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 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 MoreDecade in Reflection Part One: Forest Garden Farm
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