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Hello from Italy…

My family and I are currently in Italy, partly as a long overdue family holiday and partly as a long overdue research trip to discover, amongst other things, the source of some of the finest produce in Italy, the Slow Food Movement, organic and Biodynamic farming in Italy, and landscape and botanical inspiration for Hanaminno.

We’ve already met with a number of farmers, chefs and retailers of clean nutritious food, and through our broken Italian, managed to understand the source of their inspiration, and the depth of their cultural connections with their food and land.
 
Our first week was spent at the beautiful Reschio Estate where Count Bolza and his son Count Benedikt, and daughter in-law Nenchia have created a truly remarkable estate on the border of Umbria and Tuscany, rebuilding farmhouse ruins, growing Biodynamic broadacre crops and vegetables, and developing plans to create a tiered permaculture vegetable garden, food forest and rice paddys, with all food produced continuing to be utilized in the on farm restaurant.
In our second week we stayed at another organic estate in Tuscany called Borgo Pignano, growing its own produce and sending it all into their on farm restaurant. Olive oil, wine, pork, fruit and vegetables are all grown on the estate, even their wheat is ground on farm to create beautiful bread and pasta (which we eat far too much of…)

We are currently in the relatively unknown but extensively agricultural province of Le marche, then down South to Puglia, then Sicily and finishing up in the north near Como. Stay tuned for more videos and photos of our trip to the heart of Italian farming and food!

Joel Salatin in Australia

I had the pleasure and honour of spending a few days with Joel Salatin in mid May, at the Regionality ‘Farm2Plate Exchange’ conference on the Gold Coast, as a facilitator of wonderful Q & A session with Joel at the screening of the film ‘Polyfaces’ at The Farm at Byron Bay, and as a presenter at the Nutrisoil ‘Sustainable Abundance with Joel Salatin’ conference near Wodonga in Victoria.

Joel has long been an inspiration to me, having attended a number of his workshops over many years and read a number of his highly entertaining and informative books on farming in his ‘beyond organics’ fashion at Polyface Farm in Virginia, US. Joel’s take on resourcefulness, experiential learning and the benefits making mistakes are just some facets of his vast knowledge base that have made him a favourite speaker and one of the most influential advocates of regenerative agriculture in the world.

A big shout out to Rose and Amy of Regionality, and Darren and Lisa from Regrarians for helping organize the Polyfaces screening, The Farm for screening it and Rachelle and the team at Nutrisoil for hosting the wonderful conference with Joel.

Nutrisoil have posted my presentation on Youtube and you’ll find it here.

My chat with Joel at The Farm “Polyfaces” screening has been edited into a sequence of short clips, the first of which you can view HERE. Gratitude to Joel for his generous sharing and insights.
 

VIDEO: In conversation – Joel Salatin with Charlie Arnott at The Farm, Byron Bay

Does an hourly rate devalue the farm worker? How can we make collaboration and farm work more rewarding for both workers and employers? Joel Salatin in Conversation with Charlie Arnott at The Farm in Byron Bay, Australia. This is the first of a series of video conversations between Joel Salatin and Charlie Arnott that will be released in the coming months.

WATCH THE VIDEO

SUBSCRIBE to the Charlie Arnott YouTube channel for more videos.
 

Country Style Award

We were honoured to take out 2 awards at the Country Style 30th anniversary dinner. One in the People category, and then the Peoples Choice Award as voted by the magazine’s readers!

Country Style magazine has been a staple in our household for years, and Angelica and I were super stoked to be even nominated for the awards, given the calibre of the other nominees.

Congratulations to all the other nominees. And a big shout out to 2 other nominees, Terry McCosker and Charlie Massy, wonderful advocates of regenerative agriculture, and both inspirations of mine.

Great to see regenerative agriculture represented so well on the night!

Guest Blog Post by Hamish Mackay.
Water – what we can do

The first thing that struck me when I was introduced to biodynamics in 1972 was the potential of increasing the humus level in the top few centimetres of topsoil and making Australia drought resilient if not drought free. The journey has been long but I remain certain that Australian agriculture will be very different by 2024, witness the readiness for increasing numbers of farmers to discuss and consider the potential of regenerative agriculture, in whatever form.
Biodynamics is the only western scientific agricultural practice that draws on both Earthly and Cosmic – non material – forces and substances, a combination I have observed gives confidence that we can feed the growing world population without destroying the planet and ourselves. 
Read the full article

SMH: Bad luck or bad management: farmers divided on drought

Regenerative Agriculture has received notable mainstream media attention of late, most recently I was invited to speak with The Sydney Morning Herald’s Harriet Alexander. Opinion on the approach of this article has had a polarising effect on social media, and yet it does raise some good points that have to be addressed. And while I certainly advocate for us coming together and supporting each other as Farmers we also have to have the hard conversations as a Farming community. This article has certainly sparked those discussions far and wide. More on this will be the topic of an upcoming blog post.
Read the full article

Spring workshop dates

Young Farmers Connect Field Day
Northern Rivers, venue TBC
18 August 2019
Follow their Facebook Page for More Info


 
Two Day Introduction to Biodynamics
Bathurst, Rahamim Ecology Centre
22-23 August 2019
BOOKINGS & MORE INFO

Save the dates

Two Day Spring Preparation Making Workshops

Mudgee, David Lowe Wines – Mudgee 11th-12th November
Boorowa, Hanaminno – 14th-15th November
 

SAVE THE DATE – September 18-20 'From the Ground Up' Corangamite Regenerative Agriculture Conference

I’m really excited to be hosting this 3 day conference, and guide attendees through a packed program themed “From the Ground Up, Growing Regenerative Agriculture in Corangamite. Using natural processes to reverse rising farm inputs in a changing climate.”

The Otway Ranges of Victoria is a diverse and environmentally significant region, and the innovative Otway Coast Regenerative Farmers group and the Southern Otways Landcare group have organised an action packed 3 days celebrating the regenerative potential of the region

Tickets on sale soon. Register your interest here.
18-20th of September Colac, VIC 

 

SAVE THE DATE: NSW Landcare and Local Land Services Conference 22nd-24th October 2019 

I am honoured to be heading out west to support Landcare NSW as keynote speaker at this dynamic three day event.

This conference is a must for any landcarer, farmer or landscape steward, bring together all levels of natural resource management in NSW, from state government representatives and committees, to the men and women putting in the hard work on ground, healing our land and regenerating our communities.


22nd-24th of October Broken Hill, NSW 
https://nswlandcareconference.com.au/


 
Freel free to share this newsletter on with someone who will find it useful.

Ciao,
Charlie Arnott
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Charlie Arnott Grass Fed Beef, Naturally · 810 Brial Road · Boorowa, NSw 2586 · Australia

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