What an incredible year. There was certainly dark stuff, but if you were ever in doubt there was plenty to revel in, welcome to the highlights from a unique and far-reaching year on the podcast. You’ll hear highlight selections from our guests throughout 2025, accompanied by some of the music they often played or sung themselves, and the sounds of Country as we travelled across multiple continents, countries and languages. This year featured a record 54 episodes, 4 with bilingual ...

NOTE: This version of this week’s episode is in Spanish. You'll find the English translated version in your podcast feed too. Aníbal de Paz era un joven en Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, cuando yo era joven y vivía allí a principios del siglo. Había nacido en la guerra de los años 80, se convirtió en un mensajero para la resistencia de niño, era adolescente cuando se firmaron los Acuerdos de Paz en 1996, y unos años después, cuando nos conocimos y nos hicimos amig...

Aníbal de Paz was a young man in Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, when I was a young man living there at the turn of the century. He had been born into war in the 80s, became a runner for the resistance as a boy, was a teenager as peace broke out in the 90s, and in his 20s, when we met and became friends, he was driver and confidant for his father, Don Ceferino de Paz González, my guest in episode 286, when he became Mayor. Aníbal carries a presence of hard-won wisdom, bo...

Welcome back to Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Alta Verapaz, as we continue a special series from Guatemala, Central America. I wish I’d recorded how I came to find today’s guest. In returning to this place that was home for a few years back at the turn of the century, I didn’t know who’d still be around, alive even. I figured that my old friends Cándido Reyes and his wife Maricela, if they were still around, would be in the returned refugee community they helped set up 30 years pri...

NOTE: This version of this week’s episode is in Spanish. You'll find the English translated version in your podcast feed too. Bienvenidos de nuevo a Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Alta Verapaz, para continuar con una serie especial desde Guatemala, Centroamérica. Deseo que hubiera grabado cómo encontré al invitado de hoy. Al regresar a este lugar que fue mi hogar durante unos años a principios de siglo, no sabía quién estaría, aún seguiría vivo. Pensé que mis viejos amigos Cándido Reyes y...

NOTE: This version of this week’s episode is in Spanish. You'll find the English translated version in your podcast feed too. (Gracias a Dana ‘Patricio’ Scott por su generosa traducción.) Bienvenidos a una serie dentro de la serie desde Guatemala, Centroamérica: tres historias de tres hombres a los que admiro muchísimo en el mundo. Cada uno diferente, pero relacionado. Cada uno de una generación distinta. Y cada uno navegando las últimas dos décadas de forma distinta desde que pasé tiempo con...

Welcome to a series within the series from Guatemala, Central America – three stories from three men I admire most in the world. Each different but related. Each from a different generation. And each navigating the last couple of decades differently since I spent time with them, in the municipality of Fray Bartolome de las Casas, in the central province of Alta Verapaz. This is the story of a place too, in that sense. A place that’s been through the worst of things and some of the best of hum...

Welcome to another very special series of episodes. This time, from my return to an old haunt back at the turn of the century, in beautiful current day Guatemala, Central America. Deep in the heart of Mayan Country and culture. To have the opportunity to share these with you here, is beyond what I ever imagined possible. I couldn’t be more grateful, including to Dana Scott for so generously translating and speaking the Spanish in English, for me to overdub for you here. A version of all four ...

NOTE: This version of this week’s episode is in Spanish. You'll find the English translated version in your podcast feed too. Hoy lanzamos una nueva serie de episodios muy especiales. Esta vez, desde mi regreso a un lugar donde vivia a principios del siglo, en la hermosa Guatemala, Centroamérica. En pleno corazón de la cultura y tierra Maya. Para empezar, una visita al Instituto Mesoamericano de Permacultura, a orillas de la maravilla del mundo llamada Lago de Atitlán. Quizás recu...

Welcome to a preview of another very special series of episodes to end 2025. This time, from my return to an old haunt back at the turn of the century, in beautiful current day Guatemala, Central America. Deep in the heart of Mayan Country and culture. Among my blessings back then were cherished friendships with some dear people descendent of those ancient roots. And in the months we were back there earlier this year and late last, I had the chance to record four episodes. To have the o...

Aquí les presento un adelanto del lanzamiento de una serie de episodios muy especial para finales de 2025. Esta vez, viene de mi regreso a un lugar en donde vivía yo a principios del siglo, en la hermosa Guatemala, Centroamérica. En pleno corazón de la cultura y tierra Maya. Entre las bendiciones que tuve entonces se encontraban amistades con personas queridas, descendientes de esas raíces ancestrales. Y durante los meses que pasamos allí a principios de este año y a finales del pasado, tuve ...

One of the most rewarding parts of doing this podcast is hearing from listeners – from you. On this occasion, I heard from a listener who has also been a generous subscriber for a couple of years now. Vicky Winton is a credentialed archaeologist, with her own riveting story to tell. She graciously shared some of that story with me. I relay some of it here, though I’ll leave most of that telling to her some time. Here’s what I’d like to share from our correspondence, before I patch in wh...

My host platform's automatic AI title suggestions for this episode were: The Riotous WrapTurning a Closing Panel into a Playful ShowdownWhen a Nutrient Density Guy Meets A Festival Founder and a Referee (guess that's me!), Chaos EnsuesTaste as TruthIf A Carrot Had Wi-Fi, It Would Ghost Your MicrowaveGives you an idea. Today we conclude our series from the Grounded Festival here in Australia, with a grand finale of a different flavour. Festival founder, curator, farmer, writer, broadcaster, Ma...

Continuing our series today from Grounded Festival here in Australia, a conversation with West Australians of the Year, pioneers of Natural Intelligence Farming, and so much more beyond the farm, Dianne and Ian Haggerty. We talk about what it’s been like being West Aussies of the Year, and farmers. And go from there, once again, into some emotional and hilarious exchanges, on what’s emerging from the year, how different things feel now, and the call to all parties to rally now towards s...

Straight after the Regenerating Food Systems conference you’ve been hearing from in recent weeks, we headed south for the Grounded Festival. It was my privilege to host proceedings there on the last day, in one of the two marquees by the lake, on the wonderful Galloway Springs Farm near Bridgetown. There were three panel conversations there that the team at Grounded has generously allowed me to share here. Those panels happened to be such emotional, substantial and funny pinnacles of wh...

Last week’s episode and bonus extra featured the first panel conversation and my MC's introduction, respectively, to the Regenerative Food Systems conference hosted by RegenWA last month at Perth Stadium. Today, a final brief instalment from that event – a summary of all that happened during day one. With a little experiment. I was relieved and grateful when a bunch of people came up to me afterwards to say how much they appreciated that experiment. One person I respect even asked if th...

Welcome to this brief bonus extra to episode 279, which featured a very special panel conversation from the recent Regenerating Food Systems conference. Now you might ask, why would anyone who wasn’t at the conference want to hear my MC’s introduction to it? Well, if you’re interested in some of the story of the conference, the movement in Western Australia generally, RegenWA in particular, including its moving roots, some of the rest of what became an incredible week of events in WA, f...

Ever since the extraordinary week of events here in Western Australia last month, from a reception at Government House for former podcast guests and current West Australians of the Year, Di and Ian Haggerty, through to the 2-day Regenerating Food Systems conference at Perth Stadium, and on to the 2-day Grounded Festival down south near Bridgetown, and plenty more besides, I’ve been wondering what might hold up to share with you here on the podcast. In short, I’ve got a few things you mi...

Welcome to one final special offering for you to round out the series recorded at Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet Nation, in current day northern Montana. When the documentary film that culminated at Chief Mountain, Bring Them Home, was screened at the Regenerate Conference in Denver last year, while on its award-winning international film festival circuit, co-director Daniel Glick and producer Melissa Grumhaus from Thunderheart Films were there. The film charts the decades-long story leading...

Last week featured a very special on-location episode with Amskapi Piikani Blackfeet elder, and founder of the Piikani Lodge Health Institute, Long Time Charging Woman Kim Paul. That was our first day together, visiting some of the places Kim holds most dear on spectacular Blackfeet Country in current day northern Montana, all while sharing some breathtaking stories about her life and work. We left off that episode hearing the story of how Piikani Lodge came to be, and the support that starte...