Dynamic Agroforestry - Advanced Succession Agroforestry Management - Dates: April 3 to June 5 (March 20 and 27 Optional extras)
This course specifically focuses upon the management, design and evolution of food forests and agroforestry systems in 1-5 year stage of development – with some practical work also in later stage forest management of established camphor forest to establish diverse native rainforest regeneration with an enrichment of bush tukka species for food production and economic return.
This course is designed for more advanced students of Food Forestry seeking the opportunity to work within and manage established forest systems integrating learnings from Agroecology/Agroforestry/Permaculture/Syntropic/Bush Regeneration/Indigenous Land management. The learning will primarily be through working and sharing together on projects driven by Forest Succession in and around the Northern Rivers Region of NSW. The purpose is to work in multiple sites at different stages of development within different soil types and microclimates to appreciate the broader context and nuances of food forestry in our bioregion.
This will be a more intimate group than the Living Agroecology course with a max of 6-8 participants
Suited to: Practicing Students of Permaculture/Syntropic Farming/Agroecology that are seeking detailed guidance with management techniques and plant patterning in subtropical production systems.
Topics covered:
Evolving food forests from simple, linear systems to complex, dynamic, diverse, organic form forest ecologies
Exploring and managing specific guilds/consortiums of multi-strata food forest plant species including local Bush Tukka Plants
Composing and managing forest structure for the needs of specific crops/livestock with respect to nuance of site characteristics and production/management goals
Identifying, creating and refining microclimates
Advanced species selection and guild creation in our bioregion
Evolution of banana and biomass tree management in advanced stages of succession
Introduction of later succession species into established agroforestry systems
Edible Fungi Cultivation in forest systems
Design and management of production systems for frost protection
Cultivation and food preparation of a range of hardy perennial and bush tukka crops
Participants in this course will need to be familiar and competent with the use of hand saws, secateurs and machetes and will need each of these tools with them at all times of the course. The course will include demonstrations of felling large trees with the use of a chainsaw. You will not be using chainsaws yourself in this course.
Participants are required to have completed a ‘Living Agroecology’ course with us. You must be competent at utilising the ‘Strata/Lifecycle Analysis’ planning table for design and management of mutli-strata agroforestry systems. Some foundational knowledge of Permaculture ‘Zoning’ Principles will be useful also. You are required to have performed continual management of at least one Production Agroforestry system for at least one year. A major outcome of this course, for those who are participating in ongoing projects or are initiating a new project, is to make the time for each student to have the opportunity to share a project design/management ideas for peer review by myself and the group.
About the facilitators:
· Bunya Halasz is inspired by cultures that evolve creative practices of sustaining their material needs in a manner of deep reverence for their natural environment and all of its life forms. Through the lenses of Permaculture, Regenerative Agroecology and Successional Agroforestry, Bunya works as a designer, educator and gardening mentor. His work supports individuals and communities to grow food, fuel and fibre within ecologically regenerative systems as well as facilitating pathways of knowledge and skill sharing through courses and traineeships.
· Dr. Kevin Glencross is a research fellow who has been working in Asia/Pacific and subtropical and tropical Australia on applied research in agroforestry- integrating trees in agricultural systems. He has a particular focus on traditional agroecological systems and publications that address biodiversity conservation, soils and catchment protection, climate change resilience, food security, carbon sequestration, agroecology and ecotourism.
· Flavia Renata Assuncao is a children’s educator with a Degree in Pedagogy from Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil. She has been working in Schools with Permaculture Concepts creating composts, organic vegetable gardens as well as recycling and social economy programmes with children since 2002 in both Brazil and Australia. She is a passionate writer and photographer with an eye for detail and a beautiful curiosity of the natural world
Bryan and Mikaela from Alchemystic Fungi see fungi as an inter-connective matrix enmeshing all of nature's organisms which they weave into their educational offerings. They freely share their successes, pitfalls, procedures, recipes, ideas and trials. They aim to use practices that touch the earth lightly by minimising single use plastics and recycling waste as naturally and optimally as possible. Through the use of nature’s organic processes and creative innovation they inspire many and continue to shift the paradigm of how we can work more deeply interconnected with nature. www.alchemisticfungi.com @alchemistic.fungi
*This course will run concurrently with our next ‘Living Agroecology’ Course. The theory and practical components will be different content or the same topics at an advanced level. The major learnings of this course are from intimate group discussions in situ – making observations and working within highly nuanced diverse systems within our food forests. We are also initiating an exciting new project which we will have the opportunity of planning and initiating….
The dates for this course are:
March 20 @The Farm – (Optional Day – but recommended) – Introduction and induction of new living Ag students – you are welcome as a recap and to meet group but there will be no major new material/projects – but we will be getting a good overview of the site - where its at right now, and what our plans are for the coming month….
March 27 @The Farm, Ewingsdale – (Optional Day) – foundational training with the Living Ag group
April 3 and 10 @The Farm – Formal Commencement of Living Agroecology course and Training
May 1 - @ The Farm in morning, then Ediblescapes Community Garden, Nerang in afternoon for Tour and Urban Agroforestry Presentation and Panel Discussion
May 8, 15, 22, 29 - @ The Farm
June 1 and 2 – Weekend field trip to Namabunda Farm, Alstonville and another field trip site or two TBC….
June 5 - @ The Farm - Final Day wrap up
All days 8:30 to 5:00
Investment - $995
Applications: submitted by Feb 22
Please send one to two concise paragraphs about your experiences in working within agroforestry systems and another one to two paragraphs about the support/experiences you hope to acquire to improve your proficiency in agroforestry techniques
Send application to Bunya at growingrootsgarden@gmail.com
The Primary Venue for this course is our Living Classroom at ‘The Farm’ at Byron Bay with a field trip to ‘Namabunda Farm’, Alstonville in the later 2 days of the course – more details shared upon enrolment
For more information contact:
Bunya - growingrootsgarden@gmail.com
This course specifically focuses upon the management, design and evolution of food forests and agroforestry systems in 1-5 year stage of development – with some practical work also in later stage forest management of established camphor forest to establish diverse native rainforest regeneration with an enrichment of bush tukka species for food production and economic return.
This course is designed for more advanced students of Food Forestry seeking the opportunity to work within and manage established forest systems integrating learnings from Agroecology/Agroforestry/Permaculture/Syntropic/Bush Regeneration/Indigenous Land management. The learning will primarily be through working and sharing together on projects driven by Forest Succession in and around the Northern Rivers Region of NSW. The purpose is to work in multiple sites at different stages of development within different soil types and microclimates to appreciate the broader context and nuances of food forestry in our bioregion.
This will be a more intimate group than the Living Agroecology course with a max of 6-8 participants
Suited to: Practicing Students of Permaculture/Syntropic Farming/Agroecology that are seeking detailed guidance with management techniques and plant patterning in subtropical production systems.
Topics covered:
Evolving food forests from simple, linear systems to complex, dynamic, diverse, organic form forest ecologies
Exploring and managing specific guilds/consortiums of multi-strata food forest plant species including local Bush Tukka Plants
Composing and managing forest structure for the needs of specific crops/livestock with respect to nuance of site characteristics and production/management goals
Identifying, creating and refining microclimates
Advanced species selection and guild creation in our bioregion
Evolution of banana and biomass tree management in advanced stages of succession
Introduction of later succession species into established agroforestry systems
Edible Fungi Cultivation in forest systems
Design and management of production systems for frost protection
Cultivation and food preparation of a range of hardy perennial and bush tukka crops
Participants in this course will need to be familiar and competent with the use of hand saws, secateurs and machetes and will need each of these tools with them at all times of the course. The course will include demonstrations of felling large trees with the use of a chainsaw. You will not be using chainsaws yourself in this course.
Participants are required to have completed a ‘Living Agroecology’ course with us. You must be competent at utilising the ‘Strata/Lifecycle Analysis’ planning table for design and management of mutli-strata agroforestry systems. Some foundational knowledge of Permaculture ‘Zoning’ Principles will be useful also. You are required to have performed continual management of at least one Production Agroforestry system for at least one year. A major outcome of this course, for those who are participating in ongoing projects or are initiating a new project, is to make the time for each student to have the opportunity to share a project design/management ideas for peer review by myself and the group.
About the facilitators:
· Bunya Halasz is inspired by cultures that evolve creative practices of sustaining their material needs in a manner of deep reverence for their natural environment and all of its life forms. Through the lenses of Permaculture, Regenerative Agroecology and Successional Agroforestry, Bunya works as a designer, educator and gardening mentor. His work supports individuals and communities to grow food, fuel and fibre within ecologically regenerative systems as well as facilitating pathways of knowledge and skill sharing through courses and traineeships.
· Dr. Kevin Glencross is a research fellow who has been working in Asia/Pacific and subtropical and tropical Australia on applied research in agroforestry- integrating trees in agricultural systems. He has a particular focus on traditional agroecological systems and publications that address biodiversity conservation, soils and catchment protection, climate change resilience, food security, carbon sequestration, agroecology and ecotourism.
· Flavia Renata Assuncao is a children’s educator with a Degree in Pedagogy from Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil. She has been working in Schools with Permaculture Concepts creating composts, organic vegetable gardens as well as recycling and social economy programmes with children since 2002 in both Brazil and Australia. She is a passionate writer and photographer with an eye for detail and a beautiful curiosity of the natural world
Bryan and Mikaela from Alchemystic Fungi see fungi as an inter-connective matrix enmeshing all of nature's organisms which they weave into their educational offerings. They freely share their successes, pitfalls, procedures, recipes, ideas and trials. They aim to use practices that touch the earth lightly by minimising single use plastics and recycling waste as naturally and optimally as possible. Through the use of nature’s organic processes and creative innovation they inspire many and continue to shift the paradigm of how we can work more deeply interconnected with nature. www.alchemisticfungi.com @alchemistic.fungi
*This course will run concurrently with our next ‘Living Agroecology’ Course. The theory and practical components will be different content or the same topics at an advanced level. The major learnings of this course are from intimate group discussions in situ – making observations and working within highly nuanced diverse systems within our food forests. We are also initiating an exciting new project which we will have the opportunity of planning and initiating….
The dates for this course are:
March 20 @The Farm – (Optional Day – but recommended) – Introduction and induction of new living Ag students – you are welcome as a recap and to meet group but there will be no major new material/projects – but we will be getting a good overview of the site - where its at right now, and what our plans are for the coming month….
March 27 @The Farm, Ewingsdale – (Optional Day) – foundational training with the Living Ag group
April 3 and 10 @The Farm – Formal Commencement of Living Agroecology course and Training
May 1 - @ The Farm in morning, then Ediblescapes Community Garden, Nerang in afternoon for Tour and Urban Agroforestry Presentation and Panel Discussion
May 8, 15, 22, 29 - @ The Farm
June 1 and 2 – Weekend field trip to Namabunda Farm, Alstonville and another field trip site or two TBC….
June 5 - @ The Farm - Final Day wrap up
All days 8:30 to 5:00
Investment - $995
Applications: submitted by Feb 22
Please send one to two concise paragraphs about your experiences in working within agroforestry systems and another one to two paragraphs about the support/experiences you hope to acquire to improve your proficiency in agroforestry techniques
Send application to Bunya at growingrootsgarden@gmail.com
The Primary Venue for this course is our Living Classroom at ‘The Farm’ at Byron Bay with a field trip to ‘Namabunda Farm’, Alstonville in the later 2 days of the course – more details shared upon enrolment
For more information contact:
Bunya - growingrootsgarden@gmail.com