This conversation was sparked by the FFCC’s inspiring Food Conversation – which brings together ordinary people and begins to unpick the web of deceit surrounding our food – and replaces it with something that is real and decent and nourishing on a physical and systemic level.
Our guests today are two remarkable women who bring energy, commitment and deep thought into building communities of food both nationally and internationally, in bringing ancient local species back from the brink of extinction and rediscovering, or in some cases, building anew the local technology that’ll help to rebuild the communities of place that have been focused on food for millennia and only recently been eroded. They are both masterful storytellers, bringing enthusiasm and the spark of hope to something that touches us all.
A moving and deeply authentic conversation with Claire Whittle about her journey from traditional large animal vet to advocate for the human capacity to engage with the natural world, for our ability to become a positive keystone species and for farming to become a lower stressed, lower input, far more wholistic experience than it generally is.
We know we need to eat real food, but how do we make this happen? Hodmedod’s is leading the way in linking farmers to people to make the best of the land.
How does soil health intimately and profoundly impact human health? What’s the link between the soil microbiome and the human gut microbiome? How can we begin to restore our health, and the health of the living earth in concert with each other?
How can we heal our relationship with the earth, heal ourselves and feed the world good, nutrient-dense food?
In this, our 200th episode, I am delighted to be joined by André Tranquilini, estate manager at Waltham Place, a 220 acred biodynamic estate in Berkshire, in the UK.
Building community out of the remnants of our fractured culture – connecting to each other and the land – is how we’ll get through. Elisa Rathje is doing just this – and making TV of the process.
Permaculture is so much more than simply a way to connect people to the land and the growing of food: it’s a way we can bring all of ourselves to the project of total systemic change: our minds, bodies, spirits, hearts – and the practicality of what we do.
How do we make the case for a fully ecological farming system, that can feed all of us, while restoring the bio-sphere and providing affordable, nutritious food. How can we become a good keystone species – and what does that mean? This second episode with Chris Smaje, explores his new book, ‘Saying No to a Farm Free Future: The Case for an Ecological Food System and against Manufactured Foods.’
How do we bring artists, scientists, policy makers, educators, conservationists, journalists, and all the different siloed tribes together in ways that let them genuinely communicate and listen to the web of life?
Sheep have had a bad press recently, With Yuli Somme, we bring them back to centre stage, celebrating their place in our living biosphere.
We are in a global meta-crisis and need global solutions – but how do we find them in a world where everyone exists in political, economic or business silos? Nicola Peel is a ‘Solutionist’, dedicated to finding answers to exactly these questions – and then creating change in the world.