It’s fitting that my first Aussie guest back home would be this bloke. Stuart McAlpine is a multiple award winning wheatbelt farmer over here in WA, who’s just been named as a finalist in the prestigious national Bob Hawke LandCare Award. I’ve long looked forward to having him on the podcast, having met him as part of the group that organised the first major RegenWA conference staged at Perth Stadium back in 2019 (it was my honour to be MC for that group of people). Six years on, we’re on the cusp of RegenWA’s second major conference (Regenerating Food Systems), back at Perth Stadium, and I couldn’t have said ‘yes, I’ll be home for this’ quick enough, when invited to be MC again. 

This time around, the conference will feature two days not one, and a full week of satellite events have spontaneously gravitated to its orbit. And this time, RegenWA is running its conference having become an independent not for profit organisation, with Stuart as its inaugural Chair. He’s also been a paid subscriber of this podcast for nearly four years, so you can imagine how humbling that is. 

Ideally, of course, we’d be at the farm. But given we’ve just got home from a big journey with the pod, and given the conference, satellite events and award announcement are just a couple of weeks away now, we thought we’d jump online for a quick yarn to help gear up for this potentially pivotal moment in time.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 2 September 2025.

Title image from RegenWA's website.

For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Upcoming events.

Music:

Against All Odds, by Tiko Tiko (sourced from Artlist).

Country Cousins, by Stuart McAlpine.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

After years of work led by traditional custodians, Murujuga on the north-west coast of Australia became a World Heritage listed site last month, with its ancient rock art recognised as a ‘masterpiece of human creative genius’.

You might remember our visit there, in the heat of December 2021, when I spoke with Clinton Walker, Ngarluma/Yindjibarndi man, Traditional Custodian of Murujuga, and CEO and Founder of the award-winning Ngurrangga Tours. I was actually only able to release the conversation in full for the first time in January this year. And while more than one million petroglyphs, some dating back about 40,000 years, should have meant the judgement was as near a shoe-in as possible, industry expansion plans were creating tension.

In the end, the Australian government managed to negotiate to have its cake and eat it too, achieving both World Heritage and industry expansion for the area. It’s a moment of undeniable and deserved celebration, and yet the tensions remain about the limits of protection World Heritage might afford.

Welcome to the 7th instalment of Vignettes from the Source, the short form series featuring some of the unforgettable, transformative and often inexplicable moments my guests have shared over the years. 

We pick up this 15 minute slice of the conversation with Clinton about seven minutes into the full episode. It forms a powerful snap shot of the place, why it is now World Heritage listed, what it means to the people there, and the uncertainly that remains.

If you’d like to hear or revisit this conversation in full, including Clinton’s brilliant story, head to episode 245 – ‘Cultural Economies at the Greatest Rock Art Gallery in the World’ (links in the show notes, and photos on the website of the original partial release for episode 109).

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded at Murujuga, 13 December 2021.

Title image: Clinton at Hearson’s Cove (pic: Anthony James).

Music:

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Back on Earth Day in April 2024, we started our journey of the Americas with friend of the podcast, legendary best-selling author, Paul Hawken. It was just ahead of the release of his latest book, Carbon: The Book of Life. So we recorded a podcast in his incredible garden about it (along with some other life story stuff). 

Later we thought it could be good to record a pod just walking and talking around the steeply sloped streets of his local neighbourhood, among the redwoods - see what this tallest of tree species had to say too. Alas, with both our travels at the time, we didn’t get to it. But having managed to return to northern California a few weeks ago, ahead of flying back to Australia, we did.

And as it happens, Paul’s next book is in full flow. Working title? 'Upstream: Why the climate movement failed and where to from here'. Given this is by the bloke who compiled best-selling volumes Drawdown and Regeneration, this seemed as good a place to start as any - after the redwoods introduce themselves. And after arriving at a powerful analogy for our times, we converge at the end on, well, the wisdom of Dolly Parton.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 26 July 2025.

Title slide photo by Olivia Cheng.

For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Upcoming events.

Music:

The River, by Peter Cavallo (sourced on Artlist).

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Welcome to the second and final part of this special episode from the Wind River Reservation with Jason Baldes, founder and ED of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative, and VP of the InterTribal Buffalo Council.

The full episode was played more than most in its first week, but given it was a little over two hours in length, I also wanted to offer it in distinct parts, for those of you who prefer to listen to it that way.

We pick it up here as we move through some hilarious and powerful encounters with the buffalo. From feeding Ruby the orphan buffalo and her little horse mate, to meeting a couple of big bulls, on to what ends up being an incredible period of time face to face with the herd.

As always, you can browse a list of chapters and navigate that way if you like.

If you've come here first, you might like to start with Part 1, released a couple of days ago. That'll give more context to the extraordinary story unfolding here. But this part stands alone pretty well too.

ICYMI, you can also catch our time on arrival at the Initiative in episode 268 (more photos on that web page too), where we were welcomed by two of the brilliant young staff there, Xavier Michael-Young (Seminole man bringing his economics, finance and cultural tourism expertise, having been drawn to Wind River by the buffalo), and Taylar Dawn Stagner (award-winning journalist, enrolled member of the Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and an Eastern Shoshone descendant, and now the Initiative’s new Community Engagement Director). 

Recorded 16 September 2025 at the Wind River Reservation, home of the Eastern Shoshone and Arapaho Nations, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in current day Wyoming. 

Title image by Anthony James. For more behind the scenes, and to help keep the show on the road, become a supporting listener below.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Last week's episode featured a special on-location recording with Jason Baldes, founder and ED of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative, and VP of the InterTribal Buffalo Council. It has drawn some wonderful responses since (thank you!). And again, given the episode was a little over two hours, I thought to release it in two parts this week for those of you who prefer to tune in that way. All the more because the conversation sort of evolved into two distinct parts naturally.

So welcome to Part 1, from where we first meet Jason at the Initiative's HQ, and prepare to head out into the field with the buffalo. We're straight out of the gates with the breaking news here of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe officially and overwhelmingly designating buffalo as wildlife again, with its myriad and profound restorative ramifications - on culture, health, justice, spirit, other wildlife, rivers, land, through to notions of ownership and property. And when the engines are cut about ten minutes in, the air stills and the conversation deepens. 

As always, you can browse a list of chapters and navigate that way if you like.

I'll have Part 2 for you in a couple of days, from right amongst the buffalo with some hilarious and profound encounters, from feeding Ruby the orphan buffalo and her little horse mate, to passing by some big bulls, to what ends up being an incredible time face to face with the herd.

Recorded 16 September 2025 at the Wind River Reservation, home of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Nations, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in current day Wyoming. 

Title image by Olivia Cheng. 

For more behind the scenes, and to help keep the show on the road, become a supporting listener below.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Welcome back to the Wind River Reservation, home of the Eastern Shoshone and Arapaho Nations. And, the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI), a tribally led non-profit founded in 2023, here at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in current day Wyoming. We left off part 1 of this series last week, as we met the Initiative’s founder, Jason Baldes, and prepared to head out on the plains, to meet the buffalo and hear their, and Jason’s, stories.

It was in the lead up to the Tribe’s Sundance just 2 years ago, that they sourced meat from their own buffalo, on their own land, for the first time in nearly 140 years. That’s all part of enacting a broader vision of buffalo living as wildlife (not livestock) once again, protected under Tribal law. 

And this vision doesn’t stop at Wind River either. Jason is also VP of the InterTribal Buffalo Council – where 87 Tribes and growing are currently involved in efforts to restore the buffalo, and all that entails - from the re-acquisition of land, the return of rivers and other wildlife, along with the health, language and spirit of many Nations.

Join us in the side-by-side as we hear the brilliant story of what’s happening here, including how it came close to never happening. About half way in, we head over to feed the orphan buffalo Ruby, and hear about the old Shoshone grandmas, before ultimately arriving back at the herd for an incredible unexpected face to face encounter.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 16 June 2025.

You can hear Jason’s good friend, Pedro Calderon Dominguez, with the buffalo at American Prairie, for episode 220, Lakota woman Kelsey Scott for episode 222, and the series from the Osage Nation starting episode 261.

Title slide: AJ & Jason as our visit wound up (pic: Olivia Cheng)

See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Music:

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Welcome to the Wind River Reservation, home of the Eastern Shoshone and Arapaho Nations, and the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI). That’s a tribally led non-profit founded in 2023, here at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in current day Wyoming. The Initiative, and its founder Jason Baldes, had been coming increasingly to my attention as we travelled the US, and with such unique and extraordinary aspects to the story, I was stoked we could meet up today. 

We arrived as Jason and family were preparing for the summer’s Sundance, which reminded me of having read about how buffalo meat had been sourced for the tribe’s 2023 Sundance, from their own animals on their own land for the first time in nearly 140 years. And that’s just a hint of the momentous shifts happening here, as they enact a vision of buffalo living as wildlife once again, protected under Tribal law.

While Jason was making his way over to us, we got to meet some of the Initiative’s brilliant young staff, including Xavier Michael-Young and Taylar Dawn Stagner. They warmly welcomed us in, and were a treasure trove of passion, insight and vision. So our time with them forms this first part of our two part series from the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative.

In part two, we’ll head out to the buffalo with Jason. But right now, we meet Taylar, award-winning journalist, enrolled member of the Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and an Eastern Shoshone descendant, and now the Initiative’s new Community Engagement Director. And we meet Xavier, offering us the opportunity to delve ever deeper into the Initiative from the perspective of this young Seminole man, who brings his economics, finance and cultural tourism expertise, having been drawn to Wind River by the buffalo.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 16 June 2025.

Title slide: Xavier & Taylar heading to the buffalo (pic: Anthony James).

See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Music:

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Professor Fred Provenza is the legendary behavioural ecologist and author who revolutionised how we understand the nature of animal health and intelligence, and its connection to our human health and intelligence. But what really blew Fred away on his journey was what he talked about in this part of our conversation a few years ago, on the capacity of all beings to innately know and select the food and nutrition they need. 

Welcome to the 6th edition of Vignettes from the Source, the new short-form series featuring some of the unforgettable, transformative and often inexplicable moments my guests have shared over the years.

I initially went in to just grab the 14 minutes you’ll hear first. But when listening back, I couldn’t stop it running till another 10 minutes had ticked along – after I’d asked Fred how all his health findings relate to planetary health too. 

And all this was prompted because it happened to come up in conversation yesterday, as I was sitting with another legendary former guest on this podcast, Paul Hawken, back here in California (where our American journey began, and where it’s now ending). And a listener from Pennsylvania also just contacted Fred about it. So I thought, why not bring it up again here too?

If you’d like to hear or revisit this conversation in full, head to episode 123 – ‘The Wisdom Body a paradigm change in animal, human and planetary health’ (there are a bunch of links in those show notes too, including to Fred’s masterful book, ‘Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom’).

There were actually two parts to episode 123, by the way. And there’s another unforgettable section in part 2. But that’s for another day. 

For now, I hope you enjoy revisiting this one with Fred Provenza, a man who has come to shine a light not only on the extraordinary regenerative capacities of nature, including humans, but how regenerating all human systems stems from the wisdom of our bodies.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Originally recorded 8 June 2022.

Music:

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

This part of my conversation with regenerative agriculture legend, David Marsh, has stayed close since we recorded it at his place back in March 2024. In fact, when I first thought about launching the new series Vignettes from the Source, this passage was front of mind.

Welcome to the 5th Vignette in the series that features some of the unforgettable, transformative and often inexplicable moments my guests have shared over the years. 

This ten minutes or so is full of such moments, moments that power David’s enormous legacy. It is part of what was, fittingly, the podcast’s bicentennial episode. And that happened to be recorded days after another prominent guest, gun writer and newish farmer Sam Vincent, said this about an experience of seeing David speak: ‘it was like the king had entered the room’.

Then after the episode with David was released, I was humbled to see a listener had written this review: ‘I’ve listened to thousands of hours of podcasts and never commented. I feel compelled to say this was simply beautiful.’

The land was singing too.

If you’d like to hear or revisit this conversation in full, head to episode 200 – ‘The Land Does It For You’ (with a few photos on that web page too).

Chapter markers & transcript.

Originally recorded 10 March 2024.

Title slide: David & AJ ahead of this conversation (pic: Olivia Cheng).

See more photos on the original episode web page linked above, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below.

Music:

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Last week’s episode from the ancient Great House of Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, left something out. Before my guest Dana Scott and I headed back to the car, we went back towards the entrance and plaza, because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk about how Dana’s path has arrived at a transformational restorative justice approach to education, how that evolved from our time in Guatemala together, and how being at Chaco relates to it all. 

We quipped at the outset that this could be another podcast, and really, it was. I hope you enjoy it.

And for those of you who enjoyed the conversation with Jenny Finn at Springhouse Community School, it was Dana, through Dwanna (who you’ll hear about here) who introduced us.

I’ll share more photos of our visit to Chaco, in addition to those appearing on the website, with paid subscribers today also, with great thanks for making all this possible.

Recorded 15 April 2025.

Title slide photo by Olivia Cheng.

See more photos on the episode web page, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below. 

Music:

Chauen, Angel Salazar (sourced from Artlist).

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!