Creative Destruction - Honest Conversations About Farming, Business, And Life

Set yourself up for success by having realistic plans and expectations for the first year. Match your lifestyle and your budgeting to those realistic expectations. If you are going to start out farming with a gun to the head survival mentality then it makes things very hard. Long term learning gets displaced for the need to put money into the till today. Work to learn, not to earn. The goal is to farm for a career. Not make a bunch of money this year and then do something else next year. And the only way to do that is day after day for the long run, learning as much as you can in the process. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/tuf31

Darren Doherty presents the Regrarian Platform. This is Darren's introductory presentation that he gave at Grant Schultz's Versaland in October 2014. The presentation lays out the ten key components of the regarian platform - climate, geography, water, access, forestry, buildings, fences, soils, marketing, and energy. This episode focuses on the introduction, geography, and climate. This episode is the part of a four part series - episodes b032, 033, 034, 035. The workshop was open source, so thanks to Darren for allowing me to share this with you all. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/b32

Today's show is another remarkable story of another entrepreneur, a permaculture entrepreneur. It's the story of someone who went from being an anti-money activist to running a $1M permaculture design and build business. A business that catches millions of gallons of water, builds soil on hundreds of acres, plants hundreds of useful trees every year, restores native habit, redesigns our cites our schools and new developments. It is a success story that is 10 years in the making. And one was almost derailed a few times along the way. But just like with Harland Sanders, it was persistence and a strong belief in what he was doing that allowed my guest today, Erik Ohlsen of Permaculture Artisans, to continue his vision and build it into a $1M design business. If you don't think that permaculture based business can be profitable or be big, here's an example of one to change your mind... Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/cd6

Big isn't always better. More just for the sake of having more is pointless. Just because you have access to more land doesn't mean you need to take it. If you are getting bigger then you better have a reason why you are getting bigger... If you are thinking about expanding stop and ask why? Does it fit within the overall plan that you have for your business, your farm, and your life? If not, then don't do it. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/tuf30

While the presentation will focus on plant propagation for a profit from a small/backyard nursery stand point if you want a successful permaculture business you will want to attend this talk. Within permaculture perennial plants represent an extreme expense and an incredible opportunity. In this 60 minute presentation Jack Spirko will bring his 20 years of business management, marketing, technology and sales experience to the plant propagation niche. This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015. To watch this presentation visit permaculturevoices.com/b31.

Today's show is about time. Specifically how precious our tiem is, and how we ought not to waste it. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This is one of the most common regrets that people have at the end of their lives. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people don't honor even a half of their dreams and die knowing that it is due to choices they had made, or not made. How many people listening to this have unfilled dreams? How many people are really living their lives the way they want? How many people are listening to this as they drive drive to or from a job that they really don't like and in a perfect world wouldn't be doing? A type of job that they only go to pay the bills because they have kids, a mortgage, etc, etc.. A lot of people live that life. And that's a life of fear disguised as practicality. It's a sad way to live, because life is

Think about how much work you do on the farm now. How much of that work is actually being done efficiently and effectively? Are you making the best use of your time by focusing on the 20% of the tasks that generate the most return? Getting rid of crops can actually be a good thing. It allow you to work more efficiently and effectively by focusing on the task at hand instead of always trying to keep you head above water. It's very hard for any one person to do many things well, but each of us can do a few things really well. Crops are no different. And odds are you can grow a few crops a lot better than you can grow a lot of crops. Take a look at your farm and the crops that you grow. Which crops generate 20% of your revenue? And how would your farm and life look if you just focused on those? Get a copy of Curtis's new book via the show notes at permaculturevoices.com/tuf29

Learn practical tips to leverage this powerful and often misunderstood marketing tool. This talk will teach you to focus on generating farm revenue while avoiding the popularity contest trap. This talk was presented at PV1 in March 2014. See the slides at permaculturevoices.com/b030.

Today's episode focuses on fear. Fear is a very powerful motivator for humans. It's part of what keeps us alive. But it's also what holds us back. It holds us back by taking over our mind. Stalling our actions because we are afraid of imaginary, un-quantifiable, or low odd outcomes. There's a big difference between being scared in shark infested waters and being scared about the sea level rising and flooding global coast lines. One could literally lead to death and other might not even happen. Yet a lot of people are paralyzed by the state of planet. Paralyzed by events that may or may not play our as predicted in their lifetime. And while these people remain paralyzed by fear over these future events, life goes by. And with it a lot of other things take place which should have a higher level of fear associated with them. Let's dig into this concept a little bit and see if we try to rationalize all this fear. Thanks for listening to this episode of Creative Destruction. For notes related to this episode visit

How can you a lot mistakes and wasting valuable resources by overproducing a crop, and the inverse of that, not producing enough? Good record keeping. Records on the farm are extremely valuable. When you start to get a few years of records and can notice trends, those records become very valuable because the records are what dictates your future action. Action that can save you work down the line and put the right amount of product in your walk in so you can sell it. This type of planning directly translates to maximizing your farm income. And it's not actually that hard to do. Don't over-complicate it. Start by keeping simple records and get into the habit of doing it, then expand and adapt your records as time goes on. If you want to be successful as a farmer, then this is something that you need to do. It's one of the principals that has made Curtis as successful as he is. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/tuf28.

Is there a place for permaculture principles in a bio-intensive approach to successful ( and profitable) small-scale vegetable production? For more than a decade Jean-Martin and his wife have been making a living farming on 1.5 acres of land. Last year they sold for more than $140 000 in sales (with a profit margin of around 45 %) by selling freshly harvested vegetables trough their 140 member CSA and seasonal market stands. The secret of their success resides in the low-tech, high-yield methods of production they have developed at les Jardins de la Grelinette. This talk was presented live at PV2 in March 2015. View the slides at permaculturevoices.com/b29.

Joel Salatin speaks on successional farming - partnering the older generation with the next generation of farmers. This is an excerpt of an interview that I conducted with Joel Salatin on May 22, 2013 in Big Bear Lake, CA. Listen to another podcast with Joel at permaculturevoices.com/89

Can you accept in the beginning that what you are doing may not work? Because, guess what, it might not. But as long as you keep trying something will.. You just have to be willing to continue on until then. And if you are willing to accept that, then save yourself the time, money, and stress and quit now. This path isn't for everyone and that's fine. Regardless of what decision you make, just be content with you own decision. Do yourself a favor and think about this long and hard, because it is a life changer. 20 years from now, do you want to look back and say you went for it, or regret not going for it. Hopefully this show will lead you down the path of no regrets, and make your journey a little bit easier. More about The Urban Farmer at permaculturevoices.com/tuf27

In this talk Greg Judy talk covers the steps used to find leased land and build a multi-species grazing operation from scratch. Livestock can be a blessing or a curse. It's all in the management. With smart management livestock become a multiplier on the landscape. By using a variety of livestock to manage the forages it allows better utilization of plants. Harvesting much more solar energy through the wide selection of different plant leaves. This is a message that Greg Judy has come to learn, live by, and not preach. Greg's story is remarkable. He is someone that went from almost broke to financially successfully and paying off his farm and house in three years. He did it by grazing cattle on land that he didn't own, leased land. This talk was presented live at PV1 in March 2014. Greg will be speaking at PV3 in March 2016. Learn more about Greg at permaculturevoices.com/b28.

Denis Hayes talks about a lifetime of work in environmentalism - the challenges, successes, the changing environmental problems, and how he has endured numerous political changes in Washington. Denis was the organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, headed the Solar Energy Research Institute under President Carter, and is now president of the Bullitt Foundation. In 1999 Time Magazine named him Hero of the Planet. In this episode we go through his early life in a polluted Washington paper milling community to how he became an environmental activist. We also discuss the creation and organization of the first Earth Day in 1970 and how the scope of the environmental problems have changed since then. Learn more about Denis at permaculturevoices.com/cd3.

Work to learn, not to earn... Understand where you want to go, understand why you want to get into it, figure out a smart systematic way to get there, and work hard in the process. And give yourself the forgiveness to make mistakes, but have the wherewithal to analyze those mistakes so you can adapt going forward. That's what this episode is all about. Taking the time to think long term and setting yourself up for long term success in the beginning. Part of setting yourself up for success is knowing some of the common pitfalls, so you can avoid them. In this episode we delve into more common reasons why many farmers struggle. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/tuf26

Peter and Grant met at a Darren Doherty workshop in 2012 as landless farmers with the shared dream of regenerating landscapes. Since then, they’ve both landed properties, planted thousands of trees, and developed large-scale permaculture farms. They will share their stories of how they acquired land and rapidly deployed permaculture in different ways in different places, amid different contexts. Peter farms at Mastodon Valley Farm in the ridges and valleys of southwestern Wisconsin, and Grant at Versaland in the rolling hills of Iowa. This talk was presented live at PV2 in March 2015. View the slides from this presentation at permaculturevoices.com/b27.

This is an excerpt of an interview that I conducted with Joel Salatin on May 22, 2013 in Big Bear Lake, CA. Listen to another podcast with Joel at permaculturevoices.com/89

It's August 25, 2015 which means we are at the tail end of summer and shorter, cooler days are coming as fall nears. We are in one of those unique periods in the year known as the shoulder season, the transition periods at the end of one season and the beginning of another. They can be tricky time periods for farmers to navigate. Day lengths start getting shorter, temperatures start getting cooler, and the weather starts to change. As a farmer this is one of those time periods where it critical to be able to adapt. You need to be able to understand the changes that are taking place in your biome and plan your crop rotations accordingly. With an ever changing climate each situation is different and each climate is different, making these shoulder seasons tough to explain. This episode should shine some light on the topic and give you a general approach that works. It's this approach, and methodology, that lies at the core of every farmers ability to adapt. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/tuf25

Appropriate technology plays a critical role in permaculture systems. Developing, documenting, and sharing these tools and systems can turn dreamers into true permaculture practitioners. Grant will discuss home and hot water heating using regenerative energy sources, year-round food preservation in a permacultural context, and functional transport including cargo bikes among other topics. This talk was presented live at PV2 in March 2015 by Grant Schultz of Versaland.com. Learn more about Grant at permaculturevoices.com/b26