A 2 day workshop centred on resilient, diverse agroforestry systems, with a focus on Syntropic Agriculture and Perennial Vegetable crops

Here at Birch Farm, we have been pioneering regenerative growing practices based on Natural Farming principles for the last 3 years. Participants on this course will be given an introduction into all of the various systems we use to grow food and create biodiversity. We aim for the course to provide a springboard for further research and design work for those attending and will explain the principles behind our decision-making processes for all of the systems we work with.

We are working with several different perennial systems here at Birch Farm, including a commercial food forest based on Wouter Van Eck’s work in the Netherlands, which centres around efficient picking at a commercial scale. Our less formal edible forest garden is based on Martin Crawford’s work in South Devon and shows the benefits of the seven layer food system, and the beauty that is possible in an edible forest design. Several different iterations of our syntropic-inspired systems translate the work of Ernst Gotsch, based in Brazil, to our temperate UK climate.

Course content will be delivered by our Head Gardener, Joshua Sparkes, as well as several other growers working at Birch Farm who have helped design the different systems we will teach. We will start the course with an in-depth farm tour, and then classroom-style learning on the principles that guide Birch Farm, including practical demonstrations of our soil amendments and the design of our complex perennial polycultures. You will have the opportunity to learn about all of these systems, how we planned and established them, how we are managing them, and the challenges we have faced so far.

As part of the course, we will be planting up our most ambitious syntropic project yet, embracing undiluted syntropic principles.

The second day will consist of an exploration of the guiding principles of this system and how they have driven our design process, followed by a planting session on the final afternoon, which will explore planting density, species selection, and rudimentary management plans. This is an opportunity to help plant one of the first fully syntropic systems in England, and to learn from the various different trials that we have experimented with.

During the workshop you will learn about;

• The principles of Syntropic Agriculture and Agroforestry
• How to integrate these principles into new or already established growing systems
• The making of home made amendments for soil and plant establishment
• Preparing the ground ready for planting
• Planting a Syntropic System built on diversity, succession and natural farming
• Discussions on management and pruning
• Sowing seed nests from local collected seed
• Develop the skills and knowledge to create and establish your own Syntropic inspired systems

The workshop will run over the course of two days, from 9:30am – 5pm.

With your workshop confirmation you recieve 20% off throughout The Collective at Woolsery on those two days; join us for dinner at The Farmers Arms or Woolsery Fish and Chips, pick up lunch at J Andrew Shop, or stay the night with us in one of our rooms or cottages!

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions or to book reservations across The Collective at Woolsery during your workshop visit.