Prioritise Spiritual Prepping with Emily Coats

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 🧡

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 🧡