Couldn't find your way out of a cardigan? Get into natural navigation with Tristan Gooley, award winning and bestselling author, expedition leader, and nicknamed "The Sherlock Holmes of Nature" by the BBC. What I love about Tristan is that he is first and foremost a practitioner of fun, about how great it feels to notice nature's signs and clues, about the fizzy thrill of uncorking our ancestral problem solving skills.  If you, like me, long to read the landscape and find your way through...

Elisa Rathje lives on a small farm, on a small island, telling microscopic stories of resilience.  She's an artist, writer, filmmaker, podcaster, unschooler, grower, permaculturalist,  goatherd and goose mistress whose work has fed me, and so many others, for years. From Appleturnover Farm on Salt Spring Island (in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Vancouver Island and Canada), Elisa documents slow, simple approaches to skilling up and rooting down, normalising the...

Jade Miles is a very special mate of mine. I turned up on her doorstep as a WWOOFer in 2018 and we got on like asparagus and eggs, which is what we had for dinner that night if I recall correctly.  You probs know Jade as the host of the Futuresteading podcast, keeper of Black Barn Farm and writer of the most personal and compelling instagram captions in all the land.  I love that Jade is consciously bridging the personal/professional schism, exploring ways to bring her whole, complex self...

I just polished off my last jar of blackberry jam and it's only April, which is why I need today's guest to assist me in the finer arts of sustainable homesteading.  It's Mara Ripani of Village Dreaming and Orto cooking school, a force of and for nature with a passion for greening cities, growing food, permaculture, preserving food, baking bread and sowing seeds.  Mara is about as earthed as its possible to be while still having a social media presence, propagating skills of from-scratch...

Are you keen to join the dots between parenting and activism? Want to grow a beautiful parallel paradigm in and through and with the yoof?  I'm not a parent, but I am someone who believes that our "impact" starts at home; that the work of our times begins with ourselves and the beings in our orbit.  So I reached out to one of the greatest women I know who also happens to be a parenthood black belt. Her name is Devon Harris and she's here to school us in Aware Parenting, which is a...

Leaves and loam, feather and bone, it's Patrick Jones from Artist as Family!  Patrick is Meg Magpie Ulman's partner in permaculture neopeasantry, father of Blackwood and Zephyr, creature of Tree Elbow, songsmith, wordsmith, goatherd, grower, speaker, radical homemaker and reverential rubbish collector, most often seen on two wheels towing a load of scrap wood as one might bear a royal being, carried in a scared procession.  In this conversation Patrick shares a really special story about...

It's all very well to forage weeds and track wombats, weave baskets from willow and walk barefoot cross country... but how do you stay wild in the city? With kids? With a face-sucking phone in your pocket? Claire Dunn is a good person to ask about these things, being a key figure in Australia's rewilding movement and uncommonly balanced advocate for undomestication.  If you don't know Claire, she's a writer, speaker, barefoot explorer, rewilding facilitator and founder of Nature's...

Dr. Yin Paradies is a loving tearer downerer of teetering assumptions, a recalibrator of compasses, an Aboriginal-Asian-Anglo Australian conducting deep research on racism, anti-racism, Indigenous knowledges and decolonisation.  Despite inhabiting a comfortable burrow in academia as the Chair of Race Relations at Deakin University, he's also an anarchist, an animist, a trickster, a disruptor and a sage voice on so many topics that Reskillience is interested in. This is one of those convos...

Have you considered the backstory of your leather shoes? Are you curious about the process that transforms raw hides into luxurious handbags? Do you wonder how tanning relates to personal and collective resilience? Ever thought about nature connection through the lens of Attachment Theory? If so, my guest today is sure to massage your mind.  It's Josh McLean, a social worker and Bush Adventure Therapy Facilitator who also happens to be an expert in the lost art of hide tanning.  You might...

David Holmgren is the co-originator of Permaculture, self-aware contrarian and contemplator of everything.  I'm lucky enough to be part of his extended household, so rather than shooting the breeze about the state of the world while sowing parsnips I figured I better bloody well get him on the podcast.  We dig into David's own internal landscape as well as the contours of his life at Melliodora, and I was especially eager to quiz him about land sharing and housing alternatives; prime...

Today's yakkity yak is with one of the most radical women in permaculture -- and you know how wild those permies can be. It's Su Dennett! Life partner of David Holmgren and unspoken ruler of the roost at Melliodora. Su is a seventy seven year old inspiration, a permaculture matriarch and precious repository of ye old skillz. I sat down with her in the teahouse, a few moons ago now, and record this conversation. (This was actually the first interview I ever recorded for Reskillience, so don't...

I'm not a doctor – though I wish I was because who wouldn't want to take their petrified child to see Dr Payne? However, I did study herbal medicine and practice as a naturopath, which could be why so many folks still get in touch with me about plant medicine.  So! To all those green appreciators out there – wannabe witches, budding shamans, dandelion disciples, mullein maestros, burdock rockers, sage mages… this episode with Taj Scicluna is for you.   You might know Taj as The Perma Pixie,...

Throw a chicken bone in the cogs of the never-say-die machine with this week's convo about DEATHHHHH.  Not going to coat this one in plum sauce and call it "spare ribs" – today Beck Lowe and I go the whole hog on keeping animals, killing animals, and why to hone that skill if you LOVE animals. Get around it. Beck Lowe's home on the web [https://becklowe.com.au/] Book ~ Our Street by Beck Lowe + David Holmgren [https://store.holmgren.com.au/product-category/authors/beck-lowe/] Podcast ~...

Oh happy day, it's Jordan Osmond from Happen Films!  Happen Films is one of the most powerful portals of inspiration in the sustainability space; not just trotting out the same old green living tropes but laying new turf, sharing fringe ideas about how to care for land, be in community, and live the change.  I was stoked to sit down with Jordan now that he's back in Australia and quiz him about filmmaking, changemaking and finances – and like good little optimists, we only mentioned...

Can rocks be your besties? Are the shadows safer? How does Deer Medicine help women avoid becoming prey?  Get into this conversation with adventurer, wilderness guide and creature of place Suzy Muir – who, alongside her intrepid husband Jon Muir – live a radically simple off grid existence in the Grampians.  I was lucky enough to meet Suzy in her natural habitat, purely by chance, and have considered her a friend and mentor ever since. Her stories and wisdom and wildness may just have the...

Can we tempt you sell your car, compost your shit and embrace a life of joyful frugality?  You don't have to answer right away. Listen to this conversation with Meg Ulman of Artist as Family to hear what a radically connected lifeway is all about.  We cover a lot of ground in this episode from growing up Jewish and getting intentional about time, to forest names, bush kids, menopause and grief.  GOOD LINKS Meg + Artist as Family's home on the web [https://artistasfamily.is/] Artist as...

A convo about the collapse of civilization may not be everyone's cuppa tea, but a spoonful of Dave Pollard makes the medicine go down! And today Dave is bringing the sweetness to episode one of Reskillience for a Big Hairy Chat about the End Times – that ain't so scary after all.  We discuss what "collapse" means, skills that can help us cope and adapt, why communitarianism is where it's at, and how to catch each other when The Shit Hits The Fan.  Dave is a writer and longtime student of...