The RegenNarration

You might remember Robert Pekin (with his partner Emma-Kate Rose) from episode 28. Rob’s the founder of Food Connect, the trailblazing social enterprise and legendary community food hub in Brisbane. Since then, plenty has happened at Food Connect. The $2m equity crowd-fund – an Australian first - was successful. And Gaala Watson, a Kungalu and Birri-Gubba Woman born and raised in Brisbane, came on board as Chair of the Food Connect Foundation.

That convergence of people, skills and cultures is bringing about a revolutionary addition to their set up, thanks to a serendipitous chain of events deep and wide across Country. That included connections with local elders, the native grains off Bruce Pascoe’s farm, a young farming couple in NSW who wondered if they could build the first Australian mill in who knows how long, and this podcast.

Back in episode 28, Rob and Emma-Kate talked about being a ‘systems enterprise’ more than a social enterprise – aiming to change the inter-related food, farming and economic systems, along with the cultural stories underpinning how we organise those systems. Now Food Connect is starting to flip capital from an ownership to a custodial model. This lands squarely in Gaala’s wheelhouse – where social enterprise aligns with Aboriginal systems of governance. And where this particular enterprise aligns with an enduring vision stemming from her father.

Title slide: Gaala Watson (off the Food Connect Foundation website) (Rob Pekin is featured in the title slide in the Extra to this episode).

This conversation was recorded on Friday 25 June 2021.

Music:
The System, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.

Find more:
Tune into the 10 minute Extra to this episode, where Rob and I continue on a little after Gaala left.

Food Connect Foundation

Food Connect enterprise

Woodstock Flour on Instagram

Hear Rob and partner Emma-Kate together on episode 28

And my conversation with Mark Taylor at Miller & Baker on episode 69.

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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!

This is an excerpt from episode 87 featuring the last 20 minutes or so of my conversation with the CEO of Commonland, Willem Ferwerda. We pick up our conversation with a question I’ve been looking forward to delving into with Willem for a while – how do we create a regenerative economy that fosters healing of country and restoration of landscapes by its very nature, in the face of cultures and systems going the other way (think shareholder value, GDP as a measure of progress, investment expectations etc.)?

We go on to talk about Willem’s “big dream” and how it’s taking another significant step as part of the recently launched UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. And we close by coming full circle to the words of Oral McGuire: “Biodiversity is the manifestation of spirit” (along with the challenge he lays down) - with some stirring words from Willem alongside his choice of music.

Title slide: Willem Ferwerda, all grown up (supplied).

Music:
Faraway Castle, by Rae Howell & Sunwrae.

Find more:
You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode, ‘COVID & the Wolf: Willem Ferverda on making landscape restoration & Spirit the heart of economy’.

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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!

Willem Ferwerda has an extraordinary background as an ecologist and international policy leader. But a little over a decade ago, after backing over 1,000 conservation projects, he decided to face down the fact that they weren’t making a dent in our slide into mass extinction and ecosystem collapse. He turned towards business and economics, and has since dedicated himself to building practical bridges between ecology and economy.

Since founding Commonland in 2013, his team has been applying its holistic ‘4 Returns’ framework to restoring landscapes at scale globally, across a range of ecosystems, and with brilliant success (including in my home state of Western Australia). Yet, the overall picture continues to worsen. So with 8 years of learning in hand, they’re gearing up a notch, and inviting us to join them, as a key element of the newly launched UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Willem and I first met on Ballardong country in the wheatbelt of Western Australia, at Oral McGuire’s place. It was a special few days spent with the Indigenous-led WA collaboration they’ve engaged with, that has been pivotal to Commonland’s evolution in recent years. We had a couple of open, warm and penetrating conversations about the state of things, and our respective observations about what is possible together.

Willem says he’s been watching ideas and talk of natural solutions move from marginal to mainstream over 30 years - that a transformation is afoot - across business, finance and economics, and above all in people’s search for meaning, purpose and spirit.

This conversation was recorded online with Willem at home in the Netherlands on Tuesday 29 June 2021.

Title slide: Willem Ferwerda in the Costa Rican forest in 1992 (supplied). Find more photos from Willem on the episode website.

Music:
Faraway Castle, by Rae Howell & Sunwrae.

Find more:
Commonland

Willem’s personal post that prompted this chat (inc. film of the wolves returning to the Netherlands)

4 Returns Framework report

Full launch event featuring Oral McGuire & clips of global landscape restoration

Willem's personal video explanation of the 4 Returns Framework

4returns.earth online community platform

Green Gold, a documentary by John D Liu on the extraordinary story of the Loess Plateau in China (5 minute teaser, also featuring Willem)

Aluna, a movie on indigenous wisdom from Colombia.

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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!

This is an excerpt from episode 86 featuring the full gripping 13 minutes of Fate, a track from the new release album by Stephen Jenkinson and key collaborator Gregory Hoskins (with band). We pick up our conversation with 15 minutes or so to go, leading in to that piece of music. We talk Fate, our primordial starting point vs a nostalgia for secretly remaining in charge, and drinking daily from eye sockets.

Title slide: The cover image for Fate, with Gregory Hoskins and Stephen Jenkinson (supplied).

Music:
Fate, by Stephen Jenkinson and Gregory Hoskins (with band).

Find more:
You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode, ‘A Generation’s Worth: Climate strikes, making music & what now?’

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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!

You might remember that Stephen Jenkinson was my first guest when this podcast changed name to The RegenNarration, back in episode 35. For those who are newer to the podcast, Stephen’s a special presence in the world – a wonderful lyricist and story teller, teacher and ceremonialist, author and farmer. Our last conversation delved into his new book at the time, Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble, in which the case is made that we must birth a new generation of elders, one poised and willing to be true stewards of the planet and its species. That episode culminated in some of his gripping music and spoken word.

Today we talk more about that art form, for last year he and key collaborator Gregory Hoskins released a studio and accompanying live album – called Rough Gods and Dark Roads, respectively. They were to be toured globally. But we all know what happened then.

I’ve had guests and listeners alike speak to me of their respect for Stephen, since he was first on the podcast. So when Stephen’s wife Nathalie reached out to update me on the new releases, I was keen to speak with him again. We dwell deeply in the new music this time, and particularly on one track – called Fate - that’s acutely relevant in the wake of the latest global student climate strike last month. It’s featured in its full 13 minutes at the end of this episode.

More on Stephen: Stephen is the founder of the Orphan Wisdom School in Tramore, Canada and the author of four books, including Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, the award-winning book about grief and dying, and the great love of life. In 2015, he created Nights of Grief & Mystery with Canadian singer-songwriter Gregory Hoskins. With a 5-piece band, they have mounted international tours and released three albums, most recently DARK ROADS and ROUGH GODS. Most recently, a four-part livestream speaking series, A Generation’s Worth, was presented in Winter 2020. A book of the same name, emerging from that series, is due out soon.

Title slide: Stephen Jenkinson (supplied). See the episode web page for more photos.

This conversation was recorded on Tuesday 24 May 2021 (Australian time), a few days after the most recent global student climate strike.

Music:
Fate, by Stephen Jenkinson and Gregory Hoskins (with band), a 13 minute track featured in full at the end of this episode.

Faraway Castle, by Rae Howell & Sunwrae.

Find more:
You can find more from Stephen at his Orphan Wisdom website, the home of his writing and teaching work. It’s described there as ‘a redemptive project that comes from where we come from. It is rooted in knowing history, being claimed by ancestry, working for a time we won’t see’.

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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!

This is an excerpt from episode 85 featuring the last 20 minutes or so of my conversation with Cathy McGowan. We pick things up with the passage that became the opener in the main episode. It heralds a powerful sequence from Cathy, and an insight into what’s bubbling up around the country in the lead up to the next federal election.

We then go into how things worked for her, and other increasingly successful independents, on the ground – the practical realities, the value set, and the networks of support that make it all possible. We draw to a close with more of the vision, strategy and supportive infrastructure being developed, to get more community-minded independents elected. Oh, and an express request from Cathy to share this podcast.

Title slide: The cover to Cathy’s book.

Music:
Faraway Castle, by Rae Howel and Sunwrae.

Find more:
You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode, ‘Politics That Works: A proven way becoming a powerful movement’. 

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!

Cathy McGowan was the first female independent MP to sit on the Australian parliamentary cross bench. She was elected in 2013 to the federal seat of Indi, which had been an entrenched conservative party seat for 74 years. At the following election, in 2016, she increased her majority, despite the Liberal/National Party coalition going hard to reclaim it. When Cathy bowed out of parliament ahead of the 2019 election, Indi again made Australian political history with the election of Dr Helen Haines as its second successive independent woman MP. And it’s all been achieved on the back of a still growing community movement, now far from limited to Indi.

This is one of the greatest political stories going in Australia, and arguably the world. It’s a story about how community-minded people are getting elected, getting represented, and getting the outcomes that representation can and should get. In that sense, it’s also a story about how politics in this country – and arguably further afield – can be transformed for the better. Cathy has a vision that in 10 years this transformation could realistically be achieved, starting with the next federal election.

Cathy is now helping to leverage this capacity right across the country. She wrote a book last year, and the enormous reaction to it prompted the first National Convention of Community-Minded Independents earlier this year. Organisers were blown away when 300 people from more than half of Australia’s federal electorates turned up. So with no shortage of people up for this, and more supportive infrastructure developing, a proven way is becoming a powerful movement - with genuine representation, responses to climate and biodiversity challenges, wellbeing economics, reconciliation and regenerative practices on the cards.

“It is past the time of sitting back, hoping that others will do something. It is time to turn up, speak up and step up. The outcomes are worth it. The nation needs it.” – Cathy McGowan.

This episode was recorded online with Cathy at home on her farm in the Indigo Valley, Victoria, on Thursday 27 May 2021.

Title slide: Cathy McGowan (supplied).

You can see the promotional card from the National Convention that I mentioned in our conversation on the episode web page.

Music:
Faraway Castle, by Rae Howell and Sunwrae.

Find more:
Cathy McGowan (including how to get her book & other resources).

Getting Elected (resources from the 1st National Convention for Community-Minded Independents).

Women for Election Australia (aiming to equip 2,000 women to stand for public office by 2022).

Voices 4 Indi.

Cathy’s clarion call in the national press leading up to the National Convention. 

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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!

This is an excerpt from episode 84 featuring the last 20 minutes or so of my conversation with Dr Anne Poelina. We pick up the conversation with Anne’s powerful articulation of a way to proceed with planning in the Kimberley, on the back of an existing federal government bioregional framework. We go on to talk more about the incredible new film The Serpent’s Tale, leading to Anne’s heart-rending plea for more of us to correspond with the West Australian government. She goes on to suggest how.

And Anne's story of the blind Aboriginal elder who sang his way to Uluru – 6 times! – offers a touchstone for the profound nature of the Songlines, and of so much what we stand to gain together, by standing together now. A true circular economy, as elder Mary Graham puts it - in relationship with everything.

Anne often talks about ‘waking up the snake’ – the consciousness of the people. We close with me asking her whether she thinks this is happening.

Title slide: Martuwarra (pic: Mark Jones).

Music:
Liyan, by Anne’s son Mark Coles-Smith, composing as Kalaji (joined by Ursula Yovich).

Find more:
You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode, Regenerative Songlines: Film, First Law & the Martuwarra Fitzroy River

You can see a few terrific photographs on that episode web page too.

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 episode departs from the usual schedule, as there’s a particularly pressing aspect to this one.

Dr Anne Poelina is a Nyikina Warrwa (Indigenous Australian) woman who belongs to the Mardoowarra, the lower Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. She is also Chair of the esteemed Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council. When Anne and I last spoke for the podcast, in Broome a few years ago, I said this:

“If anywhere epitomizes the critical time we’re in, it’s in the spectacular cultural and natural landscapes of her homeland. Almost incredibly, there are 40,000+ fracking wells slated for this area, along with the damming of the Fitzroy River, and more ‘old-model’ industrial agriculture. Yet the next economy is also in tow here, and this is where Anne is currently focusing her extraordinary breadth of cross-cultural knowledge and experience.”

Three years on and a power of work has been done. This includes the forming of Regenerative Songlines Australia. And while that ‘old industrial model’ lurks in the Kimberley, a profound new film screened last week called The Serpent’s Tale. It documents the creation of Martuwarra, the National Heritage listed Fitzroy River. And its launch draws attention to an important state government submission process on now, while invoking deeper connection with the River and Country generally.

This episode was recorded on 20 May and released on 24 May 2021, the anniversary of the exploding of the Juukan Gorge last year, which destroyed a 46,000-year heritage site. A reminder that the stakes couldn’t be higher, in terms of staving off disaster, but also ushering in the emerging new story of connection and regeneration.

For those less familiar with Anne, she is also an international award winner, Managing Director of Madjulla Incorporated, a qualified nurse, traditional midwife, has multiple postgraduate degrees, and over 30 years’ experience in Indigenous health, education, language and community development.

Title slide: Dr Anne Poelina (supplied).

You’ll find a selection of photographs from Anne on the episode web page too.

Music:
River Feeling, at the start of the episode, and Liyan, at the end, both by Anne’s son Mark Coles-Smith, composing as Kalaji (joined in Liyan by Ursula Yovich).

Find more:
Dr Anne Poelina

The Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council

Trailer for the film, The Serpent’s Tale 

Make a submission or write an email or letter

Regenerative Songlines Australia

The Council is keen to show the film again so subscribe to their email list via the website to be updated

And listen to my previous conversation with Anne for episode 21.

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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!

This is an excerpt from episode 83 featuring the last 20 minutes or so of my conversation with award-winning archaeology professor, Peter Veth. We pick it up at the tail end of Peter answering my question about how archaeology has changed to work with First Nations, not on them. We went on to chat about the global ‘blockbuster’ exhibition Songlines, currently touring, and how it’s changing the Australian (and arguably world) psyche.

We then delve more into the extraordinary impacts that these emerging ‘finds’ and connections are having on people – both First Nations and the rest of us. And take a final sweeping look across country at the extraordinary living cultural heritage coming to light, and what needs to happen with it in response. We close with Peter’s reflections on the value of a life, in the context of crisis and deep time.

Title slide: The dawn over Cape Range, the day after final production of this episode (pic: Anthony James).

Music:
The Great Unwind, by William Tyler off his album Modern Country.

Find more:
You can hear the rest of our conversation in the main episode, Regenerating in Deep Time: New finds, narratives and future possibilities. 
 
You can see a few terrific early photographs of Peter among some of the First Nations communities we talked about, on that episode web page too.

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!