Saltgrass

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. The majority of people live in the major cities that hug the coast line, and as much as Australia is famous for the 'red centre', many Australians have never been.

This season Allie, Saltgrass' host, will take listeners on an adventure to a remote desert location in Western Australia with citizen science group Desert Discovery. This first episode is just the beginning, setting t...

Handing out popcorn can get you arrested these days, especially if you do it in a bank.  

In this episode I chat with three activists who did just that over a year ago. Then, earlier this year they went to court to argue that they had to do it to prevent great harm from happening, that is to prevent the bank's connection to future fossil fuel extraction.

Activists often get represented as ratbags or trouble makers, disrupting thing...

This is the final episode of the three about the housing crisis and what my local community is doing about it. In this episode we hear about some of the creative solutions including community groups building housing specific for their needs, Council utilising existing sites to build affordable housing, adjusting council laws to allow more flexibility for tiny homes on wheels, working out how to use existing houses and how to keep p...

In these three episodes we will explore how housing is a key climate issue and we’ll look at how the housing crisis is impacting where I live, in regional Victoria.

In this second episode we are looking at what deliberative development is and how co-housing and community building can be a part of our housing solutions. 

In the next episodes we’ll explore what the local community is already doing about housing and at some innovative...

How is the housing crisis linked to sustainability?

In the next three episodes we will explore how housing is a key climate issue and we'll look at how the housing crisis is impacting where I live, in regional Victoria.

In this episode we will look at how the land lies, what is the problem?

In the two following episodes we'll explore what the local community is already doing about it and also at some other innovative solutions that...

Connecting Country is a not for profit organisation which works closely with landcare groups and others in restoring neglected and damaged ecosystems. Hadley Cole and Bonnie Humphries from Connecting Country join Allie to discuss how landcare groups contribute to various restoration efforts, and how the unprecedented nature of climate change and its impact on existing ecosystems makes the task complex and unpredictable. Various str...

Today we are going to Village Dreaming Farm and Orto cooking school. Mara and Ralf live on about 15 acres just outside of Daylesford – about a 30min drive south of where I am in Castlemaine. They have been there since 2015 and in that time have transformed the empty paddocks of former grazing land into a small farm that follows regenerative and permaculture principles, with a kitchen garden, orchards and wetlands. 

Links:

Village...

Are you good at composting? I certainly haven't been in the past. But with the help of a community composting group called YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) I have become a kitchen scrap saviour, a leaf collecting ninja and I make steaming hot compost. 

In today's episode I talk to Lucy Young, Joel Meadows, Mikaela Beckley and Claudia Lang about what this group is all about and why they are passionate about compost. (Spoiler: reducing gr...

Recent episodes have been looking at the farmers out at the Harcourt Organic Farming Cooperative. We've been out there to explore how farming and agriculture might be done in a way that is earth, biodiversity and humanity friendly.

Each and every one of the farmers talked about how important the support of the local community has been, and how much enthusiasm they have received from people who get what they are trying to do, even i...

It has been almost a decade of effort and love and garlic from Gung Hoe Growers – supplying our local community through the local farmers market, selling to cafes and restaurants and providing boxes of veg to seasonal and annual subscribers.

Many have felt sadness on hearing that Gung Hoe will not be renewing their lease out at the Harcourt Organic Farming Cooperative.

This episode is a big chat with Mel about how and why this has ...

We are heading back out to the Harcourt Farming Cooperative – this time to talk to Tess Sellar who runs a herd of 10 or so dairy cows and supplies organic milk and yoghurt to our local community.

Tess uses regenerative farming practices, re-usable glass containers and does countless other things to make her micro-dairy as low impact as possible.

Trigger Warning:

Please note that this episode contains conversation about suicide. If ...

Following on from the last episode about the Harcourt Farming Cooperative, today we are looking at The Orchard Keepers.  They are part of the  grand experiment of this farming cooperative, having taken over the orchard management a couple of years ago. 

They are using organic and regenerative practices and they are not just farmers, but they are visionaries and committed activists through the work they do on and in the soil. 

Liste...