Charles, a certified permaculture designer, comes to EAT through a love of the wild, faith that healthy communities can solve complex problems, and a belief that working with one’s hands is sacred work.
As an accomplished tinker Charles brings a wide range of practical and somewhat obscure hand skills. He has installed complex systems such as solar electric arrays, gray water filters, and veggie oil diesel conversions. He has implemented simple systems such as emergency water filtration, humanure composting toilets, and rotational grazing plans. He is talented in wilderness tracking, solo canoeing, gathering and tending wild edibles, starting fire by hand, and mapping. He loves to work with his hands, whether he is tanning hides or repairing a generator, and this love is reflected when he teaches EAT’s hands-on segments.
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Tag Archives: hazelnuts
Our Nut Research Featured in Sunday’s Free Press!
Posted by on April 9, 2015
We were honored to have our research and breeding trials featured in this Sunday’s Burlington Free Press Article:
ELMORE – Pears dropped with a distinct plunk as David Fried ambled through a varied crop of fruit and nut trees. Kiwi vines, black walnut trees, and hazelberts lined the path.
Squirrels hoard the nuts, and deer eat the drops, but Fried, 56, isn’t easily goaded. “For us it’s something we like, but for them it’s survival,” he said.
His 18 acres, once an abandoned hay field, is now an abundant Eden in Elmore. After being told only apples could grow this far north, Fried has discovered, over three decades of experimenting, what is possible for Vermont.
His Elmore Roots Nursery has sold about 50,000 fruit and nut trees since he opened for business in 1979.
These trees also protect Vermont’s changing landscape in the face of extreme weather patterns. One tree in particular, the Hazelbert, saved one farm during Tropical Storm Irene three years ago.
Vermont hazelnut trees are called Hazelberts, created by Fred Ashworth who was a fruit explorer in upstate New York in the 1800s. “He crossed a European filbert with an American hazelnut,” Fried said. “We carry on that lineage of his trees.”
A line of Hazelberts on the edge of the Lamoille River saved Willow Crossing Farm in Johnson from heavy damage during Irene and the flooding that preceded that storm. “The trees caught four feet of flotsam,” owner Keith Morris said. “Hazelberts bend and slow the water, then they bounce right back.”
Morris, 36, also owns Prospect Rock Permaculture, a landscape design and build firm that helps people plant protective infrastructure into their homesteads. Morris is on a mission to see more nut trees as shelter belts around vegetation, as wind breaks, animal fencing, and on river’s edges across the state.
Nut farming in Vermont is a frontier largely unexplored, Morris said. “We look at how we can make farms more resilient,” he said. “Nut trees and can do that.”
Fried’s certified organic nursery boasts eight different kinds of nut trees. He sells about 600 hazelnut, black walnut, pine nut, bur oak, shagbark hickory, butternut, buartnut and American chestnut annually.
Willow Crossing’s Morris started collecting nut trees in 2000, and Morris experiments with about 3,000 species now. The Hazelbert is the most exciting, he said. “There is a huge market for it,” he said. “Nutella is a great example.”
Nutella is a sweet spread made from hazelnuts that has replaced peanut butter in many homes across the nation recently.
Hazelberts produce nuts within a few years of being planted as opposed to other nut trees that generally take about 10 to 15 years to produce, Morris said.
While Nutella is a fairly new item in Vermont kitchens, the butternut pie is a long-standing tradition. “Butternut trees have a dear place in my heart, on my farm, and in the entire state for that matter,” Morris said. “Butternuts were a staple crop for most homesteads here for generations.”
Now Butternut trees are endangered. There is a fungal blight in the state. “The outlook isn’t good,” Morris said. “We are working with the state, and with some hybrid trees that are blight resistant.”
Shelburne Farms Head Market Gardener, Josh Carter, has been growing Hazleberts in Shelburne for three years. “We’re thinking our Hazleberts will start producing enough nuts to sell to the Inn next year,” he said.
The Hazleberts were planted to add interesting, non-traditional crops that fit with the farm’s educational mission. “Since we run a farm-to-table restaurant on site we diversity our market garden operation as much of possible for greatest variety in the menu,” Carter said.
Nut farming is not economically viable, Carter said. “We don’t grow many nuts around here in the Northeast,” he said.
Growing nuts is similar to growing hops for beer, Carter said. “People like the idea of growing local hops for local breweries, but there’s a lot of infrastructure involved for starting up and brewing for this refined and processed product to make it viable.”
Carter admits he doesn’t have a passion for growing nuts, in particular, but does have a passion for trying different crops and learning as he goes.
Five years from now, everyone might want Hazleberts, Carter said. “It’s always nice to be ahead of the curve,” he said. “We’re building a pool of knowledge to cash in on in the future.”
Morris said he doesn’t think Vermont will ever have a competitive advantage with nut growing, but nut trees are important to the state’s landscape. “With more growers on board, it makes sense to look into nut butters and oils,” he said. “Hazelnut oil from Europe is a very valuable high quality commodity.”
Morris is also working on a hybrid pecan and hickory tree called a hickan tree. “People say pecans won’t grow in Vermont, but they do,” he said.
It might take 15 years to see nuts grow on a hickan tree, but there will be 500 years of nut harvesting after that, with no tilling, weeding, or seeding.
“I hope my work will build a legacy, so that generations of Vermonters to come might have plenty of pecans,” Morris said.
Contact Lynn Monty at LynnMonty@FreePressMedia.com and follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/VermontSongbird.
Thank you Lynn for a great story!
Here is a link to the original article: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont/2014/09/06/nut-farming-hard-crack-vermont/15214289/
I will return and annotate/ correct this as there’s even more to the story!
Stay tuned for an audio file of our Nuts for the Northeast presentation at NOFA MA- we’re also looking for someone who wants to collaborate on making a simple video from the slides or who would like to edit the audio.
Thanks to everyone for coming out and sharing our event with DARREN DOHERTY! It was a great success.
Out ROOT CELLAR DESIGN BUILD WORKSHOP will be October 18-19- stay tuned for more details or email to register!
Nursery Plants Pre-Orders
Posted by on May 12, 2014
The information below is from previous years- these varieties and MANY MORE are available for pre-order with plant pick ups beginning April 23 for the 2016 season.
Please add your email to the box on the right and confirm your subscription (‘Following Blog’).
We will have a large variety of select fruits, nuts, berries, and vines proven in the Lamoille Valley of Northern Vermont. At this time, we do not ship plants. Plants area available for pickup at the farm in Johnson, VT or our barn in Jeffersonville, VT starting Earth Day- April 22, 2015, and celebrating with Special Events for International Permaculture Day- May 3, 2015.
Please send an email with specific requests- especially if you are looking for wholesale/ orchard/ production/ hedgerow quantities. Plants are available in bundles of 10 of the same variety for wholesale or farm production planting pricing.
Available as Bare-Root Plants Picked up in Northern Vermont:
Apples Pears Walnuts Hazelnuts Chestnuts Hickories and Pecans Currants and other Ribes Kiwis Sea Berries and other N Fixers Strawberries Asparagus Hops Plums Cherries Peaches and Apricots Hops Medicinal Herbs and Companion Plants Grapes Schisandra Tobacco Paw Paws Honey Berries
Please see below for some examples of the varieties we had for previous seasons. We should have all (or most) of these and are looking forward to introducing several more!
Potted Plants:
We have a limited number of plants.
Black Locusts ~2′ tall potted $20. The exceptionally fast growing Nitrogen Fixing Tree has delicious edible flowers loved by bees. Its also exceptionally rot resistant and hot burning fire-wood.
Aurora Pear ~6+’ tall grafted Fruit Tree, XL pot- $50
Grafted Paw Paws ~1′ tall in deep pots. ‘Pennsylvania Golden’ and ‘NC-1’ varieties.
$25 Various Nut Trees ~2′ tall in deep and/ or large pots. Walnuts, Hazelnuts, Carpathian Walnuts, Butternuts, Buartnuts $40 each! Sugar Maples ~5+’ tall potted trees
$30 Kiwis potted, assorted varieties
$25 Siberian Pea Shrub ~2-4′ tall potted trees. Beautiful N Fixer with edible flowers and small peas often used as chicken fodder and/ or living fence. Please stay tuned and follow the blog- our availability and pre-orders for spring 2015 will be announced soon!
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Spring 2014
(for reference only- most of these plants will be available for similar prices Spring 2015)
Hey All! Thanks everyone for your support of our most successful plant sale to date! By last count we’ve helped place several hundred fruits, nuts, berries, vines, and other useful plants throughout the northeast just this spring! All plants are available for pickup ASAP in Jeffersonville, VT or at Willow Crossing Farm by appointment, unless otherwise noted. All trees are potted in organic compost potting mix. For the best prices on trees, please subscribe for details about our late April / early May Bare Root Plant Sales. We still have nice, well branched PIXWELL GOOSEBERRIES $20/ plant- make a small deliciously fruiting, mildly thorny hedge around your garden to keep the critters back! SIBERIAN PEA SHRUB- One of our favorite Nitrogen Fixers, this plant feeds bees, has delicious edible flowers (for people), and its small edible peas are traditionally grown as a chicken feed. $20/ Plant CONSTORT BLACK CURRANT- widely adaptable, shade-fruiting, delicious- White Pine Blister Rust immune- yum! $20/ Plant HYBRID HAZELS- One of our favorites for a future crop in VT, now well into production here at Willow Crossing, these multi-stemmed trees will begin to bear nuts in as little as 3 years from planting. They also make nice hedges, living fences, privacy screens, or snow fence. $30/ tree. (Available for Pickup this weekend by appointment). SILVER MAPLES- 3-4′ bare root trees. Stately! $15/ Plant SOLD OUT SUGAR MAPLES- 4-5′ bare root trees. The classic! $25/ Plant LODI GREEN APPLE- 3/4″ truck caliper (over 6′ tall) bare root trees- $30/ plant SOLD OUT NIJISEIKI ASIAN PEAR- 3/4″ truck diameter (~5′ plant) bare root- $30/ Plant. SOLD OUT AURORA RED BLUSHED PEAR- 3/4″ truck diameter (over 6′ tall)- $50/ Plant. ONE LEFT- BIG TREE! BLACK LOCUST- 18″- Permaculture stacking function ‘superhero’: the fastest growing, most rot resistant, hottest burning, thorny, Nitrogen Fixing, bee-supporting, edible flowers. $20/ Plant
Ericoid Mycorrhizae infect the roots of blueberries, and expand their reaches for minerals, nutrients, and water exponentially!
WATERMAN BERRY FARM ERICOID MYCORRHIZA INNOCULATED MATURE BLUEBERRIES magic mushrooms for blueberry roots! MEADER, BLUE GLOD, ELLIOT $35/ Large Potted Plant CONCORD GRAPES– The classic hardy blue grape known for its vigor and disease resistance, and delicious fresh grapes, juices, wine, jams, and preserves. $20/ pot BLACK WALNUTS- 2-3′ bare root trees. $30 BUTTERNUTS- 12-18″ bare root trees- $25 *CARPATHIAN/ ENGLISH WALNUTS- 2-3′ bare root trees, $40 XANTHOCERAS- 3-4′ bare root trees, $25 SOLD OUT Still just a few potted: KIWIS, SEA BERRIES, ARONIA, ROSES, ARTICHOKES, and some VIKING ASPARAGUS! More details on the plant sale are available here. If you want something left bare root for you let us know! Thanks so much! Keith, Family, and Crew Only a few spaces remain in this summer’s Permaculture Design Certification Course, and we’re able to offer full scholarships to income eligible Vermonters and Women Farmers. Two spaces will be reserved for ‘second PDC’ students looking to deepen their practice and experience. Happy spring- get planting! 
May Plant Sale!
Posted by on April 25, 2013
The most up to date info for plant availability is HERE
This is Spring 2014 data for reference- many of these varieties (and more) will be available for pre-order and pick up in April – May 2015
CHERRIES NUT TREES CURRANTS GOOSEBERRIES SEA BERRIES PEACHES PEARS BLUEBERRIES GRAPES HARDY KIWIS NITROGEN FIXERS MAPLES CRANBERRIES HONEY BERRIES HOPS ASPARAGUS MEDICINAL HERBS
Please pre-order and read below for details.
Vermont’s oldest Permaculture Research and Education Institute is pleased to announce the details for our annual Nursery Plant Sale!
We’re excited to share some of our favorite Vermont-Proven Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Vines, and Medicinal Herbs, and the results of almost 15 years of breeding, selection and tree crops research here in Northern Vermont. Our trees are specifically selected to be valuable additions to your yard, garden, or landscape, and intended to be components of diverse
Edible Forest Gardens, Edible Landscaping, Specimen Trees, Windrows/ Hedgerows, Wildlife Corridors, Deer Yards, Riparian Buffers, Vineyards, and Productive Orchards.
We also offer some of our favorite Medicinal Herbs as Companion Plants and Understory Plantings, and a variety of
Nitrogen Fixing, Nutrient Accumulating, and Pollinator Feeding support plants.
100% of the Proceeds from this sale further Permaculture Research, Education, and Productive Reforestation for Vermont’s Fields, Farms, and Floodplains- supporting more diverse, resilient, and nourishing tree crop propagation for cold climates.
Willow Crossing Farm is working to demonstrate and spread Climate Resilient, Multi-Generational, Ecologically Regenerative, Carbon-Negative, Income Producing, Nutrient Dense, Valuable Sugar and Lumber Producing, Pollinator Supporting, Soil Building, Flood Tolerant Tree Crops for Vermont’s Farms, Yards, Gardens, and Cities.
Plants will be available for pickup Friday May 2, Saturday May 3, Friday May 9, and Saturday May 10.
Please SHARE this with your friends and networks who may be interested!
Some plants will also be available at The Farm Store in Jeffersonville, VT and larger orders are able to be delivered into Burlington.
It is strongly recommended that you Pre-Order plants, as many will sell out. Some Bare Root plants will only be available during earlier pick up dates, and some of the Medicinal Herbs may not be available until the later dates.
* Asterisks indicate experimental plants for our region- typically, these are plants that can survive Vermont winters, but may not reliably bear crops every season. Most are suited to the Champlain Valley and some of Vermont’s warmer microclimates, and will be more marginal in colder microclimates. All are bering grown here in the Lamoille River Valley of Johnson, VT.
Please ask about quantity discounts for orchards, nut groves, vineyards, and working farms.
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2014 OFFERINGS:
All plants are in VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES- its best you CONTACT US if you’re coming for anything in particular.
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CHERRIES (few remain):
Kristin Cherry: 1″ caliper diameter, bare root. Developed in Geneva, NY- Kristin is hardier than most Sweet Cherries, and has withstood temperatures to minus 25°F and below, and is generally considered the hardiest sweet cherry. Kristin produces abundant, large, dark burgundy fruit with flavorful, firm and juicy flesh. Best with Lapins or another sweet cherry as a pollinator. $35
*Lapins Cherry: 5/8” diameter, bare root. Very large, dark purple, delicious and self-fertile, Lapins is one of the best Cherries available. From brilliant white blossoms to the dark red fruit to beautiful foliage in fall, this tree provides multi-seaon interest. Introduced by Dr. Lapins at the Summerland Research Station in British Columbia, Canada, Lapins is a favorite with commercial growers. Lapins is also an easy to grow and very productive variety for the home gardener. On Colt rootstock- semi-dwarfing (80% of full size ~12-15′). Colt is adapted to most soils and is hardy, vigorous, productive, and forms a well-branched tree. $30
PEARS:
“Aurora”: 5/8″ caliper diameter, bare root. One of the best tasting pears you can grow, Aurora was developed in Geneva, NY and keeps well into December. $30
“Nijiseiki” 5/8″ caliper diamter, bare root. One of the most popular Asian Pears, Nijiseiki is a large, crisp, juicy and flavorful, yellowish-green variety. The fruit often found in markets in mesh bags, Nijiseiki ripens in late August into September. Can pollinate and be pollinated by European Pears. $30
APPLE:
‘Lodi’ 3/4″ caliper diamter, bare root. The “early bird” of the orchard. Be the first in your neighborhood to enjoy homemade pies, cider and applesauce. While similar to Yellow Transparent, these apples are larger and keep better. Resistant to powdery mildew. Cold-hardy. Ripens in July. A licensed vareity of Cornell University. $40
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NUT TREES
Black Walnut: 2-3′, Bare Root. A stately ornamental and the most valuable timber tree, Black Walnut grows very well- capable of growing to 100 ft. or more in height, Black Walnut’s broad spreading form is awe inspiring. For timber production, trees should be planted close together or within rings of Black Locust, Sea Berry or other N Fixers to encourage upright growth, straight trunks, and help fertilize the soil. Black Walnut nuts are rich, flavorful, and nutrient dense- high in beneficial fats, oils, and proteins. Great for fresh eating and in baked goods. Able to be tapped for syrup. These 3 year old seedlings are 4-5 ft. in height and well-rooted. $20
Shagbark Hickory: 3-4′, Bare Root. A beautiful and interesting tree, the shagbark hickory bears delicious nuts and is valuable to wildlife, serving as a summer roost for VT’s rare bats. Valuable lumber, firewood, and able to be tapped for syrup. $25
Butternut: 12’18”, Bare Root. Lamoille Valley’s native White Walnut. A beautiful specimen tree, valuable lumber, able to be tapped for syrup, and produces delicious oily nuts. This species is listed as endangered and most are succumbing to the Butternut Canker- lets plant more and select the survivors! $20
*Hardy Pecan: 2-3′, Bare Root. Created by using wild tree germplasm from the Northern-most parent plants found in Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan. Selections are based primarily on the early ripening characteristics. Trees are surviving well in Northern VT, but may or may not be able to fully ripen their nuts. $25
*Carpathian/ English Walnut: 2-3′, Bare Root. This is the species of walnut used in commercial walnut production- high quality nuts, thin shelled, full flavored. We are propagating from zone 4 survivors. $25
*Manregion Walnut: 4’5′, Bare Root. This hardy form of English Walnut is prized for its large, easy to crack, and delicious nuts. Plant with other J. regia for cross-pollination. This is highly experimental for northern VT, and is recommend for trials in the Champlain Valley, Southern VT, MA, NH, etc. $25
Hybrid Hazels: 12-18″, Bare Root. The parents of our strain of hazelnuts come from breeding programs in Alberta, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and upstate New York. Our breeding goals include: high yields, pest & disease resistance, suitability for low-input and certified organic conditions. Our seed is open-pollinated, and selected from the top producing plants in pollen-controlled breeding plots. Beautiful ornamentally, suitable for hedges, windbreaks, privacy screens, and living snow fence. Nuts rich in beneficial fats, proteins, and oils. $15
Jefferson Filbert: 1 gallon pots. One of the latest selections from Oregon State University, this disease-resistant european filbert bears abundant crops of very large, delicious hazelnuts. Derived from Barcelona, the main commercial variety, Jefferson is even more productive and immune to Eastern Filbert Blight. Plant with other hazels for cross-pollination. $20
Seedling American Chestnut: ~18″ Bare Root.
Xanthoceras (Yellowhorn) 3-4′ Bare Root.
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SEA BERRIES 
Sea Berries, or Sea Buckthorn, are a promising new crop for VT. As fruit-producing Nitrogen Fixing plants, they are also excellent additions to any fruit, nut, or berry planting, literally bringing Nitrogen out of the atmosphere and making it available to plants in the soil. Bred extensively as a superfood in Russia and Germany, sea berry is increasingly being used in a variety of health foods, juices, hair products, and other supplements. Hardy to -40º.
Check out our friends and clients: The Vermont Sea Berry Company. All Varieties: $20
Leikora (F): 2-3′ Bare Root. Prized for both its fruit and its striking branches, often used in floral displays. Leikora bears abundant crops of high quality large, juicy, flavorful, bright orange berries, ripening in early Sept. and remaining on the plant even after heavy frost.
Radiant™ (F): 1 gallon pots. A valuable Siberian variety, Radiant™ is prized for its large, juicy and flavorful fruit, which is particularly high in Vitamin C. Radiant™ forms a compact, attractive shrub growing to about 8 ft. in height.
Russian Orange™ (F): 1 gallon pots. A particularly attractive, vigorous, and productive, medium-size shrub, Russian Orange™ bears abundant crops of very large, flavorful, dark orange berries. Russian Orange™ also features unusually lush, grayish green slender foliage.
Titan™ (F): 1 gallon pots. One of our favorites and most popular varieties, Titan™ bears abundant crops of very large, bright orange berries. Very flavorful and aromatic, they make delicious juice and preserves and grow to about 10 ft. in height. Russian Selection.
Male (M): 1 gallon pots. An attractive ornamental shrub and important pollinator for the many varieties we offer, our Male is covered with striking large, dark golden-brown flower buds in winter and spring. One Male plant can pollinate up to 8 female plants.
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HARDY KIWI
These attractive, vigorous, disease and pest free vines can quickly cover a wall, fence, arbor, or trellis. Their delicious, lime-green (and fuzz free) fruit is sweeter and more flavorful than the store-bought Fuzzy Kiwi, and can be eaten like grapes! Once established, they survive the coldest winters. All varieties $20, Anna is $15.
Andrey (M): 1 gallon pots. A super hardy (-40ºF) Eastern Russian male pollinator.
Anna (F): 3.5″ pots. The most popular variety for commercial production- bearing abundant crops of large, very sweet fruit.
Hardy Red (F): 1 gallon pots. A unique variety with attractive red-fleshed sweet-tart kiwi berries.
Rossana (F): 1 gallon pots. An Italian variety, and favorite from our trials. Good crops of large, red-blushed delicious fruit.
Male (M): 1
gallon pots.
gallon pots.
RIBES:
Ribes are all of our currants, gooseberries, and jostaberries. Some of the best shade-tolerant fruit, all the ribes make excellent understory plantings beneath fruit trees- a traditional pattern in the community gardens throughout Eastern Europe. They are rich in vitamin C and anti-oxidants, and make for excellent tart fresh fruit, jams, jellies, juices, vines, dried berries, and other preserves.
CURRANTS:
Black Currants: “Blackdown”, “Consort”, Jostaberry
Red Currants: “Cherry Red”, “Perfection”
White Currants: “Blanka”
GOOSEBERRIES: “Captivator” and “Pixwell”
GOJI BERRY:
“Crimson Star” 1 Gallon Pot.
ARONIA:
“Nero” 1-2′ Bare Root.
HONEY BERRY:
“Berry Blue” 2-3′ Bare Root
“Smokey Blue” 2-3′ Bare Root
PAW PAW:
“NC-1” Deep Pots.
“Pennsylvania Golden” Deep Pots.
Seedling
CRANBERRY:
“Pilgrim” 1 Gallon Pots.
ARTICHOKE:
“Green Globe”
GRAPES:
“Concord”, “King of the North”
APPLE:
“Lodi”: 3/4 Diameter bare root
PEACHES:
“Reliance” 3/4 diameter Bare Root.
“Early Red Haven” 3/4 Caliper Diameter Bare Root.
BLUEBERRIES:
“Jersey”
“Berkeley
STRAWBERRIES:
Seascape
HOPS:
“Nugget”
“Nugget”
JUNEBERRIES/ SASKATOON:
Saskatoon Serviceberry 2-3′ Bare Root.
NITROGEN FIXERS:
Black Locust
Siberian Pea Shrub
Please check back later as I will continue to update prices and the varieties for Asparagus, Medicinal Herbs, and more!
Please share this email or link to this webpage via your networks!
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June 21-22: NATURAL BEEKEEPING WORKSHOP! With SAM COMFORT of Anarchy Apiaries, and a special focus on Native Pollinators.
July 20 – August 1. Our 7th ANNUAL PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATION COURSE!
Thanks- look forward to seeing you at the farm this spring!
2013 EARTH ACTIVIST TRAINING Sept. 7-21
Posted by on February 12, 2013
2013 Earth Activist Training (EAT)
At Willow Crossing Farm and Wildlife Refuge
Johnson, VT
September 7 – 21, 2013
with Starhawk, Charles Williams, Keith Morris, Lisa DePiano, Skotty Kellogg, and Special Guests
Permaculture, earth-based spirituality, organizing and activism… with Starhawk and a team of stellar teachers and designers.
An Earth Activist Training can set your life on a new path…or show you how to save the world. Green solutions are sprouting up all around us, but permaculture shows us how to weave them together into systems that can meet human needs and regenerate the natural world. EAT is practical earth healing with a magical base of ritual and nature awareness, teaching you to integrate mind and heart, with lots of hands-on practice and plenty of time to laugh.
Our two-week intensives are Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) scourses, offering the basic, internationally-recognized 72-hour permaculture curriculum with an additional focus on social permaculture, organizing tools, and spirit.
To Register, please click here. For more information about Earth Activist Training (EAT) please visit here.
Starhawk is a world-reknown author, activist, permaculture designer, and one of the foremost voices in earth-based spirituality. Her twelve books include The Spiral Dance, The Fifth Sacred Thing, and The Earth Path, and her first picture book for children, The Last Wild Witch. She has lived and worked collectively for thirty years, and her book on group dynamics is just out: The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups.
Starhawk is a veteran of progressive movements, from anti-war to anti-nukes, and is deeply committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism.
Earth Activist Trainings were founded by Starhawk as intensive seminars that combine permaculture design, political organizing, and earth-based spirituality. With over ten years of experience in permaculture design and teaching, she has pioneered the application of permaculture principles to social organizations, policy and strategy. Since its first course in May of 2001, Earth Activist Trainings has graduated over 600 students who now shepherd projects that range from community power-down strategies in Iowa City to water catchment programs in Bolivia, from inner city gardens in San Francisco to women’s programs in the West Bank of Palestine. Starhawk’s own expertise is in the communication of ecological systems thinking through images, writing, and innovative teaching techniques.
Starhawk is perhaps best known as an articulate pioneer in the revival of earth-based spirituality and Goddess religion. She is a cofounder of Reclaiming, an activist branch of modern Pagan religion, and continues to work closely with the Reclaiming Community.
Keith Morris has been applying his lifelong love of nature and culture and experience as an activist to permaculture and ecological design since 1996 — working as a designer, builder, grower of ecologically regenerative, socially just, commercially viable, and culturally appropriate whole-systems around the world.He is the founder of Prospect Rock Permaculture (www.prospectrock.org), Willow Crossing Farm (www.willowcrossing.org), co-founding board member of the Permaculture Institute of the NorthEast (P.I.N.E. ), and teaches permaculture and ecological design The University of Vermont, Sterling College, the Yestermorrow Design/ Build School, and with other community organizations.
He specializes in farm infrastructure design/ build and is an accomplished beekeeper, nurseryman, and social entrepreneur. For the past 17 years, he’s been consulting with forward-thinking landowners, community organizations, schools, towns, farmers, homesteaders, watershed organizations, land trusts, and others to interpret ecological context and make human-managed ecosystems more connected, beautiful, and productive- assisting people to better grow food, build soil, secure fresh water, harvest the sun, and harmonize with natural communities.
While his expertise is integrated farm infrastructure and tree crops systems for cold temperate/ arctic climates, he works regularly in New York City and has designed and implemented systems in New Zealand, Colorado, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Quebec, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nigeria, Ghana, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
MARK SHEPARD in MONTPELIER, VT
Posted by on September 22, 2012
TONIGHT- MARK SHEPARD in MONTPELIER!
7 pm at the UU Church located at 130 Main St.
Mark is one of the nation’s foremost large-scale permaculture and reforestation farmers.
Author of ‘Restoration Agriculture’ will be giving a talk and doing a book signing at 7:00pm TONIGHT Sunday September 22nd. “Restoration Agricultural” explains how we can have all the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing food, building, fuel and many other needs. This is a rare opportunity to hear one of the leaders in broad acre sustainable agriculture speak about his experience on 106 acre New Forest Farm in Wisconsin. Donations for rental of the space and gas money will be appreciated, but no one turned away for lack of funds.
Thanks!
Orchard Pruning Workshop- March 2
Posted by on September 14, 2012
2015 event details HERE
Hands on- Fruit and Nut Tree Pruning
A day long exploration of the science and practice of ecological tree crop management for diverse yields.
Willow Crossing Farm
Johnson, VT
SUNDAY, MARCH 2
10 am – 4 pm
Join VT’s Master Horticulturalist Zach Leonard and Tree Farmer Keith Morris for a day of hands-on practice with fruit and nut tree pruning, in a diverse permaculture forest garden setting.
Spend the morning in the large yurt learning the science and ecology of how trees lose limbs and ‘heal’, and explore the deep traditions of how humans beings observe and interact with this phenomenon. We’ll synthesize a variety of pruning ideas, strategies, and techniques to help you develop your own philosophy, understanding, and confidence to go out and work with trees in your landscape in a regenerative and yielding way.
After lunch and some hot cider we’ll go outside to explore one of VT’s oldest permaculture designed food forests- a reforestation of old pasture and hayfield in the floodplain of the Lamoille River. We’ll briefly tour ‘Productive Buffers’, wildlife corridors, and stop to work in zones of Plums, Apples, Peaches, Pears, Berries, Vines, Hazelnuts, Walnuts, and more- driven by the group’s interest, and discussing pruning techniques for trees both young and old.
We’ll look at and evaluate previous years of pruning decisions and ensuing consequences, and explore some natural tree injuries and healing responses, helping participants to better understand the implications of our pruning decisions over varying periods of time.
We’ll finish the day practicing with different tools to cut wood cleanly- with an eye towards maximizing production, fruit quality, ease of future maintenance, and minimizing pest and disease pressure. We’ll also set the stage for top-working, multi-variety grafting, species changes (i.e.. Peaches on Plum roots), and other forms of propagation. In preparation for our March 16 Grafting Workshop and Scionwood Exchange
We’ll also prune mature, bearing Hazelnuts and manage black locust, walnut, butternut/ buartnut, pecans, and more for nuts, firewood, high-value lumber, succession, aesthetics, and other long-term aims.
We’ll pass around, demonstrate, and allow you to trial favorite tools, including pruners, saws, pole saws, etc.; speak to their selection and maintenance, and discuss hygienic practices to promote orchard health and reduce cross-contamination.
This workshop kicks off our series for 2014!
Please enter your email in the box on the right hand side of the page, or ‘like’ us on Facebook to get the calendar and details for our other offerings such as: fruit tree grafting (March 16), nursery plant sale, natural beekeeping workshop, nut production, diverse understory planting, spring development for gravity fed irrigation, natural building, compost heat, season extension, earth oven construction, stone masonry, and more.
Our Plum Flower Festival and Nursery Plant Sale is scheduled for May 4, with some plants available for pickup Saturday May 3, or delivery into Burlington.
Our 2014 Permaculture Design Certification Course will be held July 20- August 1, and is filling quickly. Applications for our Advanced Permaculture Design / Build /Grow / Teach internship, and APDC guided portfolio development will now be accepted on a rolling basis!
Event is $60 suggested donation/ sliding scale, including warm or cold cider during lunch and a round of hard cider tasting (21 and over) afterwards. No one will be refused for lack of funds.
*We are looking for photographers or videographers to help document the event, or create a short educational video.*
Please pre-register, and dress to spend the day outdoors.
We’ll need your email address if you’re planning on coming because the weather will determine where we’ll have people park. Feel free to bring your *clean, sterile, and sharp* pruners and saws.
Zach Leonard is a master horticulturalist and was farm manager of Elmore Roots Nursery for over a decade. He and his family have created High Hopes Farm, a diverse, off-grid homestead, where they preserve heirloom apples, sheep, and more. He runs High Hopes Tree Care, Vermont’s most experienced orchard restoration and maintenance service specializing in Organic Management.
Keith Morris has been collecting and experimenting with rare fruit and nut trees for 14 years, and is professor of ecological design at the University of Vermont. He has worked to help create resilient, diverse, socially just, and economically viable food systems around the world since 1996.
Please spread the word to potentially interested friends and networks.
Thank you for your support of our work!
Thanks,
Keith and Crew
Willow Crossing Farm
www.willowcrossing.org
ProspectRock.org 