This episode with Murray Prior discusses his unfolding from the corporate sector to becoming a custodian of the land. He is gentle spoken and modest about his farming experience yet his thoughtful and deft practices supports his every word. He opens up about the importance of having good mentors and sharing knowledge with peers, that indigenous cultures teach us to care for the land and not own the land, and that the powers of observation are key to understanding country.

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Episode Takeaways: 

There was a search for some sort of higher purpose. Something that we could get involved in that frankly, even went past our own lifetimes | The big moment for me was when Charlie (Massy) was with me out in the paddocks. We had this nice moment where we were sitting and he was pointing out different things. He said to me “You know you don’t really own this place” | I’m not a religious person in a traditional sense but tapping into a sense of spirituality for the landscape of the indigenous people who had it before us and get into the feel of the place | I’m 48 years old now and I’m thinking, when this tree is a big tree it will be nearing the end of my time on the planet | I wanted my girls to understand that food doesn’t come in a polystyrene tray with glad wrap on it | One of the things that he does when he comes out is he’ll often go and grab some fresh green Eucalypt and he’ll pull that off as a branch. He’ll teach our girls that if you rub that on your armpit and then rub it on the ground, that’s his way of communicating with his ancestors | One of my big fears is if the girls found out we knew about climate change and knew we did nothing about it | There’s also a part of getting out of nature’s way. I’ve planted thousands of trees but there’s natural regen going on all the time | I think that being relatively new to the industry you don’t have the memory bank of seasons. While you might have some landscape literacy, you don’t have season literacy

 

Episode Links: Call of the Reed Warbler - Charles Massy Charles Massy - TED talk Regenerative Agriculture Paul House - Ngambri Country Elder Welcome to Country - Paul House  Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony Bruce Pascoe - Author, Ted Talk on Dark Emu Dark Emu - Bruce Pascoe  Dark Emu for Kids - Bruce Pascoe Aboriginal Land Council - Explanation and Index of Councils by State The Barn Accommodation, Nguuurruu - Murray Prior’s Farm  Dr Zach Bush - Author, Health Consultant and Environmentalist Hannamino Farm - Charlie Arnott Biodynamics - A Definition Biodynamics - Cow Manure PreparationsMickey Robertson - Glenmore House