I have always ‘s been passionate about growing food, but was getting so tired of pulling weeds and adding amendments to the soil. As soon as I discovered Syntropic agroforestry I knew this was the answer and planted out my first “syntropic system” on the 7th Nov 2022. Upon digging up the site I realised there was no topsoil at all just bedrock! I added horse manure from a local pony club and used my local weedscape to create tons of biomass and planted straight into it. At this stage I didn’t fully understand the value and importance of adding support species like acacia and eucalyptus.
I only wanted high value fruit trees, though I did add Bana grass and Mexican sunflower for chop and drop and shelter. Big mistake for which I am still paying over two years down the track as the eucalyptus are so needed especially on my site to drill through that bedrock and provided that top canopy of diverse shade. Most important thing I have learned through the syntropic principals is that NO young seedling or fledgling tree is ever in full sunlight in the jungle. Which is the environment we are trying to duplicate and speed up.
My second major system was installed during a syntropic agroforestry workshop I hosted on our land. This is a great way to get to know local fellow plant fanatics, learn lots of practical skills and ofcourse many hand make light work. This site has become my textbook paddock to food forest system and only one and a half years later it is booming even though 90% of the plants were grown from seedlings and cuttings, It is booming!
Since then I have moved my focus’s away from paddock to Food Forest to consciously manipulating secondary forest, (where the soil is already so much more developed), into Food Forest. In the wild the jungle is often disturbed by either storms or animals. We mimic this with our chainsaw consciously sacrificing certain trees or limbs to not only create a growth spurt in the system but also to allow in extra sunlight and create biomass to feed the high value species. Bonuses are the already existing mycelium network so vital to a forest ecosystem for the communication between flora.
Next steps are to create living fences in order to be able to introduce goats and cattle into the system for an even more diverse and holistic ecosystem!
