Three inspirational farmers leading us to a sustainable future and paving the way for us to follow in their footsteps are Geoff Lawton, Joel Salatin and Mark Shepard. Each have influenced me personally in a deep, profound way so I thought I would write about them and share it.
My first introduction to permaculture was when I was a recording artist in the 90's. I got some writing and recording work for an animated film about permaculture designed to involve children with permaculture principles. I had never heard of permaculture before and was handed a book explaining the basic concepts.
My mind exploded with ideas after reading that book. I got a hold of the full volume, ! Permaculture - A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollisson. Bill Mollisson is the co-founder, along with Geoff Lawton, of the permaculture movement.
Over the years permaculture has been interpreted in many different ways, but it is first and foremost about designing natural systems that mimic nature, self replicating itself into a balanced system while caring for the earth, people, animals and creating a surplus of abundant, wholesome food.
Geoff Lawton has a gift for communicating the design principles in a clear, understandable fashion that anyone can understand. He has toured the world teaching people the practical skills needed to implement permaculture into their environment. You can read more about him on Wikipedia here: https://g.co/kgs/gWDdFy
He has presented at TED talks, many YouTube videos and given training classes to certify others to teach it as well.
I have tried many of his tips and saw results first hand. For anyone interested in creating a system that replenishes the soil, water and food supply on their property, I highly recommend you absorb as as much as you can from him.
Leveraging his knowledge, I have created food forests that still thrive today, nearly 15 years since they were planted even though they have been virtually neglected. Just like a real forest.
Here is an example of his videos :
Video courtesy of YouTube
Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Virginia is a self-described “Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-Farmer” and produces high-quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable agriculture. He's a farmer, lecturer, and author whose books include Folks, This Ain't Normal, the spellbinding You Can Farm and perennial favorite Salad Bar Beef.
More on Joe's bio here: https://g.co/kgs/ClV5wj
Although he raises animals, he calls himself a grass farmer, once again proving that good wholesome food starts with health soil and ecosystems.
I use his knowledge of managing herbivores and poultry to benefit the soil biology and stack productive fiefdoms on top of each other. More bang for the buck, if you will, on the same land. Again, he's mimicking nature.
He has lectured worldwide include at TED talks and feeds over 5,000 families the food he produces. Passion is an understatement when describing his energy when it comes to farming. See for yourself here:
Video courtesy of YouTube
Mark Shepard of Forest Agricultural Enterprises in Wisconsin practices forest agriculture using a technique he calls STUN, an acronym for Sheer and Total Utter Neglect. Planting thousands of fruit and nut trees on a keyline designed landscape, he then ignores them completely. Many die to which he says, "Good riddance. " Those that survive are propagated and replanted. This leads to strong, surviving trees adapted to the local environment. Just the thing needed to build a strong, resilient ecosystem. You can here him talk about what he does here:
Video courtesy of YouTube
His book, Restoration Agriculture is available on Amazon and well worth the read if building a sustainable future is on your horizon.
I have used many of them methods and design principles they have inspired and will be incorporating them into the food forest project I'm working on now. You can read more about that project here: @luzcypher/quit-my-six-figure-job-to-grow-a-food-forest
I encourage anyone interested in sustainable farming practices to study Geoff, Joel and Mark and soak up their knowledge like water to a sponge.
As always, thanks for reading my post and if you like this sort of things, kindly follow, upvote and comment. Would love to hear your thought, questions and insights.
Luz Cypher has crawled up from the depths of hell to invite you over for dinner and a glass of wine with desert. Do you like apples?