The Problem

Cam Incoll and Dr Melis Senova had spent over 15 years in strategic design — Cam as Managing Director of Huddle, a renowned strategic design agency, and Melis building self-knowledge and accountability in leaders through This Human. But they faced a credibility challenge: how could they authentically help others with regenerative design and strategy without living it themselves?

The path forward required more than theory. It demanded a tangible commitment to regenerative practices — on actual land, with real constraints, and documented honestly.

They acquired challenging country in Gippsland with a clear purpose: to build a financially viable regenerative farm from scratch, and to share everything they learned along the way. But this wasn't just about farming — it was about building a regenerative systems company that could demonstrate rigorous, data-driven approaches to land stewardship while creating multiple revenue streams.

The challenge was threefold: design a property that maximizes biodiversity and regenerative outcomes, create viable business models that work with the land rather than against it, and document the entire process transparently for others attempting similar transitions.

The Solution

Mistwood Farm became a living laboratory for regenerative systems thinking. Rather than approaching it as "just a farm," Cam and Melis applied the same rigour they brought to corporate strategy work — combining professional-grade spatial analysis, permaculture design principles, and financial modelling.

Their approach started with data. Using high-resolution elevation data (50cm to 1m resolution government DEM data), contour mapping, water flow modelling, and satellite imagery, they analyzed the land's actual characteristics before making any major decisions. This revealed things invisible from ground level: true water flow patterns, usable slopes, solar access in winter, and hidden growing areas.

The regenerative systems around them become a lens for their own organisational challenges.

The business model evolved into three integrated revenue streams: Regenerative Property Design services (offering desktop assessments, master plans, and enterprise feasibility studies), Strategy and Facilitation work (including immersive corporate strategy days at the farm using their Huddle Thinking Framework), and direct farm products (plant kits, a transparent farm build journal, and digital planning tools).

Critically, everything offered comes from real experience. The plant kits contain species they're actually growing. The journal documents real decisions and real costs. The tools and calculators are the ones they use themselves. Nothing is theoretical.

They established five guiding values that shape every decision: Do Good (maximise biodiversity, enable others, build community), Be Better (minimise fossil inputs, make everything better than it was), Think Big (think holistically, consider systems, make connections), Act Now (small acts create big impact), and Make Beauty (find elegant, simple solutions, finish well, see nature's beauty).

The Impact

Mistwood demonstrates that regenerative farming can be approached with the same strategic rigour as any complex business challenge. By sharing their complete permaculture design in the open — including detailed component cards, actions, and updates as they learn — they're creating a replicable model for others.

The farm serves multiple purposes simultaneously: it's a working regenerative property, a demonstration site for spatial analysis and permaculture design, a venue for corporate strategy offsites that use the land as a lens for organizational thinking, and a source of proven plant genetics and practical tools.

Their weekly Farm Build Journal provides unprecedented financial transparency and honest documentation of the challenges inherent in regenerative agriculture — filling a critical gap in the available resources for aspiring land stewards and tree-changers.

The model proves that professional design expertise and regenerative practice aren't separate domains — they're complementary approaches to understanding and working with complex systems, whether those systems are organizational or ecological.

Key Outcomes

• Data-driven property design methodology: Professional-grade GIS analysis combined with permaculture principles, creating property master plans grounded in actual topography and water flow
• Viable multi-stream business model: Three integrated revenue sources (property design services, strategy facilitation, farm products) that reinforce each other and support the regenerative farm
• Transparent knowledge sharing: Weekly farm build journal with complete financial transparency, downloadable tools, and GIS tutorials for others on similar journeys
• Immersive corporate strategy venue: Using the regenerative farm setting to facilitate deep strategic work for Melbourne corporate teams, with the land itself becoming a lens for organizational challenges
• Open-source permaculture design: Complete design documentation published online with ongoing updates, creating a living reference for others

Credits

Founders: Cam Incoll and Dr Melis Senova

Location: Gippsland, Victoria, Australia

Approach: Strategic design meets permaculture — rigorous spatial analysis, financial modelling, and transparent documentation

Design Framework: Guided by Holmgren's permaculture principles and pathways beyond sustainability