Kirsten Bradley has dedicated the last 13 years (in cahoots with partner Nick Ritar and a host of thinkers and doers) to helping people learn permaculture skills for living like it matters.
We’re referring to Milkwood, of course. And today we get a backstage pass to the brain of its co-creator; a joyous conversation indeed.
Kirsten has a knack for distilling big ideas into bite size words of wisdom, bringing decades of lived experience to our cuppa-tea-with-a-mate interview that will leave you feeling affirmed and hopeful.
She shares her trajectory from inner-city artist to iconic permaculture educator, author and champion of back-to-basics living. Her thoughts on long-term renting, community sufficiency, ways of stewarding land (that don’t necessarily involve buying a massive property), how to bypass hypocrisy and why to get comfy with shades of grey.
Post-episode, you’ll probably want to knock on your neighbour’s door and offer them surplus garden greens - because, according to Kirsten, community connection is the bedrock of a better life (and planet). Listen, absorb, enjoy.
SHOW NOTES
- Living in Tassie - autonomy and community sufficiency.
- Insights from their trials of different ways of living (including family farming, community living, homesteading, share houses).
- Where and how their shift from inner city artists to sharers of skills came about
- Alternative ways to steward land (other than ownership)
- Actions to consider now foro a better future: 1. Growing food, anywhere/anyhow. 2. Community involvement - get enmeshed, get involved. 3. Figure out your greatest skills and what you can contribute to and learn from your community.
- Reframing life towards what matters
- Why helping people reclaim lost skills is the most incredible life path she could have chosen.
- Bypassing the guilt of hypocrisy and embracing good habits.
- The value of seeking out ‘wild spaces’.
- Why getting to know your ecosystem is fundamental to living a good life (your watershed, the First Nations title for the land you reside on, your climate, your seasons)
- The evolution of thought and practical outcomes which has come from living in different environments and communities.
- Accepting shades of grey over black and white.
- Stepping past the one family/one house concept.
- The tension between tenancy, tenure, community values, land use/management and ownership.
- How disasters crystallise community bedrock.
- Why they'd rather steward less land, not more.
LINKS YOU'LL LOVE
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