Why this, why now?

The impulse behind creating this resource.

My pre teens straddled the 1960's. My young adult years were the 1970's, which were spent working on farms at a time when everything seemed relatively predictable and hopeful. In 1980 at the age of 23, I began living a reclusive life with little attention for the wider world. That time came to an end in 1995, and I started over.

When I looked around I noticed that all was not well. Signs of breakdown seemed to be everywhere, in life support systems and societal well-being. One morning in 2005 while living on Waiheke Island, I wrote these words in my notebook.

"I want to explore the dark side."

I can't say I knew what that meant, but the impulse was to learn, to open my eyes to all facets of life and society and perhaps through this, understand why our future seemed so full of uncertainty, and perhaps understand what had got us to this point. I spent the next year watching documentary film, 230 hours of it in fact! The topics ranged from ecology, energy, environment, population growth, food production, soil and water resources, climate, power structures, politics, geo-politics, economics, and more. While not all the puzzle pieces were in place, I could see a picture emerging.

At this point my first child was on her way, and I knew I had to take a stand for improving some aspect of our collective experience, and soon found my role. I have a knack for sharing information and my passion and focus was food production, or more specifically reclaiming the means of production from the industrial system, which has had oversized impact on ecological and human health, disrupting natural cycles with sometimes devastating results.

For the last two decades, since the birth of my daughter in 2006, I have facilitated educational events intended to support people with knowledge that would enable them to take food production into their own hands.

In 2024 my partner and I began taking the film Roots So Deep around New Zealand. We met farmers like the Heald family and the Hart family who have been on the path of regenerative agriculture for years, and been enjoying the benefits of that choice.

It is clear to me that nature does not need the endless industrial inputs that farmers have been sold. I see that she benefits from well-timed and specific human intervention (management), and that this allows her to create abundance for the benefit of humans and all life.

So in late 2024 I began curating this living resource, with the purpose of gathering an abundance of information to inform and inspire, and offer multiple possible jumping off places for those of you ready to take the next step.

If your next step is to learn more, then let's go !

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If you have a question, or an offer help, please get in touch.