Springhouse Community School has been called ‘the most dynamic and promising experiment in education and community building’. It’s a K12 bilingual school, with adult programs, community networks, and even a print shop (that’s a glorious story in itself). It also works with a participatory budgeting and pricing model, and incorporates things like restorative justice and land regeneration practices.

The school describes itself as an ‘intergenerational, vitality-centred learning community in Southwest Virginia where we are fundamentally transforming the purpose and practice of education.’ Its vision? A world where all life thrives. Sounds obvious when you say it. What else would education be for? It all stems from Meg Wheatley’s premise that ‘Life pushes back against a story that excludes it’.

Jenny Finn is the school’s somewhat unwitting founder and Executive Director, having never imagined she’d be living here or doing this. And it’s a wonder she’s even with us at all. But her death-defying tale has ultimately shaped her journey. And as we talk about it, some uncanny parallels in our lives feed a consistently amazing and often hilarious chat – in her car! Yep, we tried in her office, as it was too windy outside, but school life was in full volume as an evening event commenced. Which by the way, featured student and other presentations on Economics and the Cosmos. Now that sounds like an education.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 27 February 2025.

See photos on the episode website, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener - all via the links below.

Music:

Circle of Life, by Letra (sourced on Artlist).

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

Jenny singing an Irish tune.

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
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You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
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Thanks for your support!

Last week’s episode on-location with a ‘community juggernaut’ restoration project in South Carolina drew some wonderful responses – like ‘I felt like I was right there’, ‘Giving me goose bumps’, ‘The future retrospective documentary idea is brilliant’, and ‘This kicks ass’! So here’s a 5 minute bonus to lift your spirits a little more.

It starts as we were winding up, but with mic’s left running, capturing a stunning moment by an old oak tree standing on the original plantation house grounds. (And the Angel Oak Joel mentions, is an even older oak he just filmed a story for, to assist in its preservation and celebration.)

Then another stunning moment, when Schuyler Clogston drifted by, and the tale emerged of her serendipitous encounter with the Project. And finally, some more context to the amazing regeneration at play, and the out-take at the end of the main episode.

If you’ve come here first, you can tune into that main episode 256 with Joel Caldwell and Dr Blake Scott, ‘The Marsh Appreciation & Restoration Society for Happiness’. You’ll find a few links in the show notes as usual, along with transcript, and a bunch of photos on that episode website, with more for paid subscribers on Patreon and Substack.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded September 2024.

Title image: the oak tree we pass (pic: Anthony James).

Music:

By Jeremiah Johnson.

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
• Via PayPal.

You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
• Share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

What to do when your prominent low-lying coastal city starts to go underwater, nigh on weekly on average, already? Charleston, South Carolina, is served by The Post and Courier. It runs a series called the Rising Waters Lab. And a couple of months ago, it featured a story titled, ‘The Southeast’s first urban eco-corridor aims to connect fragmented habitats in Charleston’. Welcome to The MARSH Project.

What started as a personal effort among three friends to revitalise and steward an acre of marsh on the peninsula, has grown into a community-powered juggernaut. And not just to save a city from flooding, or even just to restore its incredible lands and waters. But the complex history of this place means the healing runs deep.

One of the founders of the project is Joel Caldwell (also in episode 227 talking about his new film for Patagonia, for which he went on to win the Short Film Award at the prestigious Santa Barbara International Film Festival). It was Judith Schwartz who said we might enjoy meeting Joel - and the two Blakes, Dr Blake Scott and Blake Suárez. When I looked them up online and saw the project they’d instigated was called the Marsh Appreciation and Restoration Society for Happiness, I knew these were guys I did want to meet.

We arrived in Charleston on a day when the community was to gather at the marsh for a clean-up event. We hear from them too, as I wander alongside Joel and Dr Blake to learn about how this juggernaut is happening.

Chapters & transcript.

Recorded Sept. 2024.

Title slide: Joel & Dr Blake (pic: AJ). See more photos on the website, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Music:

Galaxy Groove, by Yarin Primak.

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
• Via PayPal.

You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
• Share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Today we continue the new series Vignettes from the Source, featuring some of the unforgettable, transformative moments my guests have shared over the years. This one is from a little over three years ago. It’s the first and last six minutes or so, bridged together, of my very first conversation with Kate Chaney. Kate was to become, just a few months later, the 7th new community independent – and WA's first – elected to Australia’s parliament at the 2022 election.

Well, on Saturday week, 3 May, Australia’s next federal election takes place, and Kate is standing again, amongst all able incumbents, and many others. We heard on last week’s episode of the continued burgeoning community independents movement, along with the escalated personal assaults, generally negative and often false campaigning being waged against them. Kate was mentioned as being particularly targeted.

It made me think of this first time Kate and I spoke, by Galup/Lake Monger in Perth, partly for the start, where she described her gut-churning time deciding whether she’d step up into this maelstrom in response to the community’s call. And partly for the end, where I asked about her vision for the country, and if she had a rallying cry of sorts for us. Her answer feels all the more poignant given how many more independents are standing this time. I’ve also never forgotten Kate’s story behind her music choice (I offer my suggestion too).

Hear the full conversation in episode 110, after Kate won in episode 121, and most recently on some of the enormous outcomes during her term in episode 203.

Get involved everywhere via the Community Independents Project.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Originally recorded 22 February 2022.

Music:

Intro by Jeremiah Johnson.

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
• Via PayPal.

You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
• Share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

In the landscape of Australian politics, something remarkable is brewing from the ground up. The community independents movement has evolved from a rural experiment to a nationwide phenomenon, reinvigorating democracy in my home country. At its heart, this movement isn’t about profile candidates, big funding or big media, but communities deciding they deserve better representation, and doing something about it.

The results have been striking. Seven new community independents were elected in 2022, comprising a cross bench of 16 in total (with 3 new Greens elected then too). Incumbent independents increased their margins. Other so-called safe seats around the country became a contest too, as the major party vote continued to decline to around 33% each, now level with minor parties and independents.

Leading into the upcoming election on the 3rd of May, there are now 37 community independent candidates running, in every state and territory. These campaigns are engaging people of all persuasions in a way not seen for generations, if ever.

Just before the last election I spoke with Cathy McGowan, Australia’s first female independent MP back in 2013. She wrote a book in 2020 about her experience, and it rapidly catalysed a movement. Back then, she talked of the potential to transform politics in this country by 2030. So leading into this 2025 election, I was keen to know how she was seeing things, as the movement continues to rapidly grow, and so too do major party efforts to marginalise it.

Cathy was kind enough to join me for as frank and positive a conversation as ever, and with some surprising takes on things, even risking sounding like a heretic, she says. We start with a brief exchange on what we’re seeing in the US right now.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 7 April 2025.

For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Music:

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

Indi sings for Cathy, with Sal Kimber.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
• Via PayPal.

You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
• Share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

A couple of episodes ago, I launched a new series on the podcast, Vignettes from the Source, to feature some of the unforgettable moments my guests have shared over the years. Continuing the series today then, is a passage of 7 or 8 minutes from my conversation with award winning filmmaker and photographer, Nicol Ragland. Longer term listeners might remember, Nicol was behind the very first Farmer’s Footprint film, among many others.

Well, four years since she was on the podcast, we met in person for the first time at her home in Oklahoma City last week. Approaching that visit, the family and I listened to the episode I recorded with Nicol those years ago, and I remembered what a brilliant conversationalist she is. I was reminded of her belief in ‘the adjacent possible’. And when I asked my final question of Nicol, ‘what elders have been important for her and how?’, her answer was really something. It had to be the next vignette.

If you’re inspired to listen to more, or revisit the rest of this conversation, tune into episode 80.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 16 March 2021.

Title slide: Nicol Ragland (supplied).

See more photos on the original episode web page linked above, and for more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below.

Music:

Intro music by Jeremiah Johnson.

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

Regeneration, by Amelia Barden.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
• Via PayPal.

You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
• Share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Welcome to the fourth and final part of this special on-location recording with the 'land whisperer', Patrick MacManaway, in Burlington, Vermont.

ICYMI, the full episode was played more than most in its early days, but given it was a little over two and a half hours in length, I also wanted to offer it in distinct parts, for those of you who prefer to listen to it that way. There have been plenty of takers too, so I'm glad this suited a bunch of you.

We pick it up here where part 3 ended, at the Farmhouse that replaced McDonald's downtown. Then we head back to Patrick's garden, for some of the punchline, you might say - as he shares some of the most impactful stories from his work around the world. These include a look at the changing face of how academia is treating the work, and how the world at large is opening to it also.

And we close with news of his next collaboration with Australian legend in regenerative agriculture, Terry McCosker. Before Patrick, himself, takes us out with a tune.

Title image by Anthony James. For more behind the scenes, and to help keep the show on the road, become a supporting listener by one or more of the options below.

Thanks for listening.

Music:

The RegenNarration playlist (music chosen by my guests).

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
• Via PayPal.

You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
• Share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

Welcome to part 3 of this special on-location recording with the 'land whisperer', Patrick MacManaway, in Burlington, Vermont.

ICYMI, the full episode was played more than most in its early days, but given it was a little over two and a half hours in length, I also wanted to offer it in distinct parts, for those of you who prefer to listen to it that way. There have been plenty of takers too, so I'm glad this suited a bunch of you.

We pick it up here where part 2 ended, as we wound up at the public stone circle in Burlington, Vermont, to head to a woodland labyrinth that again Patrick was pivotal in creating.

En route, we hear some of the great story of what's happening on the land on which the labyrinth has been set up. And on arrival, we venture into the woods, exploring the relevance and power of the labyrinth over time, and how else we can restore our internal compass in the world.

Then we head out for one more stop - a surprise venture to the farm-to-table enterprise that replaced McDonald's downtown.

The fourth and final part with Patrick, back in the garden at his place for a grand finale of sorts, will be out in a couple of days.

Title image by Anthony James. For more behind the scenes, and to help keep the show on the road, become a supporting listener by one or more of the options below.

Thanks for listening.

Music:

The RegenNarration playlist (music chosen by my guests).

Send us a text

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you too value what you hear, please consider joining them.

BECOME A PAID SUBSCRIBER to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on:

• Patreon (NB: if you're using an iPhone, you can avoid Apple's new 30% app store charge for new subscribers by subscribing on your laptop or PC).
• The new Substack (for the same benefits as Patreon)
• Or Buzzsprout (without additional benefits).

Or DONATE:

• Directly via the website (avoiding fees).
• Via PayPal.

You can also:

• Visit The RegenNarration shop.
• Share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!