The RegenNarration

Matthew Evans is a chef, farmer, host of the popular TV series Gourmet Farmer, and most recently the author of ‘Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy.’ And what an incredible story. Prepare for perhaps the most mind-blowing hour on this podcast (and that feels like it’s saying something). Matthew’s framed it as a story of bombs, of civilisations falling, of gods and pestilence, and redemption. Author and journalist Gabrielle Chan wrote, ‘This book is an urgent and passionate plea to take soil seriously, not just for farmers, gardeners and cooks, but for anyone who eats.’

In fact, Matthew was partly motivated to write this book due to the polarisation around the topic of his last book, On Eating Meat. Perhaps the topic of soil could be more universalising. And of course, it needs to be. I do feel this personally, too, as Matthew’s research affirms our growing understanding of soil (and our treatment of it) as being at the heart of our mental, physical and even spiritual health – in profound ways.

Due to Covid, and living over the other side of the country in Tasmania, Matthew had become something of a digital friend. So we resolved to wait to talk about this book till we could do it in person. And you’ll hear that we weren’t the only creatures celebrating that during our conversation. As often happens, the timing ended up perfect, allowing us to weave in some of the key happenings in the world right now.

This conversation was recorded by Derbal Yerrigan / Swan River in Boorloo / Perth on 17 August 2022.

Title slide image: Matthew Evans just before this conversation, dodging storms and sitting on tarps (pic: Anthony James).

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
Read a transcript of our conversation and see a few photos on the episode web page.

On the book ‘Soil: The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy’.

Fat Pig Farm.

Hear my previous conversation with Matthew for episode 60 ‘On Eating Meat’.

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The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Robert Pekin is the CEO & co-founder of Food Connect, the self-described ‘systems enterprise’ in Brisbane. You might remember Rob from episode 28 with his brilliant partner Emma-Kate Rose, when we talked at length about their back-story and their soon to be successful $2m equity crowd fund. And from episode 88 last year, with Kungalu and Birri-Gubba Woman Gaala Watson, on an imminent native grains - and milling - breakthrough, and a transformation in governance led by First Nations.

When I was in Brisbane for Convergence recently, I dropped in for an update. Rob walked me around this old industrial property as it further transforms into Australia’s first multi-function Food Hub, now hosting over 40 enterprises - each outstanding stories in their own right.

This was a quick visit. I’d just recorded with mutual friend Amanda Cahill for what became episode 134, and cycled up to the Shed for a look and some lunch together. I wasn’t going to record this, but as I was being blown away all over again by Rob, alongside Chair of the Food Connect Foundation, Wiradjuri man from Dubbo NSW, Uncle Kel O’Neil, I had to pull out the recorder and share some of it with you.

So join us at the Shed, for the conclusion to our Queensland series, and more beginnings for Food Connect. This conversation was recorded on 14 July 2022.

Title slide image: Rob Pekin (bottom) and Uncle Kel O’Neill (top) against the backdrop of the Food Connect Shed (pics sourced from their websites).

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
Food Connect Shed.

Food Connect Foundation.

Hear my previous conversations with Rob, with Emma-Kate Rose in episode 28, and Gaala Watson in episode 88.

Read a transcript of our conversation including time stamps on the episode web page.

And you can now gain access to all of the presentation recordings at Convergence, including Rob with Gaala Watson, via RCS Australia for $150. 

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Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Dr Terry McCosker OAM is the legendary co-founder of RCS Australia. Charles Massy credits RCS as being behind the greatest regenerative agriculture movement in Australia. And throughout its pioneering decades, Pam McCosker has been the unheralded lynch pin. Terry makes no secret of it. Nor did Charles when he wrote in his best-selling Call of the Reed Warbler: “When I look back over the rise of regenerative agriculture in Australia, I see at the forefront Terry and Pam McCosker and their RCS organisation. Today it remains a world leader in the field.”

But almost incredibly, this is the first time Pam has ever appeared in media. Well, on the cusp of their 50th wedding anniversary next year, and with the zeitgeist coming in a rush to meet their trailblazing work, now seemed like a good time to speak with them together.

This conversation was recorded at their home in Yeppoon, Central Queensland, soon after sharing in the extraordinary Convergence event in Brisbane that marked the 30th anniversary of RCS.

We debrief on that here, including on some of the major flashpoints emerging right now, and contemplate what might come next. All interspersed in this intimate, at times heart-breaking, and often downright entertaining journey into their life together – their personal convergence - a life forged through unfathomable loss, ultimate successes, and a still deepening call towards the heart of it all.

This conversation was recorded on 3 August 2022.

Title slide image: Terry and Pam at home just after this conversation (pic: Anthony James).

You can see more photos on the episode web page. There'll be more from the Convergence event on Patreon for subscribers.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
RCS Australia.

Watch a 3-minute highlight video of the recent Convergence event, produced by Farmers Footprint Australia (which also launched at that event).
And you can now gain access to all presentations from Convergence at RCS Australia for $150.

Hear Terry and Anthony in conversation back in 2020 for episode 67: ‘Behind the Greatest Regenerative Agriculture Movement in Australia: Dr Terry McCosker on life, death and learning true power’.

Read a transcript of our conversation on the episode web page.

Join me at the Quantum Words Festival in Perth 16-18 September 2022.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Ross O’Reilly is a former champion regional rugby league coach, real estate agent and restauranteur, all on the way to founding his ultimate vision in 2016 – High Valley Dawn. It carries the label ‘permaculture farm’, but somehow feels like so much more. Think incredible market garden and food forest, deeply restorative work place and learning centre, grazing animals and thriving community, with all sorts of layers on that. And it’s still just getting started.

I first learned about Ross when Terry McCosker made particular mention of him when he was in WA late last year. Terry’s the legendary founder of RCS Australia who featured on episode 67, and will feature again next week, this time with wife Pam, to talk about the recent Convergence event in Brisbane, among other things. It was after that Convergence event that I drifted back to Yeppoon in central Queensland with the RCS crew, and made tracks for Ross’s place.

The High Valley Dawn journey began for Ross when a passion for wellness and sustainable development collided with a desire to serve fresh, local, organically grown produce in his nearby restaurant Beaches in Rosslyn Bay. His intention to one day create a self-sustaining community that would fulfil these desires, and help inspire future generations to get back to working in harmony with Mother Nature was set. In 2016, the stars aligned. But really, this story goes way further back.

This conversation was recorded at High Valley Dawn, just outside of Yeppoon, Queensland, on 2 August 2022.

Title slide image: Ross O’Reilly at the farm, just before this conversation (pic: Anthony James).

You can see more photos on the episode web page.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
High Valley Dawn.

New Dawn Gathering on 24 September 2022.

Transcript of our conversation on the episode web page.

Quantum Words Festival in Perth 16-18 September 2022.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Dr Amanda Cahill is the CEO of The Next Economy. I feel like I’ve already introduced Amanda to you, given how often she’s come up in conversations here. And you might even recognise her from Damon Gameau’s film 2040, or more recently on the ABC’s Q&A program.

Amanda’s work at The Next Economy supports communities, government, industry and others to develop a more resilient, just and regenerative economy. Most of this work results from being increasingly invited into regional communities around Australia.

These are often major coal-producing communities at the centre of energy transition debates in this country. Tensions are often high, and polarisation rife, which has made us all subject to political exploitation at times. And we all lose from that. But Amanda’s work with these communities is creating a different trajectory. And now it’s not just communities inviting in The Next Economy - but governments, industry and media (even globally).

I first met Amanda back in 2016, at the outset of the New Economy Network of Australia. We got to know each other a little at panel conversations and the like, as recognition of her work grew. But when we last caught up at her place in late 2018, it seemed like The Next Economy was going to end before it had even really begun.

How things have changed. Soon after came the first transformative shift. And in the last year alone, the organisation has grown eight-fold. Transformative change is gaining momentum – across multiple inter-related systems. But Amanda’s still feeling concerned. The next three years are vital, she says. And all largely pending how well we can be really present with each other, deeply listen, and support communities in the transitions underway everywhere.

This conversation was recorded at Amanda’s place in Brisbane, on 14 July 2022.

Title slide image: Amanda Cahill at home, just before this conversation (pic: Anthony James).

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
The Next Economy.

Transcript of our conversation on the episode web page.

Quantum Words Festival in Perth 16-18 September 2022.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Jodie Jackson is an author, yoga practitioner and media campaigner. Her first book is titled ‘You Are What You Read: why changing your media diet can change the world’. “Information is to the mind, what food is to the body”, she says. And after becoming a mother, and seeing the news affect even her small children, she wrote the children’s book ‘Little Ruffle and The World Beyond’.

All this stemmed from years of looking deeply into the psychological impact of the news. Yes, she discovered no shortage of negative impacts from the barrage of negativity and misinformation. But she also discovered plenty of evidence of the beneficial effects of more constructive news on our wellbeing and society. Not ‘feel good’ puff pieces - more rigorous, whole-picture reporting. And there began Jodie’s at times deeply challenging journey of writing the books, speaking regularly, and just last week, launching a global News Literacy Network.

The by-line for the network is ‘empowering a more accurate worldview’. It says on its website: ‘We must develop the necessary skills to stand guard at the doors of our own mind. Our personal wellbeing, and wellbeing of the world depends on it.’

I first came across Jodie in the terrific news outlet Reasons to be Cheerful a couple of years ago, via a profoundly consequential piece about the responsibilities of media during pandemics and other major disease outbreaks. In it she alluded to the book she’d just written. So I reached out. And after a few twists of fate, we just happened to get together for this conversation the day after the new Network launched.

This conversation was recorded online with Jodie at home in London, on 16 August 2022.

Title slide image: Jodie Jackson.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
Jodie’s website.

News Literacy Network.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

This special extra with Kristy Stewart features 20 additional minutes or so from our conversation.

We went on here to talk about innovative enterprise development and next generation opportunities, and working with government and communities to help open these up. On the one hand, we talked changes to zoning and other regulations that inhibit young people and others joining in with value-add enterprises. And beyond that, Kristy’s been part of her community coming together in an influential local process reminiscent of what’s powered the community independents movement currently transforming politics in Australia. And we look at some of the incredible impacts of the education programs Kristy is co-developing at the farm.

Title slide image: Kristy Stewart at the native flowers garden, alongside one of the regenerated dams at the farm (holding a picture of just how badly degraded it had become) (pic: Anthony James).

Music:
Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

Find more:
You can hear the rest of Kristy and I in conversation in the main episode: ‘An Agroforestry Revolution: Kristy Stewart on family, community and spiritual transformation’. You’ll find a few links in the show notes too, along with some photos and a couple of videos on the episode web page.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Kristy Stewart is a regenerative farmer, free-diver, and next generation community leader. Kristy is already impressing audiences, students and other farmers around the country. And in a sense, it’s no surprise, given her pioneering family stock. Her father is Andrew Stewart, award-winning co-founder with Rowan Reid, in 1993, of the world-renowned Otway Agroforestry Network, in the south-east of Australia. Charles Massy describes it as the flagship of not only a revolution in agroforestry, but in peer-led transformative learning. And the Stewart’s 575-acre farm, Yan Yan Gurt West, is an extraordinary exemplar of what’s possible, in its astounding regeneration of landscape, productivity and community. Now Kristy’s own transformative journey is shaping the next generation of far-reaching possibilities.

Kristy talks here with such raw openness about a major transformation in her life, stemming from a journey to South America, and how she’s attempting to live that out. When Kristy subsequently found herself part of a panel conversation with Di Haggerty, she was compelled to spend time with Di at her place. And that’s when I got a call from Di, mid-last year while we were based at Ningaloo Reef, telling me of this impressive couple of sisters at her place, and that one of them was heading our way next – would we be up for meeting? Suffice to say, Kristy made an impression on us too. And a bit under a year later, we were fortunate enough to be visiting the Stewart family farm.

So the first half of our conversation is on some of the incredible story of this family, the regeneration of a landscape, and the broader revolution in their region and beyond. Ground breaking enough. Then the second half of our chat is on Kristy’s transformation, a deepening family story, and how all that’s shaping her taking up the mantle with the next generation.

 This conversation was recorded at Yan Yan Gurt West farm in the Otways of Victoria, on 18 April 2022.

Title slide image: Kristy Stewart at home on the farm (supplied).

You can see more photos on the episode web page.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
Stay tuned for a special extra to this episode, out next.

Otway Agroforestry Network.

Australian Agroforestry Foundation.

An invitation to Yan Yan Gurt West farm.

A 5-minute video by the Bob Hawke Award organisers featuring Andrew Stewart, who ended up the award winner.

And an older 5-minute video on Yan Yan Gurt West featuring Kristy and the broader family too, from 2016.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Kate Fenech is an impressive 15 year old student who’s found herself part of the extraordinary SS4C movement (the School Strikes for Climate), with growing passions for marine science and regenerative farming. I met her when we were both late conscripts to a premiere screening of Regenerating Australia in Busselton, WA, that ended up becoming a unique post-film dialogue.

The film’s director, Damon Gameau, was a late withdrawal, as was young activist and author, Bella Burgemeister. So Kate and I stepped into the breach, and that seemed to set up a vibe among the 75 or so people present of, ‘well I guess it’s just us!’ And to tell you the truth, for a while, I wondered if the whole thing was going to bomb. I’ve never hosted an event with an audience that was so pin-drop quiet. But that silence turned out to be more a measure of how much people were listening and contemplating, as just about everybody stayed, and we even drifted over time a little, for what became a frank, vital and ultimately wonderful community conversation.

3.45m - A short welcome from me

5.20m - A pre-recorded introduction to the film by Damon. (Damon actually came to feel that this was the most impactful part of the film tour, more than the film itself.) You can find the image Damon is talking to, on the episode webpage – that link’s in the show notes

10.35m - In conversation with Kate Fenech

22.15m - Our all-in dialogue starts

This conversation was recorded in the week leading up to Australia’s recent transformative federal election, at Orana Cinema in Busselton WA, on 16 May 2022.

Title slide image: Anthony James and Kate Fenech at the Orana Cinema in Busselton, WA (pic: Jennifer Seccull).

You can see more photos on the episode web page, including the image Damon talks to in introducing the film.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the film Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
School Strike 4 Climate Australia.

Regenerating Australia is available for community screenings now (and grant applications, requests for materials etc.).

Community Independents Project.

You can hear my conversation with Jess Beckerling on the cessation of native logging in WA in episode 105.

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Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Dr Valerie Brown is a Visiting Professor at the renowned Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University, and an international figure in the field of collective thinking, with a list of awards and accolades as long as your leg. But what brought me to her door was hearing doyen of regenerative agriculture, Charlie Massy, defer to her over the years.

Charles was among her first students in the pioneering Human Ecology course in 1974 (a course the university establishment tried to have shut down). And when he returned to do the PhD that became the best-selling book Call of the Reed Warbler, Valerie was his supervisor. She’s “one of Australia’s greats”, he says. So after visiting the Massy farm earlier this year, Valerie was kind enough to welcome me to her place, up in the road in Canberra, for this conversation.

Incidentally, my guest from episode 85, Cathy McGowan, was also a student of Val’s – and features here in a great story. But there was another milestone on my way to Val’s place too, that also goes back to the 70s. My old mate and mentor Professor Frank Fisher used to talk of the Fenner crew, and gifted me one of the many trailblazing books Val co-wrote, called Tackling Wicked Problems, published back in 2010. Though here, Valerie talks of how her work has progressed far beyond that, drawing on her considerable impact globally, including hundreds of workshops on collective learning as a tool for transformational change.

This conversation was recorded in Canberra, 5 April 2022 (a month and a bit before the transformative federal election that resulted in so many more female independent MPs).

Title slide image: In the backyard with Valerie Brown, at home in Canberra (pic: Anthony James).

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, available for community screenings now.

Find more:
The ABC Australian Story episode on Charles Massy features Valerie.

Valerie’s extended bio, on her Collective Thinking website.

And at the Fenner School.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!