Reskillience

We built this city on rock n roll! And cheap oil. And it’s currently running out… so what happens now? This week I chat with Nathan Surendran to get a foothold on the fossil fuel crisis (which is the Everything Crisis) and how we can keep our balance, together. Nathan is a systems thinker, recovering engineer, energy and security analyst, policy advisor, author of the Energy and Resilience substack and chair of the Wise Response society. He is also seriously kind, and provides so much practical, empowering advice in this convo, including:Moving far far away from civilisationThe unsustainability of citiesNeurodivergence leading to deep researchThe Energy Elephant in the room: WHAT AREN’T WE SEEINGWhy oil (diesel) is the lifeblood of industrial societyDrawing down ancient sunlight 1 million times faster than it’s being rechargedEvery calorie of food takes 10 calories of fossil fuels, oofThe Iran WarWhy we can’t just switch to renewablesRight relationship with renewablesWhat are baseline standards of living?Household appliance heroes for the energy descentWhat is Energy Blindness?Emotionally processing peak oilOne barrel of oil = 5 years of human labour (!)Are we being gaslit about the situation in the strait?The industrial system schools us to comply, not thinkWhy the rich aren’t as protected as they might thinkLess affluent people are ahead of the gameWhat is mutual aid?Un-pathologising co-dependenceMaori concepts of community careWhy we need danger from a mental health perspective🧙‍♀️LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Nathan on Substack ~ Energy and ResilienceNathan’s home on the web[doc] When The Trucks Stop ~ mutual aid guidelinesWise Response on SubstackJason Bradford ~ The Future Is RuralSteve KeeneIan McGilchristCharlie HoyleNate HagensSteve KeenHoward T Odum📸 Photo credit: Jason Hosking🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

Ever wish you could sit down with permie elders to hear their take on the current chaos; what to do, where to live, and whether it’s really that bad in the grand scheme of things? Well just call me Genie cos this convo with permaculture educators and radical homemakers Ian Lillington and Marita Zeh will deliver.Ian and Marita live in a solar passive straw-bale home on the edge of Castlemaine, Victoria, surrounded by fruit and nut trees and veggie gardens, where students come to see – and feel – what it is to be wrapped in abundance. And this is where I found them, on a sunny autumn morning, in the cosy warmth of their kitchen, dealing with masses of peaches, pistachios and zucchini. And we all sat down and chopped and chatted, eventually remembering to turn on the mics.In this convo:Pursuing a hybrid model of permacultureRat poison sandwichRenting till your 40sWhat is good debt?Where is even affordable anymore?How to deal with glutsGiving to communitySmall garden farmingBeing strategically connected to the gridDiverse household energy systemsScales of usageAn elder’s perspective on current affairsSharing permaculture as a political actPermaculture prioritiesGratitude vs. fearImpermaculture🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Send Ian an email ~ [email protected] keep it old school with a text ~ 0478 297 057The Castlemaine Permaculture Hub PDC(for locals) Castlemaine Permaculture FB group(national) Permaculture Australia FB group

I tell a story about my grandpa’s deathbed song request before having a heart-to-heart with Emily Coats, a deep nature connection facilitator, ancestral skills practitioner, threshold-crossing guide and dreamworker.In this convo:Shakespearean activismWhat the world needs right now (hint: not more intellect)Ways to wholenessDoes activism have to feel hard and gnarly?Being precise in the ripples we castWhat happens at Tracker SchoolAncient skills… for survival?Why to prioritise spiritual preparednessHow we live and how we dieLosing her dad; the gifts and lessonsIntentions vs. realities of living in a handmade black wattle shelter offline, offgrid and alone for 7.5 monthsHow to use spirit tracking to find lost stuff🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️[starts soon in Naarm] Earth Time: The Lost Art of Being HumanEmily’s home on the webEmily on InstagramNature's ApprenticeNature Based Leadership TrainingBill Plotkin & Animas Valley InstituteJon YoungThe Animal Communicator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpG1nkM5jcJon Young Australia workshop🧡🧡🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

In 2018 Professor Jem Bendell published an academic paper that went viral; pretty weird for a piece of scholarly writing. The topic? Societal collapse caused by runaway climate change. The timeline? Soon. Deep Adaptation presented a frank, delusion-free framework for facing the end of the world as we know it, sparked a movement, and copped a lot of flack.I wanted to chat with Jem not so much about the grim facts but about how, “as that collapse guy”*, he is filling his life with meaning at the eleventh hour. And it turns out, that includes becoming a farmer, writing folk songs and considering having kids.*Jem happily identifies as a doomster🎙️ In this convoExperiencing climate change first hand as a farmer in BaliHow to act on knowledge about collapse and climate?Making the leap towards your values (with the help of a global pandemic)Why the wellness community is full of shitFarming failsPicking up music at 48 and writing comedy rockFaulty beliefs we have about our creative giftsLiving fully at the eleventh hourLetting go of status and securityWhy it’s all ok when everything’s not okKirtan and ecospirituality practicesJem’s evolving views about how collapse will unfoldBringing kids into this world, yay or nay?The Deep Adaptation frameworkBecoming NURTURANTHow to help others through the griefJem’s simple pleasuresOracle cards for cynics🧙‍♀️LINKY POOSJem’s home on the web[paper] Deep Adaptation ~ Jem Bendell[book] Breaking Together ~ Jem BendellThe Metacrisis InitiativeJem’s collapse-aware oracle cardsJem’s musicSongbird credit: Australia Outback Birds by EduFigueres License: Attribution 4.0🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

I tell a story about Jar Power before sitting down with Robin Greenfield, an incredible fella best known for his radical experiments in simple living, food reclamation, waste minimisation and wild foraging.He has been called “the Robin Hood of our times”, “the Forrest Gump of ecology”, and “the best kind of crazy”. To me, Robin is a torch bearer for truth, leading the way towards justice – with a whole lotta joy and integrity.This year he is eating 100% foraged foods – unreal! – so we chat about that, as well as:Why Robin is so gassyHow it feels to break free from the global industrial food systemWhy Robin is not into human optimisationPracticing non-attachment and impermanenceFreedom in communityWhat gives Robin the power to do crazy stuff?Non-delusionalismHow to identify your purpose and nicheThe most limiting factor in figuring out who you really arePursuing radical honestyRobin’s simple financesSkills + relationships = freedomTransition ethicsCompassionate communicationWhat IS foraging, really?All the foraging nuances you never thought about!How our language is built around disconnectionWhat would happen if everyone foraged?Joy as resistance🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSRobin’s websiteRobin’s booksRobin on Instagram[book] Mark Boyle ~ The Moneyless Man🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

Christie Green spends days at a time in the mountains, in the snow, tracking elk, solo. Her hunting journey began at 40 as a practical way to feed herself and her family, and became a fierce and fluid exploration of womanhood, motherhood, stewardship, intuition, listening and kinship. Christie wrote a memoir about her experiences called Moonlight Elk that I rapturously devoured, licking my fingertips with every turn of the page, it is that delicious. 🦌 Terrain covered:Life in Sante Fe, New MexicoHunting as a deep and embodied exploration of just about everything.Listening to other than human perspectives as a landscape architectDesigning for soil, water, animal, pollination; landscapes in service of wild natureLearning to hunt at 40Weaving values into businessHow to catch dreamsWhy would you want to hunt alone?Being an “other-centred” personFollowing desire and intuitionThe extreme paradox of loving and killingDefying categories and boxesAre there better and worse ways to hunt?Could and should everyone hunt?Communal local food relationshipsWalking in fear as a woman, as preyDreams as soul expressionWriting sex scenes that feature yourselfThe choiceless choice of creativity🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSChristie’s home on the webChristie on InstagramGet your mitts on Moonlight Elk (note: you can buy it anywhere, or ask your library for copies)Moonlight Elk audiobookSelected essays by Christie Green🧡 Join the Reskillience community on Patreon 🧡Outro birdsong credit: Afro408 - License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0

You’ve heard of swales… but what about swales in the brain to slow and deepen our human experience? Join me and Cecilia Macaulay for one of those special convos that gets to the heart of life’s gnarliest struggles; our biggest messes, our greatest failures, our everyday chaos… and uses permaculture design to harness their power.This episode will particularly chime with “forgetful, distractible” types, clutter accumulators, chaos agents, overwhelm junkies, and anyone with a hunch that a few elegant household systems could MASSIVELY increase their effectiveness in the world.WE COVERInsane wisdom from Bill MollisonMeeting Masanobu FukuokaThe FIVE RULES OF HARMONIOUS PERMIE SHAREHOUSESJapanese rules of Non-Complaint and Taking Full ResponsibilityGrowing an enduring permaculture spiritHow to become a world expert in a tiny little thingCreating a failure protocolUpward spiralsPermaculture for heartbreakBeing an effective human later in lifeMore than medication for neurodiversityThe connection between untidy houses and traumaMaking your kitchen sink a shrine to beauty and goodnessSetting a household culture using mirror neuronsThe eco-footprint of universitySTOP AWFULISING!Permaculture zones in the homeWhy to share what’s spareSTOP COLONISING CREATIVE VOID!Expanding the edges of our gifts and talentsBeautiful messcapesKnollingWhat “can’t be bothered” really codes forHow to use imagination to improve your memory🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Cecilia’s home on the webCecilia’s nine month home harmonising projectThe Edible Balcony Garden ~ Indira NaidooSand Talk ~ Tyson YunkaportaScreen Zen AppWWOOF, HelpX & WorkawayPolyvagal theory🧡Join the Reskillience community on Patreon 🧡Thanks to kangaroovindaloo for the singing bowls: License: Attribution 4.0

Big personal shares at the top of the ep (preview: podcasting terrifies me) before an utterly delightful conversation with Scots folk singer Josie Vallely aka. Quinie.Quinie's album Forefowk, Mind Me was named The Guardian's best folk release of 2025, but don't worry if you're not into bagpipes because we mostly chat about:Not making your art your careerTips for slow art/seasonal living in a rushing worldThe mind bending differences between relating with Country in Australia versus ScotlandMinority languages and evocation of placeThe right to roamConfused white settler syndromeWhen you’re a cultural mongrelImpure ancestryPlace as a surrogate elderTradition in motionWhere do songs live?Journeying on horsebackHorses as bodyguardsWhy we all just want to be got🧙‍♀️LINKY POOSQuinie’s home on the webQuinie on Instagram[album] Forefowk, Mind Me ~ QuinieQuinie’s seasonal almanac ~ Things that happen every year in a cycle[film] Forefowk, Mind Me Guardian review of Quinie’s albumCover art photo credit: Anthony Rintoul🧡🧡🧡 Join the Reskillience community on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

A garden drama unfolds during a heatwave, and I share my summer solstice/New Year wishes for you.Thanks for tuning into another year of Reskillience! We'll be back later in January full of fresh questions and custard. Shout out to my love Jordan Osmond for helping produce this episode.Sound credit: BlackbirdFiltered.wav by acclivity 🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

Cor blimey, we're getting equiney! Cast aside your Saddle Club trauma and learn how horses can help us be better humans and stewards of nature in this rich convo with Lisa Podosin.Lisa is a horse listener, advocate and author who swapped Hollywood for a tiny home on shared land with a herd of seven horses. We get real deep on topics of:🐴 not putting off till retirement what you wanna do today🐴 choosing freedom over security at any age🐴 land sharing gifts and tips (single women supporting women!)🐴 how horses as prey animals reveal our inner misalignment🐴 moving beyond control-based strategies (bridles, saddles, whips) and towards trust🐴 how to be agents of liberation for both the more-than-human world and our own wild souls🐴 learning interspecies communication🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Lisa’s home on the webPre-order Lisa’s book🧡🧡🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon (and join our December meetup) 🧡🧡🧡Thanks for the birdsong straget! Blackbird.wav by straget | License: Attribution 4.0

You want it, you got it: an open discussion about the cracks in our civilisation, and how to catch each other when it all falls apart.Dave Pollard has been writing about culture, complexity, deep ecology and collapse for longer than some of us have been alive. While he continues to cheer on radical ‘deep green’ activists, he no longer believes that that we can change or reform The System. This convo is about what to do instead.[first aired in 2023]🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Dave's writingsDave’s recommended reading list ~ The Books That Have Influenced Me MostDave’s article ~ How Do We Teach the Critical Skills Needed to Face Collapse?Molly Housch Gordon's piece ~ How to Survive the End of The World[watch] The New Peasants by Happen Films

Could you live without money? No support payments, no savings account, no secret benefactors? Jo Nemeth has been doing so for the past decade, and reckons she is less stressed and more secure in her moneyless life (in which she shares a home with eight other humans and plays the role of house keeper/manager/grower/frugavore). This is a truly radical tale of a woman who went the whole hog and gave up the bacon 💰 to invest in relationships and reciprocity. We cover:What is poverty/wealth?Why live without money?Jo has no hope!Less money = more freedomWhy to be a home economistIssues in a nine person householdThe deliciousness of aligning your actions with your valuesMoneyless gift giving, cravings, medical and moreWaste food seagull modeReceiving is harrrrdKids + collapseOn taking care of thingsCollapse prioritiesGrowing locally adapted food🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Jo’s home on the webJo on Instagram ~ @jolowimpactJo in the GuardianMark Boyle ~ The Moneyless Man + The Way HomeEaarth ~ Bill McKibbenLuke Kemp ~ Goliath’s CurseArtist As FamilyThe Art of Frugal Hedonism ~ Annie Raser-Rowland & Adam GrubbThe really really free marketJust CollapseSound credits: first raven, flock of ravens.🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

I tell a story about becoming a gardening influencer before sharing an animated and long-awaited conversation with David Trood aka. The Weedy Gardener!  Weedy, Jord and I discuss:🌱 Creative land access🌱 Body as compost🌱 Hearing nature's call🌱 Being an eye cell for humanity🌱 Showing your failures🌱 Why to love the small stuff🌱 The all important nutrient cycle🌱 Decomposing cane toad🌱 Pest management, the Viking way🌱 Rhizophagy🌱 Nitty gritty on why organic produce is healthier🌱 From grandpa bod to garden god🌱 Weedy Garden Makeovers🌱 Sacred social media spaces🌱 Why garden?🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️The Weedy Garden on YouTubeThe Weedy Garden online🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

I tell a story about the ironic demise of my keepcup, and the difference between light green and deep green choices, before a pot-of-tea-convo with Laura Jean. Laura is a renegade business coach, dietician and permaculturalist who will help you see VALUES in a whole new light, and how to use them to illuminate the life/business/world you really want. Prepare to cry tears of recognition and possibility.🐝 Building trust in yourself for changes that take courage🐝 Eating disorder shares and healing strategies🐝 The very worst thing that can possibly happen🐝 Body check for making decisions🐝 Do we change, or choose?🐝 Laura’s values🐝 Why we recreate the same old shit even when living “alternatively”🐝 Figuring out your Bare Ass Minimum🐝 The felt sense of success🐝 Money as a tool to enact your values🐝 Three steps towards a regenerative business🐝 Commerce vs. capitalism🐝 Activities for clarifying your values🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Laura on InstagramLaura’s podcast Dietician ValuesGundaroo GrowersCanberra Environment Center🙏 Yellow-tailed black cockatoo sound credit 🙏 🧡🧡🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

Three unbelievable stories about owls, and how to be a myceliating, possibilitarian practivist with the phenomenal Morag Gamble.Morag has cornflower blue eyes and a glorious crop of hair that curls at the ends like pea shoots. She consorts with broad beans and leafy greens in bare feet, and has sent no dig gardening viral on YouTube.This convo was recorded at Crystal Waters Eco Village where Morag lives with her family and 200+ other humans on 640 acres shared with a teeming assortment of subtropical wildlife.📝 SHOW NOTESBuilding your livelihood around the seasons of your lifeHow to find your flow and live with intentionMore than human helpers and teachers“I am the garden gardening”Ways to access land when accessing land is insaneMyceliating ideas around the worldWhy aren’t permaculture villages everywhere?PossibilitarianismNourish threads of connection rather than fighting the fightHow the new unfolds through collapse of the oldThe vital role of the artsHow are we to live?What is enough in these times?Why permaculture is everythingGift economy how-toDo you have what it takes to be a permaculture teacher?Integrating permaculture with your professionMorag is a beloved permaculture teacher and designer, founder of The Permaculture Education Institute, pioneer of urban permaculture projects like Northey Street City Farm, and an international changemaker who has led changemaking programs in 22 countries.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSMorag’s home on the webMorag’s podcast ~ Sense-making in a changing worldMorag on YouTubeBecome a permaculture teacher ~ The Permaculture Education InstituteRob HopkinsJeremy LentSchumacher CollegeVandana ShivaArne NessHelena Norberg-HodgeFritjof Capra🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

Can birdsong heal your hearing? Can a rainforest recruit humans to protect it? What is deep ecology, anyway?Of all the approaches to “saving the world”, this one has my heart. Join me in conversation with elder John Seed as we get to the marrow of the environmental crisis, from the illusion of separation between human beings and nature, to the rituals, ceremonies and stories that can heal it.About John SeedJust last year at age 79 John was arrested for strapping himself to logging machinery in the Bulga State Forest, and has been awarded the Order of Australia medal for his services to the environment. John launched the Rainforest Information Center, has initiated global rainforest action networks and campaigns, developed The Council of All Beings with Joanna Macy, co-authored Thinking Like A Mountain with Joanna Macy Pat Fleming and Arne Ness, and spent decades facilitating experiential deep ecology workshops.IN THIS CONVOJohn’s story of being called into service by NatureCollaborating with Joanna MacyThe root of the planetary crisisCommunity therapies to heal civilisational woundsBusiness As Usual, The Great Unravelling, The Great TurningThe Work That ReconnectsActivism as ceremonyThe antidote to cultural amnesiaWhy John loves podcasts!How not to judge gross human behaviourHonouring our pain for the worldFeelings as ancient intelligenceCan anyone run a grief circle?The council of all beingsThe cosmic walk🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSJohn Seed’s home on the webThe Rainforest Information Center[read online] Thinking Like A Mountain by John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming & Arne NessDeep Ecology The Work That Reconnects🧡Support Reskillience on Patreon🧡Field recording credit: Thrushes, golden whistlers, yellow faced honeyeaters and a spotted marsh frog by Afro408 License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0

Friends! Here’s a D&M (Dharma & Meditation) conversation I recorded with mindfulness meditation teacher and founder of Australian Parents for Climate Action Suzie Brown while visiting Narara Eco Village last week. If you’ve ever felt anxious, unsure how to process difficult/obstinate emotions, or sad for no reason, this episode will provide ample tools for stilling the mind and relating to yourself – and the world – with kindness. On that note, I start the ep with an emo travel diary entry, and how a snaggy creek helped me see my internal struggles in a whole new light.IN THIS CONVO🕊️ When you feel sad for no reason despite the trappings of success🕊️ Can we *really* choose happiness?🕊️ The pleasant/unpleasant emotional pinball machine🕊️ The magic of noticing🕊️ Name it to tame it🕊️ Kindfulness🕊️ How to establish a non-militant meditation habit🕊️ Rejigging negativity bias🕊️ The R.A.I.N practice for difficult emotions🕊️ Dharma + ecodharma explained🕊️ How interbeing can solve the polycrisis🕊️ Long Shower Syndrome🕊️ Resource guilt🕊️ Parents for Climate!🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSInsight Meditation AustraliaSydney Insight MeditatorsSuzie’s teaching profileBanyan TogetherWeekly online (by donation) Sky Sangha Meditation gatheringAustralian Parents for Climate Action!Give Suzie a hoy at [email protected]🧡Support Reskillience on Patreon🧡

It's the RESKILLIENCE ROADTRIP where I'm intercepting all sorts of good sorts along Australia's east coast!First up is Ceilidh Meo who teaches no less than 80 apocalypse skills (!!!) while also growing olives, shoring up the food system and being casually shamanic.This is a ROMP of a convo that is INSPIRING ME TO USE CAPS. Such fun. Such depth. I also share about the caravan park we've just checked into.🔥 WITHIN GEEK OUT ON MICRO NICHE OLIVE PRESSINGAn antidote to the olive oil crisisCooperation is not the same as collaboration!POMMUSThe gross truth about imported olive oilTHE FIVE C FRAMEWORKWhen knowledge ain't powerSystems design thinking for avoiding monumental fuck upsWHY 40s ARE THE BEST DECADEYay for confirmation bias!Loyal soliders of the psycheBirth story REWRITELearning typesManifestation vs. MAGICWhere does the need to know everything come from?Do more of what you’re already good at, or challenge your comfort zone?Not here to consume, but to create!🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSConnect with Ceilidh ~ CIVILITASCeilidh's olive oil ~ Apulia GroveThe Long Road Olive CoopArt exhibition + workshops ~ Ancient Roots in the New WorldMel Robbins ~ The Let Them TheorySchool of Shamanic Womancraft Happen Films ~ The New Peasants screening tour🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

It's a Jordan + Catie double bill for the Season Four finale 🎊  Join us for a fireside D&M as two humans just tryna digest the microplastic casserole of modernity… and make something better. You’ll hear about my secret storytelling anxiety, Jord’s new award nominated film, my other boyfriends, law breaking, roadkill harvesting, why we took the Good Death-i-vore Pledge, sacred hunting, how to really give a shit about your ecosystem AAAAAND turning baboozlement into useful skills. ⚠️ A warning for sensitive ears, we swear a lot in this episode.LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Jord + Happen Films' newest doco ~ The New PeasantsThe New Peasants Australian screening tour (come meet us!)Film ~ In My Blood It RunsFilm ~ HoneylandBest show ever ~ Bruce Parry’s TRIBECal Newport Richard Telford’s DIY mini biochar kilnDylan Graves’ biochar podcast ~ Char Chit ChatThe Do with Su zine ~ Su Dennett + Catie Payne (inc. the Good Death-i-vore Pledge)David HolmgrenBill Mollison🧡🧡🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

I share a recipe for de-zombifying your life before chatting with Imogen Ive, Director at Mittagundi – a remote 520 acre farm and off grid education centre built by and for young folks in the high country. This convo is a reminder that sometimes hard is good, together is better and a pack horse, tent and sense of adventure beats air conditioned comfort any day.In the conversational cauldron:🍯 Setting up a working farm and outdoor ed centre in the middle of nowhere🍯 Living without modern comforts, electric tools, phones or watches🍯 Wilderness adventures for young folks from all walks of life🍯 An oh-snap safety vs. risk reframe🍯 The dilution of outdoor ed in schools🍯 How to facilitate confidence and capacity in young people🍯 Why we don’t try new things, and how to hack our fear of failure🍯 Bringing off grid flavours to the urban palateLINKY POOS Mittagundi Outdoor Education CentreMittagundi on Instagram🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡✏️ Leave Reskillience a written review like a big old legend ✏️

Shrug off the cloak of secrecy and awkwardness around death with palliative care nurse Pippa White. I’ve been wanting to bring a death convo to the airwaves for ages, because there’s a huge imbalance between light/dark, above/below, waxing/waning, growth/decay, possessing/relinquishing energies in our culture (and I'm the first person to perpetuate it). Shout out to everyone who sent frank and thoughtful questions for Pippa to answer – you’ll hear them towards the end of the ep.Pippa White is a palliative care nurse and death care advocate and educator in the Anthroposophical tradition. We discuss:🖤 What is Anthroposophic philosophy?🖤 Death care rituals, balms and vigils🖤 Windows into the reality of spirit from people in transition🖤 Why to “do the work” at the eleventh hour🖤 Soothing suffering without drugs🖤 How painful is death?🖤 Different ways to relate to pain🖤 Small, slow solutions to dying (tiny local end of life retreats)🖤 Pet euthanasia, yay or nay?🖤 How to deal with loved ones in denial?🖤 Can you make a living in end of life care?🖤 How do you document/cherish a life?🖤 What folks find difficult when dying?🖤 Grieving to breathe and to love🖤 Birth and death thresholdsLINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Pippa WhiteAnthroposophical Society AustraliaWhat is Advance Care Planning?Wedgetail RetreatMartín PrechtelStephen Jenkinson[poem] Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas🧡🧡🧡 Show Reskillience some love on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

Do not listen to this unless you want to reawaken your dormant farming desires and throw yourself into a life on the land. I tell a story about being a grub, before having an animated chat with rural woman of the year Katie Finlay about staunching the loss of small farms in Australia and supporting emerging growers to step up – even and especially if they don’t own land. (What even is land ownership?) 🍎 AND ALSOKatie and Hugh Finlay are black belt orchardists whose online program Grow Great Fruit is just brilliant for anyone who wants to obtain a yield from fruit trees (with an organic and holistic tilt, of course). It gives me great joy to connect you with their work.This is their Dream Orchard Masterclass starting REAL SOON on June 12.🧙‍♀️LINKY POOSGrow Great FruitHarcourt Organic Farming CoopAustralian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) Tess Sellar ~ Sellar Dairy 🧡Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

It’s colder than a penguin’s big toe here in Djaara Country, so we’re cosying up by the fire for a yarn with Gareth Devenish. I call Gareth the Snoop Dogg of permaculture, he calls himself a sovereign man walking in Country, subject to natural lore, seeking a connection with the cosmos. Call off your obligations for the next hour because Gareth’s crackling mix of irreverence and truth telling is something really special.🔥 How to yarn🔥 Why land ownership is a furphy🔥 Native vs. exotic trees and colonial malaise🔥 What is our responsibility to Country?🔥 Nomadic agriculture🔥 Quantum physics, free will and a post-truth era🔥 Useful jobs in the time of AI🔥 Why peacemaking with first nations people should be our #1 priority🔥 Pay the rent!🔥 Finding god in the compost heap🔥 Does consciousness even exist?🔥 Tips for planting and growing healthy trees🔥 The best way to learn new skills🔥 The scars which make us beautiful🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSGareth’s tree nursery ~ The Farm Tree Nursery (ships around Aus!)Gareth’s email ~ [email protected]🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon (plz don’t use the app it takes a fee, go desktop) 🧡

I tell a story about making bugger all money but feeling filthy rich, before being joined by the incredible Linda Cockburn (pronounced “Co’burn” cos it’s Scottish) who explains why Capitalism is a death cult, and ways to crowd it out with reciprocity. Ample brain fodder and fiery inspiration here, folks! We cover:🪶 Being unmade by successive tragedies.🪶 Quitting employment to work in the home economy.🪶 Going six months without spending a dollar.🪶 How to grow your own toilet paper!🪶 Will politicians ever “solve” climate change?🪶 Why you can’t question capitalism🪶 How the growth imperative works🪶 Changing the narrative through language🪶 The debt treadmill for “developing” nations🪶 The closest thing we’ve had to utopia in human history!🪶 Old and new indigeneity through storytelling🪶 Hitting bodily limits🪶 How to get owwwfff the hamster wheel🪶 Riches without an income🪶 The Eudaimonia Index & Reciprocity🪶 Black Soldier Fly Revolution!🪶 How to share even when you’re a scoundrel only child like me🪶 Why it feels great to give your best stuff away🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSLinda’s booksThe Quiet Revolution (basically why & how to decouple from the death cult of capitalism & start giving back to all life)Eat My Shadow (hopeful and instructive collapse fiction!)Living the Good LifeLinda’s articles in Organic Gardener magazineA kickass essay by Linda ~ My Planet Saving SuperpowersLinda on InstagramThe Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom HartmannSeed Freaks ~ open pollinated seeds TasmaniaDavid Holmgren’s RetroSuburbia: The Downshifter’s Guide to a Resilient FutureSound credit: Bruny Island Ambience by guyburns License: Attribution 4.0🧡🧡🧡 support Reskillience on Patreon (plz don’t use the app it takes a fee, go desktop) 🧡🧡🧡

Hello! I have been away in the bush for three days and three nights with just a tarp, sleeping bag and water to my name. No tent, no pillow, no torch, NO BREAKFAST. Off the back of this deeply moving ritual (which I'll tell you about soon), I wanted to release this equally as moving and foresty interview with Tessa Campisi.Tessa is a writer, poet, audio visual artist, activist and radio host who speaks with the timbre of an old growth tree and tells stories that will rustle your leaves. In this chat:🌳 What it's like to live through a catastrophic flood🌳 How anarchic networks can rise to meet a crisis, fast🌳 What happens when forest conservationists are at loggerheads with traditional owners?🌳 Strawman vs. steelman arguments🌳 A new approach to deep listening to those you disagree with 🌳 What traditional activism gets wrong and how to be a more effective change agent 🌳 How and why to love the scraps of our beautiful, broken world🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS Tessa's home on the webTessa's (online) exhibition ~ Framings of Wombat ForestArticle of interest ~ Reflections on forest gardening by Cam Walker https://www.melbournefoe.org.au/galk_galk_dhelkunyaPaper of interest ~ History of Environmentalist-Indigenous alliances and conflictsEssay of interest ~ The Trouble with Wilderness by William Cronon*** Become a Reskillience supporter on Patreon!***

Me ranting about Couple Power and the Urban Nanna being brilliant. May all the single, neurospicy permies find ample inspiration in today’s interview with Anna Matilda! Teacher of traditional skills, crafts and non-judgey sustainability. Anna is a breath of fresh air in the stale bedchamber of the status quo, sharing openly about how she does permaculture solo, in the city, in a rental property, with limited energy and Captain Anxiety occasionally taking the wheel.Mistakes as teachersOut ya come, Captain AnxietyFeeling out of step with the whole worldThe stress and physical fallout of maskingPersonal energy that can be budgetedThe Fuck It WaveFYI: You don’t need a compost toilet or a goatGuide Beside learning (Nanna education)Is permaculture uniquely attractive to people on the spectrum?For the single women renters!Spoon TheoryBuilding community with a capital CGiving and receivingBanking energy and goodwill in people, in communityCommunity as forestSkills as securityMudhuts TheoryRevelling in knowing nothingCan we change?Swedish wisdom ~ lagom & mysigJapanese wisdom ~ kintsugi & shishiko embroidery🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSAnna’s new book is out now! Everyday Permaculture ~ Anna MatildaThe Urban Nanna’s on the interwebsThe Urban Nanna on Instagram⭐ Reskillience on Patreon ⭐

Today we're exploding the sanctity of heirloom seeds and exploring the world of adaptive gardening! Gregg Mueller is here to tell us how (and why) to breed wacky new varieties of veggies like red snow peas, rainbow carrots and miniature melons in the name of climate-proof food. We also talk about seed monopolies and sovereignty, open source seeds, permaculture pitfalls aaaaaand sad and depressed garlic with no sex drive.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSGregg’s seed shop ~ Useful SeedsGregg on InstagramGregg on FacebookThe Open Source Seed InitiativeThe Central Victorian Adaptive Crop Breeding Group on FacebookGoing to Seed ~ International Community of Adaptive Crop Breeding📕 READCarol Deppe ~ Breed Your Own Vegetable VarietiesJoseph Lofthouse ~ Landrace Gardening[free eBook] Raoul A Robinson ~ Return to ResistanceNoel Kingsbury ~ HybridCONTACTSend Gregg an email ~ [email protected]🧡🧡🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

It’s Permaculture Week, friends and phascogales! And what better way to celebrate than  a big old heart to heart with permie elder Linda Woodrow. Linda is the author of 470, The Permaculture Home Garden, and the Witches Kitchen blog which is now in its 17th year. She is humble and extraordinary, and I think you’ll dig what she has to say about finding our niches, neighbours, purpose and freedom in the throes of collapse.🧙‍♀️LINKY POOSLinda Woodrow’s home on the webLinda Woodrow’s blog The Witches Kitchen470 ~ Linda WoodrowThe Permaculture Home Garden ~ Linda WoodrowPermaculture: A Designer’s Manual ~ Bill MollisonRetroSuburbia ~ David HolmgrenPermaculture One ~ Bill Mollison & David HolmgrenDonut Economics ~ Kate Raworth***Show Reskillience some love on Patreon***

A story about a free bottle of French perfume and whether sensitivity makes us more or less resilient. With esteemed and ever-so-lucid naturopath, herbalist & author Anthia Koullouros of Apothēca Organic Teas & Apothecary.* What’s making us all so sick?* How to untangle complex & confounding health crises* Polyvagal theory & nervous system truths* Practitioner perspectives: holding space for uncertainty* What a regulated nervous system isn’t* Resisting business growth & hustle cultureLINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Anthia’s home on the webAnthia’s Autumn reset [Starts March 17!]Anthia on InstagramAnthia on SubstackWhat is polyvagal theory?🧡🧡🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

One of today’s guests spent seven years spinning a dress from stinging nettles and the other spent five years documenting the process. The result was the incredibly moving documentary The Nettle Dress — which I have now seen twice — co-created by Dylan Howitt and Allan Brown. It’s a love letter to old skills, hand crafts and everything that cannot be hurried; to fibersheds, foraged threads, gentle stories, and the magic of following your heart.Dylan Howitt is a BAFTA nominated filmmaker whose roll call includes BBC, Netflix and Discovery. Allan Brown is a textile artist and subject of the film whose steady commitment to disrupting consumer culture is contagious.It’s hard to sing The Nettle Dress’s praises highly enough without shattering a window, but I truly hope you’re moved to watch it after this conversation, perhaps with a posse of pals and a cauldron of nettle soup.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS ***Watch The Nettle Dress***The Nettle Dress’s home on the webThe Nettle Dress on InstagramShort film & group ~ Nettles for TextilesFlaxland UK**Support Reskillience on Patreon***

Today’s subject matter is so slippery and mysterious that even my guest, Dr Maya Ward, finds it hard to describe, though she’s swimming in it. It concerns the aliveness of rivers and the rivers inside us; the nature of reality and realms invisible yet objectively real. It’s about catching the whispers and shouts of the world with pen and paper. It’s shamanic, ecstatic and emphatically esoteric. It’s bloody wild – and I suggest bringing your passport because the places this convo will take you are far out. But also, deep within. If you love all things complex, paradoxical and perspective-shifting, I dedicate this episode to you 🙌After we recorded, Maya sent this thoughtful epilogue:We are innately of the world, yet we are also this witness consciousness, experiencing separation. Forgetting, then remembering. “Inside human beings is where God learns”, said Rilke. Does separation itself create the possibility of learning? In my exhibition, on the wall, I have a quote from Robert Bringhurst: “Language is not for talking about the world – that's for dilettantes. Language is for talking with the world.” I wish I'd said that.***Support Reskillience on Patreon!***🧵ThreadsA new old way to introduce ourselvesOriginal meanings of yin and yangThe right ratio between humans and more-than-humanThe role of the artist and poetEcstatic and mystical experiences in natureBuilding beauty and vernacular architectureWhere a lack of trust in the system takes youInitiated vs. uninitiated ways of beingSmall, potent workThird wheeling the love affair between sun and earthAltered state workThe imaginal realmSufi mysticismThe danger of unwitnessed initiationAutomatic/shamanic writingReclaiming ‘esoteric’Acknowledgement of Country spellcasting🧙‍♀️LINKY POOSMaya Ward’s home on the webMaya’s events, workshops & exhibitionsMaya’s book: The Comfort of WaterNature Based Leadership TrainingCERESWilliam WordsworthTyson YunkaportaHenri CorbinCarl JungRudolf SteinerPlatoWouter Jacobus HanegraaffGregory BatesonBook: Songspirals ~ Gay’wu Group of WomenAlfred North Whitehead

Real good fun with this one! Join me and Formidable Vegetable’s kind and charismatic frontman Charlie McGee for a swashbuckling convo about pirate bananas, working the edges, growing up in Arnhem Land, dumpster diving to feed your art, staying in your integrity (while saying yes to flying), the deep discomfort of home ownership and remembering your interconnectedness.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSFormidable Vegetable’s home on the webGrow Do It (Charlie & Brenna's hub of ecological goodness) Find secret track Pirate Banana on Formidable Vegetable’s Micro Biome CD, only available in person at gigs!Vandana ShivaBill Mollison & David Holmgren ~ Permaculture One***Become a legendary supporter of the podcast on Patreon***

I tell a story about how Jord and I narrowly avoided getting shot before introducing Tanya Loos – local treasure and legendary naturalist – for a deep and meaningful chat about wild life, and all life. We cover: How to be a nature positive pet owner Are cats evil? How to save a bunch of lives Gardens as habitat The housing crisis facing possums (and other critters) How to recklessly pursue your passion and make it your profession GETTING THE ANIMALS ON THE ARK How to avoid roadkill (even frogs) Bee feelings + monogamous lizards The intersection between conservation, permaculture & animal welfare Patreon Qs 24/7 nature connection Beetle PaceLINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Tanya Loos’ home on the webTanya on InstagramLiving with Wildlife ~ Tanya LoosDaylesford Nature Diary ~ Tanya LoosTanya on ABC Radio ~ Backyard Critters (every second Friday 9.50am)Paradise Bookshop DaylesfordWild Neighbours ~ Ian TembyCampaspe Valley LandcareGerald DurrellConnecting CountryZoos Victoria Safe Cat, Safe WildlifeAlison PouliotiNaturalist***Support Reskillience on Patreon***Frog sounds care of markushablizel -- https://freesound.org/s/32394/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 THANKS M8

It's the season three finale with me and my man Jordan Osmond!We’re cranking the content couple cringe in this convo which covers our individual intentions for 2025, and chatting them through like a pair of old codgers.Jordan is one half of Happen Films, sharing stories for a more beautiful world, and precisely one year ago we recorded a Reskillience interview which was later to become our first date.Back with new eps in three weeks or less 💥Big love to all the legends supporting the show on Patreon <3

The episode that nearly didn’t happen for reasons almost too embarrassing to share… but what else is the intro for? 🤷‍♀️Today we’re hanging out with CAROLINE PARKER ~ The Cottage Herbalist ~ bigtime girl crush and quite possibly the love child of a 1950s rock star and wiccan goddess.Caroline is an author, speaker, grower, educator, forager, herbalist and award-winning teasmith who is just TOO COOL.We bask in her garden eating elderflower cookies talking about treat-os, herbal speed dating, what to cook when you CBF cooking, the cuppa that Caroline would serve to power hungry pollies and why she’s not a prepper.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSCaroline’s witchy little home on the webCaroline aka. The Cottage Herbalist on InstagramCaroline’s book baby ~ The Medicinal GardenCaroline’s upcoming workshops[FILM] The Nettle Dress***Support Reskillience on Patreon!*** Make a garden tea Make herby sauce Make pesto! Make herbal infused oils Make a garden balm Get into the garden! Make time for thyme Yarrow, yarrow, yarrow Make people in power a cup of love Garden with others

After countless requests I present to you: Kat Lavers 🐈‍⬛Wicking buckets, magic bug buttons, interspecies adventures, listener questions and more!Kat and I recorded this convo at her kitchen table, surrounded by ferments and preserves and garlands of dried chilli.At just 1/14th of an acre, Kat's urban homestead The Plummery has been known to pump out 428kg of fresh produce in any given year, meeting almost all the fruit/veggie requirements for two people. I M P R E S S I V E  S T U F F.Kat is a beloved permaculture educator, passionate gardener, and sustainable food system furtherer whose compassion for all living things could fill five football stadiums, whilst also being the poster child for small wonders.You may have seen Kat featured on Gardening Australia, Happen Films, myriad permie/green media channels, and in this one-and-a-bit hour yarn we plumb the depths of her mind, heart and utterly delightful psyche through her list of 10 things. LINKY POOSKat’s home on the webKat on Instagram (which she doesn’t really use)Wildlife Homestead YouTube Channel[BOOK] Once ~ Annie Raser-RowlandReskillience with Annie Raser-RowlandThe Group Work Center ~ Groups + Facilitation training***join the Reskillience community on Patreon***

Are bees a mammal in many bodies?Why do conventional beehives leave bees cold, stressed and defensive?How can beekeepers deal with varroa mite without any chemicals?Do European honeybees even belong in Australia?What is Australia’s best honey and where to get it?All this and more in today’s GLORIOUS conversation with leading natural beekeeper Adrian Iodice. Such a special one folks 🐝🐝🐝LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️The Beekeeping Naturally websiteAdrian on InstaAdrian’s courses & workshopsAdrian’s Kenyan Top Bar hivesAdrian’s YouTube channel – so many how-tosEmbody BeeSave the Bees AustraliaBiodynamics – Tobias MagerTim Malfroy ~ Malfroy’s GoldNatural Beekeeping Australia***Support Reskillience on Patreon!***

If you prefer nature to people, birdsong to screeching tyres and secretly want to crash the economy via mass workplace dropout due to a bird language contagion, you will go absolutely crackers for this convo.Andrew Turbill aka. THE BIRD GUY is here to share his epic and somewhat perilous birding quests for 2025, from stalking Logrunners to sidestepping fascists and recording a full blown predator attack in the sky.F****** fabulous listening for anyone under the spell of birds. Andrew’s 2025 to-do list find out where our local superb lyrebirds (well, at least 1 lyrebird anyway) nest and get an audio recording of the young bird begging or alarm calls get a decent photo of a logrunner build an elevated sit spot platform in the forest spend more time in the forest socialising with songbirds and less time doom-scrolling about the callous and cruel manifestations of psychopaths, narcissists and fascists record audio of a full-sequence aerial predator attack keep my bird baths full 365 days of the year devise a way to dissuade catbirds and fairy-wrens from mercilessly pummeling my windows at dawn throughout spring and summer find someone desperate enough to make some walking-around money to enter 30 years of my naturalist seasonal field observations into a data base or excel spreadsheet so i make some effing sense of them take on a bird language apprentice visit my mum more oftenLINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Robin Wall KimmererAndrew Turbill’s online nest Andrew on ABC Radio NationalYou were once a Bird Language Samurai, and can be again ~ Andrew TurbillMegalania goanna!!!Jon YoungVoices of birds page on Andrew’s websiteUpcoming Bird Language events + retreats****support Reskillience on Patreon****

If you're sick of ham sandwiches and Love Actually, why not bring spear throwing and possum skinning to Chrissy lunch? Eva and Will of Wild Beings have some cracking ideas for rewilding family gatherings -- and every other facet of modern existence, for that matter.These two intrepid humans lead a radically connected life on/in/with the land, and inspire others to do the same. Tracking, hunting, foraging, tanning, weaving, bush medicine and bird language... this conversation harks back to the OG roots of Reskillience; re-membering that old, wise body of ecological knowledge and running with it... into the shrubbery.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSWild Beings’ home on the webWild Beings on InstagramSeasonal Earth Skills Gathering[book] Wild Food Plants of Australia ~ Tim Lowe[book] Wondrous World of Weeds – Pat Collins***Show Reskillience some love on Patreon***

Things to know about this episode:🪶 It was recorded on Lucy's bedroom floor, smushy carpet under-butt and steaming cups of dandy tea in hand.🪶 It’s a day spa for your weary weary soul, the one who yearns for alignment between what you love and what you earn.🪶 It includes a grounding practice & ways to attune to your evolutionary purpose.🪶 It’s kinda like a personal session with a business strategist, social entrepreneur, poet, writer and regenerator… in podcast form.🪶 It’s a brave and nuanced take on capitalism, less about poisoning it with roundup, more about seeing it as part of the garden we humans have grown and can therefore gently, intentionally supplant.❤️ Listen right to the end for a poetry reading.🧙‍♀️LINKY POOS🏡 Lucy’s home on the web🏝️ Lucy’s Instagram📕 Lucy’s book ~ Divine Postal Service​🌕 Lucy’s full moon Substack***Support Reskillience on Patreon (but don’t use the Patreon app cos Apple will charge yo ass a fee. GO DESKTOP)***

FOR ONCE IT'S NOT A PERMIE 😱Please enjoy this fun-as-fuck conversation with Blake Boles, who, in an unexpected deviation from regular Reskillience programming, is not a permaculture educator and is in fact a renegade unschooler, vagabonding wordsmith, teen travel leader, bikepacking blogger, tango maestro and passionate spokesperson for the Dirtbag Rich life.We romp through topics such as quitting school, defying relocalisation, AI playdates, post-app dating and failure resumes. 🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS The Dirtbag Rich podcast!Blake’s home on the webDateblakeBlake on SubstackA bit more about Dirtbag RichnessCouchsurfing.comWarmshowers.orgSemi-rad.comTim Mathis ~ The Dirtbag’s Guide To Life

This episode was recorded while sitting on Artist As Family's living room floor, glowing embers in the belly of the fire, cups of hawthorn and artichoke tea on the coffee table, and Meg’s famous ferments watching over us from the shelves. You’ll hear us accidentally knocking the microphones, some quality heavy breathing and Zero the dog dreaming and yipping away on the couch. And it's our first audio quartet! Meg, Patrick and twelve-year-old Woody offer their list of ten permaculture neopeasant provocations as a whole family; a huge highlight was hearing Woody share wisdoms from his unconventional upbringing complete with knives and chainsaws and flames and the freedom to learn lessons the hard way.  LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️[EVENT] Artist as Family’s all day house + garden tour ~ Sunday November 17 in Central VicArtist as Family’s nook on the webArtist as Family on Substack[FILM] A Day in the Life of Woody ~ Happen FilmsPaul Kingsnorth on Substack

You already know today's guest. You’ve admired her art, chortled at her pithy permaculture puns and perhaps even listened to her rhyme along with Formidable Vegetable, those eco-funk, full of beans, electro-radish rockers. It's the perennially brilliant Brenna Quinlan! Illustrator and educator who brandishes her watercolour brushes at the world’s gnarliest problems, and paints beautiful alternatives.In this convo:🪺 All about Brenna & Charlie’s three year build.🪺 The stories in the walls of their strawbale home.🪺 Intentional community living.🪺 Teasing out the finer strands of what brings you joy in groups, work, life.🪺 What’s next for Brenna?🪺 Brenna's 10 things! Not gonna tell you what they are.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSBrenna’s home on the webBrenna on InstagramGrow Do It ~ Permaculture + Sustainability EducationFormidable Vegetable ~ Kimchi[COMING SOON] Costa’s Garden ~ Costa Georgiadis & Brenna QuinlanGoodies Farm ~ Straw farmerBrenna on FuturesteadungKirsten Dirksen/Sandor Katz

🪶 MONDAYS FROM NOVEMBER 4 We’ve got a jazzy new format and just a couple of months till 2025, so let’s set some new years resolutions...Reskillience style!Over the next ten weeks, ten guests will share lists of ten things that are close to their hearts......things to try, or consider, or start...…that will spark all kinds of inspiration.Come and hang out with permie legends, renegade unschoolers and regenerative leaders as they talk us through 100 magical prompts for reskillient living.What'll you take into 2025?The groovy jingle is thanks to UNIVERSFIELD with their track Positive Energy Groove (30s) License: Attribution 4.0 

Don’t you love it when science geeks get spiritual? I do, because when highly rational folks admit that the world is far more mysterious than it is predictable, it’s intensely validating for us intuitive hippies who’ve believed in magic all along.This is one of those beautiful and surprising conversations with one of my farming idols Charlie Showers from Black Barn Farm that’ll have you rethinking everything. And/or thinking you want to get into apple growing. DO IT.Charlie is a geological engineer, agricultural researcher, bushfire and natural disaster expert, fruit tree grafting jedi, permaculture ninja, dad, husband, unapologetically ritualistic bloke and bloody legend.We traverse:🍏 Eldership🍏 The meaning of life🍏 Men’s circles + gatherings🍏 Permaculture farming🍏 Orchard rituals🍏 First gen farming🍏 Losing freedom, gaining depth🍏 Schooling regrets🍏 Father/son rites of passage🍏 Self care for men🍏 Recharging as an introvert🍏 Advance sleep phase disorder🍏 Charlie’s #1 most important skill (surprising)🍏 Anti-fragility🧙‍♀️LINKY POOSBlack Barn Farm’s home on the webBlack Barn Farm on InstaBlack Barn Farm fruit treesWendell BerryBook ~ The Complete Book of Self Sufficiency by John SeymourCastlemaine Rites of Passage ProgramOrganisation ~ The Men’s TableMenergy ~ Men’s GatheringNon-Violent CommunicationSociocracyBook ~ AntiFragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas TalebConcept ~ Ask vs. Guess Culture***support Reskillience on Patreon***

*Recorded outdoors under a passionfruit vine with wind in the banana leaves*This is one of those conversations that’ll shake you up, rattle your cage and light a fire under your butt to make change – because today’s guest reckons we need to upskill, now! It might just be the greatest pep talk in Reskillience history, from one of the most passionate permies in the movement. It’s Brett Cooper from Limestone Permaculture.Brett, his wife Nici and fam live on Worimi Country, mid-coast NSW. Not too long ago their one acre block was just grass and hoofprints in a sleepy little rural town. Now there are over 550 fruit and nut trees, 80-140 chooks, ducks and turkeys, veggies galore, herbs, medicines, outdoor classrooms, 4.4 million litres of stored water and one legendary pizza oven. Oh, and some bangin’ community resilience.Over three million viewers have devoured Brett + Nici’s farm tours on YouTube, pointing to more than just a fetish for gardening content but a deep yearning for the health, abundance and connection that overflows at Limestone Permaculture.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍Visit Limestone PermacultureOr peruse their upcoming eventsThe Limestone PDC+HC!Central Vic permie calendar4 Day Residential Permaculture Retreat with David Holmgren, Beck Loew + Su Dennett ~ November 1 - 5The Rocklyn Ashram PDC ~ Feb 2025Good stuff we mentionedBook: Roots Demystified ~ Robert KourikBook: Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture ~ Rosemary Morrow (currently on sale at Permaculture Principles!)Book: Permaculture A Designer’s Manual ~ Bill MollisonBook: Permaculture One ~ Bill Mollison + David HolmgrenEastern NSW***join the Reskillience fam on Patreon***

🌼 A spring equinox special 🌼Meet Amelie Vanderstock – science communicator, artist, musician, native bee pHD and total ray of sunshine.Amelie has a passion for pollinator-friendly cities, and raises awareness through workshops, collaborative art and obscenely catchy songs that celebrate weeds, bees and bin chickens.This ain’t just an interview about invertebrates – though, there’s plenty of insectivorous inspiration to be had – nay, it has a solid backbone of advice and solidarity for all those trying to merge their strange passions and professional skills, who are yearning for greater alignment and intentionality in everything, from study to travel to morning routines.Amelie also has a crowdfunding campaign to support the release of her debut album Let’s Bee Scientists and the resource kit that goes with it, turning ecological knowledge into ear worms for the next generation of earth lovers. It’s extremely close to reaching its target! You can pre-buy the album which will expedite its release and help Amelie do more of her sweet work.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSPre-buy Amelie Ecology’s albumAmelie’s home on the webAmelie on InstagramAmelie on SpotifyChurch Street StudiosBlinky Bill nostalgiaAustralian Student Environment Network***support Reskillience on Patreon***

The first time I saw Anisa Rogers (who was basking on the grass reading a book) I thought: this person looks hekkin relaxed, has a tan consistent with living in reality, and the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen.We got talking and I learned that Anisa is involved in all kinds of system-disrupting mischief in Naarm, Melbourne, as part of the Degrowth Network – and so many social justice, environmental, guerrilla gardening and new economy groups.The reason Anisa can lead a rich life in community is that they’ve whittled their living costs down to such an extent that they’re free to be of service to their passions and values. Kudos!🌟 Other stuff we coverQuick & dirty capitalism explainerQuick & lovely degrowth definitionWhere activism falls shortLeaning into hard sharehouse conversationsLiving on one day’s work per weekMutual aid fundsGetting paid to process your shitFriends sharing money🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSDegrowth festival. November 30th in Coburg (Melbourne). Follow DNA Facebook or email [email protected] if you want to be involvedDegrowth Network AustraliaDegrowth Central VictoriaFour Day Residential Permaculture Retreat with David Holmgren + Beck Lowe at Larnook Community Farm ***Support Reskillience on Patreon***

My guest today is Joel Meadows, a phenomenal human who happens to be a permaculture teacher, rocket oven engineer, energy geek, green tech sceptic, sculptor, illustrator, musician and composting ninja.This is one epic episode that encompasses:🌟Are renewables really all that?🌟Why we’re using more fossil fuels than ever *cry*.🌟Smart phone free life.🌟Being deliberately abnormal.🌟ROCKET OVENS.🌟Why everyone is practical + can learn shit.🌟Three steps to household energy resilience.We recorded this convo at Joel’s kitchen table, in his majestic solar passive strawbale home after gorging ourselves on a garden omelette and roasted wattleseeds.I wrote about the experience in neurotic detail over on Substack and included masses of photos of Joel’s home + garden for your voyeuristic needs. Here it is.🧙‍♀️LINKY POOS[video] Joel’s intro to hot composting[video] A little explanatory video about YIMBY[website] YIMBY (note all the tasty resources including the 'Compost Conversation' articles published each week in the Midland Express)[video] Joe’s Permaqueer talk on appropriate technology[video] Take a virtual tour of Joel’s house[eBook] Joel + Tim Barker’s Rocket Oven how-to book***Join the not-culty-at-all Reskillience community on Patreon***

An interview with the intrepid author of my favourite book in recent years, Robyn Mundy!(Word nerds, snow bunnies, penguin enthusiasts and fans of the freezing cold, this one’s for you.)Robyn is a Tasmanian author and adventurer, Arctic guide, Antarctic research assistant, and lifelong lover of snow and ice.I picked up her book Cold Coast in the library on a whim, because it had a cute Arctic fox on the cover and came recommended by library staff.It tells the true story of Vanny Voldstad, the first female trapper in Svalbard, who defied 1930s gender norms to claim her place in the perilous and male dominated world of polar bear and fox hunting.Robyn’s sensitivity, intelligence, and reverence for wild nature shines on the page — and I suspected she’d be a wealth of Reskillient wisdom. (Correct.)Even if you haven’t heard of Robyn or read her books, there are so many gems in this conversation — strong rewilding themes, advice for aspiring storytellers and the unmistakable call to adventure that might just have you booking a ticket on the next ship to Antarctica.Robyn Mundy ~ Cold CoastRobyn Mundy ~ Wild LightRobyn Mundy ~ The Nature of IceRobyn on InstagramRobbie Arnott ~ FlamesFavel Parret ~ Past the ShallowsMaatsuyker islandThe mighty OspreyArctic fox Sound credit: klankbeeld on Freesound.org***Join the not-culty-at-all Reskillience community on Patreon***