Farm Small Farm Smart Daily

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 o...

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 probab...

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...

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 permac...

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 ra...

"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...

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...

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 th...

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 ha...

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 stor...

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...

How can both people in the relationship fit both of their dreams into one life together? We explore some of these ideas in this episode. We both draw from our own experiences of having relationships while going after our own permaculture dreams. We take a honest look at these issues, it is is very real. Maybe your relationship is OK. Maybe things are fine. But that's now. The big question is - how...

An interview with Phil Rutter of Badgersett Research Corporation. We talk about why perennial based woody agriculture is important and how chestnuts and hazelnuts fit into that. We also talk a lot about plant breed and using mass selection to find genotypes that have the traits that you are looking for. This episode is pretty dense and has a ton of information in it for anyone looking to breed pla...

An interview with Phil Rutter of Badgersett Research Corporation. We talk about why perennial based woody agriculture is important and how chestnuts and hazelnuts fit into that. We also talk a lot about plant breed and using mass selection to find genotypes that have the traits that you are looking for. This episode is pretty dense and has a ton of information in it for anyone looking to breed pla...

On April 11, 2009 there was the shock heard around the world, when a women from Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland walked on stage to sing. Just prior to singing she was asked "What's the dream?" "I'm trying to be a professional singer?" she replied. "And why hasn't it worked out so far Susan?" "I've never been given a chance before, but here's hoping that it will change." With that she went on to...

My guest today was persecuted and ridiculed for his ideas for over 50 years. In his words, "people have often asked me how I have been able to put up with so much abuse, ridicule, and damage... attempts to destroy me financially and so on, and it comes down to in my case - caring enough. If you care enough about your something then it's not casual, you will do whatever you have to do, even if give...

Today I am talking to two people who are changing the model of the modern farm. They are operating within the current system of rules and regulations, but approaching farm development and operation with a different model, a model they call PermaEthos. Jack Spirko and Josiah Wallingford join me to talk about the launch of their flagship farm Elisa's Spring and the PermaEthos concept. PermaEthos is...

My guest today is a self proclaimed plant nerd that is really into trees. He has worked with Geoff Lawton and Darren Doherty, and now he runs his own design firm in Australia, Oak Tree Designs. My guest today is Byron Joel. In addition to being a plant nerd, Byron is what I would call a permaculture realist. Realizing the potential of permaculture, while not over promising on results and truly bei...

I welcome Frank Golbeck of Golden Coast Mead on the show today. Frank story is a great example of someone who went after their dreams in a smart and systematic way. He isn’t any different than any of us. He didn’t start with a huge some of money or some other advantage. But the difference between Frank and a lot of people is that took on the scary unknown, the hard part starting. Fast forward ahea...

Today I am talking to someone who killing it farming 1.5 acres. He is doing over $140k in sales on that 1.5 acres, supporting himself and his family in the process. Of that $140k 40% is profit. Compare that to corn and soybeans which net about $280 an acre. And he is grossing that $140k working 9 months a year and average length works days. We aren't talking about burnout workload here. Think abou...

What really matters most to you? Have you ever thought about it? As in thought about it serious enough to say if you stripped away a lot of the facade from your life then this is what is left, this is what truly matters. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/50

This is the one year anniversary of the first episode of this podcast which was published on June 5, 2013 - Gasification and Wood Gas. Since then 60 other episodes have been published. Thanks for a year of support. There is a lot more to come. In this episode I highlight the top 10 episodes that were most impactful to me. Going forward... What do you want to hear more about? Who would you like to...

Every story has a beginning. Including our own. So many of us want to live out our own story and go from A to B. But where do you start and how do you prepare for that journey. I am happy to welcome Bill Bean from GreenPlanningAndCoaching.com to the show today. Bill is going to talk about business plans and planning for business. As Bill defines it figuring out a way to go from point A to point B...

Darren Doherty discusses Holistic Management planned grazing, energy, and farm marketing. This is the sixth podcast that takes you to one of Darren's open consultancies. The consultancies themselves are workshops that center around a real world farm planning and development process. The hosts and Darren open up the process so you can learn from a real world application of theory. This audio was re...

Today's story is one about a unique focus. Someone who has dedicated a whole lot of time on mastering one subject. One subject that is dually quite simple yet extremely complex: water. Today I am talking to watershed restoration expert Craig Sponholtz. Craig has made a career of consulting on water related issues - everything from water harvesting to stream restoration to watershed management. He...