The News - 1 July 2023

News from the World

• I recently connected with the folks at EcoAgriculture Partners and in getting to know them they introduced me to Terraso, an open source collection of software built by a global team, including members from Colombia, Ecuador and Kenya. Their goal is to make it easier for farmers and land managers to collect, store, map, and share data from their farm or landscape; ease the work of capacity in organizations and the environment; and to use everything collected on the ground and in the field to then tell human stories.

• As a computer scientist by education and a storyteller by family tradition, I’m quite excited to see what comes from Terraso as they flourish and mature, because the human element is central to their work and, as I understand it from my sparse notes, they included farmers, land managers, and other stake holders, in their development processes before writing their code.

  As this episode goes live, Terraso just launched and your participation and engagement will not only enrich your own experience as a permaculture practitioner, but also help this project grow and reach their goals.

• Long-time friend of the show Joshua Hughes and I have been catching up recently, and he let me know about their newest project where community partners in Costa Rica are preparing to acquire and preserve 6500 hectares of jungle land for the local community.

  This project includes setting aside 100 acres for permaculture and agro-forestry projects on steep hillsides to create an income for native Costa Ricans, and to restore another 5,000 hectares of what is currently clear-cut cattle land into a lush, diverse, jungle canopy by 2030.

  If you aren’t following the work of VerdeEnergia or Blacksheep Regenerative Investing, definitely do if you are interested in these kinds of large-scale, globally sources, community-based, and lead, permaculture projects.

  Once this goes live and Joshua can share more of the details, we’re going to talk again and I’ll share episodes with you about not only the project, but also the means and methods of this project and others that continue to grow in Western Costa Rica.

• One of the books that helped deepen my understanding of what it means to practice people care at a policy level was Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, which examines racial and economic injustice as practiced within the legal structures of the United States. Richard Rothstein, along with Leah Rothstein recently released Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law which serves as a follow-up to The Color of Law and a practical plan for dismantling these systems of oppression by people in places of power. I’m not far into it, but already see it is as an excellent resource for anyone working on issues of policy at the town or city municipal level or higher, and recommend it to anyone who is doing that or who is familiar with Richard Rothstein’s other work.
• Anna Urbanik, who I had on the show as a guest in late 2021 to discuss her book The Herbalit’s Primer, launched a new Kickstarter for the next book in this series, The Geologist’s Primer, an illustrated guide to the folklore and magic that surrounds gems, rocks, and metals. That campaign runs through July 26th, 2023, so if you like rocks, enjoyed my interview with Anna, or have a copy of the first book and love it, like I did, heckout and back the campaign today, which I did the day it opened.

News from the Podcast

1. If you’d like to hear me on the other side of the microphone, I was recently a guest on Greg Peterson’s The Urban Farm Podcast. Links below.
2. Thank you for sending me your questions. Based on those, I’m working on episodes on Landscape Restoration, How to Save the Family Farm, and World Reports to look at Permaculture in Lebanon, Permaculture in Detroit, and Permaculture in the Czech Republic.

Closing

If you live in an amazing country or city that is doing awesome work on Permaculture and would like to collaborate with me on similar upcoming episodes, please reach out to me directly.

You can also reach me directly to provide feedback with me about this and future news episodes as part of this change of direction for The Permaculture Podcast. As all of this is still new and emerging, I need you to help me make these short-format episodes into something you’d love to listen to, so let your voice be heard! Send me an email and share your thoughts. show at thepermauclturepodcast.com

Until the next time, connect with the projects you heard today so they can grow, succeed, and flourish while taking care of Earth, yourself, and each other.