Listening to the Land

This is an audio recording of a live session from the Listening to the Land day 2026. Find out more at realfarming.org/programmes/listening-to-the-land/   LOVE, SERVICE AND FLOW: THE NEW RIVER GUARDIANS   Speakers: Meg Avon, Monica Feria-Tinta, Paul Powlesland Chair: Amy-Jane Beer   In a time when our waterways face mounting pressure, a new generation of River Guardians is emerging - guided not only by ecological urgency but by love, service, and the deep intelligence of flow. Their work reveals that protecting rivers is as much an act of relationship as it is of restoration, and that in caring for water, we are inevitably shaped and changed by it in return. From creative acts of devotion, and grassroots restoration, to groundbreaking legal work that recognises rivers as living beings with rights, they illuminate the many pathways through which guardianship takes form - and invite us to listen, act, and stand fully with the waters that sustain us. A powerful panel of activists and rights of nature lawyers explore how we can all be of service to the very source of life. 

This is an audio recording of a live session from the Listening to the Land day 2026. Find out more at realfarming.org/programmes/listening-to-the-land/   PILGRIMAGE AS LISTENING  Speakers: Emmeline Hardisty, Martin Hugi, Satish Kumar, Zofia Page Chair: Guy Hayward   Pilgrimage is a practice of listening to the land, ourselves, and one another. In this conversation, the panel will explore how walking as a pilgrim becomes a form of dialogue with place. What does it mean to allow pilgrimage to become not an act of seeking, but of receiving? Drawing on artistic, communal, and ecological practices, the panel weaves reflections on active receptivity.

Rachel Fleming talks to intuitive herbalist Nathaniel Hughes and plant spirit healer Woman Emma Fitchett about the consciousness of plants and how they can help us 'listen to the land'. We look at how to pick up on these communications of the vegatal realm, how to respond in a reciprocal relationship with them and ultimately what this means for our growing of food.   "There's something here that feels unbelievable and impossible" says Nathaniel, "but it's a shaft of light and I'm going to follow it ... another way is possible"   Listening to the Land is a podcast from the Real Farming Trust and Animate Earth Collective. Hosted by Francesca Price and Rachel Fleming, it explores how to build a deeper and more reciprocal relationship with the Land. Subscribe on PodBean, Apple Podcasts or Spotify to be the first to hear new episodes. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.

Who are we and how do we fit together? We talk with two deeply soulful activists and afro-ecologists working with women and children of African and Caribbean heritage in London, to 'go grow food with love'. Drawing on their ancestral knowledge and remembering, from living in a Rastafarian community in Jamaica to initiating in the Dogon tradition of West Africa, we talk about how the earth speaks with all of us, in different languages, whether we know it or not, and it's time to put our pieces together. Listening to the Land is a podcast from the Real Farming Trust and Animate Earth Collective. Hosted by Francesca Price and Rachel Fleming, it explores how to build a deeper and more reciprocal relationship with the Land. Subscribe on PodBean, Apple Podcasts or Spotify to be the first to hear new episodes. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.

Satish Kumar has walked the world and come into contact with everyone from world leaders to the greatest mountains and deserts on our planet.  He is a tireless activist who has never stopped advocating for a more reciprocal relationship with Nature.  “If we look after the land, it will look after us” he says.  Now in his late eighties, he’s still campaigning, walking, making compost and planning a revolution in radical love. Listening to the Land is a new podcast from the Real Farming Trust and Animate Earth Collective. Hosted by Francesca Price and Rachel Fleming, it explores how to build a deeper and more reciprocal relationship with the Land. Subscribe on PodBean, Apple Podcasts or Spotify to be the first to hear new episodes. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.

In this episode of Listening to the Land, Rachel, Colin and Manda discuss how traditional Indigenous knowledge systems can inform us about how we listen to the Land. Colin works with the wisdom traditions of South Africa, specifically those that are based on our relationships with the ancestors and spirits of nature. He looks at where these ancient indigenous practices collide and coalesce with the knowledge and belief systems of the west. Manda is the founder of the Accidental Gods podcast and the author of 16 novels, including a thrutopian vision, Any Human Power. Manda has also been, variously, a veterinary surgeon, regenerative smallholder, and contemporary shamanic teacher. Listening to the Land is a new podcast from the Real Farming Trust and Animate Earth Collective. Hosted by Francesca Price and Rachel Fleming, it explores how to build a deeper and more reciprocal relationship with the Land. Subscribe on PodBean, Apple Podcasts or Spotify to be the first to hear new episodes. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.  

Rachel and Francesca hear from ceremonialist and writer, Angharad Wynne, and farmer and founder of Glasbren, Abel Pearson about the ways they bring ceremony, ritual and vigil into their work and daily lives. Together they explore how we can celebrate this time of the year and welcome the darker, winter months as an opportunity for rest, renewal and creativity.   Listening to the Land is a new podcast from the Real Farming Trust and Animate Earth Collective. Hosted by Francesca Price and Rachel Fleming, it explores how to build a deeper and more reciprocal relationship with the Land. Subscribe on PodBean, Apple Podcasts or Spotify to be the first to hear new episodes. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.

Francesca and Rachel talk to Patrick MacManaway, who works with farmers in the UK, US and Australia, to help release trauma from their land and restore it to its natural state of vitality and abundance. Also Bríd Walsh who works as a therapist and land healer on a retreat centre in Somerset. Together they consider whether it is possible for us all to converse with the land and in doing so, help heal our shared trauma.   Listening to the Land is a new podcast from the Real Farming Trust and Animate Earth Collective. Hosted by Francesca Price and Rachel Fleming, it explores how to build a deeper and more reciprocal relationship with the Land. Listen to the trailer and subscribe on PodBean, Apple Podcasts or Spotify to be the first to hear new episodes. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.

In this edition of the Listening to the Land podcast we remember our great friend and ally, Marina O’Connell, who died last week at her farm in Devon. I had the privilege of interviewing Marina in March 2022 after the publication of her book, Designing Regenerative Food Systems, but the interview was never released. We are honoured to bring it to you here as a way of remembering the phenomenal contribution Marina made to the movement and to the lives of so many around her. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.

Francesca and Rachel talk to psychologist and mythologist, Sharon Blackie, and writer and documentary-maker, Manchán Magan, about how we can overcome our historic separation from the land and cultivate kinship with the landscape through myth and story, ancestral knowledge and traditional agricultural practices.    Listening to the Land is a podcast produced in partnership between the Real Farming Trust and Animate Earth Collective. Hosted by Francesca Price and Rachel Fleming. Introduction music: The Great Turning by Simmy Singh.