Since I’ve been working in the regenerative agriculture and ecosystem restoration sector for about a decade now, there are a number of subjects and questions that keep coming up again and again. Everything from How to finance a regenerative transition, What initial steps to take to accelerate ecosystem restoration, and the big one, How can I get access to land.

I’ve explored the topic of seed saving and breeding a number of times in previous episodes and it’s become such a passion of mine that it’s the primary focus of my early work here on my own farm as I begin to get the main patterns and infrastructure developed. A new angle of this subject however is the more direct and professional operation of producing seed to sell. This requires even more planning and coordination as each plant has its own peculiarities of reproduction and conditions for harvest, processing, and preservation. Luckily I’ve got a seasoned veteran of seed production to illuminate the key considerations and preparations to build a successful seed production enterprise, including on top of an existing market garden. 

In this conversation I’ve got Dan Brisebois, a seasoned cooperative farmer, to discuss the various aspects of seed farming, from his own slow start in the beginning, to the present day success of his enterprise that was founded in 2004. He starts by touching on his background and his shift from agricultural engineering to farming, driven by a passion discovered during summer farm work. Dan elaborates on his cooperative farm’s structure, which has expanded to include 11 members and 9 member applicants. He then delves into his journey of integrating seed production into his market gardening enterprise, spurred by encounters with seed enthusiasts and the fascination with cross-pollination and plant breeding. Dan also shares practical insights on the equipment, processes, and considerations for seed harvesting, cleaning, and storage, emphasizing the importance of knowledge over technological sophistication. He explains his labeling and tracking system for plant breeding and offers advice on balancing genetic diversity with achieving true-to-type consistency. Furthermore, Dan reflects on the unexpected discoveries and rewarding moments in plant breeding and highlights the profitability factors when growing seeds for bulk versus small packets. Lastly, Dan touches on the impact of market demand for specialty seeds and advises aspiring seed growers on where to get started, mentioning his book, podcast, and additional resources provided through his Farmer Spreadsheet Academy.

There often seems to be an unfortunate disconnect between farmers in the field and the researchers and academics involved with agronomic study. I often hear in the discussions in the climate farmers community about how academic studies don’t reflect the reality in the field, or that the ivory tower of academia is out of touch with the farms and situations they study.

Join Oliver on Regenerative Skills as he interviews Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, exploring the revival of heritage cultivars like Carolina Gold Rice. Discover how deep-rooted, sustainable agricultural practices and community engagement are transforming the modern food system. Learn about the importance of landrace genetics, polyculture, and the potential of crops to adapt to climate change. Glenn shares his journey, the influence of early mentors, and how chefs and local communities are embracing this movement towards more resilient and flavorful food.

As I continue to advance the tree and perennial food nursery here at my farm, I’m always on the lookout for new resources on anything about growing and breeding perennial food sources, the history of their cultivation, and the cultures that were and are connected to these woodland and orchard based staple foods. 

Elspeth is a writer, public radio host, and creator of the Local Food Report, a weekly feature that has aired on CAI, the Cape & Islands NPR Station, since 2008. Deeply immersed in her own local food system, she writes and reports for print, radio, and online media with a focus on food and the environment. Elspeth’s work has been featured in the Boston Globe, NPR’s Kitchen Window, Heated with Mark Bittman, The Provincetown Independent, and numerous other publications. Through her conversations with growers, harvesters, processors, cooks, policy makers, Indigenous knowledge-keepers, scientists, researchers, and visionaries, she aims to rebuild our cultural store of culinary knowledge—and to reconnect us with the people, places, and ideas that feed us. 

In this session, Elspeth shares her journey of developing a passion for perennial food systems, particularly focusing on nuts and tree-based staple crops. 

Her early exposure to nature evolved into an obsession with acorns and other tree nuts. Her research went on to reveal the extensive use of tree nuts as staple foods across the northern hemisphere and the historical as well as the cultural shifts that led to their decline in favor of annual grain crops. Elspeth delves into the nutritional and ecological benefits of these perennial foods, the complexities of modern industrial agriculture, and the resurgence of interest in tree crops, especially in the American Midwest. She also explores innovative recipes and culinary uses of nuts, especially acorns and chestnuts, while emphasizing the importance of integrating perennial crop systems into modern diets and agricultural practices. This conversation covers a lot of ground from land management, economic models, and the promising future of perennial food systems.

As with all the books that I focus on from my friends at new society publishers, we’re running a book giveaway for “Feed us with Trees.” By now you know the drill. Send me a message on our Discord community. If you’re not already a member you can sign up through the links on our homepage or the bio on Instagram. I’ll choose a winner one week after this episode goes live, and If you live anywhere in North America we’ll send a physical copy. Everywhere else you’ll receive a digital version. 

Welcome to the last portion of our long form discussion with Dan Kittredge. 

In this last third we navigate the need for Generational Healing and Cultural Shifts in our collective culture. The unavoidable reality that the healthiest food for you as an individual can never be bought. Steps for building resilience and Self-Sufficiency, before then going back to Dan’s own Journey to Farming and interest in Nutrient Density as well as his current Challenges and plans for the future. 

Today we’ll be continuing with the second portion of our long form discussion with Dan Kittredge.

One of the discussions that have propelled the awareness of regenerative agriculture in recent years has been that of nutrient density in food, a term coined by Dan Kittredge of the Bionutrient Food Association. The idea that our food varies widely in its quality and levels of nutrients has caused many people to look into the factors that lead to these wide discrepancies. Dan in particular has been leading research, one ingredient at a time, into the causes and correlations that accompany differences in levels of vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins and almost every other known component in the food we eat.

Though I’ve been watching the conversation and developments of this concept and research for years now, I have been waiting to build a decent enough grasp of the topic to be able to guide a meaningful conversation about what has been learned, where the research is going, and what are the potential pitfalls or opportunities for corruption of knowledge and technology that tells us the details of the nutrients in every ingredient we consume.

Then a few weeks ago, my good friend Andre Antunes in Portugal introduced me directly to Dan Kittredge through email urging us to connect and have a conversation. I know that Dan does interviews all the time and so I asked him what he would want to talk about that he often doesn’t get to explore. He got back to me by saying he’d be most interested in doing a long form discussion in which we have the time to discuss all of the concepts and ideas around the core of his work with the Bionutrient Food Association that both inform the purpose and research but that go into the bigger motivations and theory behind it all…so, that’s exactly what we did.

In this first third you’ll hear us discuss Dan’s seven-month global tour focused on nutrient density, the importance of understanding its true definition, and its critical role in social movements turning into industries. He elaborates on the BFA's perspective, emphasizing that nutrient density is a continuum of quality rather than a binary concept. The conversation underscores the need for a universal standard of nutrient density, the correlation between soil health and nutrient levels, and the use of spectroscopy technology to measure and improve food quality

In the second third we mostly get into Principles of Biological Systems and how to apply Nature's Patterns in Business. Dan talks about his experience Engaging with Farmers and Large Businesses alike. We dig into his personal Journey, the influence that Eastern Paradigms and Consciousness have had on his world view, the connection of Nutrient Density and Spirituality, and the potential of Technological Tools to be transformed for Empowerment.

In the last third we navigate the need for Generational Healing and Cultural Shifts in our collective culture, the unavoidable reality that the healthiest food for you as an individual can never be bought. Steps for building resilience and Self-Sufficiency, before then going back to Dan’s own Journey to Farming and interest in Nutrient Density as well as his current Challenges and plans for the future. 

The other two sections will come out on Friday in the next two weeks, which actually suits me really well because I’m just getting ready to leave for a water restoration job in La Mancha here in Spain and then to the University of Reading to start a Regen Ag transition and agronomist training that I’ll be building with a diverse team, all of which I’ll tell you about in future episodes. 

In so many previous episodes I’ve spoken with people who’ve explained many nuances and facts about plants and how to incorporate different species of trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbes into your ecosystem. How to manage them in different stages of growth either through active cultivation and soil condition improvement or secondarily through the management of animals or other elements of the human built world, but in this interview we’re going to take a different approach to the vegetal world and consider a beautiful and often overlooked aspect of our connection with plants, and that’s the possibility of creating relationships with them.

In this episode I spoke with Ryan Blosser, the co-author along with Trevor Piersol of the new book Mulberries in the Rain: Growing Permaculture Plants for Food and Friendship. The book goes beyond the sphere of most permaculture books that are heavy on design theory and techniques, and speaks about the process of investigation and time investment to build lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with the plants that you cultivate, forage or otherwise cohabitate with.