Maybe you’ve done this before: typed into Google, “Where can I buy glass bottle milk?” or “What local butchers will accept my battered tupperware?”. If you have, it’s likely you’ve stumbled upon The Rogue Ginger.

Erin Rhoads is a proud red head whose simple question, “Why is the world filled with plastic?”, changed the course of her life.

Since 2013, this down-to-earth mum from Melbourne has been blogging about how to reduce plastic and waste, and live a more eco-friendly existence. On her website you’ll find years worth of zero-waste resources, amazingly curated lists on where to shop waste-free and wildly practical information about making the change - with a notable absence of dogma. 

Our conversation with Erin goes beyond waste reduction to encompass the psychology of change, on-boarding friends and family with your belief system (or not), localism vs. globalism and what true wealth looks like. 

It’s a laid back, tea-with-a-friend style chat that’ll leave you with a warm sense of solidarity - and renewed enthusiasm for making positive change. 

SHOW NOTES

• Erin highlights the importance of sharing our stories of joy and contradictions while we embark on change - so it doesn't feel impossible for others to follow.
• Finding ways to create uplifting and engaging challenges for individuals (rather than dutiful misery).
• As consumers, our voices are loud. Erin gives us ideas for sharing our thoughts about how companies can do better (in ways that are actually effective).
• Practical ideas for actioning your beliefs.
• The merits of Localism vs. Globalism.
• Why it’s worth developing a sense of obligation within our communities to bring about lasting change.
• How giving people tools (particularly kids) is a great way to engender hope and positive action: food growing, seed saving, fire lighting and cooking are as important as maths.
• Connecting with your local council is a great starting point for blossoming changemakers.
• Why it’s time for communities to lead rather than waiting for governments to fill the gap.
• Have Australians ever faced real challenges collectively? This might impact our understanding (and appreciation) of community initiatives.
• The power of third parties like films, music, books and docos when trying to influence change in friends.
• How life as a new mother opened up a can of worms on her plastic-free mission.
• Ideas for overcoming the cyclical phases of new initiatives that sees initial traction followed by a dip in interest and engagement.
• ‘Gamification’ as a possible way to incentivise community engagement.
• The value of initiatives that are easy to set up and participate in - but have far-reaching outcomes such as nature strip gardens and free food pantries.

LINKS 

• ABC’s War on Waste 
• Plastic Free July 
• The Clean Bin Project [documentary]
• An Inconvenient Truth [documentary]
• Bag It [documentary]
• “How to save the world” - Katie Patrick

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It's another Shortie with Jade and Catie!

This week, we plate up an assortment of our favourite books, films and thinkers. 

In the spirit of sharing life-changing and mind-altering resources (books > drugs), we chat about our bibles of regenerative living, homesteading, futuresteading, farming and thinking - that we reckon you'll love, too.

Oh, and having a buddy to read along with is a powerful way to absorb and discuss the merits of new knowledge, solidify it, and develop a shared mental library.

The audio is a little scratchy in parts thanks to recording in two separate locations, but we know you'll understand! Social distancing and all that.

And one book we didn't mention - which was totally remiss but rectifiable right here, right now - is “The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction To Natural Farming" by Masanobu Fukuoka. It's a foundational must-read for anyone wanting to live like tomorrow matters. It teaches you to think. Not what to think but to think in the first place, and that's a bloody grand spot to begin. 

Find links below to everything mentioned. We’d love to hear your favourite resources over on Insta or Facebook.

GET YOUR TEETH INTO:

• Charles Eisenstein - Author, Speaker, Thinker (Catie's faves: "Climate - A New Story" and "The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible")
• David Fleming - Author (in particular, “Culture, Carnival and Capital in the Aftermath of the Market Economy”)
• Grown & Gathered - Matt & Lentil Purbrick 
• The Village - Matt & Lentil Purbrick
• Milkwood : Real Skills for Down to Earth Living - Kirsten Bradley and Nick Rittar
• Low Tox Life - Alexx Stuart
• The Biggest Estate on Earth - Bill Gammage
• Dark Emu - Bruce Pascoe
• Doctor Wooreddy's Prescription for Enduring the Ending of the World - Mudrooroo Nyoongah
• The Holistic Orchard - Michael Phillips
• Mycorrhizal Planet - Michael Phillips
• The Carbon Farming Solution - Eric Toensmeier
• The Bio Integrated Farm - Shawn Jadrnicek
• Chelsea Green Publishing - Facebook and Website
• The Soil and Health - Sir Albert Howard
• The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
• Retrosuburbia : The Downshifter's Guide To A Resil

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If you've never met a Perma Pixie, prepare to be delighted. 

Taj, aka. The Perma Pixie, is bringing a little old school witchcraft and spades of permaculture wisdom to Melbourne - and now, to you.

This chick beats to a drum of ‘reciprocity’, a philosophy that acknowledges that we’re part of a cycle that should give as much as it takes. 

She’s been delivering permaculture education courses for over a decade (not bad for a young sprout!) and has recently started clinical work as a qualified herbalist. Social patterns and interactions are her greatest love, equal to her fascination with plants and their healing capacity. 

This conversation is a must for anyone interested in natural medicine, staying grounded in the fray, the freedoms - and struggles - of running a small business, how to balance impassioned action with self care, and how to be regenerative within a culture programmed to run us dry.

Her deeply felt connection to the seasons, and life steeped in reciprocity and relationship, will either resonate deeply or sow seeds in the garden of your mind. 

Enjoy!

SHOW NOTES

• How her early ADHD diagnosis encouraged her to seek calm in the natural world.
• Taking a circular approach to living in reciprocity with nature.
• The power of seasonal acknowledgement; combining the ‘doing’ with the ‘sensing’.
• Having the courage to trust your instincts to follow the path of the heart.
• Finding balance in the juxtaposition of being an anti-capitalist while running a small business.
• Reframing financial stability.
• How being an extrovert has enabled her to build a network of nourishers.
• Ways to create nurturing community hubs and nodes, which in turn create valid community connection.
• Why it's worth summoning the gumption to talk to total strangers and be open to spontaneous interactions.
• The fundamental need to have a relationship with our own bodies to take ownership and responsibility of our most important asset - and avoid being a ‘baseline’ human.
• Actively avoiding a sedentary body and mind. 
• Her permaculture and herbal medicine journey - and how it led her to the plants which nourish her.
• Why a world filled with sharing is better than a life lived alone. 
• How she calms the voice urging her to "do more".
• Finding balance as a one-woman show when her greatest desire is to be outside - not behind a screen.
• Why to do a "needs analysis": What are your needs and what can you offer?
• Why relationships are what fundamentally give her hope.

LINKS YOU'LL LOVE

• Website: The Perma Pixie/Insta: @thepermapixie
• Visit: CERES Community Environment Park
• Movie: The Craft

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What are your moments of joy? What makes you feel at home? Where's the "best" place to live with respect for the future?

Join Jade and Catie for a Futuresteading Shortie: a bite-sized convo where we share our everyday moments of joy, why to put roots down, what makes us guffaw and where the "best" place to live really is. 

This wee episode is the perfect accompaniment to pulling weeds, shelling walnuts, wandering up the street or sunning your legs on the verandah.

Thanks so much for joining us.

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If you’re looking for reasons to be hopeful, this conversation with Brenna Quinlan will provide a lifetime’s worth. 

You probably know her as “that permaculture illustrator” - and boy, can she communicate complex environmental and social ideas with a few deft flicks of her paintbrush!

But did you know that Brenna is also a brilliant thinker, permaculture educator and tiny-hut-dwelling resident of Melliodora?

Yep. Brenna is a breath of fresh air and optimism, with oodles (of positive stuff!) to share about where humanity’s headed - and how we can make the transition altogether more joyful.

Listen in. Smile big. Draw a (hopeful) picture.

SHOW NOTES

• Brenna’s early love of art and “crashing” adult art classes.
• Her story of riding across the Americans in her early 20s, learning about farming and community.
• How she was “the right sized piece of the puzzle” when she fell into illustrating Retrosuburbia... and making creativity her career.
• Why she didn't stress about "using her uni degrees" and instead let creativity and opportunities germinate where they may.
• How and why to be part of a greater movement, rather than going it alone. 
• The importance of surrounding yourself with like-minded people.
• Her simple daily rituals and joyful pleasures featuring: goats, uphill bike rides, library books.
• Why cycles of day and night, the seasons and and end-of-day gratitude practice are essential parts of her existence.
• Why ‘alternative living’ is an opportunity to connect more with others, rather than persisting with unfettered individualism (the death of community?).
• How her life at Mellidora works: rent for work exchange, living alongside others, zero waste, a permie bubble. 
• Why taking a leap of faith into a different life = nothing to lose. 
• How she channels her environmental grief into positive forward motion.
• How to find what makes you come alive - and go for it!

LINKS YOU'LL LOVE

• Website: Brenna Quinlan @brenna_quinlan
• Book: Retrosuburbia: The Downshifters Guide to a Resilient Future - David Holmgren
• Book: On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal - Naomi Klein

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Listen to our elders. Listen to the earth. That’s what Rebecca Sullivan aka. Granny Skills urges us all to do.

This fast-paced conversation delves into Rebecca's commitment to local food systems, regenerative agriculture and Warndu, the Indigenous food farm and educational business she concocted with her hubby in South Australia's North West.

With a son on the way, Rebecca shares how she plans to help him - and all youngsters - avoid eco-anxiety: listen, ask questions, act without fear and always be kind - to yourself, to others, to mother earth. 

We reckon you’ll love this mama-to-be, regen farmer and food educator’s sound advice, vast experience, incredible life story and infinite warmth just as much as we did. 

Let’s hear it for Granny Skills!

SHOW NOTES

• Rebecca chats about her formative years, early entrepreneurship and audacity to sell tampons to Santa Claus. 
• How she came to appreciate the influence and importance of our elders. 
• Her experience of tree and soil farming, and hopes to leave a land legacy.
• How she strikes a balance between urgency and legacy in her work.
• Her approach to being an ambassador (i.e not selling out to get free shit)
• How she’s slowly learning to build daily rituals.
• Why the seasons scare her.
• How she brings people on her journey.
• How we can build more native food forests.
• How she’s taken her brand Warndu, an Australian native plant food business, to the world - as a white girl.
• How to redefine success by listening and adapting to the bigger power out there.
• Why her contribution to society is valid and important - everyone’s is! 
• The importance of embracing failure.
• How to find pleasure in the simplest of things.
• Letting joy come from lessons learned.
• How to manage eco anxiety to ensure we can still feel hope.
• Helping people break habits and form better ones.
• Why food is a powerful tool to discover more about Aboriginal culture.
• The power of childlike curiosity, asking questions and listening.

LINKS YOU'll LOVE

• Rebecca Sullivan
• Books: “The art of Natural Beauty”, “The art of Natural Cleaning”, “The art of herbs for health”, “The art of edible flowers", “Warndu Mai, Good Food”
• Insta: Granny Skills + Warndu

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It’s never too late to start farming.

This week, Sadie Chrestman from Fat Pig Farm shares her story of moving to Tassie with partner Matthew Evans to start a new, rural life - in her forties.

We ask her what it’s like being ‘that famous treechanger’, why she’s obsessed with the soil, about her pledge to drink tea with strangers, and how she discovered her dream job aged 50.

Her humble, level-headed wisdom is the antidote to overwhelm and an inspiration for anyone wanting to radically change their life - one pig at a time.

SHOW NOTES

• Sadie’s unconventional childhood in India and Indonesia.
• How do we acknowledge and act on our privilege? 
• The impacts of COVID-19 on Fat Pig Farm’s long table lunches. 
• Pros and cons of homesteading (in the time of COVD-19). 
• Why you can’t isolate yourself from your community (even if you’re pursuing self-sufficiency). 
• Has the concept of community evolved in the last 20 years? What is Sadie’s experience of community in Tasmania? 
• Why it’s OK not to get along with all of your neighbours. 
• Why to knock on your neighbour’s door and say hello - even if you live in the city. 
• How to stop worrying so much about what people think. 
• Social media as a tool for business and advocacy, rather than a bare-all window into life.
• The beauty of finding something in common with a complete stranger. 
• Sadie’s pledge to connect at the school bus stop.  
• Simple moments of joy on the farm.
• Why she revels in her role as head gardener (without a degree in horticulture!). 
• Why growing food and replenishing the soil helps reassure her in a time of climate emergency.
• How the Powers That Be have shifted the blame onto the individual - rather than acknowledging the bigger picture. 
• Sadie’s moments of hypocrisy.
• Sadie’s op-shop gardening attire. 
• How you can generate your own sense of place - even if you’re a long way from home. 
• Words of encouragement for first generation or “older” farmers. 
• How they started small and grew organically - rather than diving in headfirst. 
• The simple ways we can all begin a transitional path to a better tomorrow. 
• Has Sadie ever doubted the path she’s on? 
• How cooking someone a meal constitutes profound human kindness.
• The beauty (and phases) of vulnerability. 
• Sadie’s one piece of advice for a better tomorrow. 

LINKS YOU'LL LOVE

• The Good Life: What Makes A Life Worth Living? - Hugh Mackay, 
• Farming Democracy - Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance 
• On Eating Meat; The Real Food Companion; The Dirty Chef; The Commons - Matthew Evans
• Gourmet Farmer - SBS Series 
• Fat Pig Farm + @fatpigfarm

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Grab a hot brew and sit down with hosts Jade and Catie for a short, sweet and personal conversation.

We share who we are, what we believe in, what the heck “Futuresteading” means - as well as some juicy series spoilers.

Pleased to meet you!

SHOW NOTES

• Who are Jade & Catie?
• What is Futuresteading?
• What perspectives will we each bring to the podcast series?
• Key emerging themes of the Futuresteading podcast series one, like community, upbringing, living with less, redefining success, cultural shift, what it is to be human, how to just do something, how to bring change by showing - not badgering.

LINKS YOU'll LOVE

• Framework: Holistic Decision Making with Dan Palmer
• Pod: Making Permaculture Stronger - Dan Palmer
• Pod: Team Human - David Rushkoff
• Film: 2040 - David Gameau

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