As we embody our values and live ever differently, how do we change the communities we are a part of as we become ever more apart from them?

This is one of many thoughts I have as we enter this conversation with Kai Sawyer, as we look at his life as a practitioner embracing peace, permaculture, and the gift economy to bring about social and cultural change in Japan.

Find out more about Kai Sawyer and his work at: Tokyo Urban Permaculture Living Permaculture

Something Kai wanted me to mention, that didn’t make it into our conversation is the ongoing impact and questions as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant meltdown. Something I didn’t know, that Kai shared in his follow-up email, is that Fukushima prefecture was one of the leading organic food growing regions in Japan.

What happens then, to the organic or natural farmer who carefully and with a lot of love, grew beautiful soil for decades that is now contaminated with cesium 134 and 137? Who will buy their produce? Who will help them rebuild their entire life?

Also in Fukushima prefecture was an innovative permaculture project at Iitate village that sought to redesign the community using permaculture to reverse the process of rural depopulation, to keep residents in this rural location rather than heading to the cities. To Kai’s knowledge, it is the only initiative of the kind in Japan, one where an entire village was a permaculture design site. As you might imagine, the proximity to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and the ways the wind blew, high levels of radiation fell on the village, and their entire village was evacuated by the government. A project to preserve the community, destroyed by a single disaster, responded to with modern practices now so ingrained they seem traditional and the only path forward.

How could this situation have been different if more communities in Japan were transformed by the whole systems design of permaculture and a chance to the cultural and social structures and consciousness? As we grow as practitioners, how can we change these ways of thinking and organizing in our own communities and, in turn, change the way they are governed and inhabited? If you have thoughts on this or anything else Kai and I spoke about, I’d love to hear from you.

Leave a comment below so we can continue the conversation. 

Resources
Tokyo Urban Permaculture
Living Permaculture
Peace and Permaculture Dojo Tour (Spring 2017) (YouTube)
The Center for Nonviolent Communication Nonviolent Communication (Wiki)
Moved By Love, the Memoirs of Vinoba Bhave (Read Online at MKGhandi.org)
Bullock's Permaculture Homestead
Humanure Handbook - Joe Jenkins
Iitate, Fukushima, a village scale permaculture project in Japan, evacuated due to the events at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plants.
Living On The Edge of Fukushima

We also share our own experiences of warm memories with friends and families playing games, both as children and adults, and how we can use games in the classroom. On this last point, I give a quick overview of one of my favorite Permaculture Design Course games: design island. Karl then shares how he lives his ethics by making inexpensive options available for teachers, giving back to his local community, and offsets the impacts of the production of these cards, and his interest in reforestation.

After the conversation with Karl, I include a short conversation with Jason Godesky on his insight into the intersection of games and education.

Find out more about Karl and Food Forest Card Game at: Food Forest Card Game

What I like about games in a permaculture context is the social atmosphere games create for us to work with one another, in a cooperative game, or to compete in a friendly way with no or low stakes involved. These interactions provide a slow and small solution to get to know others and foster the long-term relationships necessary to build our tribe or create a community of others interested in the same kinds of activities. Though they may not engage in permaculture directly, we need everyone to join us to create the social, cultural, and political change to create the world we want to live in. One of us can make a huge difference, but together we increase our diversity and the number of connections and possibilities.

If there is any way I can help you find an interesting game for your classroom, a game night, or a party, let me know. Also, I’d like your feedback on this two guest, single subject episode. Was the addition of Jason’s voice helpful in understanding Karl’s approach to The Food Forest Card game?

Leave a comment or get in touch with me directly: Email: The Permaculture Podcast Or drop something in the post: The Permaculture Podcast The Permaculture Podcast From here, for Patreon supporters, check your Patreon feed at patreon.com/permaculturepodcast/posts on Wednesday, November 1, as I’m giving away a deck of Food Forest Card Game cards to supporters. There is also another giveaway still active for Wayne Weiseman, Daniel Halsey, and Bryce Ruddock’s Integrated Forest Gardening: The Complete Guide to Polycultures and Plant Guilds in Permaculture Systems. The next interview, out ad-free on November 7 for Patreon supporters and November 10 via the website, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you find your podcasts, is Kai Sawyer who joins me to talk about permaculture in Japan and how he navigates living in the gift economy. Until then, spend each day creating the world you want to live in by taking care of Earth, yourself, and playing games with your community.

Resources From Karl Treen
Food Forest Card Game
Food Forest Card Game (Facebook)
Permaculture Providence (Meetup)
Permaculture Providence (Facebook)
Eden Reforestation Projects
Food Forest Card Game Thread (Permies.com)
Cities in the Wilderness

From Jason Godesky
The Fifth World
The Way of the Human Being by Calvin Luther Martin (Yale University Press)
Vincent Baker - Lumpley Games
Thoughty - Brie Sheldon (Interviews with Game Designers)
Spiel des Jahres (Game Award - English Website)
Mensa Select Winning Games
Pandemic Legacy Season 2 (Z-Man Games)

Organizations and Individuals Researching the Impact of Games
The RPG Research Project
Sarah Lynne Bowman, PhD

Resources
Next 7
Food Democracy Now!
Keep the Soil in Organic
How to Go Further by Woody Harrelson (Tree Hugger Review)
Joe Hickey - Hemp Research Foundation
Dave Chapman - Long Wind Farm Niman Ranch

Related Interviews
Fred Kirschenmann - Farming for Future Generations
Fred Kirschenmann - Planning for Future Generations
Rob Hopkins - The Transition Town Movement

Find out more about this project and how to get involved by visiting:
LocalFoodNodes.org (English)
LocalFoodNodes.org (Swedish)
Creating Your Own Food Node (Medium article by Viktor)
Local Food Nodes GitHub Wiki

These books and her expertise form the basis for our conversation today about animal cheeses, whether you start with goat, sheep, or cow milk. I dive in with all my questions about starting supplies; expected yields; soft versus hard cheeses; the different types of cheese; and an exploration of rennet, including three types to look for and one to avoid. As Gianaclis joined me previously for Holistic Goat Care, we begin with a brief overview of her background and then get cheesy.

Find out more about her and her books at gianacliscaldwell.com.

As you heard during this conversation, I’m really inspired by people like Gianaclis that take these ideas that at first seem so complex, and break down the mystery into easy steps we can follow. Sure, we might make mistakes or have some failures, but we can take what we learn and try again. Using what she shares with us, we can start with a $4 gallon of store-bought commercial cow milk and make our first pound of cheese. If we want, then we can seek out grass-fed organic or raw milk, try sheep or goat milk, and see how that changes what we get. But if we don’t want to, we never have to. We can keep using that same grocery store jug while still getting something better than store-bought. Though I haven’t made my own cheese yet, as my children look at me with that “Dad? Really?” look every time I bring it up, I feel comfortable and confident that when we do get to it, we’ll wind up with not only some great cheese but also a fond memory.

Those experiences are the ones we need to create the world we want to live in, and so I encourage each of you to keep playing, in the kitchen, in the garden, field, and forest, to find those moments that speak to you, add to your set of skills, and help you to be who you are called to. If there is any way I can help you on that journey, get in touch by leaving a comment below.

Resources
Gianaclis Caldwell
Pholia Farm Dairy
Mastering Basic Cheesemaking (New Society Publishers)
Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking (Chelsea Green Publishing)
American Cheese Society - Vern Caldwell
Holistic Goat Care (Chelsea Green)

Related Interview
Gianaclis Caldwell -  Holistic Goat Care

Designed to reach an international audience, you’ll currently find listings in Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States, with the aim to expand into other areas as users and business owners add their listings to the Fair Food Forager database. If after listening to this interview you are interested in helping out with the project, get involved and begin interacting with local business owners in your area to find out more about what they’re doing that aligns with your goals, and then list them on the website, or in the iOS or Android app. You’ll hear more about that process, and what Paul and the team have in mind, during this conversation. We start immediately with Paul sharing his background, before talking about what moved Paul to create this service, and the impact we can have through individual and community choices.

Find out more about Paul and this project at FairFoodForager.com.au and by searching for Fair Food Forager in the iOS or Android app store.

Once you've given this interview a listen, leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts. 

These topics lay out the major themes of the conversation that follows but touch only on the barest of the depth you’ll hear. Together Joel and I explore land access for new farmers, living frugally, agriculture based on skilled people, mentoring and apprenticeship, the nature of wisdom, and what it means to be well read and with it well rounded: to be an interesting conversationalist with something to say and a provocative way to say it, so others find us and our message appealing.

I left this conversation thinking about the personal changes we can make now to become experts in our chosen field and how that serves as a model for others that continues the change that already began. Eventually, that daily change becomes the future we cannot imagine for generations to come.

Once you've given this interview a listen, leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

Resources
Polyface Farms
Eager Farmer

Using that complete approach we talk about goats on a farm and homestead, including needs and yields such as diet and nutrition; guard animals; common predators; fencing and shelter; and temperament and socialization. For those of you who want to raise goats, we also talk about what to expect when you expect to do so, like where to find your first goats and some reading and other preparations to start with before buying them. In this conversation, Gianaclis demystifies the requirements and practices needed to begin keeping a herd of goats, whether in the city, suburbs or on a farm.

Find out more about her and her work at gianacliscaldwell.com, pholiafarm.com, and Holistic Goat Care at ChelseaGreen.com.

Can you see how to integrate goats into your permaculture design? Are you already raising goats? What thoughts do you have after hearing this interview? Let me know. Leave a comment below.

Resources
Gianaclis Caldwell
Pholia Farm Dairy
Holistic Goat Care (Chelsea Green)

By creating a pattern language, an idea first coined in 1977 by Christopher Alexander in the book A Pattern Language: Towns - Buildings - Construction. My guest today, Adam Brock, took that lens, originally applied to architecture and structures, and used it to examine our invisible structures, which resulted in his book Change Here Now: Permaculture Solutions for Personal and Community Transformation. During the conversation today we talk about the development of the book and some of his processes on going from concept to published manuscript. We also touch on some of the challenging conversations that arise from looking broadly at we apply permaculture and these patterns to our communities, including some of the dialogues we should consider engaging in as neighbors or leaders. We close of course with Adam final thoughts, but not before he shares some of the patterns he developed, including Dynamic Pricing and Nurtured Networks.

You can find out more about Adam and his book, including upcoming events, at AdamBrock.me.

Do this quick introduction to Pattern Languages and the conversation with Adam make sense? Can you see using this kind of patterning and a pattern language in your own work? Will you be picking up a copy of Change Here Now to get a better understanding of these ideas and how to apply them? E

Resources
AdamBrock.me
Overton Window (Wiki)

These are some of the questions my guest Ma’ikwe Ludwig, author of Together Resilient, examines with us during our conversation. She also addresses how intentional communities help to create resilience for members, dispels some of the hippie myths about communal living, and gives us an overview of the different types of intentional communities. She also shares how shared values or needs bind us together, and how communities fail. In the end, this interview is about creating a cooperative culture so that together we can lean into one another and create the resilience required in order to live with abundance and joy, whatever the future may hold. After listening to this interview, what are your thoughts on intentional communities? Do you live in one or are you considering it? Let me know by leaving a comment.

Resources
Ma’ikwe Ludwig
Together Resilient (Chelsea Green)
Transition Network
Transition US
Fellowship for Intentional Community
North American Students of Cooperation
The Cohousing Association of the United States
Global Ecovillage Network
Federation of Egalitarian Communities
Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of Culture