Regenerative Skills

This is an interview I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. I was fortunate enough to speak with two guests from opposite ends of the spectrum of permaculture learning. The first, Geoff Lawton, one of the original students of Bill Mollison and a permaculture designer and teacher for more than 30 years, and the second, Sam Parker-Davies, an intern with Geoff at Zaytuna farm in Australia who...

Welcome to part two of the Abundant Edge design criteria checklist. If you're just tuning in now for the first time, I would recommend that you have a listen first to part one where we covered the goal and visioning exercise and the site analysis portion of our design criteria. Today we'll be starting where we left off by diving into "invisible structures and moving through the list until we've fo...

The biggest challenge for our team here at Abundant Edge when it comes to holistic design is that there are just so many considerations. Climate and landscape data, client’s wants and needs, economic constraints and many more can seem overwhelming but are crucial to creating designs that work in harmony with nature and solve real problems. This is why we put together our “Design Criteria Checklist...

Here we are once again to talk about the progress, projects and challenges of building the Abundant Edge homestead. On this episode Neal and I are also joined by our good friend Tim Reher. Owner of Shangrila Coffee Roasters in San Marcos just one town over from us here on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. In this episode we talk about setting up our four animal compost factory and the benefits of inoculati...

I try to keep my fingers on the pulse of whats going on in the world of permaculture, natural building and regenerative living, since after all that’s the focus of this podcast, and as a result I find tons of inspiring projects and designers doing ground-breaking work around the world. One of the people and projects that have really caught my attention in the last two months is Luwayo Bizwick and...

This was an opportunity from a few months ago that I just couldn't pass up. Two of my best friends and mentors in the world of permaculture, Shad Qudsi and Zach Loeks, came together to teach a Permaculture Design Certification course and we got to sit down in the middle to talk about a wide range of topics from respecting the diversity of permaculture, exploring regenerative land management sites...

Climate change can manifest in many ways, but in the last 10 years the growing trend of increasingly severe storm seasons and natural disaster have grabbed headlines and displaced entire populations. The urgency of disaster relief is growing every year and the cost of the recovery efforts is skyrocketing. This is what lead me to speak with Rory Dickens, I was first introduced to Rory Dickens throu...

I haven't been this excited about a project in forever. On this month's regenerative round table, I sit down with Neal Hegarty, co-founder of Abundant Edge, and Shad Qudsi, founder of Atitlan Organics, to get to scoop on our first community reforestation project and heirloom local avocado preservation effort. This has been the culmination of many years of observing the local ecology, and social fa...

Climate change is becoming a major disruptor of ecosystems all across the planet with disastrous effects in many cases. For that reason, I spoke with Ginny Stibolt, co-author of the book “Climate-Wise Landscaping” to learn more about how we can transition our lawn centric and synthetic chemical heavy landscape maintenance practices into beautiful ecosystems that help to address the issues of clima...

Here we are again with one of my favorite guests, Shad Qudsi. Shad has been a good friend and mentor to me and our team at Abundant Edge for years now and is the Founder of Atitlan Organics, a profitable permaculture farm and education center here on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. If you’d like to hear more from Shad and his path to permaculture farming in Guatemala you can always check out our previo...

Bread has been a passion of mine for years. Ever since we tried making it for ourselves when I worked on trail crews in the national parks I’ve been fascinated by how much better tasting home made bread is compared to the majority of whats available on supermarket shelves. I eventually worked as a baker for a small artisan bakery in Seattle and have been making my own bread for years now and even...

Welcome to a very special session of the Regenerative Round Table. Though Jeremy Fellows is away on a road trip through Mexico on his beloved bus sunny, we’re joined by two great friends and social entrepreneurs, Giuliana Gobbato and Michelle Sultan, founders of “La Botica Verde” who we featured in an interview two weeks ago. In this episode we get into a ton of new topics including the difference...

This week we’re getting an in depth look at Kombucha and the world of fermented drinks. I spoke with Andrea Potter, the author of the book DIY Kombucha: Sparkling homebrews made easy. The recent explosion in popularity of this historic beverage comes at a critical time when more and more people are taking back their food making processes and starting to see whole nutritious food as a preventative...

It's hard to spread the word on regenerative farming and organic food when its impossible to get, so Neal Hegarty had a chat with Michelle Sultan and Giuliana Gobbato, the founders of "La Botica Verde" a social business that helps organic producers find buyers and a larger market for their goods. Each of them come from unique backgrounds and have teamed up to transform the limited food system in G...

Zach and I on my porch in Tzununa I don’t always have the pleasure of interviewing my guests in person but I was fortunate this time to be able to sit down with Zach Loeks, permaculture teachers and author of the book “The Permaculture Market Garden” last week while he’s down here in Guatemala co-teaching a PDC with Abundant Edge and Atitlan Organics. In this episode we had the chance to talk abou...

Hey everyone! We're back with another regenerative round table with the whole Abundant Edge team to fill you in on the projects, challenges, and of course goats here on our regenerative homestead in Guatemala. In this session we talk about the work we've been doing on the landscape and the house over the last month, but also break down a few key concepts that have to be considered in any design su...

The world of honey bees has always been a mystery to me. I feel confident taking care of plants, animals, building and even fungi, but bees? In todays interview I spoke with one of the most outspoken advocates of beekeeping Christy Hemenway, found of Gold Star Honey Bees and author of the book “The Thinking Beekeeper: a guide to natural beekeeping in top bar hives.” In this interview Christy intro...

My guest today is Kelly Hart, author of Earthbag building which is part of the “essentials series on natural building put out by New Society Publishers. He is also the founder of greenhomebuilding.com, dreamgreenhomes.com, earthbagbuilding.com, and a few others. Today we tackle one of the most constant questions that I get asked as a natural builder and that I hear the most debate over in online f...

In keeping with my kick on finding new and unique ways to implement permaculture principles and design techniques in ways outside of just land management and natural building I’ve got an excellent guest for you today. You probably know Scott Mann as the host of “The Permaculture Podcast” the longest running podcast on permaculture which has been going strong for more than seven years now. In that...

Welcome to this month's regenerative round table. In this session we talk about our newest additions to the family, the GOATS! Neal and Oliver go into the details behind the goat pen design, and Jeremy talks about mushroom production and the extension of the water and irrigation systems. We also discuss the importance of getting your hands dirty and the reality of implementing your designs. All th...

Let me introduce you today to one of my favorite gurus of natural building. Conrad Rogue is the founder of “house alive” and has been pioneering cob building for many years and is the author of “house of earth: a complete handbook for earthen construction.” For over 15 years House Alive has taught more than 1000 students how earthen building materials can enhance and uplift our built environment i...

I’ve become really passionate about finding unconventional applications for permaculture design principles and today is a perfect example of someone who is exploring the ways that permaculture can be used to create stronger social and interpersonal structures. Isabelle Fortier is the founder of egoeco.ca whose mission is to inspire people to move towards a higher sense of well-being, to live diffe...

Today’s guest, Ted Brinegar, is pushing the boundaries of natural and regenerative low-cost housing with his non-profit organization called “foxhole homes.” These earthship-inspired homes are designed to serve the needs of homeless veterans, but also to help redefine what kind of lifestyle that’s possible on a very limited income. Foxhole homes are designed to be entirely off grid and to produce m...

Welcome to the first "Regenerative Round Table" with the Abundant Edge team. In this new segment we got together at the AE demonstration homestead to have one of our regular evening chats, but this time we turned the mics on and gave it a bit of structure. In this episode we talk about the design and implementation strategy for the site, the apprentice and volunteer program that we're in the middl...

Today we’re gonna take a deep dive into the wide world of mycology and fungi with Peter McCoy, the author of Radical Mycology and founder of Mycologos, a new online educational platform for courses on mushroom and fungal cultivation and knowledge. Peter has been studying mycology for more than 16 years and is one of the foremost educators and promotors of the potential of fungi. In this interview...