The climate-resilient nature-entangled way to garden with Duncan Cocking

Planting guides and sow-what-when calendars are great and all, but what happens when the seasons don't play nice? When spring arrives earlier, frost hits later, or heatwaves burn your crops to a crisp? There's no controlling the weather, but with tools like phenology, you can make better predictions and grow more food!Duncan Cocking (of Leaf, Root & Fruit) is an amazing gardener and educator from Kyneton in Southern Australia. He helps people tune into more-than-human patterns and cycles to build their own hyper-local and climate resilient gardening calendars, and has a wealth of wisdom about living more joyfully too.In this convo:Why spring is two weeks earlier this yearDuncan's early years immersed in nature and connected to countryWhy he's not that interested in working hardMid-30s career changePattern recognition in the veggie patchHow to use phenologyNature based indicators to tell you went to plantThe two most critical aspects of gardening!!!Connection through failuresWhy to RELAXXXXX about how to gardenWood ducks tell you when you plant tomatoesCrazy record keepingHow the hell to collate so much dataHabits of the highly observantHow do nature’s patterns work, NO LIKE, HOW?Being conversant with the landDuncan is an ostrichDisconnecting from the World Wide WebHow to preserve your mental health with a hyper-focus on localGetting kids into the gardenGive your kids scary toolsGarden gimmicksHow to grow avos in cold climatesSpring gardening to-dos RIGHT NOW🧙‍♀  LINKY POOSDuncan’s home on the webLeaf, Root & Fruit on SubstackLeaf, Root & Fruit on InstagramAndrew Turbill, the bird guy🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡☕ Buy Me A Coffee (or an avo or a loaf of bread) ☕Gratitude to the field recordist Romuald Mikusek, XC935811. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/935811.

NOTE: I’ve done breathwork every day since this interview and – you gaias! – it’s really helping me human. Meet today’s guest Ella Maryska, who is responsible for getting me into this breathwork thing that I am the last person on the planet to know about.Ella is 21 years old, wise as the hills, a certified breathwork instructor, and brings a fresh and youthful perspective to the pod which has been sorely absent to date (sorry sorry sorry).In this sweet convo, you’ll hear about the geeky physiology of breathwork; how it rebalances our nervous system, changes circulation to our brain, oxygenates tissues and connects us to plants, as well as Ella’s own experience as a young person living through the polycrisis, navigating novel life paths as the old routes fall away.I learned so much from Ella. Let me know if you’re on the breathwork bandwagon, a brilliant tool for staying steady in the tumult.🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOSElla’s home on the webElla/Coming Home Breathwork on IGTuesday evening group classGuided breathwork sesh on YouTube[book] Atlas of the Heart ~ Brené BrownCatie’s nattoReskillience live recording at Words in WinterThe Australasian Permaculture Convergence🧡🧡🧡 Join the Reskillience community on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡Catie on Substack

“In a time of fracturing seasons, when everything’s going awry, there are still cycles that we can set our hearts by.” It's Kirsten Bradley of Milkwood! She's writing a new book about the moon, penning love letters to parsley and currawongs on Substack, and here to share all about her daily rhythms in lutruwita, Tasmania. Oh, what a lovely conversation!Within 🌙 AI or not to AIMorning routines! Morning stargazing!Tea choicesMoving to lutruwita/TassieFish farm woes and responsesHow to make decisions about where to moveWhen the body says noSlow activism“You can rest. The problems will be there when you get up again. And the solutions.”Perimenopause rearrangementsComing back to creativity after burnoutWrapping knowledge in storyLearning injuriesWriting as a welcomeCultural astronomiesShould we follow our interests?What does activism look like for Kirsten now?The Common Book of the Moon🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS Kirsten on SubstackKirsten + Milkwood🧡🧡🧡 Join the Reskillience community on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡

BYO wheelbarrow to load up on Solomon’s wisdom, cos today we’re chatting with the grandaddy of beyond-organic gardening himself, Steve Solomon! If you don’t know Steve, he’s a bit of cult hero in food growing circles thanks to his deep research into soil remineralisation and why it is absolutely critical for human health.In this convo:How pre-industrial communities ate 4 x more nutrient-dense foodWhy MINERALS are the key to healthy soil and healthy humansBetter nutrition… lower libido?Why compost is really bloody complicated…and how compost can ruin your soil if you’re not carefulHow to calculate how much organic matter your soil actually needsThe ugly truth about commercial compostCOF ~ Complete Organic FertiliserWhy Steve doesn’t recommend soil testing for everyoneEVIL GOVERNMENT EDICTSSteve’s pact to intentionally follow his interests 100%“THE PURPOSE OF MY LIFE IS TO DO WHATEVER IT IS I’M INTERESTED IN”LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Steve’s homepageThe Soil & Health Library[book] The Intelligent Gardener ~ Steve Solomon[just released!] Growing Nutrient-Dense Vegetables: A Cool Climate Guide~ Steve SolomonGoogle: Steve Solomon gardening booksNutrition and Physical Degeneration ~ Weston A. PriceSoil fertility and Animal Health ~ William Albrecht🧡🧡🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡🧡🧡Words in Winter ~ Live podcast with Mara Ripani & Natasha MorganReturn to the Village ~ Australasian Permaculture Convergence.

I share a GRIPPING TALE about a droplet of water before sitting down with Helen Lehndorf, who is a radical forager, author, anarchist, poet and plenty more wonderful things besides. I loved her memoir A Forager's Life so much! Helen and I dive straight into the weeds about permaculture life strategies, unlocking creativity, writing for nature and how to rebel against The Machine by playing the Holy Fool. Medicine for muddled, blocked or chronically shy creatives.IN THIS CONVOSwimming upstream of the over cultureUndoing cultural entrainmentSocial permaculturePermaculture design webEstablishing a daily writing habitThe world isn’t saying PLEASE ARTIST MAKE MORE ART but you should anywayAnarchismThe YES, AND ruleThe Holy Fool archetypeAI? *shrugs*Enspiriting your artECOPOETICSGetting past sharing insecurityWriting for natureWhy little lives are worth sharingInvisible care workJournalling versus publishingBlackberry medicineWhat is it to relate with plants?PUNK GRANDDAD DANDYSynesthesiaThe future has an ancient heart🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Helen’s home on the webA Forager’s Life ~ Helen LehndorfThe Bruise Palette ~ Helen LehndorfSocial permaculture ~ Looby MacnamaraKirsty PorterWild ~ Cheryl StrayedE.M Forster ~ Howard’s EndAnnie DillardSound credit: Morepork / Ruru (Owl) - Auckland, New Zealand by tdes -- https://freesound.org/s/319539/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

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 🧡