Notes from the Field / April 2024

Notes from the Field / April 2024

We hope the best for April with good cause; silk blossoms have emerged on the rickety skin of crooked branches. There is suddenly soft greenery underfoot where there once was wet muck. Fat bumble bees burrow into every miniscule open mouthed flower. The world is alive with miracles. And that first green of spring, a green so green, the Cherokee gave it another name distinct from other green, is sweeping across the land like the repeated soft strokes of a crayon - faint at first, then thick and waxy, shimmering.

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Notes from the Field / March 2024

Notes from the Field / March 2024

March has arrived as March often arrives, in blustery fits and false starts. A sunny mirage disappears beneath silvery overcast clouds for days. A warm breeze beckons only to become fearsome wind nipping. That the most tender of iridescent petals should be the first to emerge into this rugged terrain is a reoccurring mystery. A heartening mystery, and surely a sign that the god of spring must hold a jaunty sense of humor.

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We Won An Award!

We Won An Award!

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.

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Decade in Reflection Part Two: The Way of Water

Decade in Reflection Part Two: The Way of Water

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.

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Decade in Reflection Part One: Forest Garden Farm

Decade in Reflection Part One: Forest Garden Farm

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.

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From the Field: Spring in the forest garden

From the Field: Spring in the forest garden

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…

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WILD FARMING SERIES: "Up there, that's for the birds..."

WILD FARMING SERIES: "Up there, that's for the birds..."

Friday flashback to a few weeks ago when fruit harvesting at the farm was in full swing! Each season, in what feels like a matter of moments (though it could be a couple weeks), elderberry, beach plum, seaberry, blackberry, and aronia all come into ripeness at once. At that point a flurry of activity commences as us and the birds race to liberate the ripe from fruit from its branches!

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WATCH: Fields Without Fences Forest Garden Interview with Green Revolution

WATCH: Fields Without Fences Forest Garden Interview with Green Revolution

Sharing this rather sweeping interview with our friend Alex Marcoulides for his Youtube channel called Green Revolution. Alex stopped by Fields Without Fences for a broad conversation with us about forest gardening, permaculture, successionally managed farm ecosystems, and elderberries, and we go pretty damn deep. This interview is from last season (2017), and listening back to it, I am completely impressed with Alex's ability to listen, synthesize, and offer careful reflection at a nearly rapid fire pace!  Alex's energy is purely electric and plugged in.

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