May 19, 2023
In this episode, we meet with Scott Gallant, a permaculture consultant at Porvenir Design. I took advantage of the pragmatism he’s developed through his many years here to explore some of the pitfalls he’s seen with foreigners building large-scale developments. We also explore ways he guides his clients toward transmuting those potential problems into solutions.
Through his design and consultation work, Scott often finds himself inviting his clients to slow down and simplify their visions. Scott practices what he preaches, and we get into some of the ways he applies the Holistic Context approach to his own business. He also describes his experiences starting and operating a business in Costa Rica, along with the advantages and disadvantages of doing things by the books.
The second half of the interview gets really interesting as we discuss ways he trains new landowners how to be mindful of the context they’re building in. This includes setting reasonable expectations for your laborers and investing in appropriate education for them, especially if you want them to do things in a way they aren’t familiar with. Setting your work team up with unreasonable expectations is a hasty and unhealthy practice.
Investing into adequately training your workers in the techniques you want them to implement is a far more efficient use of your time, money, and relationships than telling them to do something they only know how to do from a conventional lens and expecting it to meet your end goals.
You’ll want to check out Scott’s blog. He’s an excellent writer who touches on many interesting topics.
I’d like to thank you for caring enough about what you’re doing to listen to this podcast as part of your personal development journey. If you know someone developing land in Latin America that would benefit from what Scott shared with us in this episode, consider passing it along to them. If they don’t often listen to podcasts, we host all of our episodes and more on our YouTube channel.
Keep in mind that the show has a profile on a donation platform called ko-fi.com. There’s a donate button on most pages of the website. It always makes my day when I get an email announcing that someone cared enough to support the show.
If sending in cash to help cover editing costs isn’t accessible to you, send me a message and let me know what you like about the show. I love hearing from you.
You can send an email to jason@regenerationnationcr.com, and I’ll get back to you personally.
Until next time, have a holistic day!
To follow more of Scott’s contributions toward a regenerative
world, check out:
Website - Porvenirdesign.com
IG - https://www.instagram.com/scottplantstrees/
Other recommendations from Scott:
- Holistic Context: Holistic Decision Making - Dan Palmer
- Making Permaculture Stronger Podcast interview with Scott
- Holistic Management eBook by Alan Saveries
- Toby Hemingway’s Gaia’s Garde
- The Resilient Farm and Homestead
- The Overstory Book
This episode is brought to you by, well, YOU! I haven’t built up my audience enough to have attracted sponsors and all that, so instead of buying an organic cotton shirt or an online course, maybe you can just buy me a coffee!
Go to https://ko-fi.com/regenerationnationcr to drop a few dollars in the bucket and let me know you care.
You can now also visit our website’s Resources page to find lots
of great information and products that many have found to make
their lives better. Visit: https://regenerationnationcr.com/resources
If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a short review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. It takes less than a minute, and it really makes a difference in helping to spread the word about our mission to others looking to improve their own projects.
For transcripts of this episode, visit ….
Special thanks to Albán Corrales for editing this episode & Eduardo for editing the video!
Music: Rite of Passage by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4291-rite-of-passage