This episode, the last episode of this podcast series, talks about where to go from here now that we have all sorts of ideas and solutions for building a better world in our backyard.

This episode explores strategies for acquiring a home without a mortgage, retiring early, and much more.

Most people spend their lives working at a job trying to get ahead, but there is another way.

Let's build natural swimming pools that are cheap, healthy, have a low footprint, and add habitat for beneficial creatures.

Building one's own home is not for the faint of heart, but this design might be a path for some that could bring great rewards.

How could permaculture work on 20,000 acres?

Flushing blackwater is like flushing away free fertilizer! We can use it, but we need to be careful to do it safely!

Reducing the amount of water that goes into septic or sewer systems will result in a much higher concentration of toxins, which should hopefully ring more alarm bells to properly reduce our toxic footprints.

Learning from nature, caring for animals can help us increase the amount of plants growing on a plot.

The solution to colony collapse disorder is easy: stop stressing the bees.

Let's explore ways to care for a lawn that require much less irrigation and allow us to eliminate the need for fertilizer and weed control at the same time.

By emulating nature and growing plants in a polyculture, we can eliminate the need for conventional pest control and fertilization while making better use of the water and sunlight falling on our plants.

This episode shares two strategies for building soil and reducing the need for irrigation.

Trees stabilize soil, increase moisture, provide shelter, deliver free mulch, sequester carbon, and can provide delicious food!

There are superior strategies to tilling that lead to better growth and require less water and nutrients.

By emulating nature, we can grow most plants just by putting the seeds in the ground, or even better, allowing plants to seed themselves year after year, auto-selecting for the best varieties for our specific plot.

Growing our own food can dramatically reduce our footprints, while also allowing us to save money and eat healthier food.

Eating food grown in a way that mimics nature can drastically reduce our footprints and help us live happier, healthier lives.

Shawn talks about community living and the big benefit it can have for the environment - if we can get past some of the challenges.

Shawn talks about how to have a clean and healthy home while eliminating the use of toxic substances that are completely unnecessary.

Shawn introduces rocket mass heaters, super efficient wood-fired heaters that are pretty much smokeless and use one tenth of the wood of a conventional wood stove.

Shawn shares tips and tricks for cutting your heat bill by as much as 90%, saving hundreds of dollars per year and drastically reducing your carbon footprint!