Today I have a guest with a truly remarkable story and journey into natural building. Atulya Bingham is the author of “Mud Ball” and Mud Mountain, both of which cover her incredible experiences moving to the countryside in Turkey and learning to build her own home with earth bags. She has also written numerous educational manuals on earth bag building, clay plasters and much more as well as blogging about her experiences. In this interview Atulya talks about how she first moved onto her bare lan...
Sep 22, 2017•52 min
This week's interview is with a good personal friend of mine who is an awesome farmer and experimenter with plants, especially trees. I first met Brock Barker through some mutual friends when he came down here to Lake Atitlan to co-teach on a PDC with some colleagues of mine. Now Brock is the founder and owner of “The Brockoli Patch,” a permaculture farm and orchard outside of Lafayete, Louisiana on which manages an incredibly diverse and productive landscape. In this interview Brock talks about...
Sep 15, 2017•28 min
This is gonna be a pretty special episode in that I'll actually be interviewing a man who has seen an incredible transformation in “conventional” farming during his lifetime. My guest is Roland James, but to me he's my Grandpa. Now Roland grew up in a small farming community in the midlands of England near the southern border of Wales. He well remembers the very first tractors coming onto his family's farm in the early 1940s. Before then all of the fields were plowed with horses or oxen. As he g...
Sep 08, 2017•37 min
In this episode I got to interview one of my personal heroes Erik Ohlsen. Now Erik wears a lot of hats, he's the founder and director of both Permaculture Artisans, a landscape and design company, and the Permaculture Skills Center, an amazing trade school based in sepastapol ca. Erik also writes and publishes books for adults and children with his company, Storyscapes. In this interview Erik talks in detail about how he's built synergy and connection into all of his business endeavors. We talk ...
Sep 01, 2017•1 hr 2 min
I'm really excited about today's guest. In this episode I'll be speaking to Tom Duncan, one of the visionary leaders behind Aquabiofilter, a water cleaning and regeneration company based in Melbourne, AU. Tom has been involved in some of the most ambitious and successful watershed cleanup operations in history with major projects in China, Malaysia, and Australia that have helped to restore lakes, rivers and wildlife reserves. I became inspired by Tom's work after seeing his webinar presentation...
Aug 25, 2017•8 min
My guest today is Pete Widin, founder and owner of Artisan Environments, LLC and the creator of The Professional Permaculture Designer online course . I reached out to Pete after reading an article he wrote for my friend William Horvath's page Permaculture Apprentice in which he wrote about some of his best tips and strategies for attracting your ideal clients for a permaculture design business. Now I know that a lot of my listeners and permaculture enthusiasts out there have taken their Permacu...
Aug 18, 2017•41 min
today's episode is going to be a bit unusual in that I'll be stepping over to the other side of the microphone as my good friend and permaculture blogger Mike Vair Haley writer of the blog Permaculture Hami asked me to do an interview with him for an article. Mike is a teacher/traveler spending this year going around the world and documenting interesting sustainable designs along the way. He also writes a lot about how permaculture can be applied in unexpected ways such as in finance, government...
Aug 11, 2017•1 hr 4 min
Rhidi D'CruzMark Lakeman I have an extra special interview for all of you today. In this episode I've got not one, but two visionary change makers from the community restoration non-profit City Repair, which is based in Portland Oregon. I've got Ridhi D'Cruz, the co-director of City Repair, and the founder and co-director, Mark Lakeman. They each come from very different backgrounds, but have united to foster thriving, inclusive and sustainable communities through the creative reclamation of pub...
Aug 01, 2017•1 hr 30 min
My Guest today is Elvira Di'Brigit, the author of the new book “Why We Farm” which is an investigation into the whole truth about life as a modern day farmer. Viewed through the lens of the environment within the Capay Valley of northern California, each chapter features a different model of farming. In each profile, farmers share the stories behind their work and their lives on the farm; the business side of production, the personal challenges they face, and words of advice for the would-be-far...
Jul 28, 2017•40 min
My guest today is none other than Curtis Stone, author of The Urban Farmer. For the better part of a decade, Curtis has been pushing the boundaries of organic gardening in the city and proving through his carefully documented processes that making a profit on small acreage and borrowed land is realistic. H's also the host of a fantastic youtube channel which is practically an ongoing master level course for aspiring urban farmers and small scale market gardeners. In this interview Curtis shares ...
Jul 20, 2017•55 min
My guest today is Gabriel Franklin, master plasterer and the owner of the company “The Art of Plaster.” Gabriel grew up with a father who was a designer and builder who shared much of his trade with him from a young age. From the age of thirteen, Gabriel started on his dad's bucket and cleanup crew and has been working in plastering and finish work ever since. As an artist and nature enthusiast he has traveled all over the American northeast and even as far as Australia with his trade and dedica...
Jul 14, 2017•52 min
My guest today is Zach Loeks. The owner of the 50 acre Kula Permaculture farm in the Ottawa Valley of Ontario, Canada. There they run a local CSA, grow over 100 varieties of vegetables, herbs, fruits, nuts and trees , and even offer yoga retreats and children's summer camps. Zach is also the author of the book “The Permaculture Market Garden” which is an in depth guide to the techniques that he's developed and refined over many years of running this multifaceted and profitable farm. In this inte...
Jul 07, 2017•1 hr
My guest today is Hannah Eckberg. Along with being the co-founder, editor and creative director of Permaculture Magazine of North America, she has also been the president of “get oil out” which was recognized as the US's first grass roots activist organization when she was only 19 and also the United Hemp council promoting the agricultural and environmental benefits of hemp. As a self described “optimizer” she is always looking for ways to make things better and look at them from different view ...
Jun 30, 2017•47 min
My guest today is Tamara Dean, the author of the book “the Human Powered Home: choosing muscles over motors” which is an in depth look into the history, advancement, and modern applications of human powered machines. Having just finished reading this I can honestly say that I was immediately inspired to start building and using these machines myself. It covers the full range of people powered devices from treadle sewing machines, prisoner powered treadmills and cotton gins, to bicycles, see-saw ...
Jun 23, 2017•35 min
My guest today is Tim O'Hara who's the owner and founder of Rancho Mastatal sustainability and education center, one of the premier sustainable living education sites in the world. For more than 15 years Rancho Mastatal has been leading the way in permaculture, natural building, and regenerative living skills such as fermentation, bio gas digestion, soap making, and much more. Tim started out with a degree in agricultural economics and first began working in corporate agro business before becomi...
Jun 16, 2017•39 min
My guest today is Neal Spackman, Neal is best known for his work on the Al Baydah project in Saudi Arabia, and as the co-founder of the Sustainable Design Masterclass. Neal has been working for nearly a decade in one of the most arid regions of the world in a severely desertified region of saudi arabia to regenerate the landscape there through permaculture methods focusing on water harvesting techniques. As a former student of Geoff Lawton, Neal began work on the project with no prior experience...
Jun 09, 2017•1 hr 2 min
My guest today is Scott Gallant who is a resident farm manager at Rancho Mastatal which is a permaculture and natural building design and teaching site in Costa Rica. Scott grew up in a little town in Ohio outside of Cincinnati spending most of his childhood playing in the neighboring farmland. He later went to a small liberal arts school in Indiana called Wabash college where he studied economics and rhetoric. After that he was on the track to get a job in finances but instead took a detour whe...
Jun 02, 2017•36 min
My guest today is an outspoken advocate for freeing yourself from the shackles of the rat race by making lifestyle changes that help you regain your freedom. Chris Mcclellan is affectionately known as Uncle Mud and runs a website by the same name where you can find resources on how to learn to build with cob and other natural materials. In this episode Chris goes in depth on the different ways that you can slash your monthly bills with natural building retrofits. How instead of paying upwards of...
May 26, 2017•41 min
My interview today is with one of the designers and change makers that has most influenced my own approach to professional projects and regenerative landscape development. Darren Doherty is the founder of Regrarians Ltd. Based in Bendigo Australia and he has extensive experience in project design, development, management and training. He's worked on 6 continents and nearly 50 countries in mostly broad-acre agricultural applications. The Regrarian's purpose that he promotes is to provide the pote...
May 19, 2017•1 hr 25 min
My guest today is Bill Steen, who along with his wife Athena is one of the early innovators and promoters of straw bale building in the American Southwest through their company “the Canelo Project.” Bill was born in Tucson, AZ and attended the university of AZ where he studied cultural anthropology. Out of college he ran a yoga ashram in NM for 12 years. He took a couple years off after that experience and moved to Canelo, AZ 33 years ago where he and his wife Athena quickly started the Canelo p...
May 12, 2017•51 min
My guest today has been one of my most inspiring forces in creating this podcast and working towards sharing my learning experiences with the larger community. His name is Diego Footer and he's the founder of Permaculture Voices. Through his business he puts out a world class podcast and youtube channel by the same name and sells books and online courses through the website. His broadcasts focus on his own journey in creating a permaculture landscape and garden on his property outside of San Die...
May 05, 2017•58 min
Todays guest is a good friend of mine who has recently become a member of the Abundant Edge team. His name is Neal Hegerty and he's the volunteer coordinator and co-teacher at Atitlan Organics here in Tzununa, Guatemala. Neal grew up in Ireland and spent a lot of time around his uncle's dairy farm when he was young. He went on to study agriculture in science and began to learn more about alternative methods of farming during his travels and volunteering on wwoof farms. He later went on to get hi...
Apr 21, 2017•1 hr
In this interview with my good friend Max Benjamin, we talk about his journey over the past three years to build a sustainable permaculture enterprise in a little town on Lake Atitlan Guatemala. Max is a great example of where many of our listeners are at in their transition to a regenerative lifestyle and here he shares stories about the challenges and successes he's had over the last three years in developing a diversified farm, with different value added products and side ventures in order to...
Apr 17, 2017•27 min
In this episode I talk about some of the most common myths and misconceptions about natural building and bust them. There's a lot of first hand knowledge from my years as a designer and builder around the world, and I work to help you get better information than what's often available online. This talk is mean to give you a realistic idea of how to get started with a natural building project and how to avoid some of the unrealistic expectations and misleading information that can get you started...
Apr 13, 2017•19 min
in this episode I had the pleasure of interviewing Sukita Reay Crimmel, the founder of both Claylin LLC. and From These Hands LLC. as well as the co-author of Earthen Floors: A Modern Approach to an Ancient Practice. We talk all about the anatomy of earthen floors, tips, tricks, different applications, maintenance and even chemistry for the real nerds like me.
Mar 10, 2017•54 min
In this interview I had the pleasure of speaking with Janell Kapoor, founder of both Kleiwerks International. and the Ashevillage Sanctuary. Janell has been teaching natural building workshops all over the world since 1997 and founded Kleiwerks Intl. in 2004. She also ran some of the first earthen building trainings in Thailand, Argentina, and Turkey. Since 2006 she has been renovating and building the site of the Ashevillage sanctuary by reclaiming materials from the waste stream and using natu...
Mar 03, 2017•1 hr 7 min
In this episode I interview Kirk Mobert, the founder of Sundog Building school in Point Arena CA. Kirk has dedicated nearly a decade of research and testing to rocket stove and rocket mass heater technology. In this interview we talk all about how these revolutionary stoves work, why his school focuses on teaching the re-indigenization of building, and how he sees the world of natural building evolving in the future. Resources: http://www.sundogbuilders.net/ Kirk also sent a follow-up audio a co...
Feb 24, 2017•43 min
In this interview I get to talk with Rob Roy, author of 17 books and a leading voice and advocate for cordwood building. Rob gives a ton of information on how to prevent cracking and swelling of the cordwwod while maintaining the insulative integrity of the wall. He also goes into detail about different mortar mixes and explains a bit about his unique ability in moving huge monolithic stones with just basic tools Resources: To find all Rob's books that are currently in print click on the link be...
Feb 11, 2017•49 min
Though this is her first time on the podcast, it's actually round two for Sigi Koko, the founder of "Down to Earth Design" and the "Build Naturally" blog. Click here to see my original interview With Sigi. Sigi is an architect, builder and teacher extraordinaire. She founded Down to Earth Design back in 1998 and has been designing and building with natural materials in the Mid-Atlantic region ever since. She's a encyclopedia of building and design knowledge which she often uses to help guide new...
Feb 03, 2017•57 min
In this interview I speak with Liz Johndrow, founder of Earthen Endeavors and the Pueblo Project, about a ton of topics including how she got started in the building trades, the importance of including women in construction and design, tips and tricks with natural plasters, and much more. Liz is a world class natural builder and instructor with a wealth of knowledge and experience. I first met Liz when I assisted on her natural building course at "Atitlan Organics" in Guatemala in November of 20...
Feb 03, 2017•36 min
