Our conversation today, however, comes from her second book, Craft Distilling, as we discuss what is involved with legally crafting our own booze at home. With that in mind, we about the lunacy of laws when everything we want to do at home or on our homestead is illegal and what we can do to bring about change, as well as a history of the role of distilling, liquor, and taxation in the founding days of the United States. This is the first of two conversations on distilling with Victoria. We recorded nearly two hours of audio together in a single session, so end here with some of my thoughts on this need for change and how we can engage. The other half of this, out in a few weeks, begins with Victoria walking us through an overview of the distilling process and then diving deeply in. You can find out more about Victoria, Craft Distilling and her other books at victoriaredhedmiller.com, or through her publisher, NewSociety.com. After listening to our discussion about working to make craft distilling legal, what issue matters enough that you would start making some phone calls and writing letters to engage in the political process as a private citizen with a passion for ecological and individual progress? I’d love to hear from you. Email: The Permaculture Podcast Write: The Permaculture Podcast The Permaculture Podcast From here, the next regular interview is a conversation with The Mudgirls, a women-owned and operation Natural Builders Collective in British Columbia, Canada, and the authors responsible for the upcoming Mudgirls Manifesto. Until then, spend each day creating the world you want to live in my getting involved and taking care of Earth, yourself, and each other.

Resources
Victoria Redhed Miller
Craft Distilling
New Society Publishers
Whiskey Rebellion (Wiki)
H.R.2903 - Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2015 - The bill we want to be passed! It includes a provision to exempt home distilleries from excise tax and bonding requirements when making liquor for personal or family use.

Stuart holds a Ph.D. in Complex Systems, a form of applied mathematics, from the University of California, Berkeley, and uses that background to look for the underlying principles needed to create regenerative economies across local bioregions all the way up to the global biosphere. Stuart explored this emergence in his role as the Director of Regenerative Development at The Capital Institute. David and Stuart use this time together to look at what is emerging from the R&D of The Capital Institute and other regenerative economic projects. Find out more about the work he and David discussed at capitalinstitute.org and in the Resources section below. With his interest in the intersection of business and permaculture, David plans to have a longer follow-up interview with Stuart and the other speakers he met at ReGen18 in the future so if you have any questions you would like to hear in one of those conversations, get in touch: Email: The Permaculture Podcast Or Write: The Permaculture Podcast The Permaculture Podcast From here, the next regular episode is a conversation with Victoria Redhed Miller on the legality of craft distilling, on May 27th for Patreon supporters, and May 30th around the world. Until then, spend each day creating the world you want to live in, by taking care of Earth, yourself, and each other.

Resources: 
Capital Institute
The Regenerative Framework
Beyond Sustainability: The Road to Regenerative Capitalism
John Fullerton: The Emergence of Regenerative Capitalism
Lopez Community Land Trust
The Democracy Collaborative Niagra Share
ReGen18 EcoThinkIt.com

To get this series started we begin by looking at what we can do to eliminate single use plastic and some of the strategies for slowing down, living more intentionally, and continuing to connect with one another and the world around us. We take a discussion of trash and waste and turn it into one of cleanup, care, and celebration. Learn more about Paul's regular work at FairFoodForager.com.au, and find the app in the iOS or Android app stores.

For more about his upcoming ride visit  PelotonAgainstPlastic.com. While you’re there, watch the intro video where you can see Paul and his riding partner Jamie Lepre of Environment-to-Be. 

Resources:
Fair Food Forager
Peloton Against Plastic
Intrepid Travel
The Last Plastic Straw
Plastic Pollution Coalition 
No Straw Please
Skip The Straw Day

Find more of Dr. Scharmer’s work at OttoScharmer.com, with the other sources mentioned in the resource section below. -- As you consider the ideas presented in this interview and practice permaculture, what it is it that you want to emerge? On the other side, what do you feel wants to happen?

Resources:
Otto Scharmer
Presencing Institute
Theory U Books
MITx u.Lab
Peter Senge
The Limits to Growth (Wikipedia)
Club of Rome
EdX
Transforming Capitalism Lab

We talk about the social side of permaculture and what we can do, as individuals and a community, to create boundaries that lead to deeper respect for ourselves and each other. To fight for something -- rather than against -- through small and slow solutions. The power we have as minority voices to create social change. The impact that being face-to-face with others can have in engaging with and resolving the issues facing our community and the broader world. This is a conversation about sitting with things that are often uncomfortable, but necessary for transforming the world we have into the one we want to see. Find out more about Rhonda and her work at permaculturedesignmagazine.com and shelteringhills.net. You’ll find links to those, and so much more, in the resource section of the show notes. 

Get in Touch
Leave a comment below.

Resources:
Permaculture Design Magazine
Sheltering Hills Design, LLC
Small and Slow-Solutions: IPC India 2017
Safer Spaces Agreement
Great Rivers and Lake Permaculture Institute
How to Conduct a Community Inventory (Transition US)
Sociocracy aka Dynamic Governance (Wikipedia)
Dynamic Governance: A New System for Better Decisions (Triple Pundit)
Restorative Justice Restorative Circles Permaculture and The Commons. Permaculture Design Magazine #103 (February 2017)
Radical Faeries
Why Mobile Technology Matters for the World’s Nomadic Peoples

During this interview we talk about natural building and designing for disasters, including the nature of and increase in these problems; the role of our ecological impacts on what is occurring; what we can do to prepare ourselves for these eventualities; a better definition for what we should call a disaster; what we can do personally and systemically to bring about preventative change so we can be proactive rather than reactive; and why we need to abandon the concept of sustainability. Quite a lot to cover, but all applicable to your daily permaculture practices. -- Oliver and I did have another conversation not long after recording this one, in which he recorded me for an episode of the Abundant Edge Podcast on how we can live regeneratively without abandoning society. -- For Patreon supporters, I’m giving away a copy of the book Oliver mentioned, The Hand-Sculpted House (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2002). Look for that in your feed on Wednesday, April 18, and I’ll draw the winner on Thursday, April 26. Not a Patreon supporter but want to enter? Go to Patreon.com/permaculturepodcast, select the reward level that suits your needs, and sign up today.

Get in Touch with the Show
Leave a comment below.

Resources:
Abundant Edge Abundant Edge Facebook Page (Company)
The Abundant Edge Facebook Page (Podcast)
Cob Cottage Company
Cob Cottage Company Apprenticeship
The Hand-Sculpted House (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2002)
How to live regeneratively without abandoning society with Scott Mann, - - where Oliver interviews me.
Why Cape Town is Running Out of Water, and Who’s Next (NatGeo)

Drawing on her years of experience in the landscape and her neighborhood, Amy shares what we can do to grow in small yards and gardens by considering our edges, looks at the difference we can make in our pantry if we grow for ourselves or in our wallet if we grow for market, and also shares her thoughts on what the future of permaculture holds as the ethics and principles are put into practice by people adapt these ideas to where they are and through their interests.

You can find out more about her and all she spoke about at tenthacrefarm.com/permaculturepodcast.

What do you think of what Amy shared with us today? How are you building a longer table instead of a higher fence? Let me know. Leave a comment below.

Resources: 
Tenth Acre Farm - Page for Permaculture Podcast listeners
Cincinnati Permaculture Institute

I’ve wanted to speak to Philip for a number of years, ever since first hearing him in an NPR piece about Green Mountain College. At the time I enjoyed the way he spoke about food and food issues, particularly the turn of phrase, “anonymous, pre-packaged meat” when referring to the way we are disconnected from the animals and plants we eat when purchasing them from a grocery store.

Our conversation begins with how he came to farming and teach at Green Mountain College and then move into the story of Mals, a farming community in Italy that pushed back against the ingress of modern industrial agriculture. Throughout the conversation you’ll find suggestions for what one can do to engage in local, state, or national political action.

If after listening to Philip you have questions or comments, leave a comment below and we can continue the conversation. 

Resources
A Precautionary Tale (Chelsea Green Publishing)
Toppling Goliath: How Mals became the first town in the world to outlaw pesticides
Brunnenburg Castle (Wiki)

Julie and the other families in the network practice holistic management to serve as an example to others that handling resources in this way is desirable and accessible. They help to train and demonstrate the manners and methods, while also providing consulting, monitoring, auditing, and incubating new entrepreneurs throughout the bioregion.

Find out more about Julie and her work with Tallgrass Network at tallgrassnetwork.com.

What do you think of this conversation with Julie? Can you see the potential for whole farm planning and Holistic Management in your permaculture design? Let me know your thoughts on this or anything else by leaving a comment below.

Resources
Tallgrass Network
Kansas Rural Network
Savory Institute
Holistic Management 3rd Edition by Allan Savory (Island Press)
Farmer Girl Meats
Mettenburg Farm
Byron Shelton
Brittany Cole Bush - Modern Day Urban Shepherdess

What they offer, though steeped in the Sonoran Desert, is something universal that you can replicate wherever you are to increase the understanding of seasonality, native plants and foraging, and also to grow the connections of your community through food.

Find out more about Desert Harvesters and Eat Mesquite and More!at Desert Harvesters.org.

If you’d like to find out more about their individual work, Brad is at harvestingrainwater.com and Jill is at lorenziniworks.com.

What I like about this interview is the way that Brad and Jill dig into the idea that supporting local habitat matters. If we care for the spaces around us, including those native edible plants and the local watershed, we can protect it. By tending those spaces, especially our neighborhood, we bring those plants that we want to grow and eat into our yards and gardens. Then, though we still forage among the plants when ripe and edible, we no longer have to go into the often fragile ecosystems where, in the words of Bob Theis, the land doesn’t need us to inflict ourselves on it. There is good land and growing space around most of us, whether that is a few pots on a windowsill, a planter box in a window, a rooftop garden, or a large sprawling garden.

I also like this idea of bringing things in because of my permaculture teachers' encouragement to encourage the non-use and expansion of Zone 5, the wilderness, wherever it exists, by bringing the other Zones inward. Tending a space, especially an urban one, with rare and interesting plants creates a new source to protect them. A refuge for this life, and our own.

If you’re interested in creating a habitat for native plants, once you have your copy of Eat Mesquite and More! I recommend picking up Dr. Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home. Using his years of experience as an entomologist and current research, he shows these plants that co-evolved with other life can have on supporting diversity in our backyard and bioregion. I also want to suggest another book worth reading, relating to what Brad shared about his experience teaching in Zimbabwe and the recognition that there are food forests all around us, and that is Save Three Live by the late Robert Rodale. This is an important book to read as a permaculture practitioner to understand the ways we can use our skills and knowledge to create an understanding of the abundance of nature and to create systems that insulate ourselves, our families, and our communities, from disasters.

If you have any questions or thoughts after listening to this conversation with Jill Lorenzini and Brad Lancaster of Desert Harvesters, leave a comment to get in touch.

Resources
Buy Eat Mesquite and More! direct from Desert Harvesters Desert Harvesters main page
Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot
Punch Woods Endowment Grant
The Future Eaters
Bringing Nature Home
Save Three Lives (Thriftbooks)

Related Interviews
Brad Lancaster - Water Harvesting 
Brad Lancaster - The Desert Harvesters