“We weave ideas, scribe forward, align with life and create connection.”
— Dr Demeter | Emily Samuels-Ballantyne
Covering topics on Foundational Economics, Convivial Governance, Anthroposophic Philosophy & Everyday Regeneration in Tasmania
Overview
The Island Almanac is a living compendium of stories, tools and place-based examples that weave together foundational economics, anthroposophic wisdom and the rhythms of everyday life. Rooted in the soils of Tasmania and flowering from Magical Farm Tasmania. Across its pages you’ll find:
Practical essays on redirecting public and private wealth into community resilience
Anthroposophical reflections on seasonal rhythms, ritual and soul-led innovation
Tasmanian case studies from coastal hamlets to mountain valleys
Project spotlights on island-wide initiatives, from seed libraries to solar co-ops.
Living Architecture: A dynamic framework of interconnected practices, food, housing, energy, governance, culture, activism and economics that grows, adapts and breathes like an ecosystem, rather than standing as static policy or infrastructure. These seven pillars form the Living Architecture of Regen Era Design Studio & The Island Almanac: integrating heart, head & hands to power a truly regenerative future.
Food, Plants and Planets
Housing and Natural Building
Energy
Community Life, Learning & Culture
Sacred Activism
Convivial Governance
Regenerative Economic Design.
We Are All Designers of Food Systems
Across Australia, Europe, and increasingly around the world, communities are experimenting with new forms of local food infrastructure, food hubs, seed libraries, regenerative farms, municipal food strategies, and cooperative markets that attempt to reconnect land, farmers, and communities. Yet despite this flowering of creativity, a persistent gap remains between ecological insight, community initiatives, and the policy frameworks that ultimately shape how food systems function.
Over the past decade Dr Emily Samuels-Ballantyne has been working across farms, community projects, and regional food initiatives to understand how these threads might be woven together. From seed libraries and food hubs to policy proposals such as Grow Small Feed All, her work explores a simple but often overlooked reality: food systems live simultaneously in soil, community, and governance.
This reflection draws on experiences across Tasmania, Australia, Europe, and other emerging local food system initiatives globally to ask a deeper question, how might communities learn to design food systems as living regional organisms once again?
Dr Emily Samuels-Ballantyne is the coordinator of the Activating Food Systems course run through Living Earth College, an educational initiative of Con Viv Design, which brings together practitioners, farmers, designers, and municipal workers seeking practical pathways to reconnect soil stewardship, community food initiatives, and public policy into resilient local food economies.