Tag: permaculture

Our Bright Future

Our Bright Future #19: Jim Gale – Food Forests for Free, Healthy, Abundant Communities

If you are ever fortunate enough to meet Jim Gale in person, know this – the man is LIT. He has a special gleam in his eye and an enthusiastic, warm hello and powerful hug for anyone he meets. He is a man living a clear purpose, determined to make a difference in the world. And he clearly has the means – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – to do it. His mission could be defined as “freedom”, of all types. His main vehicle: Permaculture Food Forests – that can fit anywhere and provide freedom everywhere.

We had the distinct pleasure of meeting Jim last month on a trip to Florida. While planning for this interview, we visited his current project, a small, vibrant and growing freedom village in central Florida, and got the chance to meet and interact with Jim and his team.

Immediately upon arrival, we sensed something very special about this place and the people too. Jim walked us through the community’s many large and abundant gardens, plots of land, large pond, chicken house and even a gun range. Most of all, what you find here is a vision to change the world in action. Jim’s goal is to create a thriving community here, all self-sustained through food grown on the land with everyone focused on freedom and standing resilient in the coming storm.

(Click the title above to learn more and register for this “Our Bright Future” session)

Our Bright Future

Our Bright Future #8: Stephen Brooks on Building Thriving, Sustainable Communities for a New Earth, Aligned with Nature

Many of us are focused right now on building community, and more specifically, on how local community resilience will be key to our survival and thriving as centralized systems come apart, and the world shifts to one that is more local, rooted in bonds of affection, and aligned with nature.

How do we rebuild our society at the local level? What designs for ecologically sound and sustainable communities do we have to learn from? What will help us make the transition, and what can we learn from the community-building trailblazers who have come before us?

We begin this conversation in the Our Bright Future series with Stephen Brooks the remarkable founder of La Ecovilla and the Punta Mona Center for Regenerative Design & Botanical Studies, both located in Costa Rica.

Our Bright Future

Our Bright Future #6: Ben Falk – Becoming Resilient as the World Shifts: Growing our Food, Creating an Independent Homestead, and Regenerating Our Land and Food Systems

This year, as many of the systems and structures we had taken for granted have been called into question or directly threatened, there has been a rising interest, in our community and others, for greater self-sufficiency. Many of us have been called to more empowered, self-sufficient lives in line with nature and community for some time. Now the impetus is here for us to create a new way of living.

How do we grow homes and communities that are decentralized, resilient, and sustainable? How do we rise to meet this moment, and empower ourselves with the skills necessary to create what we need, independent of government systems and centralized economies? 

Ben Falk was among the leaders who realized early that the current system of dependency was doomed to expire. For 17 years, he has been testing high-yield, regenerative food and energy practices on his land at the Whole Systems Research Farm (WSRF) and homestead, and teaching others how to develop their own self-sustaining homesteads, farms, and schools. We can all feel that this way of living, in harmony with the land and our local communities, is the way of the future. And it is exactly what we need right now, as our world transforms rapidly.

In this both visionary and highly practical conversation, we cover:

~ Why are our current systems of food production failing? Where are the threats to our survival based on the current dependencies?

~ What will rise to take its place? How do we build resilient and regenerative systems of food production that support us to live in abundance?

~ What are the key features of Ben’s Whole Systems Research Farm? How did he transform a beat-up piece of land into a highly biodiverse and productive ecosystem?

~ What actions can we take today to “harness the transition away from a consumer society that belittles our own humanity to an organizing force that fosters individual empowerment?”

~ How does one get started with a piece of land to build a resilient, self-sufficient homestead? 

~ What are the first steps to take to grow food to support your family? What are key things to know and do heading into the upcoming winter in terms of food storage and conservation?

~ What are the most important things to focus on now in becoming adaptive and resilient in the face of the changes now underway in our world and societies? What are the first steps toward a resilient, self-sustaining lifestyle?


Please click to learn more and register!