Tag Archives: permaculture

Rethinking the Backyard Homestead – Epi-3814

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Everyone wants land. Land land and more land. I need 80 jillion acres, cattle and pigs. Do you though? An intensively managed small holding is more than most people really need. Today we will discuss how you can meet a ton of your needs for food, fiber and medicine on even a .25-.75 acre lot. We will also learn a lot about strategy and context and how those lead to proper implementation of tactics and techniques. Join Me Today to Discuss… First we must develop context Strategy begets tactics and techniques Interviewing yourself like you are your own client Do … Continue reading →

Oaks, Fodder Trees & Homestead Resilience – Epi-3810

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Nick Ferguson is a Permaculture Designer, Ecosystem Engineer, and international consultant with over a decade of professional experience designing resilient properties coast to coast in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Certified under Geoff Lawton at the Permaculture Research Institute Australia, Nick transforms land into self sufficient systems using function stacking, regenerative agriculture, and holistic design. Nick is also a long time friend of mine and a go to expert for TSP listeners looking for help with plants, fodder systems, and homestead ecosystem design. Over the years he has worked with landowners around the world helping them design landscapes that … Continue reading →

10 Unusual and New Plants for your Garden – 3805

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Today I cover 10 edible plants you can grow in your garden.  All of them are highly pest resistant, nutrient dense, great to eat and I will bet you haven’t even heard of at least half of them.  And for another bonus all but one are perennial. Gardening season is just ahead of use and everyone will be planting the usual suspects.  Tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, squash, beans and many other well knowns will soon be all over America’s gardens and tables but these 10 all deserve consideration.  Many of these are actually wild plants, others basically wild with just … Continue reading →

Raised Bed Gardening Primer for 2026 – Epi-3797

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We are just a few days from Valentines day.  For me that is when I want most of my seeds started for spring set out.  I use that date as a cut off because I tend to set my plants out starting about March 15th.  This is also the time of year when my inbox starts to heat up with questions about the coming garden season and one topic always exceeds all others.  No not which variety of tomato to plant, not which fertility aid to use or what to use for mulch.  No the number one question is always … Continue reading →

Biochar & the End of Sell-Out Farming – Epi-3794

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Zack Farr is a third generation Florida farmer who watched working land get chewed up and paved over while everyone pretended it was progress. Instead of cashing out, he walked away from a corporate job and went back home to try to make land pay again. That path led him somewhere unexpected, burned citrus piles, stubborn plants, and eventually biochar. In this episode we dig into what biochar actually is, why it works, and how turning wood waste into carbon can rebuild soil, clean water, and keep land in production. Zack tells the real story, not theory, not grant buzzwords. … Continue reading →

Static Pile Composting Methods – Epi-3712

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There are many ways to make compost but they fall into three primary methods with many overlapping on some levels.  But from a macro level almost all compost can be defined as being one of three methods… High Turn Thermophilic Composting – Regular turns, fast finish, what most people make Static Pile Composting – No turns, long duration, super high microbe product Macrofauna Composting – Using animals like worms, black solider fly etc. or even chickens/ducks Again there is over lap, for instance we intentionally add worms to Bioractors after the very short initial thermo cycle ends, but it is … Continue reading →

Permaculture Design in 2025 with Geoff Lawton – Epi-3701

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Today Geoff Lawton returns to TSPC as part of our meet the expert council series. We will talk about Permaculture design and how new tools like AI are changing things for the better in the modern day. The power of podcasting for community building, rehabilitating deserts, new nursery techniques for tree propagation and more. Resources for today’s show… Find Me on Nostr Article Explaining the GrowNostr Initiative Join the Members Brigade TspAz.com TSPC on Discord TSPC Group on Telegram (group chat) TSPC Telegram Channel (just messages from me) Jack on MeWe Join Me on Odysee All My Recommend Bitcoin Tools … Continue reading →

Avoiding Homestead Pitfalls with Ryan Steva – Epi-3686

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Join Expert Council Member Ryan Steva and I today to discuss the common pitfalls that can derail your homesteading journey before it even gets going. Ryan is a professional homestead consultant with boots-on-the-ground experience helping people turn raw land into thriving, resilient systems. He’s been through it all—personally and professionally—and today he’s sharing hard-won lessons from both sides of the fence. We dig into why people burn out, what causes projects to stall, and how things like perfectionism or overcommitting can sabotage even the best intentions. From water flow to workflow, we’ll unpack how subtle design decisions can make or … Continue reading →

The High Cycle Homestead – Epi-3645

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Today we discuss the concept of the “High Cycle Approach” — a simple but powerful way to rethink how resources move through a homestead. Instead of using something once and tossing it, what if you could squeeze two, three, or even five productive uses out of it before it ever left your system? That’s what high cycle thinking is all about. It’s the opposite of the modern throwaway mindset, and it builds serious resilience. In this episode, I’ll walk you through real-world homestead examples where this kind of thinking turns waste into abundance, simplifies inputs, and stacks functions like crazy. … Continue reading →

Compost, Cover and Char – Epi-3604

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Today we look at building long term and regenrative soils using my three pronged approach of… Build Increase Hold ` To accomplish this we employ three super stars of soil health. Bioactive Compost – The Builder Cover Crops and Mulch – The Increaser Biochar – The Keeper ` While all three of these play a role in each area, they each are total rock stars of their niche.  By combining them and implementing them we can build soils that will grow more than you ever though you could and last longer then you ever believed possible. If you want the … Continue reading →