The Regenerative Journey with Charlie Arnott

In this episode Charlie chats to Rebecca Sullivan. Rebecca Sullivan grew up in a family with a conventional attitude to food. A life changing incident at an Italian feast, rocked her appreciation and reverence for food culture and tradition, setting her on a trajectory of championing the rights of farmers, rediscovering long forgotten food traditions and the creation of a co-culture indigenous food production business. Head over here to see show notes and links.

Charlie caught up with Melissa Brown during an 'Introduction to Biodynamics' workshop Charlie was facilitating at and Melissa was hosting at her Biodynamic vineyard in the McLaren Vale region of South Australia. Melissa's dedication to working in partnership with nature, to produce extraordinary wine and to teach her customers the principles and practices of organic farming is inspiring. This interview is a must for anyone wanting to understand how working with nature and focusing on soil is the key to regenerative farming. Head over here to see show notes and links.

Stuart Austin is fast becoming an expert and well respected advocate of building soil carbon, as well as a well known practitioner of regenerative farming on the collection of Wilmot Cattle Co properties. Charlie caught up with Stuart to delve into his journey from farm boy in southern NSW, ringer from the top end of Australia, recruiter of ranch hands in Canada, to general manager of the Wilmot Cattle Company in NSW. Head over here to see show notes and links.

From hunger strikes at university to becoming the president of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, Tammi Jonas has always fought for the rights of others. In this episode Charlie explores Tammi's colourful history of advocacy and food production. She is a beacon of inspiration for anyone wanting to create their own self sufficient farming enterprise, as experienced by Charlie whilst visiting Tammi at Jonai Farms in country Victoria for this episode. Head over here to see show notes and links.

Maggie Beer is one of Australia's best-known cooks, fresh food advocates, rural community supporters, and on farm restauranteur icons. Charlie caught up with Maggie at her home in The Barossa Valley, surrounded by quince, citrus and medlar trees, to explore a life filled with passion, energy, flare, and a tenacious will to feed people good old fashioned farm produce. Head over here to see show notes and links.

In the first Episode of Season 4 our podcast host Charlie Arnott picks up the mic and provides a preview of what's in store for Season 4 including information about some of his illustrious guests that will be joining him in the coming months. Charlie also takes to his soap box to talk about the highly topical Covid 19 situation currently being felt Australia wide. Head over here to see show notes and links.

Darren Doherty is a self confessed regenerative integrationist and the conversation he had with Charlie certainly supports that description of this multi-talented consultant, environmentalist and landscape manager. Charlie explores with Darren his career from growing up in Bendigo, Victoria, his days in hospitality and connection with producers, through to his current world renowned landscape and holistic management consulting business 'Regrarians', unearthing a wealth of wisdom and experience in this last episode for Season 3. Episode Takeaways and links to follow.

In part 2 of the short interviews Charlie recorded at the Regionality 'Farm 2 Plate Exchange recently he spoke with the author of 'Call of the Reed Warbler', Charlie Massy, one of Australia most celebrated chefs and 'keeping it local' advocate Christine Manfield, organic dairy farmer extraordinaire Chris Eggert, food writer, farmer, TV personality and chef Matthew Evans, and Shannon Kelly, first generational farmer and a Joel Salatin disciple. The mix of guests ensures all food and farmer tastes and inclinations are satisfied in this epic 2 hour episode. Episode Links : Farm2Plate Exchange 2021 organised by Regionality Interview 1 (00:04:00) | Charles Massy regenerative farmer & author of the 'Call of the Reed Warbler' Interview 2 (00:24:23) | Christine Manfield chef & writer Interview 3 (00:47:45) | Chris Eggert organic dairy farmer Interview 4 (01:10:48) | Matt Evans farmer, TV personality, chef & author Interview 5 (01:37:06) | Shannon Kelly regenerative farmer

In this compilation episode, Charlie interviews a number of presenters at Regionality's 2021 'Farm2Plate Exchange' Conference. Part 1 features interviews with Rose Wright, Founder & MD of Regionality; legendary indigenous foods advocate, farmer & writer Bruce Pascoe; Dr Georgina Davis, CEO of Queensland Farmers Federation; regenerative farming stalwart Stuart Larsson of Mara Seeds & Soft Agriculture; award winning dairy farmer Kay Tommerup & Part 1 closes with up and coming water warrior Kate McBride. Episode Links : Farm2Plate Exchange 2021 organised by Regionality Interview 1 (00:04:21) | Rose Wright (Regionality | Founder & Managing Director) Interview 2 (00:35:47) | Prof. Peter Pascoe (writer) book collection includes Dark Emu (2014) Interview 3 (01:01:25) | Dr. Georgina Davis (CEO) - Queensland Farmers Federation Interview 4 (01:20:52) | Stuart Larsson (Managing Director - Mara Seeds) Interview 5 (01:41:59) | Kay Tommerup (Farmer) - Tommerup's Dairy Farm Interview 6 (02:01:14) | Kate McBride (Farmer)

Charlie caught up with Dave Westbrook at Hanaminno for this interview which tracks Dave's journey from cropping farm boy, through to owning his own grazing farm and business, family succession challenges, development of his farm management skills through the Farm Owners Academy, and subsequent training as a farm business coach. Dave has a compelling and enlightening story to tell and does so in a very open and values based way. Episode Takeaways: There has always been a big pull towards the Australian nature and landscape for Dave | He grew up on a cropping farm on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia | His father helped him buy a farm on Kangaroo Island (KI) where his wife Becky had grown up and he no experience with livestock | There was a honeymoon period of 2 years until Dave started to really research and set goals and started to hit his KPI's | 'Quirky cooking' cooking resource helped Dave and Becky address their daughter's eczema skin condition with the GAPS (Gut And Psychology Syndrome) diet | The results of using food and looking at health differently was a catalyst for Dave looking at managing his farm more regeneratively - if we can heal the body can we heal land? Dave and Becky joined up as clients to the Farm Owners Academy (FOA) in 2015 and have been in the Platinum program for 3 years | Greg Johnsson of FOA had been advising Dave on Kangaroo Island prior to joining FOA | FOA is a values focused training program and Dave was able to identify his true values through the program and set a new course in life and farming with these values as the guiding principles | Life is often about finding the balance between time and money, and we spend our lives on the ladders of life, of either the ladder of purpose or ladder of ego | Dave was on the ladder of ego for many years feeling he had to prove himself to his father, himself and his community | Men potentially spend more time on the ego ladder | Dave uses the analogy of shooting an arrow to explain the catalyst for progress is often pain. There is pain in pulling back the arrow however this has to be experienced to move the arrow (life) forward | Dave is now a coach with FOA | Dave lost ownership of his farm on KI back to his father and essentially was made an employee of the business | Personal development and FOA were essential in guiding Dave through this period | He now helps farmers through his coaching with their accountability and achieving their goals. Anger is a symptom of fear | Journaling and affirmations are a big part of Dave's life and for his clients | 'Look good, feel good, play good' is one of Dave's mantras | Win your morning, elevate your life | 20:20:20 - spend the first hour of your day split into 20 minutes sections - 20 workout, 20 meditations and/or journaling and/or affirmations | 20 education, listen to a podcast, read a book | The happy hormone serotonin is released from gut when working out | Robin Sharman's areas of life to focus on - heart set, health set, mind set and soul set | Women are more proactive in change | Farmers who go off on a spiritual journey are the happiest they have been - their lives flow. More time, more money, their families' are happy. Wayne Dye - "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" | It's exciting to know that there are 1000's of years of knowledge for us to learn | When I slowed down, everything sped up - a hard paradigm to break through | Always live above the line | We don't own our kids | Children need 2 things in life - love & chores! Episode Links : Dave Westbook AKA @adventurefarmer Evie and the Bushfire - Becky Westbrook (children's book) Farm Owners Academy (FOA) Profitable Farmer - FOA podcast Quirky Cooking - Jo Whitton GAPS (Gut And Psychology Syndrome) Robin Sharmar - leadership expert