The EcoIQ Project

Amazing interview with the Urban Farmer and massive content creator, Curtis stone. Curtis is the founder of the Urban Farmer education entity, a platform teaching young hopefuls how to farm in an urban or semi urban environment and turn a real profit. He also manages an innovative online farming tools shop with Diego Footer from Permaculture Voice, Paperpot Co, hosts a high quality podcast, Liberty on the Land, and run a new and a amazing high value membership resource platform exploring beyond market gardens, From The Field. All this while still farming his own decent homestead plots and collaboratively developing a collective family based farming property to serve as an abundant stronghold in turbulent times. With a Youtube channel of over 30 million views and almost 360k subscribers. Curtis has helped thousands of young people who have springboarded from courses into profitable farming businesses. To say the least EcoIQ was well pleased to catch a little long form with Curtis Stone. It was also really enjoyable personally to dive deep into the entrepreneurial side of eco-agriculture. If your in the business or want to be, this is the one for you.

Be sure to check out Curtis through the hyperlinks above.

01:15 Content, content, content

04:27 Writing a book, farm failure and farm success

12:45 Entrepreneurial lessons, foundational values and adding value

18:40 Mentoring, developing character and individual responsibility

27:57 Changing perspective and speaking your truth

30:10 Going down the rabbit hole of cultural control…

47:50 The essential divine nature of a Human being

57:55 Getting back to eco-connection, the journey to farming

01:13:58 The power of an entrepreneurial context..

01:19:25 Manifesting new circles

01:20:00 Trimming the fat-entrepreneur level 2

01:36:30 From The Field - embracing complexity

01:45:00 A new farming life for Curtis Stone…

01:52:08 The places of Sustainable and Regenerative

01:54:45 Michael Abelman and connecting to the land

01:57:28 Curtis’s message: Don’t Hesitate, Act Now

"Perfectionism is the death of creativity"

An amazing, up close and personal discussion with Richard Perkins of Ridgedale Permaculture.

Richard Perkins is the author of the highly acclaimed and comprehensive Regenerative Agriculture manual, and, along with his wife Yohanna, is the founder and leader at the hugely diverse and productive Ridgedale Permaculture in Sweden. Ridgedale teaches upcoming farmers the understanding needed to develop profitable and knowledgeable farms. With almost 70k subscribers and youtube views of over 5.5M, Ridgedale is fast becoming a highly influential platform and force in the space of farming and a deeper approach to agriculture.

Richard has a very unique and special style of education, and emphasises the importance of learning to learn.

Both viscerally and intellectually, Richard is a very sharp and wise thinker, and his learning is very extremely eclectic. Something I think is an important element in farming today and for farmers themselves is the necessary development of character. Richard really personifies this approach and the resulting conversation is both wide and deep.

This talk was a very deep interview for me personally and I learnt of new connections and many areas of needed improvement for myself. My favourite learning is right here, personal, engaging and healthily challenging, and all born and expanded from immersion in ecological harmony and successful farming.  Focus in and collect the lessons. Trust you will enjoy it as much as i did.

Keep in touch with Richard, Yohanna and Ridgedale  at:

http://www.ridgedalepermaculture.com/

pick up the book at:

https://www.regenerativeagriculture.co/

03:00 Changing tack, evolving a new direction

16:55 Thoughts on market gardens

21:52 Passion for life, entrepreneurship and evolving pathways

dedication, responsibility and hard work are the foundations of good people.

30:55 Keyline, permaculture, holistic management. refinement and the need for an empowered creative process.

35:15 Perfectionism is the death of creativity-the need for systems thinking

42:45 The culture and spirit of Ridgedale Permaculture - Hard work, flow and joy.

48:00 The upcoming 'Hero' tour and a new development for Ridgedale

1:02:40 Planting the seed and sharing in the process of growing harmony in production systems

1:09:43 Dynamics and chaos

1:11:05 Get up early and start observing!

1:12:12 Get structured

1:13:20 Getting momentum from social networks and dynamics

1:15:35 structure and stop thinking

1:16:58 who is spearheading new farms and steep learning curves

1:23:23 Holistic training

1:28:00 Good advice: Learning to learn

A very rare and highly insightful conversation with the worlds foremost fire historian, Stephen J Pyne. We dive deeper into our relationship with fire and touch on our modern day, largely dysfunctional and reductionist, approach.

 Steve Pyne is an emeritus professor at Arizona State University. He has been at ASU since 1985.  In 1986 he joined the charter faculty at ASU West, where he remained for 10 years. He transferred to the School of Life Sciences in 1999.  

His latest book on Fire: A Brief History.  Condenses and distills thousands of published pages on fire elegantly in one volume.   

I knew from the first lecture i heard of Stephen's that I must share his work with you.  As someone deeply invested ecology from a 'living' standpoint, Fire was never something I considered or looked into to much depth.  But I found Stephen's message of our need to engage and reassess our relationship with fire so resonating that it led me into a rich world that we interact with everyday and know very little about. 

His Extensive academic work would be impressive on its own before you find that Stephen Pyne spent 15 seasons as a remote forestry fire fighter. Learning and living with fire since the age of 18.  

This combination of two worlds lends Stephen's words and concepts a depth and subtlety beyond facts and figures, physics and chemistry.

Hate it or love it, fire is a part of our world now and forever. A relationship like fire is not easily or wisely ignored.   It was an honour and and treat to learn another perspective on this ever present relationship.   Be prepared to change what you think about fire.  It changed me.  

Hope you enjoy it

Favourite timestamp: 32:57

 3:45  The clarifying power of writing everyday

5:35  Living two lives between fire and academia

11:30 Telling stories of fire

12:47 Fire up and over the rim.

15:00 Expanding the history of fire

15:45 A relationship with fire

20:50 A shift from burning landscape to burning fossil fuels. changing patterns.

23:14 Traditional hunting societies and fire

25:00 Ignition points. Aboriginal Australia

27:43 Another wonderful Mollison story remains just that. sorry guys

30:36 Getting back to the right fire patterns in Arnhem Land Australia.

32:57 Its not just “too much fuel”

48:55 Fire is not just physics and chemistry

Are you concerned about our global or your local ecology?  Are you convinced our future is bleak? sometimes the 'solutions' are embarrassingly simple.  An amazing interview with children's author, underground parent educator and Holistic framework facilitator, Sarah Savory.

The daughter of world famous ecologist Allan Savory, who created and developed the Holistic Management framework. Sarah has taken her own understanding and passion for Holistic Management and brought right down back to the foundations, teaching, storytelling and facilitating individuals, communities and local governing bodies. Sarah's mission is to develop our decision making out of knee jerk reactions and into the elegantly simple and powerfully evolved Holistic context framework.  

I really enjoyed this interview. Sarah Savory is a real gem of heart and knowledge, and I know EcoIQ will be collaborating much with continuing work in the future.  We talk about the art of storytelling, growing up among among elephants and hyenas, and the blurring of wild and domestic areas in Africa and as a necessity around the world. It was truly refreshing to reconnect with the power of engagement with ecology as a strategy rather than strict conservation. 

Favourite timestamp was around 1:07:35, Sarah opens up the whole regenerating process of Holistic grazing right in the last quarter!

1:10  Growing up in Zimbabwe and storytelling

13:05 Conservation and Regeneration - blurring the lines between wild and domestic

21:45 A Holistic Context

(37:00 Bare ground will always lead to conflict….)

41:30 Victimhood and empowerment

43:45 We are part of our harmonious ecology - elevating and accelerating

(47:55 When we remove ourselves from the ecology, and 40,000 dead elephants)

(50:35 Our shadow reveals our strongest power. “The gift is in the wound”, Doron Geber)

1:01:50 Juanfran Lopez- “Nature is complex, humans make it complicated”

1:04:30 Where to learn more about Holistic Management as a decision framework

1:07:35 Joel Salatin - “Life is so sacred it requires sacrifice to thrive”

1:17:07 Do we need less animals on the land and on the earth?

An amazing conversation with Adiel Shneur from Kamin Massa Israel.

My biggest takeaway here was the profound insight I got in understanding this elegant and simple technology, and how this same understanding can build deeper connection and empowering knowledge in peoples lives.  

favorite timestamp was 27:23.  amazing and deep.

Adiel is the foremost pioneer in the highly efficient technology of thermal mass heating, known commonly as rocket stoves. As Adiel closes in on almost a decade long journey of research, building and testing, he has completed over 250 fully functional mass heaters built throughout Israel and abroad. After 7 years of permaculture design, teaching and implementation.  Adiel found his passion for all things ecological in the elements of fire and stone, and with thousands of ravings fans after his journey, Adiel could easily be recognised as the biggest driving force in this space in Israel today. 

Once again, among the local hero's of the community here I'm always inspired to find such resilient and passionate individuals.

After years of experimentation and refining, Adiel and his team at Kamin Masa have really come to a stage where they offer incredible mass thermal heaters fully installed both in Israel and overseas.  Like many pioneers both in Israel and overseas along the way Adiel has had an equally critical work of building awareness and educating the community on the technological difference between regular wood stoves and thermal mass heaters. In case you're wondering the difference is huge!

Be sure to be open to the deeper connections from of Adiel's journey. I learned a LOT.

hope you enjoy it as much as me.

be sure to join the EcoIQ Tribe and go deeper with us.. 

06:10 journey from ecology to mass thermal heating - rocket stoves.

11:20 the development of mass heaters over time…

12:05 an upgrade of an upgrade- choking design

19:05 what! I’m actually cooling my house?

21:25 making connections. burning or smouldering

27:23 travelling fire and a marriage with earth

30:39 getting it - the intelligence of fire

33:45 igniting a new passion - starting from zero

36:40 the mass heater market - DIY or high end design?

38:50 Peter Van De Berg - the batch box and the falafel

43:00 learning and empowering

45:00 getting it tested professionally

51:04 what is your stove encouraging you to do?

54:50 teaching in Israel and overseas

58:30 abundance

1:01:55 learning to listen.

What a heartfelt conversation with a true pioneer of Israel's heirloom seeds with Harel Weiss from Nativity Seeds.

I look forward to my next connection with the ever humble, ever vibrant, Harel Weiss.

02:15 Growing semi arid heirlooms seeds by the seasons

05:20 The journey to heirloom seeds, and a place of peace.

10:55 seed savers exchange

13:30 whats so special about a heritage seed?, and genetic bottle necks…

22:27 The journey to food of the Holy Land, what plants want…

28:27 Kay Baxter’s stories and Harel’s search for family seed lines.

31:47 The exhilaration of discovering and rejuvenating ancient seed lines

34:45 purebreed seeds

36:30 the monopoly of seeds and empowering people

38:05 modern agriculture is at an end.

39:40 epigenetics and adding love

41:45 the seeds of the Holy Land

43:54 Joel Salatin’s mention.. connection to the ancestors of Israel’s agriculture, and land race seeds

46:45 Seasons of life- spring

51:27 We are subjects of the Kingdom of nature

52:50 A message from Harel

54:51 The key of creating connections

A very open conversation with the master of process and productive, integrative land planning, Darren Doherty.

Darren Doherty and his family are the masterminds behind The online learning resource The Regrarians platform, along with The REX farm planning course, The Rap and the ROC international conventions. Darren is also the originator of carbon farming as a course, and is credited with popularising the international movement RegenAg, he is also the author of the comprehensive and developing Regrarians Handbook.

Darren's portfolio includes over 15000 graduates, and active involvement in the design and development of over 3000 broad acre projects over 6 continents (Their platform is especially popular in Latin America).  But more than Darren's numbers and achievements I realized that Darren brings something very unique and all his own into the space of ecological connection, intelligence, regeneration and farming.  A truly openminded yet highly pragmatic approach. Darren's not afraid to be an active critic of the weaknesses behind any system, and is equally respectful of the strengths of the same systems. Darren is an active supporter, and somewhat of a spotlight, for a host of true heroes, and their work, in this space globally. Darren heralds the growing acceptance of a pluralistic view towards ecologically harmonious production systems. 

We delve into a more personal side with Darren Doherty and his journey so far.  Covering his core values and beliefs behind the drive to serve more people more effectively with their own land.

 Keyline, holistic management, the mental climate and grandmas hands. It was really exciting to dive in to see what makes the man tick and have a laugh or two.   

I cant recommend Darren Doherty's work enough and there is a reason why he is the master of process. 

check out the Regrarians platform here  

If your not part of the EcoIQ Tribe then jump in here 

06:30 Hosting, teaching and managing 120+ REX students online

14:35 Purpose

17:04 The Why

23:43 Helping people miss the first shot- innovation is chaos..

25:25 Designing vs planning

28:00 Design, process and Permaculture

30:20 Personal Bias- attacking the idea and not the person

 35:17 A Holistic context and happiness

44:10 Not everyone needs a garden

49:20 The importance of family

59:05 Keyline Planning and Holistic Management

1:04:00 Permaculture and Keyline

1:09:30 Process vs principles, planning vs design

1:13:58 Joel Salatin and harmonising with each other

1:19:40 The influence of Latin America, and taking lessons from Roundup

1:30:35 The core issue behind shifting mental climate

1:38:50 A message for healing - the world wants to live.

Today we had the great pleasure and honour to host a true hero in the space of regenerative farming , and a whole lot more besides! Master land steward, farmer rights activist and soil regenerating extraordinaire Joel Salatin.

Joel Salatin is the leader of the super entrepreneurial and eclectic, Polyface Farm, which once sporting 4 meter deep erosion gullies, has become a benchmark for what is possible in highly synergistic and nature respecting agriculture.

Joel Salatin is arguably one of todays most famous farmers. \

An outspoken activist for farmer’s rights and direct farmer consumer relationships.

Prolific author and blogger, I've posted links to a great selection of Joel’s books and his blog.

Both a true leader and a team player Joel is an active advocate for a truly engaged and deep connection with the earth and each other, Joel tackles the modern day ecological issues with a very personal and highly effective approach that combines science, eco intelligence, business savvy and spiritual connection.

Joel is featured in the movies Fresh, Food Inc, American Meat, Farmageddon, Whats With Wheat and the Regrarians collaborative biography, Polyfaces.

I really felt a special connection with Joel, and it was at times an emotional meeting, not least due to his expression of love for the Jewish people and his thoughts on the importance of establishing a deeply connected, ecological sound and sacred farming in Israel.

Eternally positive, I felt somewhat underneath my discussion with Joel the feeling of receiving from an elder. Joel is a man who has talked the talk and walked the walk, and has really developed a deep intuition and understanding of the harmony in natural cycles and the dynamic of production systems. Joel brings a dignity back into a space that is, pretty much bankrupt of it from all sides.

This is the first of many more and deeper connections between Joel Salatin and EcoIQ.

You Can Farm

Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal

Fields Of Farmers

Your Successful Farming Business

Joel's daily blog

Thankyou for your continued amazing contributions Joel!

Don't forget to join our tribe and stay in touch with our new content, courses and events.

Our next guest is the man Permaculture process, Darren Doherty

02:35 Gratitude

08:00 Constant Learning

10:45 Life Is So Sacred It Requires Death..

15:35 Animalless Ecologies

18:00 Biological vs Mechanical

20:20 Joel's Grounding Practice, And On Letting Go Of Control

26:25 Fiefdoms And The Business Of Farming

39:45 Good Framing Is Beautiful!

44:45 Harmonising - Animals And The Carbon Cycle

59:10 Put Water To Work

1:06:30 Abundance

1:11:30 Assests And Liabilities In Soil

1:18:15 A Message To The Land Stewards Of Israel