This formative article on indigenous heritage and cultural phenology informs environment and sustainability education as reflexive processes of heritage-mediated, deliberative learning to change together. It shows how transformative learning can be informed by engaging with biocultural heritage that has shaped the southern African biomes as living landscapes. Drawing on historical and agroecological evidence, the article illustrates how local practices have shaped environments that support sustainable livelihoods and community well-being. It reviews evidence of how expanding agroecology practices successively ‘tamed’ the land, making village surroundings safe, healthy and productive. The heritage practices examined show how colonial Arcadian ideals, together with the empirical traditions of the natural sciences, shaped Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as primarily a learner-led problem-solving approach. The study suggests that a broader view of learning and biocultural change can help reframe ESD as a more reflexive critical process, informed by biocultural heritage and connected to school disciplinary subjects knowledge.