Reskillience

FOR ONCE IT'S NOT A PERMIE 😱

Please enjoy this fun-as-fuck conversation with Blake Boles, who, in an unexpected deviation from regular Reskillience programming, is not a permaculture educator and is in fact a renegade unschooler, vagabonding wordsmith, teen travel leader, bikepacking blogger, tango maestro and passionate spokesperson for the Dirtbag Rich life.

We romp through topics such as quitting school, defying relocalisation, AI playdates, post-app dating and failure resumes. 

🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 

The Dirtbag Rich podcast!

Blake’s home on the web

Dateblake

Blake on Substack

A bit more about Dirtbag Richness

Couchsurfing.com

Warmshowers.org

Semi-rad.com

Tim Mathis ~ The Dirtbag’s Guide To Life

This episode was recorded while sitting on Artist As Family's living room floor, glowing embers in the belly of the fire, cups of hawthorn and artichoke tea on the coffee table, and Meg’s famous ferments watching over us from the shelves. You’ll hear us accidentally knocking the microphones, some quality heavy breathing and Zero the dog dreaming and yipping away on the couch. 

And it's our first audio quartet! Meg, Patrick and twelve-year-old Woody offer their list of ten permaculture neopeasant provocations as a whole family; a huge highlight was hearing Woody share wisdoms from his unconventional upbringing complete with knives and chainsaws and flames and the freedom to learn lessons the hard way.  

LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️

[EVENT] Artist as Family’s all day house + garden tour ~ Sunday November 17 in Central Vic

Artist as Family’s nook on the web

Artist as Family on Substack

[FILM] A Day in the Life of Woody ~ Happen Films

Paul Kingsnorth on Substack

You already know today's guest. You’ve admired her art, chortled at her pithy permaculture puns and perhaps even listened to her rhyme along with Formidable Vegetable, those eco-funk, full of beans, electro-radish rockers. 

It's the perennially brilliant Brenna Quinlan! Illustrator and educator who brandishes her watercolour brushes at the world’s gnarliest problems, and paints beautiful alternatives.

In this convo:

🪺 All about Brenna & Charlie’s three year build.

🪺 The stories in the walls of their strawbale home.

🪺 Intentional community living.

🪺 Teasing out the finer strands of what brings you joy in groups, work, life.

🪺 What’s next for Brenna?

🪺 Brenna's 10 things! Not gonna tell you what they are.

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Brenna’s home on the web

Brenna on Instagram

Grow Do It ~ Permaculture + Sustainability Education

Formidable Vegetable ~ Kimchi

[COMING SOON] Costa’s Garden ~ Costa Georgiadis & Brenna Quinlan

Goodies Farm ~ Straw farmer

Brenna on Futuresteadung

Kirsten Dirksen/Sandor Katz

🪶 MONDAYS FROM NOVEMBER 4 

We’ve got a jazzy new format and just a couple of months till 2025, so let’s set some new years resolutions...Reskillience style!

Over the next ten weeks, ten guests will share lists of ten things that are close to their hearts...

...things to try, or consider, or start...

…that will spark all kinds of inspiration.

Come and hang out with permie legends, renegade unschoolers and regenerative leaders as they talk us through 100 magical prompts for reskillient living.

What'll you take into 2025?

The groovy jingle is thanks to UNIVERSFIELD with their track Positive Energy Groove (30s) License: Attribution 4.0 

Don’t you love it when science geeks get spiritual? I do, because when highly rational folks admit that the world is far more mysterious than it is predictable, it’s intensely validating for us intuitive hippies who’ve believed in magic all along.

This is one of those beautiful and surprising conversations with one of my farming idols Charlie Showers from Black Barn Farm that’ll have you rethinking everything. And/or thinking you want to get into apple growing. DO IT.

Charlie is a geological engineer, agricultural researcher, bushfire and natural disaster expert, fruit tree grafting jedi, permaculture ninja, dad, husband, unapologetically ritualistic bloke and bloody legend.

We traverse:

🍏 Eldership

🍏 The meaning of life

🍏 Men’s circles + gatherings

🍏 Permaculture farming

🍏 Orchard rituals

🍏 First gen farming

🍏 Losing freedom, gaining depth

🍏 Schooling regrets

🍏 Father/son rites of passage

🍏 Self care for men

🍏 Recharging as an introvert

🍏 Advance sleep phase disorder

🍏 Charlie’s #1 most important skill (surprising)

🍏 Anti-fragility

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Black Barn Farm’s home on the web

Black Barn Farm on Insta

Black Barn Farm fruit trees

Wendell Berry

Book ~ The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency by John Seymour

Castlemaine Rites of Passage Program

Organisation ~ The Men’s Table

Menergy ~ Men’s Gathering

Non-Violent Communication

Sociocracy

Book ~ AntiFragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Concept ~ Ask vs. Guess Culture

***support Reskillience on Patreon***

*Recorded outdoors under a passionfruit vine with wind in the banana leaves*

This is one of those conversations that’ll shake you up, rattle your cage and light a fire under your butt to make change – because today’s guest reckons we need to upskill, now! It might just be the greatest pep talk in Reskillience history, from one of the most passionate permies in the movement. It’s Brett Cooper from Limestone Permaculture.

Brett, his wife Nici and fam live on Worimi Country, mid-coast NSW. Not too long ago their one acre block was just grass and hoofprints in a sleepy little rural town. Now there are over 550 fruit and nut trees, 80-140 chooks, ducks and turkeys, veggies galore, herbs, medicines, outdoor classrooms, 4.4 million litres of stored water and one legendary pizza oven. Oh, and some bangin’ community resilience.

Over three million viewers have devoured Brett + Nici’s farm tours on YouTube, pointing to more than just a fetish for gardening content but a deep yearning for the health, abundance and connection that overflows at Limestone Permaculture.

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Visit Limestone Permaculture

Or peruse their upcoming events

The Limestone PDC+HC!

Central Vic permie calendar

4 Day Residential Permaculture Retreat with David Holmgren, Beck Loew + Su Dennett ~ November 1 - 5

The Rocklyn Ashram PDC ~ Feb 2025

Good stuff we mentioned

Book: Roots Demystified ~ Robert Kourik

Book: Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture ~ Rosemary Morrow (currently on sale at Permaculture Principles!)

Book: Permaculture A Designer’s Manual ~ Bill Mollison

Book: Permaculture One ~ Bill Mollison + David Holmgren

Eastern NSW

***join the Reskillience fam on Patreon***

🌼 A spring equinox special 🌼

Meet Amelie Vanderstock – science communicator, artist, musician, native bee pHD and total ray of sunshine.

Amelie has a passion for pollinator-friendly cities, and raises awareness through workshops, collaborative art and obscenely catchy songs that celebrate weeds, bees and bin chickens.

This ain’t just an interview about invertebrates – though, there’s plenty of insectivorous inspiration to be had – nay, it has a solid backbone of advice and solidarity for all those trying to merge their strange passions and professional skills, who are yearning for greater alignment and intentionality in everything, from study to travel to morning routines.

Amelie also has a crowdfunding campaign to support the release of her debut album Let’s Bee Scientists and the resource kit that goes with it, turning ecological knowledge into ear worms for the next generation of earth lovers. It’s extremely close to reaching its target! You can pre-buy the album which will expedite its release and help Amelie do more of her sweet work.

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Pre-buy Amelie Ecology’s album

Amelie’s home on the web

Amelie on Instagram

Amelie on Spotify

Church Street Studios

Blinky Bill nostalgia

Australian Student Environment Network

***support Reskillience on Patreon***

The first time I saw Anisa Rogers (who was basking on the grass reading a book) I thought: this person looks hekkin relaxed, has a tan consistent with living in reality, and the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.

We got talking and I learned that Anisa is involved in all kinds of system-disrupting mischief in Naarm, Melbourne, as part of the Degrowth Network – and so many social justice, environmental, guerrilla gardening and new economy groups.

The reason Anisa can lead a rich life in community is that they’ve whittled their living costs down to such an extent that they’re free to be of service to their passions and values. Kudos!

🌟 Other stuff we cover

Quick & dirty capitalism explainer

Quick & lovely degrowth definition

Where activism falls short

Leaning into hard sharehouse conversations

Living on one day’s work per week

Mutual aid funds

Getting paid to process your shit

Friends sharing money

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Degrowth festival. November 30th in Coburg (Melbourne). Follow DNA Facebook or email [email protected] if you want to be involved

Degrowth Network Australia

Degrowth Central Victoria

Four Day Residential Permaculture Retreat with David Holmgren + Beck Lowe at Larnook Community Farm 

***Support Reskillience on Patreon***

My guest today is Joel Meadows, a phenomenal human who happens to be a permaculture teacher, rocket oven engineer, energy geek, green tech sceptic, sculptor, illustrator, musician and composting ninja.

This is one epic episode that encompasses:

🌟Are renewables really all that?

🌟Why we’re using more fossil fuels than ever *cry*.

🌟Smart phone free life.

🌟Being deliberately abnormal.

🌟ROCKET OVENS.

🌟Why everyone is practical + can learn shit.

🌟Three steps to household energy resilience.

We recorded this convo at Joel’s kitchen table, in his majestic solar passive strawbale home after gorging ourselves on a garden omelette and roasted wattleseeds.

I wrote about the experience in neurotic detail over on Substack and included masses of photos of Joel’s home + garden for your voyeuristic needs. Here it is.

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[video] Joel’s intro to hot composting

[video] A little explanatory video about YIMBY

[website] YIMBY (note all the tasty resources including the 'Compost Conversation' articles published each week in the Midland Express)

[video] Joe’s Permaqueer talk on appropriate technology

[video] Take a virtual tour of Joel’s house

[eBook] Joel + Tim Barker’s Rocket Oven how-to book

***Join the not-culty-at-all Reskillience community on Patreon***

An interview with the intrepid author of my favourite book in recent years, Robyn Mundy!

(Word nerds, snow bunnies, penguin enthusiasts and fans of the freezing cold, this one’s for you.)

Robyn is a Tasmanian author and adventurer, Arctic guide, Antarctic research assistant, and lifelong lover of snow and ice.

I picked up her book Cold Coast in the library on a whim, because it had a cute Arctic fox on the cover and came recommended by library staff.

It tells the true story of Vanny Voldstad, the first female trapper in Svalbard, who defied 1930s gender norms to claim her place in the perilous and male dominated world of polar bear and fox hunting.

Robyn’s sensitivity, intelligence, and reverence for wild nature shines on the page — and I suspected she’d be a wealth of Reskillient wisdom. (Correct.)

Even if you haven’t heard of Robyn or read her books, there are so many gems in this conversation — strong rewilding themes, advice for aspiring storytellers and the unmistakable call to adventure that might just have you booking a ticket on the next ship to Antarctica.

Robyn Mundy ~ Cold Coast

Robyn Mundy ~ Wild Light

Robyn Mundy ~ The Nature of Ice

Robyn on Instagram

Robbie Arnott ~ Flames

Favel Parret ~ Past the Shallows

Maatsuyker island

The mighty Osprey

Arctic fox 

Sound credit: klankbeeld on Freesound.org

***Join the not-culty-at-all Reskillience community on Patreon***