023 Scott Gallant: Permaculture Development within a Holistic Context (Porvenir Designs)

Regeneration Nation Costa Rica

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.

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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

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