Notes from the Field / March 2024
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writings & media
Articles, photography, video, and writings sourced from our work in and beyond the field. Our “from the field” series features projects, daily life, and reflections inspired by our work at home on our two farm sites in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Our “beyond the field” series features, projects, collaborations, and partnerships we are engaged in with our broader community.
Popular subjects include permaculture, forest gardening, regenerative agriculture, plant medicine, ecological restoration, earth based spirituality, and other diverse musings on agroecology topics.
We Won An Award!
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It is with equal parts pride and humility, we are pleased to share that we were recently awarded the 2023 Hugh Hammond Bennett Producer Award for Conservation Excellence in the Northeast. Last year, unbeknownst to us, someone from the New Jersey NRCS nominated us for the award, and we were selected by the National Conservation Planning Partnership (NCPP) as the winners for the Northeast region of the country. Winners were selected based on their commitment to conservation, civic engagement, pioneering new approaches to conservation planning and implementation, and advancing soil health on their own land, as well as within their communities.
Read MoreGathering Seeds
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Now that the trees have assumed their sparse posture for the season, the ground is thick with a litter of leaves around which all manner of intricately shaped seeds are moving into the earth by way of a slow-motion burrowing. These seeds, the cores of nuts and fruits and the tiny and robust sheddings of wildflowers, have burrowed into my pockets as well. They are tucked in paper packets in the cupboard, tumbled in glass jars in the fridge, and awaiting my attention, spread out here and there on the kitchen counter…
Read MoreWater Management on Regenerative Farms - NRCS Staff Educational Event
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In our consulting work with farmers and land stewards beyond our fields and with our partner organization, Restoration Agriculture Development, we understand that water informs the basis of every ecosystem. The hydrological dynamics of every landscape are unique, but patterns can be lifted from the underlying topography and vegetation to elucidate and work with an appropriate water course.
Read MorePersimmon Season
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The persimmon tree has become a peculiar marker of time on the farm. As an early succession tree, they were one of the first orchard canopy species to spring up. And when they did, the landscape started to take on a young forest quality, which felt enormously exciting at the time. I distinctly remember standing face to crown with a six foot tall persimmon some years back and thinking, my goodness I can’t wait until you’re older and you tower over me and bear fruit on every branch! A thought that was quickly followed by another, more alertly prescient thought, I suppose I’ll be older then too…
Read MoreHow To Use Elderberries?
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Understanding the art & science of the tiny berry of mythological proportion - Perhaps you know about the impressive immunological effects of elderberry. You've heard plenty of anecdotes from friends and family about preventing colds and swiftly recuperating from the flu. Maybe you’re well versed in the powerful anti-inflammatory potential of dark berries, and once read that the elderberry boasts one of the highest antioxidant content of all berries… But still one lingering question remains, perhaps the most essential question of all… how exactly am I supposed to take it?
Read MoreDecade in Reflection Part Four: Beyond the Field
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In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
Read MoreDecade in Reflection Part Three: Plant Medicine for People & Planet
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In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
Read MoreDecade in Reflection Part Two: The Way of Water
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In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
Read MoreAt First Sign of Cold...
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As the days grow shorter, wetter, and increasingly frigid, it’s helpful to have a few recipes on hand to weather the cold season. At first sign of cold… is a short collection of our favorite herbal recipes and practices to help stay healthy as the world moves indoors for winter.
Read MoreDecade in Reflection Part One: Forest Garden Farm
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In honor of our ten year anniversary, we’re taking a trip down memory lane in a new multi part series. Through archival photos and retrospective writings, we’ll revisit forest gardening, water management, plant medicine, and other pursuits we’ve explored over the last ten years at Fields Without Fences with the kind of nuance and cosmic humor that only hindsight provides.
Read MoreElderberry Elixir Back in Stock in the Farm Shop and at local retailers!
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When we closed up our herbal product line in 2021, we promised we’d be back with our most beloved product. We’ve been working quietly, but with a great deal of passion, on bringing back our Elderberry Elixir with a new and improved look, recipe, and size, that we hope you’ll love. We are pleased to announce Elderberry Elixir is up in the shop and available to order!
Read MoreNew Fields Without Fences Illustrated T-shirts!
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We are so pleased to announce Fields Without Fences t-shirts illustrated in gorgeous detail by the enormously talented Philadelphia-based artist, Meg Lemieur, and printed on organic cotton at a local eco-friendly print house are now available!
Read MoreWelcoming our son into the world
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We welcomed our son Roan August Rinkens into the world on August 15th, 2021.
Read MoreFrom the Field: Spring in the forest garden
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Photos and reflections of the farm in spring; * Our “From the Field” Series features projects, production, and reflections derived from our work at home on our two farm sites in near Frenchtown, New Jersey.* Earth day arrives just as I’m beginning to feel love drunk on a new spring. A few days ago, standing under an old pear tree, alive and buzzing, radiant in sun gold full bloom, I abandoned my farm chores…
Read MoreBeyond the Field: Cooks Venture Project
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One of the larger projects we've been working on beyond our fields this spring is taking shape across 17 partner farms in the midwest. Cooks Venture, a meat wholesaler based in Arkansas approached our sister organization, Restoration Agriculture Development (RAD), to design and implement an agroforestry iniative across existing farms in their network to enhance biological diversity, poultry health and wellbeing, and environmental integrity.
Read MoreArticle: Reading the Landscape in Snow
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Snow slows the mutable activity of water into a highly observable form. Its imprint on the landscape offers us a window into observing otherwise invisible water, wind, solar, and migration patterns that wield their influence across the earth and sculpt the natural world. Learning the art of landscape reading is a foundational step in developing a deeper relationship with the world around us, and understanding the natural forces that shape and shift its evolving form.
Right now, the streams and creeks are coming alive with rushing water flowing off of farm fields and backyards. It feels like the circulatory system of the earth is coming alive with the first sounds of spring! For this brief moment, between the freeze and the thaw, there are secrets to be gleaned and valuable insights to be revealed.
Read on to learn about the ways in which we can develop a deeper understanding of our landscape and context by reading the patterns of snow…
Read MoreBeyond the Field: Water Farming / Managing Agricultural Lands for Clean & Safe Water recently published by Pasa
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“Can agriculture transition from a major source of water pollution to a major force for improving water quality and, in turn, for protecting human and environmental health?”
That question was the subject of a white paper titled, Water Farming: Managing Agricultural Lands for Clean & Safe Water, recently published by Pasa Sustainable Agriculture late last year. The downloadable booklet features key approaches and perspectives on specific farming practices to protect and enrich watersheds.
Read MoreWATCH: Regeneration Conversations Episode 03 Featuring Mark Shepard of RAD & Johann Rinkens of Fields Without Fences
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“What is Regenerative? The answers continue to inspire us. In Episode 3 we get the privilege of hearing from Mark Shepard and Johann Rinkens.
Mark Shepard is a leader in the regenerative agriculture movement. Author of the award-winning book, Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers, Mark has had boots on the ground in the real world of restoring our planets food systems with his grounded approach to food production for decades. Johann Rinkens is the co-founder of Fields Without Fences, a forest garden farm and permaculture design service, and teaches extensively on the subjects of permaculture design and agroecology. Both Mark and Johann are playing critical roles in helping farmers understand how they can plan for succession as they plant their forest-based farms.”
Read MoreFrom the Field: Forest Garden "Greenhouse" Season Extension
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This is a late season snap shot of our unheated high tunnel, which is planted with perennial species that benefit from the heat gain and wind protection that the house provides in our zone 6. Figs, trifoliate orange, and passionflower grow into the vertical space, while a diverse understory of primarily mediterranean herbs clump and crawl across the understory (rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, lavender, hyssop, lemon verbena). There is also a population of self seeding annuals (kale, mustard, lettuce, leeks, cilantro) that grow and flourish from late fall to early spring, when the warm season perennials are in dormancy.
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