Mar 19 2025 157 mins 4
Welcome to a very special and unique episode. Previous guest on this podcast, Terry McCosker, co-founded RCS Australia 35 years ago. Fellow Australian legend and podcast guest, Charles Massy, is best-selling author of Call of the Reed Warbler. In that book he wrote, “When I look back over the rise of regenerative agriculture in Australia, I see at the forefront Terry and Pam McCosker and their RCS organisation. Today it remains a world leader in the field.” In light of that, I titled the first episode with Terry ‘Behind the Greatest Regenerative Agriculture Movement in Australia’.
Well, as I got to know Terry better over the years, I started to hear more and more about a bloke named Patrick MacManaway, who Terry had been working with since 2010. And Charles later shared with me his ‘missing chapter’ from Reed Warbler, the one deemed a little too ‘edgy’ to include at the time. Patrick features significantly in that chapter, along with some now famous stories of his father.
So as the years went by, I became increasingly interested in learning about the man alongside the man behind the movement. All the more, knowing that Patrick’s extraordinary influence is far from limited to Australia. Born in Scotland to pioneering parents, when Patrick realised he shared his father’s gifts, he also shared his medical training, before his calling deepened and spread around the UK, onto North America, and beyond.
I caught up with Patrick at his home near Burlington, Vermont, to wander through life stories, gardens, projects, and new endeavour with Terry.
Title slide by Anthony James.
For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.
Music:
Hours, by Patrick Sebag (from Artlist).
Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.
Patrick MacManaway.
Find more:
Ep.136 - Terry & wife Pam.
Ep.92 - Songlines.
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