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We can expect change to occur continuously throughout our lives. We’re likely to call several places home. Friends will come and go. We’ll move between jobs multiple times and likely even switch career paths.As permaculture practitioners, in the landscape, we play with change. Slowing succession in some places of our design, advancing it in others, to arrest or encourage this process on a timeline that matches what we want within any given zone. But how do we change as people and plan the succession of an organization, and the land it inhabits, through time? https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/Shantree.mp3

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To examine this question, I’m joined by Shantree Kacera, founder of The Living Centre, an eco-spiritual learning space and demonstration situated on fifty acres near London, Ontario, Canada. In our conversation, Shantree shares his personal transformation and continual recreation over four decades as a farmer, herbalist, and teacher, as well as how the site changed from a small herb farm to a site that has drawn thousands of visitors from dozens of countries. We also touch on how he and his wife and partner Lorraine are planning for the next generation of participants on the land, and for the future succession of The Living Centre. Find Shantree and The Living Centre at: TheLivingCentre.com There is a quote from Bill Mollison, which I’ve shared at least once before on the show, in my interview with Geoff Christou, author of Utopia: A Permaculture Vision, which states:When we design, we are always building for future floods, future fires, future droughts, and planting a tree a few inches tall that will be future forest giants, throw future shadows. Future populations will need future soils and forest resources, shelter, security. So somebody needs to range ahead in time, scout out the next century. We are not daydreaming. We are time scouts.I see this vision and planning to respond to change as vital if we are ever going to “design out the designer” and ensure that the designs we lay down in our lifetime can continue without our management or influence.Part of that comes through the classes I teach so we can get deep with ourselves, our stories, and our practices. My goal with students is to develop a grounded, rich understanding of what matters to us and create a cohesive vision and narrative that flows and grows with us throughout our lifetime. Another piece is to have conversations like this one on the podcast in the months ahead. Through the stories of Shantree and other guests, we can learn different ways to adapt to the changes we’ll face throughout life, and how to plan so our work carries on for generations after our hands have left the soil and our words are lost to the winds of time.If you would like to continue the conversation and expand on these ideas of planning for the succession of projects and organizations, I ask you to get involved. Check out what Shantree and Lorraine are doing via their website and, if you’re near London, Ontario, Canada, go take a workshop or propose your own project to become an ecosystem participant.Send me your questions so I can include them in a future episode. If there’s something you’d like answered on-air, there are at least ten other people listening, right now, who would like to hear the answer.And, if you know someone involved in succession planning at any level from the personal to the systemic, send me their information so I can see if they’d be a good fit for this ongoing, occasional exploration of long-time horizons.Whether you have questions or would like to suggest a guest, the best way to reach me is by email: show@thepermaculturepodcast.comI look forward to hearing from you.From here, the next episode is an interview with Vicki Hird to discuss what we can do to reverse the bug-pocalypse and rebug the planet. Until then, spend each day planning for success, while taking care of Earth, your self, and each other.Resources The Living CentreThe Living Centre on FacebookThe Living Centre on Instagram Learn More about The Living Centre Crowdfunding Campaign: https://chuffed.org/project/thelivingcentreDonate to The Permaculture Podcast Fall CampaignOnline: via PayPalOr with Venmo: @permaculturepodcastOr drop something in the mail:The Permaculture Podcastc/o Scott Mann210 E. Fairfax St. #300Falls Church, VA 22046

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