“We – Humanity – can be the most beneficial element on this planet.”

— Geoff Lawton

Welcome to Food Forest the Earth. This post will be an explanation of the journey that led me to start this project. I intend for future posts to be an update of the project itself. I will keep it short.

In 1995 I was traveling across the country with my bestie, PK. His VW bus broke down and we spent a summer working and hanging out on Lazy Z Farm (now Baker Family Farm), an organic hay farm in Silver Lake, Oregon. This moment in time has stayed with me ever since. I have often daydreamed about having a farm, and imagined the life it could provide for my family and me. Along with these daydreams came the assumed reality that I couldn’t afford the land, infrastructure, and machinery required to have a farm that could support a family.

This was the case until a couple of years ago when my favorite woman on this planet, and loving partner gave me a copy of Helen and Scott Nearing’s book, “The Good Life”. I read that book straight through in just a couple of days, which let me see that my dream of sustainable farming was so much more accessible than I ever thought. Once I realized that this was possible I was on a mission to learn about living a self-sustaining lifestyle.

I found out about food forests about a year ago, (thanks mainly to youtube) which led me to learn about the idea of permaculture design as a way of creating entirely sustainable communities. I am committed to learning as much as I can, as quickly as I can, and to be in action in every part of my life.

I am currently enrolled in creating the possibility of a food forest garden at my 3 boys’ elementary school. I have just registered for a PDC course which will begin in October. I am looking for opportunities to volunteer on permaculture projects. I just created my very first website, and joined social media. I have just begun this journey. I don’t know exactly what it looks looks like yet, and I would like to invite you to participate in this community as it develops.