Hunter-gatherers relied on megafauna for their subsistence. Those material conditions no longer exist: most land is under the control of state or private individuals and most of the megafauna are extinct. Rewilding looks to hunter-gatherers as an inspiration for adapting modern subsistence practices as best we can, to be more like that of our evolutionary past. While domestication was a stark turn away from hunting and gathering, pastoralism as an existing subsistence strategy is ripe for potential rewilding of various kinds. There are methods that combine human subsistence with ecological restoration to help increase biodiversity and carbon sequestration. A few of the current terms for this are regenerative agriculture, agro-forestry, and silva-pastoralism, holistic grazing, among others. In this episode I’ll be interviewing John and Laura, of Future Oak Farms, who manage multiple sites in Ireland, with multiple strategies.

Recording Date: 11/24/25

John Duffy was born in London to Irish parents who left Donegal during the wave of emigration in the 1960s. Disillusioned by the destructive logic of his career in oil and gas exploration, he began searching for an alternative path. In 2018, he returned to the family farm in Donegal and set about reimagining its future. Today, John co-runs the Future Oak Farm Project with his partner Laura. Guided by permaculture and regenerative design principles and using the Holistic Management Framework, the farm regenerates local ecosystems while sustaining a resilient, profitable enterprise—powered by a keen herd of Belted Galloways and billions of unseen allies beneath the soil.

Laura McGoran is a wellbeing facilitator, regenerative farming educator and co-manager of Future Oak Farm in Donegal. She has a corporate background in international sales and operations in the education sector, and later retrained in yoga, fitness and community health. She has worked closely with vulnerable groups by using movement, nature and practical food growing to support confidence and connection. On the farm she is involved in daily operations, ecology work and the storytelling that brings people into the regenerative journey.

Notes

Future Oak Farms Instagram

Future Oak Farm on YouTube

Island of Woods

Thirty Two Words for Field

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This episode is a crossover with Graham from Everyday Anarchism and Peter from The Rewilding Podcast. We conversed about rewilding, everyday anarchism, and a few of the connections between rewilding and anarchy.

Everyday Anarchism
https://www.everydayanarchism.com/

The Rewilding Podcast
https://www.petermichaelbauer.com

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How hierarchy forms and gets stuck in a feedback loop is something that many people have a hard time grasping. Today I’m speaking with Luke Kemp, author of the book Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse. The book does an incredible job of outlining aspects of rewilding that I have been teaching for many years, in a succinct way that illuminated more things I hadn’t factored into the big picture. In this episode Luke and I have a wide ranging conversation, covering various aspects of his work and filling in some of the blanks for me.

Show Notes:

Luke’s Academic Profile

Goliath’s Curse

Luke Kemp Talk at Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative

The Art of Not Being Governed by James C. Scott

Nurturing Our Humanity by Riane Eisler and Douglas Fry

Monumental Architecture: A Thermodynamic Explanation of Symbolic Behaviour by Bruce G. Trigger

The Great Leveler by Walter Scheidel

The Sources of Social Power by Michael Mann

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