Ben Falk Interview with Regenerative Skills Oliver Goshey

[@Nvananon]

I always enjoy evidence of synchronicity when it appears. Today, on a whim, I picked up your book from the shelf to start reading it again for the first time in a few years. As I was reading the first dozen pages I thought to myself, "man, I hope he publishes a new edition at some point, I'd love to read that." Needless to say I just purchased a copy of the new revised edition. Thank you so much for putting in the effort to make that a reality, and for everything else you do to help others enjoy a life of greater connectedness and resiliency.

[@wendygreenfield9631]

Wow. I loved this conversation, and I couldn't agree more about better organization, less experimentation, and focusing on self-preservation.

[@erric288]

You guys might be interested in reading Laudato Si, the encyclical letter from Pope Francis in 2015. Even if you're not Christian, it's a thought provoking document for anyone concerned with the environment and man's relation to it. Also interesting is distributism and Catholic social teaching. It's very pro homesteading and distributing the means of production across the widest possible area so each person owns their own means of production as far as possible. I think you guys would appreciate it.

[@formidableflora5951]

"That's the dance." Incredible wisdom throughout--time well spent. Thank you.

[@wilderfarmstead]

This is one of the best conversations I've heard in years!

[@reneebulkley1333]

He has a nice way of asking questions. I enjoyed this. I hope he takes Ben up on the consult.

[@jmessick8163]

I have to agree with comment made as one of the best conversations! I am looking forward to reading the new additional information. I have found that there’s a lot of labor intensive concepts that haven’t proven to be worth my time such as bio char. My family is building on raw land a small farm while also homeschooling so time is very precious. Thank you for all your valuable wisdom. ❤️ Blessings, Linda

[@WhitedewValley]

Very cool, useful.

[@cfitzstrum]

@wholesystems any idea when you’ll have more copies of your book available? Website showing sold out.

[@cathyalverson4786]

After 15 years I'm doing the same less experimenting more lessening of labor

[@kacybw]

I wonder what Ben thinks has been his biggest time waste historically? For me, I think bio char has been a waste for me. Takes a lot of effort and I've not seen noticeable differences in my setting

[@wholesystems]

Funny, you mention bio char, as it’s been a bit of a anti-climatic project for us. Although I gotta say I have never done it with a ton of earnestness. But I’m right now reviewing the bio char handbook for a publisher and it’s definitely inspiring me to go at it again. I would say Hugo culture has not proven very worthwhile, although we did it to get rid of a bunch of trees essentially, I had a lot of stuff I wasn’t gonna mail. So it was kind of worthwhile in that respect. I don’t think I have a Lotta big things, but a lot of very small things ranging from, not organizing my tools well enough from the beginning to not laying enough things out in Rose for manageability. Manageability is really where the rubber meets the road and where I’ve learned to save a lot more time over the years. My book tries to outline that’s a bit.

[@wholesystems]

Making big swales on dry ground was a waste of time! I wouldn’t do that again. That took awhile to realize was a bad idea because it was after we had such success with swale mounds in wet rough areas.

[@kacybw]

Wow, that's interesting and counter intuitive on the swales. I will definitely be reading your revised book. The first edition is already one of my favorites. So much of your learnings are applicable here on my north slope in the Ozarks

[@BryanNichols]

@@wholesystems Wondering which swales you have in mind when you say that? Original site or second site or somewhere else? I experimented with swales (combined with hugelculture) and ended up filling them in because they didn't produce any noticeable improvement. I also found that the swales robbed me of my less common flat-ish land. I found it better to keep that land open without obstruction for other purposes.

[@wholesystems]

@@BryanNichols on the wetter ground of my original site the swales (mounds!) were amazing and still are. Where it's drier i have not found the mounds have much if any benefit tho - esp if they are big. One area of the original site which is very steep and shady i am going to terrace from the swales - easy and should be great, but the swales made mowing too hard and the planted area too dry.