For our first semester, the Haven Earth Trade School had the pleasure of hosting an immersive experience in syntropic agroforestry. Souvereign who has come from Bali to Tennessee, led the training and made good use of our living-learning environment that provided the perfect backdrop for understanding nature's intrinsic strategies for life: ecological succession, natural stratification in forest systems and management.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who attended and contributed to this enriching event and we see that our Trade School model offers a professional learning environment giving people hands-on skills and meaningful experience to further their own path with.

Succession in Nature

Ecological succession is a cornerstone of syntropic agroforestry, reflecting the natural progression of plant communities over time. In syntropic systems, we harness this principle to create layered, dynamic ecosystems that evolve and thrive together. By learning how to mimic natural succession occurring in nature, we strategically introduce a variety of plants with different life cycles and growth patterns.

Early succession species, which are fast-growing and often nitrogen-fixing, prepare the soil and microenvironment for subsequent, more soil biodiversity-requiring plants. As these pioneer species mature and fulfill their role, they give way to mid- and late-succession species, which further enrich and harmonize the system.

Understanding how to mimic natural succession helps maximize biodiversity and system resilience, it enhances soil health, optimizes resource use, and creates a regenerative agricultural landscape where harvests become abundant.

Stratafication Design

Another essential element of syntropic agroforestry is understanding how to design stratas through time, emphasizing the vertical arrangement of plant species to optimize light, space, and resource use.

By carefully selecting and positioning plants based on their height, growth habits, and light requirements, syntropic agroforestry systems create a multi-layered canopy that mimics natural forests. This stratification includes ground cover plants, shrubs, understory trees, and towering canopy species, each occupying distinct niches and contributing to the overall system's health and productivity. While groundcover plants protect the soil, shrubs and understory trees fill intermediate layers, providing habitat and additional biomass. The tallest trees form the upper canopy, capturing sunlight and creating a microclimate that benefits the entire system.

This vertical integrations' focus is to maximize photosynthesis, improve water retention, and foster synergistic interactions among all plant species.

Field Walks

Throughout the weekend we embarked on several field walks where we discovered that competition, often perceived as a natural phenomenon, is a human-made concept. Instead, we learned that every element in nature performs a function with purpose, working harmoniously with available resources that is best seen as all elements of a system working together collaboratively to achieve more quantity and quality of consolidated life in the system.

As part of all the theory and field walks was putting all information that was gathered into designing a syntropic forestry system based on the local bio-regional climate conditions and the plants that work well here. This exercise allowed participants to envision the future of their designs by applying the principles of syntropy.

We were honored to have some real professionals join our Agroforestry class. This meant valuable Regenerative Systems Design expert-input that was relevant to identifying many tree and plant species and gaining more understanding of why certain seeds only sprout at certain soil conditions.

Weeds or Volunteer species?

Because every plant has a job and is performing its functions with purpose Syntropic Agroforestry teaches each student to question the function of what we observe rather than assuming we know it all and call plants either "Weeds" or "invasive species". Once we understand the job plants or trees are performing we can easily substitute those plants or trees for desired ones. As the saying goes: "The Agroforest is like the face of the farmer."

Our time together reinforced the value of being students of nature. Through this weekend immersion clarity in how nature through the strategies of syntropy operates. This shared experience of learning and growing together was truly amazing and we look forward to the results that students may create in their own gardens, farms and homesteads.

Management of Systems

Learning that management is crucial in syntropic agroforestry systems needs to be reiterated here to maintain balance and productivity. This involves regular pruning, mulching, and monitoring of plant health to ensure optimal growth and resource distribution. By managing plant density and diversity, we can enhance light penetration and promote more vigorous plant development. Management itself and how to prune and what to prune when is a course on its own accord but a very helpful resource for this bio-region can be found here for the USA: https://www.coppiceagroforestry.com/

Thanks, Souvereign for enriching our first semester of the Haven Earth Trade School with your teachings.

If you'd like to learn more about Syntropic Agroforestry you can also download this introduction booklet to get you inspired and more informed.