With nearly 30 years of experience and literally thousands of farm plans under his belt, Darren J. Doherty comes to the Northern Rivers to hold the "Forestry in Practice" workshop. Participants will have a chance to learn from Darren, a Keyline Farm Planning advocate and expert, in a site that integrates keyline to successional agroforestry (aka Syntropic Farming).

The integration of forestry systems restore biodiversity, soil life and water cycles. Farms that have integrated trees to 20 to 40% of their areas hugely increase the productivity of existing systems while also creating new alternative enterprises.

This course equips farmers to holistically integrate trees in their landscapes and businesses. The workshop will run on the 9th and 10th of February (2019) at the Holos Regenerative Design learning site in Brunswick Heads, northern NSW.

Course Overview:

The integration of forestry systems using Keyline® restore soil fertility, prevent erosion and drought proof properties with minimal use of external resources. The Keyline® Scale of Permanence (KSOP) is a concept created by the late Australian inventor and farmer, P. A. Yeomans to plan and manage thriving rural properties.

Oversimplifying farming landscapes to produce according to the current conventional agriculture increase problems with weeds and pests, and external input dependency. Understanding the functions of flora, fauna and fungi in forestry systems, as well as of ecological succession, on the other hand, empower farmers to plan their properties in tune with nature. This approach is not only ecologically sound and healthier, but it is also more self-reliant and profitable.

Course Outline (organised in 8 classes over 2 days):

• Creating regenerative and profitable farms with the Regrarians Platform® (Darren's farm planning approach based on the KSOP);

• Forestry Flora, Fauna & Fungi - Functions, Succession and Integration;

• Forestry Layouts - Interplanting, Interrow, Widespaced, Block, Shelterbelts, Living Fences, Livestock Forage, Coppice, Revegetation, Riparian;

• Keyline® Planning - Keyline Overview, Keyline Patterns & Layouts;

• Forestry Systems - Species Selection Index, Propagation, Establishment, Silviculture, Maintenance & Monitoring, Harvesting & Value-Adding;

• Field Work - Farm Walk - New Systems, Survey, Set-Out, Monitoring & Silviculture.

Note: The course is BYO food and drinks. Our site is within walking distance to a near by coffee shop and about 5 minutes drive from Mullumbimby.