Farm Small Farm Smart Daily

How many people want to be a homesteader? Living off the land, off the grid, working for themselves, and around their family - The Good Life, just like Helen and Scott Nearing described so many years ago. A lot, or at least some version of it, so I think. Well not many people actually do when it comes to put the boots on the ground and head out to the woods. Today I am talking to someone who has....

Darren Doherty discusses his farm setup and various broadacre topics - perennial grasses, silvopasture. This is the fifth 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. Thi...

This is the full presentation from one of Greg Judy's talks from PV1. Greg and his wife Jan are farmers from Rucker, Missouri. On their farm, Green Pastures Farm, they raise cattle, sheep, horses, goats, pigs, and chickens on grass pasture in balance with nature. They don't use any antibiotics, no hormone implants, and no grain. The livestock graze rich pasture 100% of their lives. They use rotati...

Chad Sentman of Action House Productions joins me to about video, permaculture, and business. Chad is the videographer that filmed PV1. He is also an permie entrepreneur who started his own video production company. Now he is using those skills to get more involved in permaculture. In the podcast we talk about the idea of permaculture looking at itself more holistically - getting more people from...

Shannon Jones, a young farmer from River Hebert, Nova Scotia joins me to talk about what it is like to be a young farmer on her farm, Broadfork Farm. She started the farm with her partner Bryan Dyck in 2011. Both Shannon and Bryan farmed on other farms for many years before they started their own farm. The lived simply and knew what they could get by without. That made the transition to farming a...

Michael Jordan, The Bee Whisperer, joins me to talk about bees and bee keeping. Michael is a holistic bee keeper who is doing beekeeping the right way. He has worked tirelessly to promote sustainable bee keeping, that respects, not exploits the bees, and gets the youth involved. You can find out more about Michael via A Bee Friendly Company. I tried to keep this episode on the positive side. How c...

John Pugliano of Investable Wealth joins me to talk about navigating the fear of leaving one job and starting a fresh career. One key theme that I hear from a lot of people is that they want to transition from their job doing X into doing Y (something related to permaculture). But that desire to make the transition is often overshadowed by fear, fear of the the unknown. Common fears include: How c...

Ben Falk and Grant Schultz join me to talk about permaculture as a survival preparedness strategy. How can we use whole systems design to create systems that work passively to increase our resiliency. In our modern day world we are quick to throw money at technological, mechanical systems that are complicated and brittle. In an emergency situation you could have a generator, but if that breaks or...

Mark Shepard of Forest Agriculture Enterprises joins me to talk about the future of agriculture. Mark has a pretty clear view on how he thinks the future of agriculture could be.. restoration agriculture style farms dotting the landscape with animals roaming through grasslands dappled with trees, a perennial polyculture system that builds soil instead of destroying it, a system that sequesters car...

Bob Hamberg of Omega-Alpha Recycling Systems and Dragon Husbandry joins me to talk about anaerobic digestion and biogas. How we can use "waste" to close the loop and get beneficial by-products in the process. The anaerobic digesters can be integrated into permaculture and homestead systems by incorporating them within greenhouses and tying them into pond systems. As for "waste disposal," we've got...

I am talking to my friend Tall Paul who helped out at registration with PV1. In this episode we talk about why I did what I did when I planned out the conference and what my goals are for the future. Specific issues we touch on include: Why weren't there more women speakers? Why the heck was it at a casino? Why was it so expensive? What is a professional permaculture confernece? I talk about all o...

Toby Hemenway joins me to talk permaculture - how permaculture has changed and how we can work more permaculture into our lives. Toby also talks about being one of instructors for the new Ecological Landscaper Immersion Program that is being put on by the Erik Ohlsen and the Permaculture Skills Center. Key Takeaways It really benefits anyone in almost any field to be able to think in whole systems...

Darren Doherty discusses soil mineralization, value adding on farms, and farm water systems. This is the fourth 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 wa...

Darren Doherty walks Doniga and Eric Markegard through some basic farm design. Working with contour maps. Where to hold water in the landscape. Various uses for tree systems on the farm. This is the third 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 Darre...

Dave Whitinger of All Things Plants joins me for a to chat about different [permaculture] plants that he grows. Most of these plants are class permaculture plants. They are plants that perform multiple functions within a system. Many of these are sadly considered weeds - comfrey, lambs quarter, dandelion, yarrow, mint, and more. Dave talks about his experiences with each of the plants, what functi...

Kevin Muno is on the show talking about his new start-up restoration agriculture style farm, Montado Farms. Kevin talks about why he is doing what he is doing against a lot of heavy odds - highland prices, limited water in Southern California, and he doesn't come from a farming background. He touches on all of the big issues like how do you fund a $1M farm as start-up. Kevin is approaching the far...

Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture joins me to talk about the business of permaculture - a right livelihood. We live in a world where we are surrounded by environmental liabilities that have a real economic impact. So why not solve those problems and earn a living in the process? Rob talks a lot about approaching permaculture as a profession. What opportunities are out there. What works in permacultur...

Grant Schultz joins me to talk about developing a perennial polyculture in the middle of row-crop corn and soy country Iowa. He discusses a lot of the innovation and developments taking place on his farm, including some really innovative ways of doing GPS keyline design. We spend a lot of time talking about the business of farming. The importance of monitoring cash flows and being cash flow positi...

Patricia Foreman the author of City Chicks joins me to talk about backyard chickens, chicken tractors, and general chickenery. We will talk about all of the great things that chickens can add to a permaculture homestead - fertilizer, pest management, food, disturbance, baby sitters.  :) Pat will touch on soil building using chickens in composting systems and chickens tractors.  And how chickens ca...

Darren Doherty walks Doniga and Eric Markegard through the Holistic Design process. This is the second 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 recorde...

Javan Bernakevitch of Permaculture BC joins me today to talk about finding your niche in permaculture. Javan will take you through some of the insight he has for finding your niche. Javan is a permaculture teacher and designer who has worked with countless students helping them sift through the everything that is permaculture to help them figure out what really fires them up, and what’s just OK. I...

Geoff Lawton joins me today to talk about permaculture. Geoff talks about his early days in permaculture, where we are in permaculture today, and where we need to go in the future. He touches on what he has learned along the way and what he finds most valuable. Geoff then goes on to answer a lot of audience questions about tree systems, water harvesting, his new chicken tractor for composting, and...

Paul Wheaton of permies.com joins me to talk about intentional community. Paul discusses his views and experiences with variety of different intentional communities that he has been a part of, both on the leader side, and the follower side. He talks about what works, and what doesn't. Paul also touches on some of the projects taking place within his community on his land and how we need to help in...

Darren Doherty presents the regrarian platform. This is Darren's introductory presentation that he gave an open consultancy in October 2013. The presentation lays out the ten key components of the regarian platform - climate, geography, water, access, forestry, buildings, fences, soils, marketing, and energy. This is the first podcast that takes you to one of Darren's open consultancies. The consu...

Will Harris III from White Oak Pastures joins me to talk about his inspirational journey of converting his one time factory farm to a beyond organic farming operation that celebrates polyculture and closes the loop on wastes. Will runs the largest USDA organic farm in Georgia farming 1200 owned acres and 2000 leased. He has over 2000 head of cattle and raises 60,000 pastured chickens. He has built...