Regenerative Skills

Welcome back to another panel session. This month our topic of focus was the role of livestock in regenerative farms. This is a contentious issue for many people either strongly entrenched in the idea that animals should be removed from our farming systems from a range of reasons due to prevailing animal cruelty, the massive environmental resources and contamination that is pervasive in conventional livestock operations, and even...

For a long time now, our food system has been a primary indicator for so many markers of health in our society, from the way that our food is produced, what kinds of food we eat, how we cook, how it affects our health and even our ethics as consumers. For the next four weeks I’ll be taking a look our food system from a variety of different view-points and analysis in order to shed light on some of the lesser know factors that influ...

A lot of my work these days revolves around communicating with farmers around Europe who are at various stages of a transition towards regenerative management. For many different reasons farmers are looking for solutions outside of the conventional industry of chemical and technological manipulations and are rediscovering the potential of partnering with natural cycles and processes. Though there are a handful of examples of grower...

I’ve had the pleasure over the last few months to interview quite a few people that I admire, who’ve told me about their fascination with beekeeping. Over and over again I’ve heard about the incredible insights into overall ecological health and the amazing reflections of ecosystem function that can be observed through managing bee hives. 

I got a window into the world of natural beekeeping back in May of 2022 when I co-hosted a Cl...

I had the pleasure of speaking to Meredith Leigh, the author of “The Ethical Meat Handbook.” Meredith has worked as a farmer, butcher, chef, teacher, non-profit executive director, consultant, and writer for the past 17 years, all in the pursuit of sustainable food

The industrial meat industry, in my opinion, is the epitome of what is broken in our food system and is a glaring example of the disconnect between humans and healthy na...

At this point I’ve covered a wide array of practices and management styles that fall under the broad umbrella of regenerative agriculture. Some could be considered traditional while others are more modern and innovative and they span continents, climates, biomes and industries. Nonetheless I’ve noticed a pretty big gap that I’ve yet to cover in detail that I hope to begin to fill in today. 

Dairy farming has been under sharp critic...

Since I’ve been working in the regenerative agriculture and ecosystem restoration sector for about a decade now, there are a number of subjects and questions that keep coming up again and again. Everything from How to finance a regenerative transition, What initial steps to take to accelerate ecosystem restoration, and the big one, How can I get access to land. Anyone who has been in this space for any time knows that land access ...

I’ve explored the topic of seed saving and breeding a number of times in previous episodes and it’s become such a passion of mine that it’s the primary focus of my early work here on my own farm as I begin to get the main patterns and infrastructure developed. A new angle of this subject however is the more direct and professional operation of producing seed to sell. This requires even more planning and coordination as each plant h...

There often seems to be an unfortunate disconnect between farmers in the field and the researchers and academics involved with agronomic study. I often hear in the discussions in the climate farmers community about how academic studies don’t reflect the reality in the field, or that the ivory tower of academia is out of touch with the farms and situations they study. As I've made more connections in universities and research progr...

Join Oliver on Regenerative Skills as he interviews Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, exploring the revival of heritage cultivars like Carolina Gold Rice. Discover how deep-rooted, sustainable agricultural practices and community engagement are transforming the modern food system. Learn about the importance of landrace genetics, polyculture, and the potential of crops to adapt to climate change. Glenn shares his journey, the influence ...

As I continue to advance the tree and perennial food nursery here at my farm, I’m always on the lookout for new resources on anything about growing and breeding perennial food sources, the history of their cultivation, and the cultures that were and are connected to these woodland and orchard based staple foods.  For that reason I was super excited to see the new title “Feed us with Trees” from my friends at New Society Publishers,...

Welcome to the last portion of our long form discussion with Dan Kittredge. 

In this last third we navigate the need for Generational Healing and Cultural Shifts in our collective culture. The unavoidable reality that the healthiest food for you as an individual can never be bought. Steps for building resilience and Self-Sufficiency, before then going back to Dan’s own Journey to Farming and interest in Nutrient Density as well as ...

Today we’ll be continuing with the second portion of our long form discussion with Dan Kittredge. In this second third we mostly get into Principles of Biological Systems and how to apply Nature's Patterns in Business. Dan talks about his experience Engaging with Farmers and Large Businesses alike. We dig into his personal Journey, the influence that Eastern Paradigms and Consciousness have had on his world view, the connection of...

One of the discussions that have propelled the awareness of regenerative agriculture in recent years has been that of nutrient density in food, a term coined by Dan Kittredge of the Bionutrient Food Association. The idea that our food varies widely in its quality and levels of nutrients has caused many people to look into the factors that lead to these wide discrepancies. Dan in particular has been leading research, one ingredient ...

In so many previous episodes I’ve spoken with people who’ve explained many nuances and facts about plants and how to incorporate different species of trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbes into your ecosystem. How to manage them in different stages of growth either through active cultivation and soil condition improvement or secondarily through the management of animals or other elements of the human built world, but in this interview ...

Today we’ll continue the miniseries I’m building on regenerative tourism. This time we’ll take a close look at the specific context of the country where I live, here in Spain. Spain has been a top global tourist destination since the 60s and the industry that as grown to meet the demand for travel as shaped so much of the country especially the Mediterranean coast and cities like Barcelona, Valencia, and towns that have grown up e...

Welcome back to another interview from the skill exchange calls that I’ve been running with Climate Farmers for our regenerative farming network in Europe. 

In this session I had the good fortune of introducing Stefan Sobkowiak to our group. Many of you who’ve been listening to this show for a while will remember the last interview I did with Stefan in the last season during the series on agroforestry. Stefan is one of my favorite ...

At this point I’ve taken a lot of courses and trainings around water management and earthworks, but I’m still always curious to stay up to date on new takes and styles of working with water and shaping the landscape to optimize water capture on the terrain. I’ve talked to Ben Falk a couple of times in the past and I’ve always enjoyed his take on the need to build deep relationships with the systems we design and build, but in the ...