ABOUT

Forest Garden Farm & Agroecological Design

On our farm, located within the Delaware River watershed, we cultivate fruits, nuts, medicinal herbs, and wild edibles within naturalized plantings that are inspired by the wild ecology.

Through site specific design, we integrate approaches found in environmental restoration, permaculture design, and regenerative agriculture to create low input, self-renewing, agroecological systems that naturally restore health and integrity to our shared landscape.

Beyond our fields, we bring these practices to our consulting and design work with farmers, landowners, and organizations. Inspired by a philosophy that recognizes all elements are integral to an interconnected planet, we approach landscapes as interdependent ecosystems, out of which the well being of all is reflected in the health and functionality of the whole.

We bring this mindful holistic approach to everything we do, from the products we craft, to the programs and services we offer.

What we do…

Farm Products

Our mission is to create the highest quality products crafted with organic ingredients that we can feel good about putting out into our world.

Our farm product offerings represent the fruits of our growing season, and directly support our small farm.

Products, including our Elderberry Elixir can be found in our online shop and in retail stores.

Ecological Services

We offer an array of ecological services aimed at restoring health and integrity to our shared landscape.

From agricultural consulting and permaculture design to installation and management, we work with clients across the region working toward earth renewal.

Our speciality is working with farmers, organizations, and land stewards on broad scale agroecology projects.

Events & Programs

We offer tours, workshops, courses, and presentations on permaculture, regenerative agriculture, plant medicine, and other topics within agroecology.

Informed by a philosophy of deep ecology, our programs traverse the spiral web of interconnection, and reflect an authentic relationship with the natural world rooted in informed and applied practice.

In addition to our on-farm education events, we have partnered with various organizations and peers on educational programming including NOFA NJ, Pasa, Duke Farms, and The American Herb Society.

OUR STORY

In the spring of 2011 we found ourselves in a curious position. The historically farmed, 10 acre plot of agricultural land we had recently moved onto appeared by all accounts to be, un-farmable. A water-logged, compacted, clay sub-soil was all that remained of the once fertile native silt loam. Where verdant streams and creeks once flowed through these cliffsides to the river below, stagnant anaerobic puddles now dotted the landscape. Wetland sedges, and vigorous species like autumn olive, multi flora rose, and blackberry persisted where the diverse flora of a forested ecosystem could no longer. Our attempts at traditional cultivation ended with flooded plantings and broken equipment.

Out of the turbulence, perplexing questions arose that ultimately came to shape our approach as agriculturalists, designers, and land stewards. From disparate points on a map that traversed time, we traced a history of people and place that began with the indigenous communities that inhabited this cliffside 10,000 years ago. For thousands of years, people lived within a diverse forested ecosystem that was home to an array of native flora and fauna, and made vibrant by the waterways and river tributaries that swell and rush with the seasons. Beginning with the first colonial settlers, a fracturing of the landscape initiated as the forests were cleared and the land tilled. Natural streams and seasonal creeks were leveled and eventually bifurcated by roadways and development. Without the stabilizing root structures of a diverse old growth woodland, fungal communities fractured by tillage, and waterways diverted, a pathology developed as the soil eroded, the water stagnated, and anaerobic conditions radically altered the plant communities.

 As we pieced together a narrative, a deeper awareness emerged alongside a deep-seated resolve to develop an approach to farming that mediated the needs of human culture, while positively impacting the landscape. We pulled inspiration from ecological restoration, forest gardening, wild gardening, indigenous land management, a little known reality tv series called "swamp loggers,” and the regenerative field of permaculture design. As a result, our flagship farm site continues to transform from a once “over-farmed” and depleted landscape, to an abundant functional ecosystem that is home to an emergent 10 acre forest garden, bursting with perennial polycultures of nut trees and berry bushes growing alongside a diverse understory of medicinal herbs and wild edibles. An interconnected series of installed ponds and waterways collect, store, and move water across the landscape. The farm is home to a myriad of creatures that nest in the trees, hum and hover in the meadows, rustle in the grass, and croak in the ponds.

In the intervening years our scope and mission has expanded as our farm has led us to work beyond our fields as designers and consultants. Working with clients that range from small scale homesteaders to broad acreage farmers, we bring our services to people and landscapes across the region. Our farm acreage has expanded as well to include a 35 acre site located just down the road from our original farm. We continue to serve our local community with a diverse product line featuring goods crafted from plants grown on our certified organic farm. Our experience has inspired us to create philosophically driven educational programming that aspires to connect people and planet through story, permaculture, plant medicine, and planetary renewal.

All our endeavors continue to evolve as works in perpetual progress. With each season we grow and subtle changes in perspective help us to stay open to new ways of seeing and revelatory ways of being. What roots us is a deep connection to place, and a relationship with the natural world that is grounded in humility and reverence. In the wake of environmental degradation resulting from an unbalanced relationship with the natural world, we found a common thread of understanding, and began to weave a medicine story of alchemical transformation.

OWNER/OPERATORS

Lindsay Napolitano is a land based artist, agriculturalist, and ecological designer living and working within the fields and forests of the Delaware River Watershed. She is the co-founder of Fields Without Fences, a forest garden farm and agroecology consulting service working at the intersection of ecological restoration and agricultural production. In collaboration with the natural world she designs, cultivates, and tends two farm sites totaling 45 acres in Kingwood Township, New Jersey.

In addition to teaching and presenting widely on subjects including agroforestry, permaculture, and plant medicine, Lindsay brings her observations in the field to inspired writings which explore the overlay of the natural world upon the human experience.

She is currently serving as Chair of the Kingwood Township Agricultural Advisory Committee and is a member of the Land Acquisition Committee for the Hunterdon Land Trust. Lindsay is the co-recipient of the 2023 Hugh Hammond Bennett Award for Conservation Excellence in the Northeast. You can usually find her outside, aiding and abetting the plants in their ceaseless quest for world domination.

Johann Rinkens is a farmer and ecological designer practicing and consulting on regenerative land relationships. He is the co-founder of Fields Without Fences, a forest garden farm and agroecology consulting service working at the intersection of ecological restoration and agricultural production. In service to farmers, organizations, and land stewards throughout the northeast, Johann advises and consults on diverse agroecology and regenerative agriculture projects.

In addition to his work with Fields Without Fences, Johann is a lead designer at Restoration Agriculture Development, a full service environmental consulting, research, and development firm working with agricultural ecosystems across the US and internationally. His background in anthropology, agrarian land reform, and more than 20 years of work in the field as an organic farmer, combine to inform his perspective on integrated, place-based, and functional ecological design and farming operations. Johann is the co-recipient of the 2023 Hugh Hammond Bennett Award for Conservation Excellence in the Northeast.