Hedgerows for Food and Diversity; Agroforestry on Farms and Homesteads

With Jono Neiger as our workshop leader, we’ll first look at Many Hands Organic Farm through the lens of whole systems design. We will explore, and literally dig into, areas of the farm to see how the complexity of soils, water, vegetation, microclimates, and more are interwoven and incorporated into farm management. Finally, we will look at specific field edges to see how they might become multi-functional hedgerows.  We’ll walk through hedgerow design- looking at specific edges, identifying tree species, installation, and management strategies.

Hedgerows are an agroforestry strategy that goes far back into human landscape management- where trees, shrubs with other plants are employed and orchestrated to function in many ways.   They can function as windbreaks, fuel, fodder, pollination, habitat, carbon sinks, and much more. These field and farm edges provide an opportunity to separate and interconnect parts of the landscape. Design and planning of hedgerows are both simple and complex and a chance to diversify the farm.

When: Saturday, October 7, 2023, 10 am – 3 pm, with potluck lunch
Where: Many Hands Sustainability Center, 411 Sheldon Road, Barre, MA

Jono Neiger is a founder and agroforestry planner at Regenerative Design Group Cooperative, in western Massachusetts with 30+ years of professional experience in agroforestry, permaculture, ecological land and site planning, conservation, and restoration. He holds a B.S. degree in Forest Biology and a Masters in Landscape Planning and Design and authored The Permaculture Promise. He operates Big River Chestnuts, a chestnut agroforestry farm in Sunderland, Massachusetts.

Price for the workshop: $50-$100. Register online at https://mhof.net/events-workshops/

Questions: Contact farm@mhof.net or 978-257-1192