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In this episode Dan Palmer from Making Permaculture Stronger enjoys a wide-ranging conversation with Darren J. Doherty from Regrarians.org. Darren and Dan explore:
- Darren’s 25-year journey with design process including:
- how he got started
- key influences along the way
- key realisations along the way
- The Regrarians Works Pattern and the Regrarians Platform
- The current state and trajectory of permaculture including why good people so often seem to leave
- The relationship of Darren and the Regrarians approach to permaculture
- much else, including the new 10 week REX® Online Farm Planning Program (that Dan is looking forward to participating in as a student)
We really hope you enjoy the episode, and please do leave a comment sharing any feedback or reflections below…
Dan and Darren recording this episode last week in Bendigo, Australia
Oh yes, one more thing – during the closing comments at the episode’s end, Dan refers to this video clip:
Loved this interview, thanks very much for sharing it. Resonated strongly with me. I really feel like we must get away from this idea that permaculture (or regen ag for that matter) is just a collection of techniques that we fit into a landscape. And as discussed get away from the hubristic idea that we know what’s best and can force the land to submit to us. There’s thing I see where designer can sometimes apply their signature to a landscape, but surely missing the point there’s a unique context at every site, which is inextricably bound with the people and wildlife that live there. So many good points in this pod. Also the bit about being incremental, pragmatic and strategic. We tried to do much in the first few years and are now learning to reign it in. Also the bit about not trying to innovate in all areas at once; ecologically, financially and socially. It takes time to build a regenerative farm based on permaculture principles and ethics. I’m really glad we’ve taken our time before planting any trees yet, just to gather info and slowly decide what might work. Top stuff chaps, keep it up.
Thanks Alex and great recap!
Fantastic interview, especially the parts about the purpose of Permaculture and how it and Regrarians fit into our culture. For me, a lot of the potential of Permaculture is in undoing the damage that we’ve done both to the landscape and ourselves, and putting things back into balance. (Whether we’ll achieve that in the face of the opposition from mainstream culture is another thing entirely though).
Many wisdoms here from the gravel-voiced Darren J. Doherty. Encouraging too to hear that he’s still good from 50m out on the flank. Darren’s encouragement to be strategic, incremental and pragmatic made a lot of sense. Likewise, not flitting onto the next thing before some mastery is obtained doing what you are (a commonly Western malaise it would seem). ‘Do it 1000 times and then you will understand’, I recall my martial arts teacher chiding me. Thanks a lot Dan.