now profitable. In a world filled with reasons why things won't work and with stories about why your children shouldn’t grow up to be farmers, this is story about why they should.Philippe's story is another story about what is possible. He will tell you that anyone could do this, he wasn't unique, but it does take work and time. But that’s the nature of farming. In an industry where the median farm income was negative $1453 in 2012 you can decide how your time is spent. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/65

Today I am talking with David Sachs. David is working outside of the farming world and is trying to transition to working within the farming world. His family owns and operates a farm in Virginia; his dad runs the farm and David sees a future where he takes over the farm. David is a big believer in permaculture and sees his future on the farm involving more permaculture design incorporated into the farm's operations. But it is easier said than done within a family dynamic. Because within the family they are trying to balance the running of the farm and paying the bills with potentially incorporating more permaculture strategies. Not an easy to make decision. Add in the fact that the family is relatively new to farming and getting all sorts of advice from everyone out there - neighbors to the agriculture extension offices - challenging to say the least. Never the less they are progressing ahead with the farm and doing some great things. In an area that grows a lot of corn, they are now the only organic wheat grower in their area. They are starting up a small scale mill to value add that wheat by turning it into flour. They are making a go of it and starting to look at a future that might involve grazing animals and strategically managed woodlots. They are approaching the transition strategically and systematically, working within the context of reality. Hopefully something within this episode strikes a chord with you. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/64

As my guest today Akiva Silver will explain, you can start a small scale nursery with very little space. Putting a lot of plants on really tight spacings;I mean A LOT of trees on REALLY tight spacings. When you hear it intuitively your first thought is probably, that's way too close. The trees will suffer and the roots will tangle up. But that is not the results that Akiva Silver has had. Akiva has a small nursery business where he grows over 1000 trees on a half an acre. Thousands of trees plant tightly together in loose, friable soil. Very tight spacings that force trees to grow tall and straight in competition with their neighbors resulting in a lot of nursery stock that can be sold in the first year.How many people out there have some extra space where they could grow a few hundred trees? Trees to use in the development of your own property or to sell. If you sold each tree for $5 or $10, then we are talking about some significant money given the amount of space it takes.It is simple, but it does take time, it is hard work. We aren't talking about any sort of gimmicks here. It is about putting time, work, and care in to nurse these trees along to the point where you can sell them. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/63

This episode today isn't just applicable to farming. Ronan's story and what he is talking about is a metaphor. These ideas are applicable to everything under the permaculture umbrella and beyond. It all comes down to starting something small, making some mistakes, and learning and adapting along the way.Ronan' story is so simple, so common, yet uniquely inspiring; IT IS GREAT.This is a real story from a real person. Starting with 75 chicks eight years ago and growing that to over 10,000 today. Going from the corporate world to full time farmer; Ronan didn't start as a farmer, he became a farmer.In a world of negativity there are a lot of people out there doing absolutely great things. People just like you. People that listen to this show. Ronan is one of them. These are the stories that inspire me to keep doing what I do and give me hope in a better future. The change is happening out there. You might not see it yet, but it's happening.. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/62

This episode is actually the audio from Jack Spirko’s talk titled just that, Building a Profitable Permaculture Business from PV1. This is his actual talk, verbatim.In this presentation Jack gives a lot of great insight into creating the framework for a profitable, meaning sustainable, business. He touches on different traits that a successful business should have including a well-defined mission statement and a well-defined revenue model.Jack also throws out some ideas for building a business around permaculture.Whether you are a farmer, a consultant, or someone looking to take all of that permaculture knowledge that you have up in your brain out to the world, then this episode is for you.This episode is full of real world, practical advice that you can apply today. It is advice that can make you money. It is advice that can hopefully help get you thinking about that career in permaculture that you are always thinking about. And that is a lot of what I am about, getting people thinking about taking permaculture from a hobby, to a right livelihood, a career in permaculture. If that is your thing then hopefully this episode delivers some value to you. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/60