Reskillience

I tell a story about a freak storm that flattened our summer crops before sharing a super inspiring convo with Chris Gilmour, an emergency and disaster preparedness expert who believes that deep nature connection is key to surviving and thriving through uncertain times.🦌 In this episode:Addressing that shaky feeling underneath modern life of not being able to survive in the wildThe birch bark canoe incident!When emergency apps don’t workTuning into our own body radarHow to weigh risk versus reward in high stake...

I tell a story about my inability to change before chatting with a guy who's obsessed with changing everything! Dr Shane Simonsen of Recombination Nation is a biochemist, research scientist and experimental farmer who is shaking up agriculture-as-usual by breeding plants that require ZERO INPUTS. No fertiliser, no pest protection, no weeding, no watering! We talk about how to run your own kinky plant breeding experiments at home, as well as:Why humans still have 50 million years left on the planetShane's POV on GMOLow tech gene transfer you can do today!<...

Planting guides and sow-what-when calendars are great and all, but what happens when the seasons don't play nice? When spring arrives earlier, frost hits later, or heatwaves burn your crops to a crisp? There's no controlling the weather, but with tools like phenology, you can make better predictions and grow more food!Duncan Cocking (of Leaf, Root & Fruit) is an amazing gardener and educator from Kyneton in Southern Australia. He helps people tune into more-than-human patterns and cycles to build their own hyper-local and climate resilient gardening calendars, and has a wealth of wisdom about living more...

NOTE: I’ve done breathwork every day since this interview and – you gaias! – it’s really helping me human. Meet today’s guest Ella Maryska, who is responsible for getting me into this breathwork thing that I am the last person on the planet to know about.Ella is 21 years old, wise as the hills, a certified breathwork instructor, and brings a fresh and youthful perspective to the pod which has been sorely absent to date (sorry sorry sorry).In this sweet convo, you’ll hear about the geeky physiology of breathwork; how it rebalances...

“In a time of fracturing seasons, when everything’s going awry, there are still cycles that we can set our hearts by.” It's Kirsten Bradley of Milkwood! She's writing a new book about the moon, penning love letters to parsley and currawongs on Substack, and here to share all about her daily rhythms in lutruwita, Tasmania. Oh, what a lovely conversation!Within 🌙 AI or not to AIMorning routines! Morning stargazing!Tea choicesMoving to lutruwita/TassieFish farm woes and responsesHow to make dec...

BYO wheelbarrow to load up on Solomon’s wisdom, cos today we’re chatting with the grandaddy of beyond-organic gardening himself, Steve Solomon! If you don’t know Steve, he’s a bit of cult hero in food growing circles thanks to his deep research into soil remineralisation and why it is absolutely critical for human health.In this convo:How pre-industrial communities ate 4 x more nutrient-dense foodWhy MINERALS are the key to healthy soil and healthy humansBetter nutrition… lower libido?Why compost is really bloody complicated…and...

I share a GRIPPING TALE about a droplet of water before sitting down with Helen Lehndorf, who is a radical forager, author, anarchist, poet and plenty more wonderful things besides. I loved her memoir A Forager's Life so much! Helen and I dive straight into the weeds about permaculture life strategies, unlocking creativity, writing for nature and how to rebel against The Machine by playing the Holy Fool. Medicine for muddled, blocked or chronically shy creatives.IN THIS CONVOSwimming upstream of the over cultureUndoing cultural entrainmentSocial permaculture<...

We built this city on rock n roll! And cheap oil. And it’s currently running out… so what happens now? This week I chat with Nathan Surendran to get a foothold on the fossil fuel crisis (which is the Everything Crisis) and how we can keep our balance, together. Nathan is a systems thinker, recovering engineer, energy and security analyst, policy advisor, author of the Energy and Resilience substack and chair of the Wise Response society. He is also seriously kind, and provides so much practical, empowering advice in this convo, including:Moving far far away from...

Ever wish you could sit down with permie elders to hear their take on the current chaos; what to do, where to live, and whether it’s really that bad in the grand scheme of things? Well just call me Genie cos this convo with permaculture educators and radical homemakers Ian Lillington and Marita Zeh will deliver.Ian and Marita live in a solar passive straw-bale home on the edge of Castlemaine, Victoria, surrounded by fruit and nut trees and veggie gardens, where students come to see – and feel – what it is to be wrapped in abundance. And th...

I tell a story about my grandpa’s deathbed song request before having a heart-to-heart with Emily Coats, a deep nature connection facilitator, ancestral skills practitioner, threshold-crossing guide and dreamworker.In this convo:Shakespearean activismWhat the world needs right now (hint: not more intellect)Ways to wholenessDoes activism have to feel hard and gnarly?Being precise in the ripples we castWhat happens at Tracker SchoolAncient skills… for survival?Why to prioritise spiritual preparednessHow we live...

In 2018 Professor Jem Bendell published an academic paper that went viral; pretty weird for a piece of scholarly writing. The topic? Societal collapse caused by runaway climate change. The timeline? Soon. Deep Adaptation presented a frank, delusion-free framework for facing the end of the world as we know it, sparked a movement, and copped a lot of flack.I wanted to chat with Jem not so much about the grim facts but about how, “as that collapse guy”*, he is filling his life with meaning at the eleventh hour. And it turns out, that includes becoming a farm...

I tell a story about Jar Power before sitting down with Robin Greenfield, an incredible fella best known for his radical experiments in simple living, food reclamation, waste minimisation and wild foraging.He has been called “the Robin Hood of our times”, “the Forrest Gump of ecology”, and “the best kind of crazy”. To me, Robin is a torch bearer for truth, leading the way towards justice – with a whole lotta joy and integrity.This year he is eating 100% foraged foods – unreal! – so we chat about that, as well as:Why Robin is so gassyHow...

Christie Green spends days at a time in the mountains, in the snow, tracking elk, solo. Her hunting journey began at 40 as a practical way to feed herself and her family, and became a fierce and fluid exploration of womanhood, motherhood, stewardship, intuition, listening and kinship. Christie wrote a memoir about her experiences called Moonlight Elk that I rapturously devoured, licking my fingertips with every turn of the page, it is that delicious. 🦌 Terrain covered:Life in Sante Fe, New MexicoHunting as a deep and embodied exploration of just about everything.Li...

You’ve heard of swales… but what about swales in the brain to slow and deepen our human experience? Join me and Cecilia Macaulay for one of those special convos that gets to the heart of life’s gnarliest struggles; our biggest messes, our greatest failures, our everyday chaos… and uses permaculture design to harness their power.This episode will particularly chime with “forgetful, distractible” types, clutter accumulators, chaos agents, overwhelm junkies, and anyone with a hunch that a few elegant household systems could MASSIVELY increase their effectiveness in the world.WE COVERInsane wisdo...

Big personal shares at the top of the ep (preview: podcasting terrifies me) before an utterly delightful conversation with Scots folk singer Josie Vallely aka. Quinie.Quinie's album Forefowk, Mind Me was named The Guardian's best folk release of 2025, but don't worry if you're not into bagpipes because we mostly chat about:Not making your art your careerTips for slow art/seasonal living in a rushing worldThe mind bending differences between relating with Country in Australia versus ScotlandMinority languages and evocation of placeThe...

A garden drama unfolds during a heatwave, and I share my summer solstice/New Year wishes for you.Thanks for tuning into another year of Reskillience! We'll be back later in January full of fresh questions and custard. Shout out to my love Jordan Osmond for helping produce this episode.Sound credit: BlackbirdFiltered.wav by acclivity 🧡 Support Reskillience on Patreon 🧡

Cor blimey, we're getting equiney! Cast aside your Saddle Club trauma and learn how horses can help us be better humans and stewards of nature in this rich convo with Lisa Podosin.Lisa is a horse listener, advocate and author who swapped Hollywood for a tiny home on shared land with a herd of seven horses. We get real deep on topics of:🐴 not putting off till retirement what you wanna do today🐴 choosing freedom over security at any age🐴 land sharing gifts and tips (single women supporting women!)🐴 how horses a...

You want it, you got it: an open discussion about the cracks in our civilisation, and how to catch each other when it all falls apart.Dave Pollard has been writing about culture, complexity, deep ecology and collapse for longer than some of us have been alive. While he continues to cheer on radical ‘deep green’ activists, he no longer believes that that we can change or reform The System. This convo is about what to do instead.[first aired in 2023]🧙‍♀️ LINKY POOS 🧙‍♀️Dave's writingsDave’s recommended reading list ~ The Books That Ha...

Could you live without money? No support payments, no savings account, no secret benefactors? Jo Nemeth has been doing so for the past decade, and reckons she is less stressed and more secure in her moneyless life (in which she shares a home with eight other humans and plays the role of house keeper/manager/grower/frugavore). This is a truly radical tale of a woman who went the whole hog and gave up the bacon 💰 to invest in relationships and reciprocity. We cover:What is poverty/wealth?Why live without money...

I tell a story about becoming a gardening influencer before sharing an animated and long-awaited conversation with David Trood aka. The Weedy Gardener!  Weedy, Jord and I discuss:🌱 Creative land access🌱 Body as compost🌱 Hearing nature's call🌱 Being an eye cell for humanity🌱 Showing your failures🌱 Why to love the small stuff🌱 The all important nutrient cycle🌱 Decomposing cane toad🌱 Pest management, the Viking way🌱 Rhizophagy🌱 Nitty gritty on why organic produce is healthier🌱 From grandpa bod to garden god...