Aaron Englander worked at the George Jones Farm in Oberlin, a community-supported, educational farm. Aaron began as an intern and then served as head grower for three years at the Jones Farm. During this time, he developed a variety of ecological farming techniques that restored the productivity of the soil on the farm that supplied local food to Oberlin College and markets in Oberlin and Cleveland. Aaron provides a basic overview of natural farming and soil building techniques that he will be teaching in an upcoming workshop at the Jones Farm in Oberlin on April 9-10. These techiques were developed by Korean natural famring master Cho Han Kyu and are practiced throughout the world to make degraded urban and rural land highly productive for ecological agricutlure. Click here to sign up for the workshop.
Videos tagged as 'permaculture'
Aaron Englander, former farmer at the George Jones Farm in Oberlin, talks about the cultivation of indigenous micro-organisms in the soil, which are key to creating a more sustainable and healthy agricutlural system. Aaron breaks down the basic process of cultivating micro-organisms using simple materials available on your own property or community. He describes the four-step process for cultivating micro-organisms developed by Korean Natural Farm Master Cho Han Kyu. Aaron will be teaching these techniques at an upcoming workshop in Oberlin on April 9-10.
Aaron Englander, former farmer at the George Jones Farm in Oberlin, provides an overview of the natural farming philosophy and the cultivation of indigenous micro-organism communities to foster healthy soil. Aaron talks about how to view the soil itself as an ecosystem and not a neutral substrate for injecting chemical fertilizers and inputs. Aaron addresses some of the limitations of industrial agricutlure techniques which by-pass and disrupt natural micro-organism communities that are key to sustaining healthy soils and resilient agricultural systems. A natural farming system, by working with the diversity, resilience, and productivity of natural systems, can create much higher yield with fewer inputs, and less labor and expenses over time.
Aaron Englander provides an overview of natural farming philosophy and techniques. Based on the the work of Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese farmer and author of the One Straw Revolution, the natural farming approach focuses on cultivating indigenous microorganism communities to foster healthy soil. It also involves more awareness for utilizing the resources in your own land or community to foster a more productive farming system. After working at the George Jones Farm in Oberlin, first as a student intern and then as a full-time farmer, Aaron talks about his experiences apprenticing on a farm in Hawaii. There, he learned the techniques of Korean Natural Farmer Cho Han Kyu, originator of a process for cultivating indigenous micro-organism communities in the soil to restore degraded agricutlural land. These techniques helped to restore an abandoned sugar cane farm in Hawaii that was degraded by years of industrial, high-input farming.
Video featuring a short interview with Dave Jacke, permacutlure designer and author of the two volume books titled- Edible Forest Gardening. Jacke was visiting Cleveland to offer a weekend workshop at the Intergenerational School in Cleveland, a school focused on experiential education and bridging younger and older generations in collaborative learning processes. With the leadership of local permaculture designer Brett Joseph, the edible forest garden was established in a courtyard of the school, replacing mowed grass and a relatively un-used space on campus grown into a biologically diverse forest garden for learning, eating, and community gathering. To learn more, check out www.edibleforestgardening.com
This video features an interview with Marcin Jakubowski, TED Fellow and Founder of Open Source Ecology. Marcin was visiting Oberlin and Cleveland to present his Global Village Construction Set- Low Cost Tools for Skill-Based, Eco-Agricultural Community Building. He merges concepts for creating local models for flexible fabrication and distributed manufacturing. In much the same way that local food economies involve more closed-loop, localized production networks, the open source ecology concept focuses on creating the tools and technologies needed to tap the potential of our local places to support our basic food and energy needs.
Darren Doherty, an international permaculture expert from Australia, takes a few minutes during a permaculture design certification training in Oberlin, to share some perspectives on local food systems in Northeast Ohio. He describes how Northeast Ohio has among the strongest natural assets in the world to support a regenerative local agricultural system. He describes how the key opportunity for creating a more regenerative food system in Northeast Ohio lies in creating economic connections between farms and the small towns and cities in the region.
Darren Doherty, a permaculture designer from Australia, discusses some of the issues around methane generation from livestock. Methane is a powerful warming gas that contributes to climate change. The amount of methane generated by livestock, however, is a function of what they are fed: feed grain versus grass.
Darren Doherty, permacutlure designer and teacher from Australia, takes a few minutes to explain "carbon farming" and methods for sequestering carbon in soil while improving topsoil and conditions for healthy plant growth.