Realizing Resilience Podcast

Hello and welcome to the Realizing Resilience podcast. I am your host, Nate Fournier.

Today, as always, we are brought to you by Reimagined Roots, transforming backyards into ecosystems packed with food, medicine, and native plants. We use permaculture design to help create sustainable, regenerative, resilient communities, starting one backyard at a time.

And that starts with you.

It’s not only about how you manage your landscape. It’s also about how you buy your food, the skills you develop, and how intentionally you design your life.

Regenerative Agriculture and Groundswell

Today, I want to start with the documentary Groundswell.

It’s part of the documentary series that began with Kiss the Ground, and if you haven’t watched these films yet, I strongly encourage you to.

The documentaries showcase the power, benefits, and need for regenerative agriculture in a way that is accessible and compelling.

And I think one of the biggest limiting factors facing regenerative agriculture right now is simply awareness.

That’s part of why I have this podcast. I want to tell people that there is another way.

I’ve written down my life’s purpose before: to show and teach people how to make the world a better place through permaculture and intentional design.

To help create a permanent culture.

That starts with how we manage our landscapes and how we grow our food.

Moving From Chemical to Biological Agriculture

For decades, conventional agriculture has relied heavily on tillage and chemical inputs.

Regenerative agriculture asks us to approach the system differently.

Instead of continually disturbing soil and replacing fertility through external inputs, we can work with biology to cycle nutrients, build soil, support plants, and ultimately produce healthier food.

We’re beginning to understand soil as a living system rather than simply a medium for holding plants upright.

That's a fundamental shift.

And changing a system as large as modern agriculture can feel daunting. We’ve traveled a long way down one road, and changing direction is difficult.

But it is changing.

Creating More From the Same Footprint

Most people listening to this podcast probably aren't commercial farmers.

But you may be a gardener.

And this is where these ideas become immediately practical.

Our entire business is built around transforming suburban properties so they can provide ecological function while also meeting human needs.

We can do both within the same footprint.

You can have outdoor space you enjoy while also growing native plants.

You can add fruit-producing shrubs.

You can grow vegetables in raised beds.

You can support pollinators.

You can produce food.

You don't have to choose one function.

That's one of the fundamental ideas within permaculture: stack functions and create multiple outputs from the same system.

The same principle applies at the farm scale.

Instead of producing one crop, regenerative systems can integrate livestock, poultry, perennial crops, trees, shrubs, nuts, berries, and other productive species.

The outputs become more diverse.

And diversity creates resilience.

Why Diversity Matters

History has repeatedly shown us what happens when we become overly dependent on one thing.

If thousands or millions of acres are planted with the same crop, one pest, disease, blight, or bad season can create enormous consequences.

Nature doesn't operate that way.

Healthy ecosystems are diverse.

So when we design our own landscapes, diversity matters.

You can have a lawn while also having native plants.

You can have fruit-producing shrubs.

You can grow vegetables.

You can create habitat.

You can combine these things rather than choosing between them.

But I want to take this idea of diversity in another direction.

Because diversity isn't only important in ecosystems.

It's important in our lives.

AI, Technology, and a Rapidly Changing World

There's a lot of conversation right now about artificial intelligence and what it could mean for employment.

And this isn't the first time technology has transformed entire industries.

Throughout history, new technologies have made certain jobs obsolete while creating entirely new ones.

Machines allowed one person to perform work that once required dozens.

Industries changed.

Workers resisted.

New industries emerged.

AI may represent another major transition.

There are legitimate reasons to be excited about it and legitimate reasons to be cautious.

I think it's incredibly important to be able to hold both of those ideas at the same time.

Technology can solve enormous problems.

It can also create consequences we don't fully understand yet.

What Agriculture Can Teach Us About Technology

I think modern agriculture gives us an interesting lesson.

Chemical agriculture was adopted rapidly because the immediate results were compelling.

A farmer could apply a new product and see dramatic increases in production.

From a short-term perspective, the equation looked obvious.

But over time, we began understanding consequences that weren't initially visible.

Soil biology matters.

Topsoil matters.

Biodiversity matters.

Long-term dependence on outside inputs matters.

The lesson isn't that technology is bad.

The lesson is that we should think carefully about the systems we create and the long-term consequences of scaling them.

And I think the same principle applies to AI.

Technology Can Also Help Us Regenerate

At the same time, technology can be incredibly powerful when we use it intentionally.

Imagine a conventional field where weeds would normally be controlled through herbicides.

There are now agricultural machines capable of using cameras and artificial intelligence to distinguish weeds from crops and target individual weeds.

That's fascinating.

Technology may allow us to dramatically reduce chemical use while still operating at agricultural scale.

But it could also eliminate jobs that previously required human labor.

That's the conundrum.

There are benefits.

There are consequences.

And we need to think through both.

We are living through an extraordinary period of change, and nobody knows exactly where it leads.

Diversity of Skills Creates Resilience

This brings me back to resilience.

If industries are changing quickly, one of the best things you can do is diversify your skill set.

It's wonderful to become a master of something.

But for most of us, having multiple useful skills creates options.

Learn how to use your hands.

Learn basic construction.

Learn a trade.

Learn technology.

Learn how to use AI rather than simply being afraid of it.

Develop skills that remain useful even if your primary industry changes.

That's resilience.

Why I Left Engineering

I'm incredibly grateful that I took this approach in my own life.

I started my career as an engineer.

I had a bachelor's degree in engineering and a relatively clear path in front of me. I could have continued specializing, worked my way up, and probably built a very comfortable career.

And I still have that degree.

That skill set didn't disappear.

But in my mid-twenties, I decided to learn something completely different.

I became interested in real estate investing because I wanted greater financial independence. I didn't want my entire ability to put food on the table to depend on one job.

So I started buying rental properties.

I learned how to renovate houses.

I learned construction from scratch, often through YouTube and simply doing the work.

I built my literal tool bag and my philosophical tool bag.

Today, if everything changed, I could work as a handyman.

I could be a carpenter.

I could return to engineering.

I could work in landscaping.

I could build something new.

That diversity gives me options.

And options create resilience.

The Homesteader Mindset

This is one reason the homesteading mindset resonates so strongly with me.

A homesteader naturally becomes a generalist.

You learn how to grow food.

Fix things.

Build things.

Maintain equipment.

Care for animals.

Manage land.

Solve problems.

You don't need to become the world's greatest expert at every skill.

There's tremendous value in becoming capable across many different areas.

Diversify your skills.

Diversify your income streams.

Diversify your knowledge.

Diversity by Design

The foundation of resilience is diversity.

Diversity of skills.

Diversity of thought.

Diversity of income.

Diversity within ecosystems.

Diversity within communities.

And the important part is to create that diversity intentionally.

Design it into your life.

Expose yourself to different points of view.

Learn technical skills.

Learn physical skills.

Learn how to use your hands.

Learn how to use computers.

Learn about AI.

Don't simply be afraid of change.

Understand it.

The more you learn, the better equipped you become to adapt.

Designing Our Role Within Nature

This ultimately comes back to the same philosophy that drives my work.

We can design better systems.

We can eat healthier food.

We can become better stewards of our landscapes.

We can observe nature, learn from its patterns, and intentionally apply those lessons to the systems we create.

Nature is an extraordinary designer.

And humans have the ability to observe those systems and use our hands, intelligence, and consciousness to support life rather than continually degrading it.

I believe we can become an incredible healing force on this planet.

That's my purpose.

That's my vision.

And I'm optimistic about what we can create together.

So diversify your landscape.

Diversify your skills.

Diversify the systems you depend on.

Build resilience by design.

And every day, in every way, continue getting better.

As always, keep growing.