Equip Yourself for Your Permaculture Farm

The Johnny Appleseed Organic Village is a 15-acre (and growing!) experimental research center near Jacksonville, Florida. We practice Climate Farming, an innovative growing approach that combines tenets of permaculture, syntropic agroforestry, and biodynamic farming with the goal of sinking carbon back into the soil while growing healthy, vibrant crops.

We didn’t invent these techniques (check out “Indigenous Roots of Climate Farming” at www.MotherEarthNews.com/Climate-Farming), but we’ve combined them into a unique system that we believe has the power to sustainably feed the world while replenishing—rather than depleting—our natural resources.

Putting these practices into place on a small-farm scale has come with its fair share of challenges and successes. We’ve learned a number of lessons over the years, including which pieces of machinery work best for our needs, that we hope can help any farmers who find themselves in a similar situation.

Getting Started

First of all, take everything you know about traditional row crops and toss it into the compost. There are a few major