Colorful illustration of a vegetable garden with the text 'The Island Almanac' surrounded by a sun, tomato, carrot, lettuce, flower, and a small solar panel.


“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.

    1. Food, Plants and Planets

    2. Housing and Natural Building

    3. Energy

    4. Community Life, Learning & Culture

    5. Sacred Activism

    6. Convivial Governance

    7. Regenerative Economic Design.

Wildflowers growing in a field with a backdrop of trees and a partly cloudy sky.
Emily Samuels-Ballantyne Emily Samuels-Ballantyne

We Are All Designers: The Case for Life Systems Literacy

We Are All Designers: The Case for Life Systems Literacy explores the proposition that design is not confined to professional studios or academic institutions but is an inherent human activity shaping economic flows, ecological systems and cultural life. From the first tools and languages to supermarkets and digital platforms, the structures that organise society are designed and continuously redesigned through our daily participation. Drawing from an anthroposophic lens and grounded in lived practice as both farmer and design theorist, this essay argues that modern education has refined technical skill while neglecting life systems literacy. Economic flow mirrors ecological flow: where value circulates determines whether landscapes regenerate or thin, whether communities strengthen or fragment. Food, in particular, is presented not merely as nutrition but as formative infrastructure, shaping perception, culture and ultimately the futures we design.

Through the framework of Con Viv, convivial living systems design and the regional initiative Grow Small, Feed All, the article positions localised biodynamic food systems as civic and perceptual infrastructure rather than nostalgic alternatives. It introduces Living Earth College as an emerging translocal platform dedicated to embedding soil processes, cooperative economics, phenomenological observation and place-based food projects into foundational education.

Ultimately, the essay invites designers, students, policymakers and households alike to recognise their agency as co-designers of living systems and to consciously participate in shaping regenerative economic and cultural futures

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