Sustainable World Radio- Ecology and Permaculture Podcast

Kat Steele, is a Permaculture teacher and director of the Urban Permaculture Guild in Oakland, California.  Kat is trained in ecovillage design, natural building,and workshop facilitation.  In this interview, Kat Steele discusses how to apply Permaculture to your own life and what it was like to be one of Al Gore's 1,000 "foot soldiers."

Episode 154: When medicinal at risk plants need help, United Plant Savers (UPS) comes to the rescue! Known as the "consciousness of the herbal products industry" because of their work with at risk medicinals, UPS staff and members have their feet on the ground and their hands in the soil protecting and growing these healing plants.  The former site of a contour mine, the 379 acre UPS Botanical Sanctuary in South Eastern Ohio is now home to nearly 400 plant species. In this interview with John Stock, Outreach Coordinator and Sanctuary Manager for United Plant Savers, we learn why we should be concerned about where our herbal medicine comes from, how medicinal plants are being affected by the $8 billion a year herbal products industry, and how we can get involved with UPS by becoming a member or a grower in their Botanical Sanctuary or Sacred Seeds Networks. There are over 140 botanical sanctuaries across the US and Canada and there's still room for more!  John and I discuss why medicinal plants need our attention and conservation efforts right now, some of the twenty plants that UPS has earmarked as being at risk, and what the biggest impacts on these plants are- think habitat loss, growing demand, over-harvesting, and little accountability in the herbal products supply chain. We learn what we can do to support the continued health and abundance of medicinal plants and how preserving them has the added benefit of increasing biodiversity and sustaining healthy forests.  You can learn more about UPS here: United Plant Savers.org. Take a look at their Species At Risk and To Watch List here.  Become a member by clicking here: I Want to be a Member! Thanks for listening! 

Episode 32: Larry Saltzman, Permaculturist and Food Forester, takes us on a tour of his backyard suburban yard. Larry and his wife, Eco-Therapist Linda Buzzell Saltzman, have turned their backyard into a living oasis of edible trees and plants.Learn how you can transform a lawn into an edible food forest!.

Toby Hemenway, author of the best selling book Gaia's Garden, tells us how to create beautiful and functional ecosystems in our own backyards. Hemenway, a Permaculture teacher, writer, and lecturer, talks about basic Permaculture principles, guilds, and how to build soil fertility.

Vermicomposting expert Kali Cowgill speaks with Jill Cloutier about how to compost food scraps using red wiggler worms. Jill Cloutier, with co-host Suzanne Cloutier, interviews a Lumbrucus terrestris earthworm. (Thanks to Kelly Burch, voice of Lumbrucus.)

Episode 113: Melanie and Jeff Carpenter are medicinal herb farmers. The co-owners of Zack Woods Farm, a 30 acre organic farm and botanical sanctuary located in the green mountains of Vermont, Jeff and Melanie grow over 50 species of medicinal plants. In this episode, they share their passion and knowledge about herb growing, how they use Permaculture on the farm, and how they grow healthy plants with high bioactive compounds. The Carpenters talk about the increasing need for medicinal herb farmers and the burgeoning market for medicinal plants. Growing local medicine for your community can be rewarding and profitable. It can also protect wild herb populations. The authors of the new book The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs, on a Market Scale, Jeff and Melanie can be found at ZackWoodsHerbs.com.

Author of Edible Forest Gardens- Volumes 1 and 2, Dave Jacke is a longtime permaculture teacher and designer.  In this interview, he talks about the history of forest gardening, its many benefits, and how gardening like a forest can enrich your life.

Episode 12: Loren Luyendyk, the owner of Santa Barbara Organics, has over ten years of experience in the field of permaculture, sustainability and small-scale farming. Loren is a Certified Master Gardener, Certified Arborist and a member of the American Society of Consulting Arborists. In this interview Loren shares with us organic gardening tips and how to apply Permaculture principles in the garden. 

Episode 143: How would Nature farm? Can degraded, infertile land be regenerated? Can agriculture become a healing beneficial system that mitigates climate change? To answer these questions, I speak with farmer Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farm located in Swoope, Virginia. When the Salatins moved to the farm in 1961, there wasn't enough soil on the land to hold up a fence post. Over fifty years later, Polyface is an oasis of organic matter and one of the most fertile farms in the US. How did Joel and his family achieve this remarkable transformation? It began when Joel's father William, who out of necessity and with very little money, bucked conventional practices and began to observe how Nature farms. Implementing what they saw in natural systems, the Salatin family began their great task of restoring life and fertility to the land. In this inspiring and uplifting interview, Joel shares the joy of being a visceral participant in healing land, why he believes that good farming should increase the commons, and how we can become beneficial participants in legacy ecology.  Joel talks about the importance of including animals in agriculture, his "Moving, Mobbing, and Mowing Ministry," how to use herbivores as pruners, and what we can do now to heal the earth.  To learn more about Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm, visit their website at PolyfaceFarms.com.

Crossing the Line with Geoff Lawton and Nadia Abu Yahia LawtonGeoff Lawton is an internationally renowned permaculture educator, consultant and practitioner. Nadia Abu Yahia Lawton travels with Geoff for aid project and permaculture consulting work and assists in teaching permaculture design courses. www.permaculture.org.au

Christopher Shein is a Permaculture teacher, seed saver, gardener and activist. In this interview, Christopher explains the basics of Permaculture gardening. Christopher shares his knowledge about how Permaculture principles and ethics can be used in your garden to increase yields, improve plant and soil health and lessen your work load. Christopher is the author of the Vegetable Gardener's Guide To Permaculture: Creating An Edible Ecosystem. 

A discussion with author, Permaculture Designer, and psychotherapist Rachel Kaplan about her book Urban Homesteading: Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living.  Kaplan, with co-author K. Ruby Blume, has written a book that is a veritable treasure trove of information about everything sustainable and regenerative.  Lavishly illustrated, detailed instructions are given for dozens of projects: including constructing a solar cooker, starting an urban seed bank, butchering a chicken, and greywater for renters.

Episode 21: Stephen Harrod Buhner is an Earth poet and the award-winning author of twelve works of nonfiction and one book of poetry, among them the multiple award-winning Lost Language of Plants, Sacred Plant Medicine and The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature. In this interview Stephen talks about plant healing, ethnobotany, and the power of the green world. 

Doug Weatherbee, a Soil Foodweb Advisor and owner of SoilDoctor.org, talks about the biodiversity that lies beneath our feet.  Soil is alive!

Graham Burnett is a permaculture practitioner, designer and teacher.  With over 20 years experience in working with adults with learning disabilities, including in horticultural settings, Graham has designed a number of therapeutic and productive landscapes using permaculture and forest gardening principles. He is the author of the book, Permaculture- A Beginner's Guide www.spiralseed.co.uk

Interview with Darren Doherty, Australian Permaculture designer and teacher, and Guner Tautrim, owner of Orella Ranch on the Gaviota Coast. Doherty and Tautrim discuss Keyline and how it can reduce global warming, and rebuild topsoil.

The Maya cultivated the forest as a garden for thousands of years.  Tune in to hear Maya forest gardeners from El Pilar, Belize, discuss the importance of sustainable cultivation techniques.

Learn how you can optimize plant and soil health with ecological agriculture. John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture- a leading crop nutrition consulting company. An expert in the field of biological and regenerative farming, John Kempf teaches farmers how to grow healthier, more nutritious food. A lifelong farmer who grew up in and remains part of the Amish community, John Kempf received his Pesticide Applicators License at age 16. In this interview with Jill Cloutier, he talks about his journey from conventional to ecological farmer, the fastest way to rebuild soil and plant health, and how agriculture is the foundation of health care. 

Since 1974, Christopher Nyerges has taken over 30,000 children and adults on Wild Food and Survival Skills Outings, field trips and outdoor programs. Christopher is the author of seven books, including Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants, Urban Wilderness, Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City, and How to Survive Anywhere.

Brad Lancaster, rainwater harvesting expert and Permaculture designer talks about how to plant the rain, water harvesting earth works, and his seminal books,, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volumes 1 & 2 .