Accidental Gods

The Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) is one of the highlights of the regenerative farming year. Running from 4th - 6th January, this year sees a return to the in-person conference as well as a continuous rolling on-line programme. As part of the lead in, Accidental Gods was honoured to speak with Satish Kumar, one of the god-fathers of the regenerative, redistributive movement. More at https://accidentalgods.life

Show Notes

Satish Kumar is one of the absolute titans of the Regenerative movement in the UK.  In 1962, he and and one of his fellow Jain monks made an 8,000 mile mendicant peace pilgrimage around the world, stopping in the capitals of what the nuclear nations of the earth: Russia, USA, China, France and the UK.  He settled in the latter and soon became known for his work in connecting people and ideas. He founded the Small School in Devon and went on to found Schumacher College, deeply rooted in his ideas that education should engage head, hands and heart. In 1973, he founded Resurgence Magazine (now: Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine) and for the next forty three years, was its Editor in Chief, stepping down on his  80th birthday.

This week, Accidental Gods teamed up with the Oxford Real Farming Conference, to speak with Satish as he prepares to head to Oxford where he'll lead a meditation for farmers on the morning of Friday 6th.  We explore more deeply his concepts of education, food and farming and the re-connection of people to the living web of life. He ends with a meditation, similar to the one he will lead live in the conference.

Now entering its thirteenth year, the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) is the unofficial gathering of the agroecological farming movement in the UK, including organic and regenerative farming, bringing together practising farmers and growers with scientists and economists, activists and policymakers in a two-day event every January. Working with partners, the conference offers a broad programme that delves deep into farming practices and techniques as well addressing the bigger questions relating to our food and farming system.

Working with partners in the UK and internationally, the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) brings the real food and farming movement together, attracting people from around the world who are interested in transforming our food system. In 2021 and 2022, the conference went entirely online, but the physical gathering has traditionally been in Oxford (it was set up as an alternative to the Oxford Farming Conference, which happens at the same time) and this year, there will again be a physical programme.

ORFC has always been the place to share progressive ideas. Subjects include agroecology, regenerative agriculture, organic farming and indigenous food and farming systems. The broad programme delves deep into farming practices and techniques as well as addressing the bigger questions relating to our food and farming system.

Crucially, it has always been the participants who provide the ORFC programme. The sessions reflect their diversity, ranging from the intricacies of soil microbiology to new kinds of marketing; setting up a micro-dairy to the value of introducing mob grazing and agroforestry to the farm; from the joys and tribulations of farming to the kind of economic structure we need to support the kind of food system we need. It is this diversity of participants and interests that keeps ORFC alive and growing.

Online tickets are available. The ORFC works with the interpretation collective, COATI, to make sure sessions are accessible.

Follow the conference on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for all the latest news and speaker announcements.


Online Programme https://orfc.org.uk/orfc-2023-online-programme/ 

What is Accidental Gods ?

Another World is still Possible. The old system was never fit for purpose and now it has gone- and it's never coming back.

We have the power of gods to destroy our home. But we also have the chance to become something we cannot yet imagine,
and by doing so, lay the foundations for a future we would be proud to leave to the generations yet unborn.

What happens if we commit to a world based on generative values: compassion, courage, integrity?

What happens if we let go of the race for meaningless money and commit instead to the things that matter: clean air, clean water, clean soil - and clean, clear, courageous connections between all parts of ourselves (so we have to do the inner work of healing individually and collectively), between ourselves and each other (so we have to do the outer work of relearning how to build generative communities) and between ourselves and the Web of Life (so we have to reclaim our birthright as conscious nodes in the web of life)?

We can do this - and every week on Accidental Gods we speak with the people who are living this world into being. We have all the answers, we just (so far) lack the visions and collective will to weave them into a future that works. We can make this happen. We will. Join us.

Accidental Gods is a podcast and membership program devoted to exploring the ways we can create a future that we would be proud to leave to the generations yet to come.

If we're going to emerge into a just, equitable - and above all regenerative - future, we need to get to know the people who are already living, working, thinking and believing at the leading edge of inter-becoming transformation.
Accidental Gods exists to bring these voices to the world so that we can work together to lay the foundations of a world we'd be proud to leave to the generations that come after us.
We have the choice now - we can choose to transform…or we can face the chaos of a failing system.
Our Choice. Our Chance. Our Future.

Find the membership and the podcast pages here: https://accidentalgods.life
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