“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
Housing
Energy
Community Life, Learning & Culture
Sacred Activism
Convivial Governance
Regenerative Economic Design.
Why I Write in the Island almanac
Synopsis:
This article explores why Dr. Emily Samuels Ballantyne (Dr Demeter) writes the Island Almanac as a living design journal, a poetic manifesto, and a tool for transition. Drawing on the wisdom of Rudolf Steiner, Arturo Escobar, and Tyson Yunkaporta, Emily outlines how scenario-based thinking and design-led prototypes can help regenerate our core systems: food, housing, energy, sacred activism, convivial governance, community life, and economics. Writing becomes a spiritual and strategic act rooted in land, rigour, and imagination inviting others to co-create a pluriversal future aligned with life.
Beyond Performance: A Call for Living Systems in the Wake of the Universities Accord
Synopsis:
This article offers a grounded response to the Australian Universities Accord Final Report, exploring how its promises of equity, Indigenous leadership, and structural reform might take root in practice. Drawing on decades of work across academic and community systems, it argues that true transformation will require more than policy it calls for place-based investment, relational governance, and a living-systems approach to knowledge.
Influenced by thinkers such as Tyson Yunkaporta, Arturo Escobar, bell hooks, Leanne Simpson, and Vandana Shiva, the piece outlines a framework of sixteen university futures and proposes an emergent vision of regenerative education. Written from the perspective of a designer-activist and farm-based educator, the article closes with a quiet call to begin prototyping a new kind of university one rooted in soil, story, and seasonal rhythm.